Homelessness and The Rich Man

 Luke 12:13-21

           Last week I had the opportunity to travel with the high school youth to Seattle for a mission trip.  Our trip was organized through Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in Montana.  Our main mission was to better understand homelessness in the city of Seattle and at large.  We spent time assisting with a variety of feeding ministries throughout Seattle.  We served dinner at three homeless shelters, prepared and served a lunch for over 200 people, and visited the compass center, which is the umbrella of services for the homeless population in Seattle. 

The opportunity to serve was wonderful, but I think the conversations we had were even more meaningful.  We were able to sit down and talk with our homeless brothers and sisters at each of these service opportunities.  It was through those conversations that we learned that the face of homelessness is different than our preconceived ideas had led us to believe.  Homeless people are a lot like us in many ways.  They are educated.  They have traveled.  They have had or still do have items that are worth a decent amount of money.  They have nice clothes and look put together.  If you saw them on the street you might not even know that they are homeless.  They don’t carry all their belongings around with them.  They have jobs.  They are appreciative of what they have.  They are trying to get out of homelessness.  Of course all of those things are not true for every homeless person we met, but many of them shocked us with their stories of somewhat normal lives that had been turned upside down in one swift moment.  Often it was difficult for them to talk about that one moment that had changed their life and made them homeless, but they were very quick to tell us about how their lives had been and what they had done.  Their willingness to share their stories helped us recreate the image of homelessness in our minds.  Homelessness is no longer faceless for us.  We now know some of the faces of homelessness.

This experience made me read our text for today in a different light.  In the homeless shelters that we visited individuals have permanent beds.  At the foot of each bed is a space for them to keep their belongings.  That space is two plastic totes or bins.  The lids must be able to close and they are stacked.  I tried to imagine what I would put into those two plastic containers and I couldn’t even begin to think of what I would have to get rid of to downsize that far.  All it takes is an immersion in urban homelessness to realize that I am like the rich man.  We are like the rich man. 

Want to make this parable more contemporary?  Ariel, from the Little Mermaid, is also like the rich man.  You remember her little tune:

Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the girl

The girl who has everything?

Look at this trove, treasures untold

How many wonders can one cavern hold?

Looking around here, you'd think

Sure, she's got everything.

I've got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty

I've got who's-its and what's-its galore

You want thing-a-mabobs?

I've got twenty

But who cares? No big deal. I want more.

It is so very easy to be greedy.  It is so easy to tear down our barns and build bigger ones, doing so only so we have more room to keep things for ourselves.  This text confronts us, you and me, and it confronts our habits of greed.  It confronts our sinful nature.  “St. Augustine once said that God gave us people to love and things to use, and sin, in short, is the confusion of these two things.”  Our love of things is what gets us in trouble.  It distracts us from loving the people around us, which was God’s intention.

            Sure having money provides stability for us and our family, which is important.  Money creates jobs, which allow others to have an income.  Money provides shelter, food, clothes, and transportation.  Money does benefit us, but it is not meant to be stored up in a greedy way.  Money can be used to bless the lives of others, too.  It can be shared.  Money in some ways gives us life.  It does not give us the life that Jesus promises to us.  It does not provide full, abundant, eternal life.  Money is only temporary.  It is only needed here on earth.  It is not needed in death.  “A seasoned pastor once said, “I have heard many different regrets expressed by people nearing the end of life, but there is one regret I have never heard expressed. I have never heard anyone say, ‘I wish I hadn’t given so much away. I wish I had kept more for myself.’” Death has a way of clarifying what really matters.”

All it takes is the words Jesus says to the rich man to make us consider how we live our lives.  Jesus says, “You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And the things you have prepared whose will they be?”  If your life was demanded of you today who will inherit your things?  Will they benefit your next of kin, maybe a spouse or child?  Are they intended to be given to some of your favorite causes?  Will they be used richly toward God?  Jesus’ words, even though they may sound a bit scary and fearful, should point us in the right direction.

That direction is back to the promises made at our baptism.  In the waters of baptism we shed our sinful clothing and are clothed with Christ.  We die with Christ and are raised with him as well.  In that dying we are to put to death our earthly desires, according to Colossians.  That list of earthly desires includes greed and a myriad of other things.  In letting go of greed and other earthly desires we are made new by Christ and his love for us.  In letting go of greed we also are freed to be rich toward God.

