6 Easter A May 21, 2017
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Hutson
Acts 17:22-31 + Psalm 66:8-20 + 1 Peter 3:13-22 + John 14: 15-21
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Jesus said “I will pray to Abba God who will send you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” Advocate with a capital A. The capital A is not an accident. This is a big deal. The Advocate is the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Trinity. Fully God. This Advocate, Jesus says, is the Spirit of truth.
The word in New Testament Greek for spirit is Paraclete. The word origin is important. Para means alongside and kletos means to call. So the paraclete, the Spirit of Truth is called alongside us….to walk with us.
There are so many images of the Spirit in Scripture and in art…dove and flame..wind and wisdom. The image of an Advocate has it’s origins in legal terminology. An Advocate in court states the case for the client.
This week we spent some time in King County superior court as we awaited the arraignment of the man who attacked our daughter. What happens in a courtroom is not exactly like it’s depicted on television. Perry Mason doesn’t command the day. It’s not a John Grisham novel. Atticus Finch isn’t filibustering. On this occasion, public defenders milled about at several tables. When their clients were called, they represented them to the judge. They served as advocates. They stated the case and spoke in their stead. Advocates. And the reason that clients need a lawyer is because they don’t understand the nuances of the law. Very rarely is it a good idea for a person to represent themselves.
What does it mean that we need another Advocate? Why did Jesus say that the disciples need another representative besides himself? That question has a two part answer: 1) Jesus knew that he was not going to remain with the disciples. He would not be there to teach, guide, and intercede for them. And 2) Jesus knew that the disciples and that we could not be adequately prepared for, nor are we able to approach the throne of grace on our own power.
I have to confess to you that my prayers this last month have been grudging ones. I have railed a great deal at God. While I know in my head that God has walked beside us all the way, while I know that God never left our daughter, not even for a minute….I could not for the life of me understand at all why this had happened. I still can’t. I need another Advocate to stand before God for me, on my behalf. To plead my case when frankly, I am unable to do so myself.
Even when we don’t have words, we are told elsewhere in Scripture, the Spirit, the Advocate intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. Intercedes….there it is again, that legal language.
It is simply true that there are times in life when we do not have the words to pray. We stand speechless before God. Or we weep before God. Or we scream before God. Or….there are times when we simply cannot go before God at all. And the Advocate, the Spirit goes on our behalf. And what a beautiful image, that the Advocate’s sighs on our behalf defy words.
There are so many….so many reasons that we need an Advocate before God. Only you know why you need the Advocate and only I know why I need the Advocate. But we know. We know that we simply are insufficient, for one reason or another, to make our own case. And so the Spirit makes it for us.
But what of this image of the paraclete that Jesus moves to in today’s Gospel? That the Spirit is both Advocate, interceding on our behalf, and paraclete….the one who is called alongside.
I need to return to that courtroom this week….to our very brave daughter, who was determined to be there. Of course, she knew that Bruce and I, as her parents, would be nowhere else. And her very special young man, Evan, would be nowhere else. But in that courtroom bench with her there were others who had come to support her, including the detective who had spearheaded the effort to catch this man; the Victims’ Advocate and others. We took up a whole row. All for her. We had come alongside her.
At the same time, many of you were holding us in prayer. Our friends and family were texting and messaging their support. Those who were not of the praying type were holding space for us…keeping us carefully in their hearts. All of these people were our paracletes that day. They had come alongside us..for support, for care, for encouragement.
I believe that this is one of the most profound ways the Spirit is alive among us…in the ways we come alongside one another, to bear one another’s burdens and share in one another’s joys. We rejoice as babies are born, or as they await their appearance on this earth. We hold tenderly the dying and the grieving and the especially vulnerable. We revel in the gifts of our children. Coming to support what Payton and Gavin have put together for us after worship today is one way we will be paracletes to them.
This congregation is a paraclete to the interns we support. We offer them the safe place to try on what it mean to be a pastor. We offer them grace in the face of flaws and encouragement as they grow into this role. It is something they will always cherish, I tell you this from experience.
The activity of the paraclete in the Gospel reading today, of the Spirit as one who comes alongside offers a model for the ways we live ourselves. Because this is always true: the ones who give are as blessed as the ones who receive. The ones who come alongside are as blessed in so doing as the ones they are walking with.
Who are the paracletes in your life? Who walks alongside you when things are difficult? Who can you trust to tell you the truth when it’s going to be hard to hear it? Whose advice and counsel do you turn to above all others? Can you think of those folks? Can you reach out to them this week and tell them that you are grateful that they have come alongside you? Because, beloved community, there is too much pulling apart these days and not enough coming alongside. There is too much focus on what separates us and not enough on what draws us together. And if we are not intentional about telling each other that we acknowledge and are grateful for the ways we are paracletes to one another, healing in the world will be so much harder.
So find those folks and tell them you are grateful. And I’m going to start right here. I am grateful for you…each of you….and the ways you walk, not only with your pastor, but with your neighbors. You have modeled what it means to say “we are willing to come alongside you even though we don’t know you.” You have said this to Vicar Laura, our soon to arrive intern…and you have said this to fifty nine families who will very soon be our new neighbors. You have said this to Harbor Church as they worship and gather in this space. You have said this to gardeners and hungry neighbors.
You, as a congregation have understood that this is the call of the Gospel of Jesus Christ upon us. And you have responded in the manner of the Paraclete. You have come alongside.
Keep doing that. Find ways every day to just hold on tight and love your neighbor so that we don’t lose another single person to hopelessness or despair. Let your light shine before others. Be Jesus to each other. And when it seems too hard….trust that the Spirit will intercede.
Thanks be to God. And let the Church say…Amen.