John 14:15-27
May 2014, 25
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Today is not Pentecost, but it is a sort of prelude to
Pentecost with the Gospel’s focus on the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was around at creation, is
mentioned as giving power or direction or filling Old Testament characters like
Joseph, Moses, Saul, David, Samson, Elijah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and
Zechariah. The Spirit was a key player
in Jesus’ baptism and his ministry.
Sometimes we forget that the Spirit was around before the Day of
Pentecost. Certainly the Spirit has
been the most neglected member of the Trinity, the quiet and mysterious person
in the Godhead. The Apostles’ Creed
gives a two word mention of belief in the Holy Ghost. The Nicene Creed provides four lines with
much greater description of the nature and work of the Spirit. But the Bible mentions the Holy Spirit
hundreds of times. Sometimes Holy
Spirit, sometimes Spirit of God or Spirit of Christ or Spirit of the Lord. In the 20th Century, perhaps spurred by
Pentecostal Churches who emphasized the Spirit, the whole church began speaking
more about the Holy Spirit. Our more
recent affirmations of faith like A Brief Statement in 1991, are much more
Spirit-filled.May 2014, 25
Elizabeth M. Deibert
Today’s reading is one of Jesus’ promise of the Spirit, which he makes several times in the Gospel of John, chapters 14-17, in his Farewell Discourse. This coming Thursday is Ascension Day, the 40th day of Easter, when we remember Jesus’ departure from earth, yet not a complete departure because his Spirit is still here. Let us pray (singing): Lord, give us peace like a river. Give us peace like a river. Give us peace like a river in our souls…..
John 14:15-27
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I
will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you
forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and
he will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In
a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I
live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father,
and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are
those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will
love them and reveal myself to them.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him,
“Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23
Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will
love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever
does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not
mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with
you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my
name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the
world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
The Spirit is our Advocate, someone who rises to our
defense, who stands up to protect us, who has our back. You know how wonderful it is to have a
friend or family member or colleague or lawyer, who is an advocate? It is the
one who always sees your side of the story, understands your perspective,
appreciates what is good about you, even if he or she knows you’re not
perfect. An advocate speaks up for your
value, your dignity. The Spirit is
there, not saying a word, with sighs too deep for words, praying with you,
reminding you that if God is for you, who can be against you? Advocacy.
Every human being, in order to thrive, needs to know the support of
advocacy. Those of us who were blessed
with parents who were our advocates have been given a huge advantage in
life. Others have found friends,
spouses, maybe a guardian ad litem or teacher or a pastor or counselor to be
that advocate. I think in adulthood, we
all look for people to be our advocates because we know we function better when
we have them. When in the presence of a
caring, listening friend or counselor, you can know have experienced the
advocacy of the Spirit, if that person is a true advocate. As Maya Angelou puts it, “people will forget
what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget
how you made them feel.” The Spirit is
there to make all human beings feel secured and protected.
The Spirit is defined by truth and repelled or silenced in
falsehood. In awareness of the dwelling
of the Spirit, our Advocate, we become our truest selves. Our false selves are
insecure, pompous, victimized, braggadocios, withdrawn, or hyper-critical. Our true selves are confident and humble,
honest and kind, resilient and courageous, always speaking the truth in love,
as it says in Ephesians 4:15. When we
are functioning with full awareness of the Spirit in us, then we too are
defined by the truth about us, not the lies.
We see others as their truest selves, not according to shallow
stereotypes and first impressions and immature judgments. Speaking the truth in love is
challenging. I heard a fellow pastor at
presbytery say, that truth without love is cruelty, and love without truth is
hypocrisy. Do you err toward cruelty or
hypocrisy? The truth about all of us
that the Spirit of truth is quietly trying to plant in our souls is that we
belong to God and are valuable and called to be a blessing to others. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Spirit is the one who lives with us and in us. We have to train our ears to hear and our
souls to feel the Spirit. Daughter
Catherine has been shadowing a speech pathologist at Pinnacle Academy, a school
and therapy center for children with significant disabilities. She tells us of all tricks the speech
pathologist has for making children who have difficulty with language and with
focusing get in touch their tongues and their lips. She puts her fingers in their mouths to feel
what is happening there. She puts their
fingers there. Awareness has to be
taught. We can learn to ignore the
Spirit, if we do not practice listening to the Spirit. Richard’s alarm goes off every morning at
least an hour or two before I get up.