So, instead of living like the rich man, tearing down our barns and building larger ones, or like Ariel, singing of all the things that we want, let’s live proclaiming a different story, let’s live singing the story of the abundant gifts God has given. Let’s proclaim the story of salvation that was given to us in our baptism through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  And in response to all that has been given to us let’s be rich toward God.  Amen.

Go: Apostle and Disciple

Luke 10:1-11,16-20   

          As I first read this text I immediately focused on the word “go.”  Which made me think of one of my favorite pieces of Scripture, Matthew 28:19, which says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  This verse makes me feel motivated.  It lights a fire within me.  It inspires me.  Whenever the going gets tough I remember that Jesus has sent me to evangelize, to make disciples, and that he has sent the Holy Spirit to empower me for the mission.  I guess that word “go” just really gets me going.  This verse took on new meaning while I was on internship in Washington DC.  On Ash Wednesday Regina, a member from the congregation, and I had made our way to the Van Ness Metro Station.  Regina had her easel and paints and I had some ashes in a container.  Our hope was to remind people that it was Ash Wednesday and to place ashes on their foreheads reminding them that they are dust and to dust they will return.  As we began I was very hesitant.  I guess you could say that I was listening to what my mom had taught me as a young girl on the prairie, “don’t talk to strangers.”  Eventually it became a little easier to greet people walking down the sidewalk.  After all that is the first step in evangelizing.  Of course, we got a few crazy looks as we greeted people on that brisk morning.  But as Regina and I walked back up Connecticut Avenue later that morning we couldn’t help but talk about how we had made a difference.  Even if we only put ashes on one person’s forehead, we had begun to make disciples.  That was a great reminder of why we had gone on our mission that day.  We were not expecting to return to St. Paul’s with ten new members or even one.  We had gone because I felt like God was telling me to go.  God was showing me that in this busy city where almost everyone works over forty hours, they may not be able to make it to church on Ash Wednesday.  God was telling me to take the ashes to them.  For at least one moment on that morning, I imagine that most people were reminded that it was Ash Wednesday and even if they didn’t know what that meant they asked us, asked a friend, or googled it on their Smartphone.  That day Regina and I were on a mission.  We were commissioned.  We were apostles, sent to make disciples.  We were sent by God to go.

            The point, my friends, is not about gaining new members or increasing our income from the offering plate.  The point is that we have been commissioned to make disciples, to baptize them, and to teach them.  And it’s not about what we, the church, might get out of it.  It is because God told us to go. 

In our text today Jesus tells us once again to go.  More specifically he says, “Go on your way.”  And with those words he sends out the 70, in pairs.  They are sent to cure the sick and tell others that the kingdom of God has come near.  Really their task was twofold: teamwork and proclamation.  Those are both difficult jobs.  And as if that isn’t hard enough, throw in the persistence that Jesus is asking for here.  He tells them whether they are welcomed or not by the people they are sent to that they are still supposed to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near.

            Jesus sends them out in teams, because he expects that there will be some resistance to their work.  That is where the “lambs into the midst of wolves” part comes into play.  As a team, when one fails, struggles, falls down, or falters the other one will be there to assist.  Jesus didn’t send them out as lone rangers.  I remember that being a big part of my seminary education: “Don’t be the lone ranger.”  Instead I was taught to know that I am surrounded by colleagues that are doing similar work.  They have days of success and days of failures.  The same is true for each one of us as we go about our work as Christians, as we share the good news; we are not meant to be lone rangers.  Rather, we are meant to be part of a network of people, a part of the whole church, who work together in proclaiming that the kingdom of God has come near.

            The other part of being on a team is knowing that others have your back.  When we can’t come up with the right words to proclaim the good news, we can step aside and let another member of the team do that part.  When we are unable to assist the church in one thing we can use our gifts in another area.  We don’t always have to be on the starting line-up. 

