John 14:15-21 The Holy Spirit, active in our lives

            In the Gospel of John, Jesus is about to be arrested and he tells his disciples that He asked God and God is going to give them another to be with them, an advocate. “This is the spirit of truth,” Jesus says. Not everyone can receive him because they cannot see him. So, this invisible person will be with them. The disciples know who this is because they have seen this being and the being will be in them.

            So who is this being that Jesus speaks of? This advocate, the person that is called the Spirit of truth may be better known to us as the Holy Spirit. What do we know about the Holy Spirit? If you listen to our Liturgy then you know very little about the Holy Spirit. Of course we gather in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…we are blessed in the same way, and our creed says, I believe in the Holy Spirit and then we move on. We don’t sit and give the Holy Spirit its rightful due. Sometimes it feels like the Rodney Dangerfield of the Trinity. If you don’t know who he is, he was a comedian who always claimed he did not get any respect.

            We in the Lutheran Church as most other Christian denomination believe in the trinity. We believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are co-equal, God in three distinct forms in one being. There was quite a battle over this when the churches first came together during the time of Constantine. They almost went to war over this Trinity issue. It was a hot topic that is still noticeable in the most obvious way and I will tell you the secret to how public this debate is. When you look at the Nicene Creed there is an asterisks right beside the portion that says “who proceeded from the Father and the Son. This was all part of the Trinitarian debate almost 1900 years ago.

          So, today, the Holy Spirit is going to get his day in Worship. Today, we hope to get a better understanding of who this Holy Spirit is. First, it is not someone that we can see. That’s a help! The disciples know who this is because they have been taught about the Holy Spirit by Jesus. Jesus says they will know the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will be in them. So how is this advocate or Holy Spirit going to be in them?

          That is where we, the reader, have the edge over the disciples. We know how the story turns out. We know that Jesus will return after his crucifixion. We know that three days later he will rise and be among the living. It is because of this advocate being with the disciples and with the followers of Jesus that they will be able to see Jesus. It is this advocate that will help them through this time of human understanding…when death seems to be the end, this advocate is in the follower’s so that they see the risen Jesus and that they KNOW that Jesus has been raised and that God will not let death have the last word.

          This advocate stays with them the rest of their days. Jesus says they will not be orphaned. This Holy Spirit will be with them throughout the rest of their days because it is the Holy Spirit that continues to be with them when they venture out into the world teaching of the risen Son of God. This Holy Spirit will be with them when they face dangers and persecution for believing in the risen Christ. The Holy Spirit is with them to see the promises of God fulfilled through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

          Today we are witnesses to the promise of Jesus. Jesus promises us the gift of this advocate this person to be with us in our days. We witness with the disciples the last night of our Lord and Savior Jesus. We are allowed to feel that his leaving might leave us feeling orphaned or alone without someone that cares for us; and so Jesus asks for the Holy Spirit to be given to us so that we know that we are not alone. So that we know that God continues to care about us throughout all the days of our lives.

          So who is this advocate, who is this Holy Spirit? I believe it is that part of God, that active part of God that reminds us about who we are. It is that active part of God that comes to us in the waters of Baptism and tells us that we are no longer bound by sin, death, and the devil; but we are claimed children of God. I believe it is that active part of God that active part of God that puts people, family and friends, in our lives to remind us that we are important, special, and loved.

          There is a more modern phrase used in some circles when speaking of the Trinity. For Father = Creator, Son= redeemer, and Holy Spirit = sustainer. I think that is one of the best names for the Holy Spirit. It is that part of God that sustains us when we struggle, the Holy Spirit rejoices with us in good times, and comforts us in our challenges. It is that part of God that calls us to bring our broken selves to the foot of the cross and lay our burdens and to seek God’s grace and mercy when we have done wrong.

          The Holy Spirit is also that active part in God that calls us into service for one another. Several months ago, I do believe it was the Holy Spirit…that active part of God that called on a fifth grade class to look to those in need. The Holy Spirit called them to hold a fun run with all kinds of food and activities and raise money for the ministry of Community Partners. I can tell you that those students were tired after putting it all together but they admitted it was a good kind of tired because they got to help people.

          I also believe that the Holy Spirit is that active part of God who called some of the bravest men and women in our country to give their all in service. Today and this weekend is the time we remember the men and women who gave their last full measures in service to their country. We all remember our family member with warmth and thanks and we are called to remember, on this Memorial Day weekend, that it was because of what they gave and we give thanks for their service and their lives. I can tell you that I have a lost a few good friends and remember them this Memorial Day because they helped shape my work ethic and character; they were mentors and friends.

          The Holy Spirit calls us all in many different ways and speaks to us in many different ways. The one thing that is common is that the Holy Spirit is active in our lives. I pray that we all look and listen for the Holy Spirit to call us in God’s service. I pray that we all see God’s Holy Spirit active in our own lives and may we all be sustained by God’s Holy Spirit now and forever: AMEN

John 14: 1-14. Pot holes, Twists, and Turns

            I am sure many of you have heard this reading before. This is quite a popular reading for those occasions when we lose a family member or friend. I have read this passage quite a bit in the last year. But, today, we hear it in a whole different way.

