June 5, 2022 Pentecost St. Andrew Church Rev. Anne McAnelly
First Lesson: Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Second Lesson: John 14:8-17, 25-26
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
15 “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.
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.
Happy Pentecost!!! Good on you for wearing your red as we anticipate the Holy Spirit erupting in flames, the Holy Spirit swirling and sweeping like the breath of God. As you know Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit arrived on the scene, the day the Spirit of God descended empowering speech and language to transcend divisions and barriers. Gene just read the initial part of the Acts passage that tells of this wonderous event, this Spirit filled moment. I have preached on the Acts passage three times for every one of anything else. So this year I am exploring John’s understanding of the Holy Spirit and how that can impact our faith and lives. Listen now for God’s word as it comes to us from John 14:8-14, 25-26.
Here it is the Birthday of the Church and you are invited to the party- the invitation reads, Your presence is requested…. We have read that often enough. But what does that actually mean? Your presence? It might include occupancy, aura, carriage, company, occupation, residence and proximity. But in this context, it simply means attendance. We also use the word presence to express an indescribable nature; a person or thing that exists or is present in a place but is not seen. Or we might say that charismatic person has a larger-than-life presence. I start here, with very human ideas of presence, to get us thinking about God’s presence, a divine presence. Did you notice that Jesus only starts talking about another presence within the context of Jesus leaving, of taking his presence away from the disciples? Over and over again we hear the Father and Son are one, I am in him and he is in me (10). But Jesus has just let them know of his imminent death and Peter’s death (13:36-37) and the disciples are fearful, they are freaking out. Death is in the air as they face their fear and uncertainty. What are they going to do without Jesus, without a divine presence? That’s why Philip asks to see the Father, to be connected once again to the divine presence. But then Jesus gently reminds him, Jesus is the divine presence on earth, something he has endeavored to teach his disciples.
In the Old Testament the divine presence belonged to the Lord, to God Almighty. In the New Testament, the divine presence is embodied in the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ. That is oversimplified, Jesus was with God in the beginning and the Spirit of God, the wisdom of God, reigned in Old Testament too. But for the most part, the divine presence is expressed by God in the Old Testament and by Jesus in the New. Until Pentecost. Until God sends the Advocate to abide with the disciples in Jesus’ absence.
Who is this Advocate? “Paraclete” is the word in Greek, and it has a rich meaning. This Advocate whom Jesus asks God to send, it is the Spirit of God, the Presence of God. The Advocate is a guider, a teacher, a comforter, a helper, an intercessor. Jesus calls it another Advocate, implying that Jesus is the first. Think of all the ways that Jesus has interfaced and abided with the disciples and humanity and then multiply that because this Spirit of God moves beyond human form, beyond the form of Jesus. Both come from God, both are divine presence, but we experience them differently.
The Advocate is the Spirit within. The Spirit within God, the Spirit within you and me, the Spirit within our community. You know the Spirit because she abides in you and lives in you.
We have all been overwhelmed with grief and disbelief by all the mass shootings. Uvalde with 19 children and two teachers, Buffalo with 10 people gunned down at the grocery store along 230 other mass shootings in the US just this year. We, like the disciples, face death and uncertainty with all this senseless killing, and the inability to address its root cause of hatred. I pray we can find comfort in the Advocate who abides with us as we walk this painful path. But that is one of the blessings of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, it abides with you and with me, it lingers with us and walks with us as we face these hardships and grief. The Spirit abides with us even in our confusion and pain. Meda Stamper writes, “The promise of the Spirit does not come to completely faithful, courageous people, already loving one another and the world boldly, already worshiping in spirit and truth. It comes in the midst of confusion and fear… Jesus makes the promise of the Spirit, emerging from the mutual love of the Father and Son for one another and for us, into which they and we are invited, at the very moment when such grace seems most beyond their grasp and ours. In this text Jesus tells them that simply in their love for this person they know, (Jesus) they are opening their hearts to the presence of God in them in the form of another Advocate, the Spirit of truth, who will guide them and embolden them for love” (Working Preacher).
Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, “abides with you and will be in you” (v. 17). I love that the Holy Spirit is within me, and within you! It is the most intimate divine presence. Osvaldo Vena notes we are to imitate the relationship between Father and Son to become instruments of God. He describes it as “an inward, enduring personal communion.” The Spirit within. “God will be incarnated again, this time not in a person, Jesus (John 1:14), but in a group of people who will continue Jesus’ work to an even greater degree (John 12). The same kind of symbiotic relationship that existed between Jesus and the Father will now exist between the community and the Holy Spirit” (Working Preacher).
That is the Spirit Within. That is the Holy Spirit alive in our lives, impacting how we get through and how we soar. This inward, enduring personal communion we have the with Holy Spirit abides with us in amazing ways. Barbara Lundblad writes, “The Spirit of truth, the Advocate will come here. Jesus’ presence will be deeper than memory and closer than heaven” (Working Preacher). Pentecost is not all about fire, wind and language. No, it is about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The arrival of the Spirit of Truth. Our invitation to have our own divine presence in our lives through our faith in God and Christ.
The story is told of a student named Steve Winger from Lubbock, TX who was taking a challenging class in Logic. The course and teacher were known for exacting and demanding exams. The final exam was looming, and the professor mercifully told the class that each student would be permitted to bring in a single 8 x 11 ½ inch sheet with as much information as they could put on that one sheet for help during the test. On exam day, each student came to class clutching their precious pieces of paper with as much information as possible. Some students had crammed lines and lines of font so tiny and so numerous onto that single sheet that you had to wonder how they could read it. But Steve walked in with a single blank sheet and a friend who was a senior student and who had an ‘A’ in logic. Steve bent down and placed that single, blank sheet of paper on the floor next to his desk. His expert friend stood on the paper.
The professor noticed the extra body in the room and asked what he was doing. Steve piped up, “You said we could bring in whatever we could fit on a single piece of paper for help on this test, well, this is my help and he can fit on the paper!” He had followed the instructions to the letter and was the only student in that class to score an ‘A’ since he had his expert friend standing along side him. Now, the Holy Spirit can’t fit on a single sheet of paper but on test day, I know who I want near, standing alongside me, supporting me, guiding me (Sermons.com, staff).
On Pentecost the divine presence of the Holy Spirit comes to earth, comes to us.
The Holy Spirit dwells within us. The Advocates guides and helps us in our time of need. Come Holy Spirit Come! Amen.