That is part of the difference between being disciples and being apostles.  Now, likely you have heard those words and thought they were being used interchangeably.  They are similar words, but they do have different core meanings.  As disciples we are the learners.  As apostles we are the sent out ones.  That being said, there are times when we need to be disciples learning through personal study and group study.  There are other times when we are called to be the sent out ones or the ones on the front lines of proclamation.  We are not meant to be both apostles and disciples at the same time and all the time.  We need to have something flowing in and filling us, in order to have something productive flowing out from us.  A life-giving faith requires an inflow of learning and an outflow of being sent with a message.

            Now you might not be sent to put ashes on people’s foreheads in Washington, DC.  But you are sent and commissioned by Jesus to go.  You are called to be a disciple and an apostle.  You are sent to go on your way as a laborer in God’s vineyard.  And if you know anything about vineyard work or labor during harvest time, you know it doesn’t stop.  Once the harvest is ready you go 110% non-stop.  So, let this life of faith consume you and let it spill over into all you say and do.

Today you are sent and commissioned to go, but remember that you are not alone; you are part of a team.  You need to be filled and nourished as a learner before you are sent out to be a proclaimer.  So go with these words from St. Teresa of Avila “Christ has no body on earth but yours; no hands but yours; no feet but yours.  Yours are the eyes through which the compassion of Christ looks out to the world.  Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.  Yours are the hands with which he is to bless others now.”  So, go.  Amen.

Jesus is Coming to Dinner

           Luke 7:26-50

            I remember a skit that we used to do when I worked at Bible camp.  It was called “Jesus is coming to dinner.”  A visitor comes and knocks on the host’s door and asks for food.  The host turns the visitor away without any food.  Another visitor comes and knocks on the host’s door and asks to use the bathroom.  The host says no and shuts the door.  The next visitor to knock on the door asks to use the phone.  But the host again closes the door providing no help to the visitor.  The host was too busy preparing for Jesus to come to dinner, to assist the visitors with their needs.  Lo and behold, Jesus never comes, or at least Jesus doesn’t come in the form that the host was expecting.  Actually it had been Jesus that had come asking for food, a bathroom, and to use the phone.  Jesus had come, but the host was too busy preparing for Jesus’ arrival to even take time to extend hospitality to the one at the door.

            In today’s text, Simon is hosting a dinner party and Jesus has been invited.  You can about imagine what the other guests are thinking, “Jesus is coming to dinner!”  Jesus arrives and dinner begins.  And then in walks a woman—a sinful woman.  I am sure the mood of the guests took a nosedive.  Who does this sinful woman think she is that she can just waltz into our dinner party, uninvited?  And then the woman begins washing Jesus’ feet with her tears and drying them off with her hair.  She kisses his feet and anoints them with ointment.  Who does that?  Surely Simon didn’t do that when Jesus arrived.

            In fact, Simon was not a very good host at this dinner party.  It was custom at the time for the host to provide a basin of water for the guests to wash their feet when they arrived at the host’s house.  After all, Jesus had just come from walking the dusty roads in sandals or maybe with no shoes at all.  His feet were dirty and tired.  They probably could have used a good soak in some warm water.  Simon must have been too busy preparing for Jesus to come to dinner to take the time to extend a hand of hospitality to him when he arrived.  So here we have it—Simon the inhospitable host.

            The hospitable one in this story is actually the uninvited sinful woman.  She takes it upon herself to welcome Jesus properly.  She does the unthinkable by using her tears to wash Jesus’ feet and using her hair to dry them off.  She kisses his feet and anoints them.  Simon thinks this is absolutely inappropriate.  He wonders why Jesus is allowing such a woman, a sinful woman, to wash his feet.  After all, as Jesus allows this sinful and unclean woman to wash his feet, he is becoming unclean in the process.  Simon thinks this is crazy, but we know that this is not new for Jesus.  Jesus often spends his time with the outcasts, poor, the unclean, and sinners.  In fact, Jesus appreciates this sinful woman’s hospitality.

            Jesus takes this opportunity to prove a point to Simon by telling a parable about two debtors.  Their debts are of differing amounts, but both of the debts are canceled.  Now I would love it if Jesus were really talking about canceling debt.  I know I have a large amount of educational debt that I would love to be canceled.  But, Jesus is talking about another type of debt here.  This debt is sin—the same sin that we are in bondage to, as well.  The debtors are meant to resemble Simon and the sinful woman.  The one who has the greater debt loves more.  The sinful woman in this story shows more love to Jesus.  She is hospitable.  She does this because she knows she is sinful and knows that she is in need of forgiveness.  Simon on the other hand is also sinful.  In fact, we are all sinful.  But Simon seems unaware of his sin.  He does not seem to know that he needs forgiveness.  Those who are forgiven much, love much.  Those who are forgiven little, love little.  Their debts are canceled.  Their sins are forgiven. 