The only day I hear his alarm is the day that I am keenly aware of my
need to rise early – Sunday. Otherwise,
being a deep sleeper, once I fall asleep, I have learned to ignore his alarm. The same is true when I need to work on a
sermon. For so many years, I have
written sermons at home with young children and teens around. So I can ignore the voices and activity when
I am writing. Now ignoring Richard’s
alarm and the activity of my house while writing a sermon is healthy. But ignoring the nudges of the Holy Spirit
living in you, guiding you to make good and right choices – not good.
The Spirit will teach us everything and remind us of all
Jesus has said. For the Spirit to
remind us, it is helpful to develop our ability to hear through active
listening. It is also helpful to be
acquainted with the words and life of Jesus and the sacraments that he gave us
to remember him. The disciples had
lived day by day with him in person. We
have the Word and the Sacraments, the witnesses and the testimonies of those
who went before us, the stories of faithful Christians through the
centuries. But we do not spend enough
time in them. This week one of you told
me about your father who had stopped formal education at an early age but read
the Bible so regularly that he could quote it well.
I wish that you had the same pressure I have to study the
lectionary texts every week because that discipline is a gift. It’s like eating right and drinking water,
and getting exercise and sleep is good for me.
Sometimes one or two of you will let me know that you are reading the
scriptures with me and whether or not you send your thoughts or questions does
not matter, but that you are reading scripture with discipline does very much
matter. It doesn’t have to be the
lectionary texts. You can read any
daily devotional or just read a book of the Bible. You can set up scriptural devotions to come
into your email box. You can be part of
a prayer or Bible study group. There
are any number of ways to make scripture reading part of your life. The Spirit wants to remind you of what you
know of Jesus. You know Jesus by worship
in the community of faith and worship in personal devotional time. And then the Spirit works in you to remind
you of those truths, which lead you to peace.
The Spirit fills our souls with peace, the peace of Jesus
Christ who lived and died and was raised for the healing of our souls. In that peace of Christ, the peace that
passes all understanding, as Paul says to the Philippians, that we can rest
secure. It is in that peace and only in
that peace that we are able to bear Christ’s light to the world, to love one
another, as he has commanded us. Having
this peace is a matter of trust in a relationship, not a body of
knowledge. Stay connected to the Spirit
bringing peace to your soul, so that you are not just responding intellectually
to what you hear about God or about Christ, but are expecting the Spirit to transform Cultivate your ability to recognize the
Spirit of God in you and you will be changed.
Your inner being will become more peaceful. I have watched it happen
with people in this congregation. It is
not an overnight experience for any of us.
It takes time and lots of practice.
It helps to have a whole team of people practicing with you. That’s what the church is – a team working
on being spirit-filled together.
At the presbytery meeting on Thursday, in our small groups,
we were reflecting on an ancient prayer by St Philaret of Moscow, thanks to
Bill Clough’s leadership. I want to end
with a slightly edited version of that prayer:
Holy Spirit of Christ, grant me to greet the coming day in
peace. Help me in all things to rely
upon Your holy will. In every hour of
the day reveal Your will to me. Bless my
dealings with all who surround me. Teach
me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul, and
with the firm conviction that Your will governs all. In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts
and feelings. In unforeseen events let me not forget that all are sent by You
things work together for good to those who love you. Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without
embittering or embarrassing others. Give
me strength to bear the fatigue of this coming day with all that it will
bring. Direct my will, teach me to pray,
pray You Yourself in me. Amen. 
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