            Today, I want to break this Gospel reading down into two sections. So let’s look at the first section of the Gospel. Jesus is telling his disciples “let not your hearts be troubled.” Jesus is trying to put them at ease because Jesus knows what is about to happen the next day; he is about to be handed over to the authorities. We all know what happens then. Jesus goes on to tell the disciples that he is going to his Father’s house and there are many dwelling places. Guess what? Jesus is telling us about the end.

He is telling us about going to heaven and telling us that there is enough room for everybody. He is also telling us that he is coming back to take us to himself; and where would that be…heaven! So Jesus is telling us what is at the end. It is like seeing the end of the race first or reading the last 10 pages of the book before reading the beginning of the story (and I have heard that some people read books that way). So here we have the ending first.

So what is the second section of the story? The second portion of this Gospel is about how we get to the ending and it comes very quickly in the second section. Thomas, we all know about him, wants to know how do we get to that ending…how do we get to the glorious place, heaven, that is Gods house? Thomas says they don’t know where he is going and How can these disciples know the way?

Jesus responds “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” And that is where we all take the proverbial or literal sigh and say AMEN! So let’s do it…let’s say AMEN! But now I want you to think about these words that Jesus says Jesus is the way the truth and the life. That is the way to get to the father’s house. That is the way to get to heaven. But what does that mean? Does it mean that Jesus speaks the truth about God’s love for us? Are we supposed to listen to everything Jesus says and if we just listen then everything will be alright? I we have to do is do what Jesus tells us to do and everything is gonna be sweet because we know where we are going? We know how it is going to end. Are we just supposed to believe that Jesus died and is risen for us to give us that eternal ending?

The simple answer is yes. It is easy to say yes and be done with it. I have said yes to those questions so now I get the happy ending. I want you to close your eyes. Imagine a pathway. It is a dirt pathway and there is this long trellis that goes up and arches over the pathway. They are covered with your favorite flowers and at the end of this path there is a light and listen to these words “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Sounds good doesn’t it? Now open your eyes.

You are in reality. How many of you have had a path as easy as that? Some of us, if not all of us could equate the journey OR the path of our faith as more of a Rocky road with many twists and turns; I bet there would be some pot holes, boulder, hills, and valleys. Our lives don’t go as smoothly as the vision we created. Our lives are full of rough patches when it comes to employment, the beginning or ending of relationships, loss of loved ones, addictions, good and bad choices; and those questions we said yes to; if it is so easy to say yes to Jesus then why do we constantly say...I think I know better?

We all do this at some point because we want our lives to turn out the way we want them to. We want that glorious kingdom on our terms and THAT IS WHERE WE GO WRONG! When Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life” he is saying that even his road was not some lovely path with trellis’ and beautiful flowers. There were people all around that mocked him, scolded him, conspired against him, and flat out rejected him. There were people that made his life so difficult that, maybe we all would just want to give up and quit; say it is not worth all this trouble.

But Jesus did not do that. He did not give up because his calling was to bring God to the earth, to show people how much they were loved by God. He came to show THEM and US to have faith in the God who delivered Abraham, Moses, and all the people of God into a new life; that despite the bad things and the sad things that happen in our lives, there is a loving God here beside us. Jesus came to show us that God’s love brought crucifixion, death, and resurrection to GOD’S ONLY SON so that we all will be transformed and have that glorious ending in our Father’s house with many dwelling place.

Jesus does not promise us an easy way in our faith lives or our daily lives. We all have potholes, winding turns, bumps, bruises, and forks in the road and worst of all we are human. We will make bad choices, Good choices, we will say and do hurtful things to ourselves and others. God calls us in our turning and twisting paths to be transformed by the gift of Jesus; his teachings, his words, and his actions…by his death and resurrection; so that we think about the choices we make, the words we say, and our actions; and we try harder to keep Christ at the center of all that we do: AMEN!

A collaboration Sermon with Robin Litton for Sunday, May 4, 2014

Grace, mercy, and Peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: AMEN!

 John's Gospel and the road to Emmaus story

            Where do you find yourself today, right now, on your journey of faith?