            As a result of the forgiveness granted, the other guests at the dinner party begin to question the identity of this person that is granting forgiveness.  I imagine we might have done the same thing if we were guests at Simon’s house that day.  They wonder if this person may be a prophet.  In fact, this person is more than just a prophet.  This person is Jesus.  This person is God’s Son.  This person is God.  This person is the one who has the ability to forgive the sins of the sinful woman, of Simon, and of us.

            So who am I in this story?  Who are you in this story?  Sometimes we might be like the sinful woman.  We might know that we are sinful and are in need of forgiveness.  This happens when we are able to honestly look inward at our own sinful nature.  At other times, we might be like Simon.  We might be completely oblivious to our sin and therefore unaware of our need for forgiveness.  Most often this happens when our eyes are so focused outward on the sins and shortcomings of others that we are unable to recognize our own sin.  Regardless, our debts are canceled.  Our sins are forgiven. 

            Do we receive forgiveness for our sins because we have already shown love?  Or are we forgiven of our sins so that we may begin to show love?  On one hand, love is a response to forgiveness.  On the other hand, the ability to love can be related to the ability to receive forgiveness. 

            Love and forgiveness are so closely related.  This story from 2005 illustrates that point, as well.  In June of 2005, Pastor Eileen Harris’ life was changed forever. She came home one evening to discover that her home had been robbed by, Russell, the man who cleaned her home.  Her husband, who was also a pastor, and her 24 year old daughter were killed and their home was set on fire.  The housecleaner was sentenced to life in prison and if the case would have gone to trial he likely would have received the death penalty.  However, Pastor Eileen did not let the case go to trial.  She said, “Because I value the gift of life and I know God forgives and loves all of us, especially you, Russell, I support a sentence of natural life.”  Pastor Eileen took forgiveness and love to the nth degree.  That level of forgiveness and love might be one we cannot even fathom, but may it set an example for us.

            Now I don’t want it to seem like I am telling you that you must do x, y, and z in order to be forgiven.  We know that is not true.  We know that our forgiveness was secured through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  However, we are not just off the hook and free to do whatever we please, knowing that we will just automatically be forgiven.  We, as Christians, are called to act in response to the forgiveness we have been given.  One possible response is that we are called to be hospitable to the stranger—the one in our midst.  In doing this we are also being hospitable to Jesus.  We are showing love to God and the stranger.

            Now I know that we do get some strangers, some visitors here at South Canyon.  What would you do if someone showed up and you knew that they were new to our community.  What if you got to church and someone was already sitting in your pew—you know the one that has your imprint on it?  Maybe you would just go and sit somewhere else and ignore the stranger in your pew.  Maybe you would sit next to the stranger and still ignore them.  Maybe you would sit next to the stranger and actually welcome them.  If their feet were tired and dirty would you be willing to use your tears and hair to wash their feet?  What if this person was Jesus?  May we, who continue to be forgiven much, continue to love much, because we never know when Jesus might actually show up for dinner.  Amen.

Unexpected

Luke 7:1-10

Unexpected.  That is what our text for today is.  A centurion with faith in Jesus.  As a Roman centurion this man spends his days giving orders to his servants and having those orders obeyed.  In his own words, “I say to one ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”  As a member of the Roman military he would have been a Gentile, a non-Christian  Yet he was asking Jesus to heal his servant.  His servant was a man of faith, more specifically he is the one who had built their synagogue.  It is unexpected that the centurion is even attempting to communicate with Jesus, but the way in which he asks for healing for his slave is the most unexpected.  He apparently has enough trust or belief in Jesus to know that Jesus can heal the slave.  He even believes that Jesus is powerful enough to command him to be healed, even from afar, without even seeing the servant.  Yet, Jesus is not even concerned that the Roman centurion is making this request.  As one who does not draw lines between insiders and outsiders, Jesus willingly travels with the Jewish elders toward the home of the centurion.  Jesus is amazed by this man’s faith, the way he believes that Jesus can just command the servant to be healed, and responds, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  This is truly an unexpected request from and unexpected person with unexpected faith.

