The Holy Spirit Looks Like...

John 14:8-17, 25-27

The bags were all packed.  The car was loaded from bottom to top.  My friends and family gathered the day before to wish me well on my journey eastward.  Bright and early in the morning, my mom and I piled in the car and drove away from our house.  We drove through South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania before arriving at my new “home” in Gettysburg.  I had been away from home before, but I had never been this far away from home for an extended amount of time.  I had said goodbye to my family and friends before, but I had never been this far away from them.  I knew it wasn’t goodbye forever, even though at the time it kind of felt like that.  It was a “see you later.”

We have all said goodbye on many occasions.  Goodbye as you drop your child off for their first night away from home.  Goodbye as your children have left for college.  Goodbye as your best friend has moved across the country.  Goodbye as one of your co-workers has left for a new job.  Goodbye as you left the care facility where your aging parents live.  Often our goodbyes are more like “see you laters.”  We really expect to see the person again somewhere along the journey of life.

In our text today Jesus is gathered with the disciples on the night of his arrest.  He is sharing his final words with them and saying goodbye.  However, I don’t think his goodbye is really final.  I think he is saying more of a “see you later.”  It is only a “see you later,” because God is sending another Advocate.  God is sending the Holy Spirit to be among them as Jesus leaves this earthly kingdom.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I think the Holy Spirit is difficult to talk about.  It is especially difficult to preach on twice in one month.  I think it is most difficult to talk about, because frankly I don’t know what it looks like.  The image of the Holy Spirit can be a bit difficult to wrap our minds around.  However, I think our Gospel text for today can help shed some light on the image of the Holy Spirit.  The text describes the Holy Spirit as an Advocate.  An advocate is one who supports you, who stands up for you, who speaks on your behalf, who lends a helping hand, who takes your side in a debate, and who doesn’t leave you alone. 

The next descriptor of the Holy Spirit is “another.”  Yes, God will send another Advocate, meaning that God has already sent one Advocate.  The first Advocate was Jesus, God’s only Son.  The next Advocate is the Holy Spirit.  I think this means that the second Advocate will look a lot like the first one.  The Spirit will abide with us in the same way that the Word made flesh has abided with us.  The Spirit will mediate Jesus’ presence in the same what that Jesus mediated God’s presence in the world.

So, I think the lesson is that the Holy Spirit is an advocate that looks a lot like Jesus.  If that is the case, then I think I know what the Holy Spirit looks like.  Anytime that one person supports another person, anytime that someone lends a helping hand, anytime that someone speaks up for those whose voices are not heard, anytime that someone feeds someone who is hungry, anytime that love is shown for the last, the lost, the least, and the little in our midst…then we have seen the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit looks like a group of high school students that are sent forth today at their graduation.  Young people who will impact the affairs of the world through their words and their actions in a special way, because of how they have been brought up in the church and are rooted in their faith.

The Holy Spirit looks like the waters of baptism that wash over two young ones this weekend.  Through these waters Savannah and Anika are claimed by the God who created them and welcomed into a loving community of faith.  That faith community is then empowered to teach them about faith and what it means to be a child of God.

The Holy Spirit looks like a community of believers that join together to raise funds for others.  Each month they have the opportunity to support a new ministry in their midst, offering their financial gifts and prayers.  And then when special events like World Malaria Day comes up they are still able to raise enough money for 360 mosquito nets to protect our brothers and sisters in Africa from the deadly effects of Malaria.

The Holy Spirit looks like a group of women who were brought together by their love for quilting and their desire to bring comfort and care to other people.  Realizing that there are people in our world who really need the warmth and love that a blanket provides they make quilts to send to Lutheran World Relief, so that others may truly feel that warmth and love.

The Holy Spirit looks a lot like the people of South Canyon.  As we hear in Acts “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men and (I would add: women) shall see visions, an your old men (and women) shall dream dreams.”  With the help of the Holy Spirit the people of South Canyon are able to do just that.  No wonder Jesus says, we know the Holy Spirit.  It is true.  We do know the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit, on occasion, has looked a lot like you and like me.  Look to your left (yes, Lutheran friends – actually look at the person next to you) …there is the Holy Spirit.  Look to your right…there is the Holy Spirit.  And the next time you look in the mirror notice that the Holy Spirit looks like you, too.  For the gift of the Holy Spirit, another Advocate, who allows Jesus to say “see you later” and then takes up residence in our bodies and uses us to mediate God’s love and Jesus’ presence in the world, we say, “Thanks be to God.”  Amen.