            What, if anything is different about your life now than two weeks ago? If we are Easter people like we claim to be…people of the risen Christ as we profess and sing about in our anthems and hymns, then what have you been experiencing since meeting the resurrected Christ for these past 14 days?
            Scripture tells us that for Mary Magdalene and the other ladies there were going to the tomb to prepare the body for a proper burial. This was a body in which ALL life was gone; a sad but necessary act of respect, a defeated and mournful task that needed to be done.
            For the disciples, they were locked in that upper room where we heard last week that nothing gets in or out of that room. They were afraid that someone would try to come and kill them. Confusion and loss was the feeling of the day. Where would they go and what would they do? What was the point? What was the purpose? What now? They were confident that this would turn out differently than it has. What went so wrong?
            For these guys walking on the road to Emmaus, scripture tells us they were sad, feeling low, maybe depressed, discouraged, or even hopeless. There was nothing more to be done but to give in to the old system, the old beliefs, the old ways of oppression and pain, loss and fear. Same old, same old and existence would continue in the way its always been.
            But every time there was a new encounter with the resurrected Jesus, fear and awe led the way as scripture tells us their “eyes were open.” See, even as they stood in front of the risen Christ, they still didn’t recognize him at first. These pilgrims, we read, tell Jesus the whole story. Jesus even answers back, “how foolish you are,” he says. But the hopelessness and despair continue with them until the breaking of the bread. Then we hear those powerful words that their eyes were opened and they recognize him. All of a sudden, there he was, right before their very selves…standing right in front of them! Everything for them changed at that moment! Hope was restored and everlasting life has triumphed! Love has won!
            Something like this happened to my wife and I this week. My cousin and her husband and son came from Oklahoma to visit. I had not seen my cousin in, roughly, 30 years almost. My cousin and my uncle, her father, have done a lot of work on the genealogy of our family. I always asked my father who our ancestors were on his side of the family. He always responded that we were related to horse thieves and it would be left at that. I always wondered about it. I had heard some stories about my mother’s side of the family but never my father’s.
            Well, I had one of those eye-opening moments. In our conversation about MY family history, I learned that while my father made a comment to put an end to the questions I had, two of my uncles were doing lots of work to find out who they were; and by association, I could find out who I was. We spoke of how these two uncles would spend countless hours verifying and re-verifying the proof to match family members together and put our family history together.
            And that is when it happened…then came my eye-opening moment. Donna, my cousin, asked if I knew that I was related to a very prominent person. Some might call him a villain and some might call him a patriot…and no IT IS NOT Benedict Arnold. But it is someone, a few people actually, involved in Scotland’s struggle to be independent from long, long ago. I guess now when my step son asks again if I would wear a kilt when he gets married, I will say with pride…YES! But this moment changed what I thought about myself. It changed what I thought about my family. We were not a bunch of horse thieves as I was once told. I suddenly felt a sense of knowing, elation, and I looked at my entire family in a whole new way.
            All this week I have been wondering if this is, basically, how Mary felt when she came to the tomb and encountered Jesus, the disciples as they saw Jesus appear, or these men on the Emmaus Road as they sat at the table and ate and drank with him.
            I wonder if this was the same experience through the Holy Spirit that we feel when we share our struggles with one another, when we pray for help from God, when we pass the peace of God’s love with one another.
            You know, sometimes Jesus does not just meet our expectations. I really wish that Jesus, the carpenter, would come and fix all the things that need fixing. I mean, we have a list; I wish Jesus would heal the people who I know are sick and hurting and lonely. I wish Jesus would swoop in and show his power; eliminating power struggles, bullying of our young people and show them all who’s boss. I am frustrated with people not caring about the lost, the poor who need help just so they can have a decent meal, and people who do not have a voice. I want fairness in the world and I want my God to charge in and lead the way…take no prisoners!
            But that doesn’t seem to be the way God wants to work…and we ARE better for it; because you see that it is in the mystery of our faith that we see God clearly. God didn’t come to Mary only when she was happy, He met her in her vulnerability, in her fear and he comforted her. God met the disciples not in a palace, but he met them in the dark locked room where they were in fear for their lives; where they were broken and in need of Good News f God’s love. God, through Jesus Christ, met the men on the Emmaus Road when they were not just sad, not just disappointed or let down, but utterly and completely hopeless…where there was no hope, no future, no life.
            It is difficult sometimes for us to wrap our heads around the mind of God. That is where our faith comes in. It is where we strive to do the will of God, even when the world tells us that we are going in the wrong direction; that we are the ones out of touch and in need of fixing. God comes to us where we need, in the secret, dark, lonely places of our lives. That’s where we see the risen Christ’s strength and power. It is when we move from the relative comfort of our lives as we know it, to touch the lives of others.
            So what does this resurrection proclamation mean for us? It means EVERYTHING! See, Easter is not the end of the road, not the end of our journey, not the end of the story. Scripture doesn’t stop there…it continues on. Because each and every day we get up and proclaim resurrection, is a new beginning. It is a new chance for us to experience the risen Christ and the myriad of possibilities that God lays out for us.
           It is through this mutual love that the Holy Spirit is unleashed. It is this burst of spiritual energy that we feel from the risen Christ It is so much more powerful that the feeling I had finding out who some of my relatives were; because, friends, it is the risen Christ that open new possibilities that we have only to dream.
            I pray that we all see the risen Christ, proclaim God’s love and experience new hope made sure through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Don’t waste another minute! Search for yourselves; look in the places deepest in your heart. Feel God’s love poured out for you…take the risk. Do not fear, but believe!

So let us live as the Holy Spirit wills of us for indeed we are Easter people…thanks be to God: AMEN!