I don’t think the unexpected faith of the centurion is a one time instance.  It is in unexpected events that faith is often strongly impacted.  When I think about the unexpected, the first thing I think of  is the sudden death of a loved one.  I saw this happen to several families while I was doing my summer unit of chaplaincy at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  The most unexpected situation that I encountered one night was a 17-year-old patient who had recently undergone open-heart surgery at another hospital.  While he was in that hospital he developed MRSA, which is an antibiotic resistant staph infection.  As his condition continued to worsen the family decided to have him transferred to Mayo for a second opinion.  I met the patient and his family at 11pm on a Thursday night.  He was awake and alert.  He was asking many questions of the medical staff.  Throughout the night his condition worsened and at 4am I was called to come back to be with his parents.  They were a Roman Catholic family with deep faith.  They had seven children and had lost a set of twins at birth.  The patient was the third oldest of his siblings.  He was an athlete and was going to be a senior in high school.  As his parents and I walked the hallway together praying the rosary I kept thinking about the life of this teenage boy.  He was sick.  He was suffering.  His once normal earthly life had gone awry.  Then he died on Saturday afternoon after several surgeries on his heart and a few episodes of cardiac arrest.  His family was heartbroken, but still filled with a profound sense of faith, even though they had faced the unexpected.

Yes, faith comes out of death, but faith also comes out of life, especially unexpected life.  Many of you know Brad W., who continues to be a living miracle.  On May 24, 2012 he suffered a severe heart attack with lack of oxygen and low blood flow for twenty minutes.  Doctors gave him only a five percent chance to live and a less than five percent chance to live with his faculties intact.  He spent ten days in a coma.  One year ago this weekend he opened his eyes for the first time since his heart attack.  Then on June 9^th, about 385 hours after the attack he began to speak.  That is five times longer than doctors want after brain injury.  Each time Brad’s family went to make a medical decision God intervened and made the decision for them.  When they began end of life discussions he started moving and opening his eyes.  When they discussed moving him a long term acute care facility across the state he started talking.  When they began talking about rehabilitation he improved fast enough to stay in Rapid at the rehab hospital.  God’s care and peace carried Brad and his family through this unexpected event.  Throughout the past year as we have heard stories of his recovery we have all been amazed by his unexpected recovery and his life. 

Unexpected faith comes out of other unexpected events in our world, as well.  As runners at the Boston Marathon ran to donate blood after the bombings, faith was restored in a world that had just been shaken by death and explosion.  After tornados hit Oklahoma an outpouring of support came from across the country and faith was present again.  When the hungry and homeless in our community walk into Trinity Lutheran and other downtown churches and receive care through prayer, food, and other necessities faith is re-established.  We often rally together to support others because of our faith.

It is in the face of death, life, and other unexpected events that seeds are planted in people and they begin to see the good that is happening around them.  We know that good to be God, but others may have not named it as such in their lives.  It is likely that each one of us can think of at least one person who is not a Christian or is not currently involved in a community of faith.  Those are the centurions in our midst.  It is through the expected and unexpected work of you and me that faith is passed along.  We, as members of the body of Christ, have that ability.  In daily life we have the opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel with those who are on the inside and those who are on the outside.  As people who share the presence of the risen Christ through our words and actions, we have the power to influence the faith of others.  We have the ability to plant seeds in the lives of the centurions around us, which could lead others to unexpected faith and belief in the God, who we call good.  Let us all be agents of that unexpected faith.  Amen.

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.

