Soli Deo Gloria...To God Alone, the Glory

*This is an edited version of my sermon on June 8th, 2025 at The United Methodist Church of Westport & Weston*

To put this classic story of Pentecost into a bit of context, in the first chapter of Acts, we are told that after Christ’s resurrection, he told his disciples “For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Jesus then ascends into heaven, leaving his disciples alone to lead the church. Can you imagine being one of these disciples? This radical movement, where creating the Kingdom of God was not to be carried out by military or political force, but by individuals coming together in community to create a spiritual reign of peace, justice, love, and mercy, was now, to be carried out without its leader in this earthly world. How scared must the disciples have been?

It is right after Jesus leaves this earthly world, that we are told in Acts 2:1-4, that the Holy Spirit fills the disciples. I think the Holy Spirit can be tough for folks to wrap their heads around. For one, in different traditions it's called different things. In our mainline protestant tradition, I think we are all pretty comfortable with the term “Holy Spirit.” or just simply “Spirit.”  But maybe you were raised in a tradition that called it “The Holy Ghost,” or “The breath of God”…In the letters of Paul, he liked to call it the “The Spirit of Christ.” 

In Acts 2:1-4, it gets even more confusing with the Holy Spirit coming with a violent wind and disciples speaking in tongues. I think all of these ways to characterize the holy spirit are just fine as long as in using them, we are getting to the essence of what that spirit is. I love how Paul describes the spirit in his letter to the Galatians. He writes "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. I, like Paul, do believe that the spirit is what guides all positive life forces. The life forces of love, joy, and peace.

I find that different parts of the trinity resonate with me more during different seasons of my life. It is not that they are not always present in my faith journey, rather, that I sense one holding my hand depending on the circumstances of my life. During times of trial and suffering, I cling to Jesus.  Believing that Christ has walked this earthly world and suffered greatly, I feel God personally knows my anguish. During seasons where I am connected to others or seeking connection, I feel the presence of God the father in my life. While that phrase “God the Father” can be hard for some folks with difficult familial relationships, the phrase for me reminds me that we are all brothers and sisters, all children of God, our Father. 

One of the seasons where I connect most with the holy spirit is during times of transition. I wonder if the spirit being the main character in this pentecost story has to do with it being a time of transition. The disciples were about to be living in a dramatically different world. Christ was no longer among them, and they were left to figure out how the church was to act in the world. The gift of the holy spirit was their life force to guide them through this change. 

What a gift it is for us, today, that we have access to this same spirit. The holy spirit is freely given, there is no charge or subscription to have access to it. 

The mystery of faith is just that, a mystery. The spirit leads us all to different paths and ways of life, and as people of faith, we trust. We trust that the work we are doing is to actualize the kingdom of God. I do not think that I or anyone else can tell you exactly how the spirit is leading you to help create the kingdom of God, here on earth. God created abundant diversity, giving us diverse gifts and callings. The way the spirit is leading one person in this room may not make sense to the person sitting next to them, and that is okay. What I do believe is that the holy spirit’s purpose is to move us all closer to the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom where the lowly are lifted, the excluded are included. The kingdom where peace and justice meet. Where Love for our neighbor and enemies, means love for ALL of our neighbors & enemies. 

For the past year or so, on most Sunday’s, I have been playing sections of Bach’s cello suites as a prelude. Bach’s music is played in Christian Churches all around the world. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer, organist, and musician during the Baroque period. Widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in Western music history, he was born on March 31, 1685. Bach was prolifically productive, composing over 1,100 works across nearly every major musical genre of his time. During his Leipzig years (1723–1750), as Kantor of St. Thomas Church, Bach was responsible for producing music for weekly church services. He wrote a new cantata nearly every week for several years. A typical church cantata ran 20–30 minutes, involving choral movements, solo arias, and instrumental accompaniment.

This meant writing vocal lines, harmonies, orchestration, and sometimes copying out parts by hand — all in about 6 days.

This extraordinary output did not align with how well known Bach was during his lifetime. Bach’s focus on Baroque music, and his commitment to writing and leading church music, kept his profile rather low. While his contemporaries, like Handel, were performing concerts across Europe, Bach was serving the local church. During Bach’s era, the musical scene was undergoing significant transformation. The ornate elements of baroque music began to give way to the clearer, more accessible forms of the emerging classical style. Public concerts grew in popularity, shifting musical appreciation from the church and court to the public arena. Bach, however, spent much of his career in positions that anchored him to church music and courtly duties, such as his lengthy tenure as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, where his primary responsibilities involved composing and performing music for church services and civic events. This role, while prestigious, limited his exposure to the broader public and the evolving music scene. 

In addition to this relatively low level of fame, when we look deeper into Bach’s life, we see tremendous tragedy. Johann Sebastian Bach’s life, while immensely productive and artistically rich, was also marked by hardship, loss, and relentless pressure. Despite his reputation today, Bach lived a life of struggle in many respects — personal, professional, and physical. Bach was orphaned by age 10. His mother died in 1694, followed by his father in 1695. His first wife, Maria Barbara, died suddenly in 1720 while Bach was away. He returned home to find her buried. Of his 20 children, only 10 survived infancy — a common tragedy in that era, but still a profound personal toll. In Leipzig, where he served for 27 years, he often fought with city authorities who wanted simpler music and more control over his work. He had to manage endless duties: composing, teaching, directing choirs, overseeing music for four churches, and copying parts by hand.

So why? Why was he so prolific as a composer? Why, when the broader public was not taking notice, was he composing at the extraordinary rate that he was? Why, with so much trial and horrific loss, did he go on?

 On almost all of Bach’s compositions, at the bottom of the page he inscribed the letter “S.D.G, Soli Deo Gloria…To God alone, the Glory.” Bach was a man of incredible faith. He was a devout Lutheran who wrote “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” Bach’s sense of purpose was so clear - to make music, not for fame, recognition, or financial reward, but instead to help bring about the kingdom of God, on earth. 

My soul does feel refreshed when I listen or play Bach. When I put on the Goldberg variations, I feel, deep within, that I am a child of God. A God that says, “You are mine, I am yours, and you are deeply loved.” It is perhaps a feeling that cannot be felt accurately with language. 

I think this is why Bach’s music is timeless. Why in churches all across the world, you will hear Bach’s music being performed. The fruit of Bach’s music, to quote Paul, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. 

When we say, “To God Alone, the Glory,” we are committing to following the Holy Spirit. We are saying that the earthly pleasures of money, or fame, or recognition, are not why we are doing the work we do, day in and day out. The work we are doing - the work you do, at your job, in your house, in your communities, in these walls, is guided by the spirit and is to bring about the Kingdom of God, on earth, as Jesus taught us…Where those fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, and gentleness are what we are after.

This earthly life is not easy…It was not easy for Bach, and God knows it is not easy for us. Sometimes it feels like that Kingdom is so far away, why should we even try? When war, and famine, and depression, loneliness, and corruption plague this earth, as people of faith, we know that there is another way. We trust that God is still at work, through and among us. Through the risen Christ, we know that death and the polycrisis of this world do not have the final say.  The spirit that guided Jesus, his disciples, Paul, Bach…That spirit is indeed still among us. 

Thanks be to God for this good news.