Indwelling of Peace

John 14:23-29

          Each week I go to the hospital.  I usually visit on Thursdays or Fridays.  Pastor Bruce visits at the beginning of the week and a member of the congregation visits mid-week and on the weekend.  Each week as I drive to the hospital I hope and pray that there is no one from South Canyon at the hospital.  I hope that not because I don’t want to see anyone or because I don’t want to do my job, but because I want people to be healthy.  I don’t want people to be at the hospital.  However, for the past six weeks or so when I have went to the hospital we have had babies in the hospital.  Now, I really don’t want to see babies in the hospital, unless it is for that short time after a healthy birth.  Then the hospital is a happy place.  The babies I have been visiting haven’t been healthy babies.  They have been sick babies.  For the past six weeks or so I have visited babies in the NICU: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  The first time I saw on the list that there was a baby in the NICU I had no idea what to do, but now I am becoming a pro at visiting the NICU.  On all my visits to the NICU I have been surprised to always find the parents or some member of the family there with the infant.  Even though the baby cannot go home the parents are almost always by the side of their babies.  That is the love of parents.  That is what parents do.  When they could leave their newborn in the complete care of the nurses and go home, get a good nights sleep and eat a nutritious meal, all things they will find harder to do when they bring their baby home, they still spend the majority of their time at the hospital.  That is the love of a parent to a child.

            Parental love.  That is the love of God to us, too.  Jesus uses the language of Father here to describe God.  Now, I don’t think we need to see that “father” language as a masculine figure.  Rather it is the language of parent or a caring, loving figure.  The masculine language of father is not comforting to all people.  The feminine language of mother is not comforting to all people.  Yet, we all know what a caring and loving relationship feels like.  Whether that is a biological parent, an adoptive parent, a foster parent, an adult mentor, a school teacher, a pastor, or some other parent-like relationship.  Think of that person who has loved you with parent-like love.  Now double it or quadruple it.  Imagine that love being even bigger than you can imagine.  Imagine that love being divine love – God love.  That is what Jesus is talking about here.  Big love – God love.

            After Jesus talks about this big, divine love, this God love, then he mentions that he will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.  Jesus mentions this because he can’t stick around on earth.  He will soon be leaving and he wants us to know that even though his earthly presence is leaving, the Holy Spirit will still be present with us.  Jesus does not leave us alone.  He does not abandon us.  God sends someone to take Jesus’ place.  The Advocate will teach us everything and remind us of what Jesus has said to us.  Through the Holy Spirit, God will make a home in us.  God will take up residence inside of us. 

            All this leads to peace.  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”  Often when we think of peace, I think we immediately think of world peace.  As I grew up, in my sheltered world, I can’t really remember a time without world peace, until 9/11.  Still, I was a high school freshman at the time.  I can’t say that 9/11 really threw me off guard for more than a couple of days.  However, in the past few months, the lack of peace has become more obvious to me.  From Aurora, Colorado to Newtown, Connecticut, to Boston, Massachusetts we have been short on peace in our own country, let alone in our world.  Of course, that is one part of peace.  When it comes to defining peace is it about the absence or freedom from disturbance?  Or is it about the presence of something else, something completely different from absence?  Maybe peace is actually about the presence of God, which gives hope and confidence in the future?

At its core in our text today, I think this peace is referring, first and foremost, to our relationship with God.  Before Jesus’ death, he wants to make sure he is at peace with his disciples and they are at peace with him.  Jesus is also giving to us inner peace.  He wants us to have peace in our hearts, peace in our souls, and peace in our lives.  In fact, I think that is where we have to start.  Then Jesus wants that inner peace to spill over into our relationships with others.  He wants us to have peace with other people.  If we cannot have peace within ourselves and peace within our relationships then we will never achieve world peace.  That kind of peace is born out of peaceful people living in peaceful relationships with others.  All of this peace comes from the indwelling of God’s spirit in us.  Jesus says that both God and himself will come to us and make their home within us.  That home is love taking root in us.  That is big, divine, God love living in us.  God sends the Holy Spirit to us and Jesus leaves us with peace.  This is all done because God does not want our hearts to be troubled or for us to be afraid.  God does not want us to live in disturbance, but wants us to live in peace, with hope and confidence in the future.  And that comforting peace leads us to love ourselves and others with that parent-like love that God first loved us with.

Can you see the cycle here?  God is love.  God shows us parent-like love.  That love leads God to send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to dwell within us.  That indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives us peace, which leads us to love others. 

So know that God loves you so much that the Holy Sprit wants to make its home within you.  Let that indwelling of the Spirit give you peace.  Peace that is comforting.  Peace that only God can give.  Let that peace infiltrate your life, your relationship with God, and your relationships with others.  Let the presence of that peace turn into love and let it have an effect the world.  Amen.