Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on John 14:15-21.
Today’s passage is one of the several that serve as the basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. Looking ahead, John Nipper will be preaching on Trinity Sunday, sparing me from the burden of trying to explain it. Hey, he has a doctorate, so he should be qualified, right? If you’d like a good laugh, there’s a video from Lutheran Satire called “St. Patrick’s Bad Analogies.” Basically, every analogy we can come up with has been declared heretical, so we’re left with these complicated explanations like in this passage. Jesus says, I will send the Spirit, and he will be in you, and you will be in me, and I will come to you, and you will know that I am in my Father and I am in you.
OK, I give up. I’m not going to try to explain the Trinity. But I do feel an obligation to talk about the Holy Spirit. Jesus says he will send the parakletos. What the heck is that? This Greek word has a broader range of meaning than any one English word can really capture. All of our attempts to translate it either overshoot or undershoot the meaning. The King James Version uses “Comforter,” which sounds like a blanket. Other translations include “Helper,” which makes him sound subordinate. The NRSV that I just read uses “Advocate.” Now, that has a bit of a legal connotation, which is maybe overstated relative to the Greek, but let’s see where that can take us.
Are you all familiar with CASA? CASA stands for “court-appointed special advocate.” There is a national organization that covers both CASA volunteers and guardians ad litem, which are just slightly different because every state’s laws are different. But they all follow similar principles. From the National CASA/GAL website,
CASA/GAL volunteers are appointed by judges to advocate for children’s best interests. They stay with each case until it is closed and the child is in a safe, permanent home. We serve children from birth through the age defined by state statute as the limit to youth remaining in care.
Volunteers work with legal and child welfare professionals, educators and service providers to ensure that judges have all the information they need to make the most well-informed decisions for each child.
National CASA/GAL Association for Children
The CASA program grew out of an observation by a Seattle judge that he simply did not know enough to decide what was right for a particular three-year-old in his courtroom. Cases of abuse and neglect are complicated. Rarely is there an obvious villain and an obvious hero. Often, judges need to choose among a bunch of bad alternatives, some of which may appear to be better even though they are actually worse. I mean, it may make sense that a relative who has more financial stability is a better home, but not if their interpersonal dynamics are inappropriate and not conducive to the child’s healing and growth.
Another aspect of these situations is that often, the child is not really aware of what is in their best interest. An attorney assigned to represent the child is obligated to follow the child’s wishes. Well, they may choose a bad situation they know over a good situation they don’t know. This Mother’s Day, we should remember that some mothers are wonderful and provide a safe, loving, stable environment where a child can thrive; some mothers are wonderful but in bad circumstances due to other people in their lives or economic misfortune; some mothers are abusive, or suffer from addiction or mental illness, or are otherwise unable to provide a safe and loving environment for their children. A CASA volunteer helps the justice system work through those issues and find the best outcome for the child.
The website describes a five-point process:
- Learn: Learn all you can about the child and his or her family and life.
- Engage: Engage with the child during regular visits.
- Recommend: Speak up for the child’s best interests in court. Make recommendations regarding the child’s placement and needed services, and monitor the child’s situation until the case is released by the court.
- Collaborate: Collaborate with others to ensure that necessary services are provided and are in the child’s best interest.
- Report: Report what you have learned and observed to the court.
When I read this, I thought, What a great model for the action of the Holy Spirit! She is our Advocate, specially sent by the other two Persons of the Godhead to dwell with us until we are safely home. She learns all she can about us, which is everything. She dwells in us, walks with us, and watches over us. She advocates for our best interests in the world.
Elsewhere, Jesus advised his disciples that when they were in trouble, they shouldn’t make up in their mind ahead of time what they should say. Instead, they should let their hearts, minds, and words be guided by the Spirit. All throughout our lives, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit is there beside us, within us, ensuring that if we let her, she will work for our best interests.
Collaborate: A CASA volunteer collaborates with others to ensure that necessary services are provided. In the same way, the Holy Spirit binds us to each other, so that we can support one another. He knows that none of us can accomplish much on our own, even with God’s help, but we can change the world if we work together. We each have skills and talents. We each have connections in the community and a variety of roles in a variety of organizations. The Holy Spirit knows all of this, and enables us to work together to build God’s kingdom. He knows that we are all differently gifted, but each gift is an important part of God’s work. For example, our nominating committee discerns who would serve well as an elder, who would serve well as a deacon, and who would serve well as a trustee. They’ve done a great job, most recently in nominating Melba, who so obviously has the skills and attitude of a deacon. Our PNC needs to discern which pastoral candidate has the particular gifts that this church needs today. I have confidence that they will do so, as long as they remain connected to and guided by the Holy Spirit.
Yet in a sense, we already have the pastor we need. When John Oerter was here, he clarified that he was an interim pastor rather than an installed pastor. Pastors come and go. Just in my time here, we have had multiple interim pastors and two installed pastors. Remember, everything is temporary; whether installed or interim, none of them were permanent. But we do have a permanent Pastor: the Good Shepherd, the one who makes us lie down in green pastures and guides us beside still waters, the one who is the gate for the sheepfold.
One of the most important principles of the Reformation was the priesthood of all believers. In ancient Judea, before the destruction of the Temple in 66 A.D., only the descendants of Aaron were allowed to make offerings to the Lord. In both the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic traditions, priests serve as intermediaries for the sacraments and for other purposes. One reason Catholics pray to saints is that they don’t think they are allowed direct access to God, but instead need an intermediary. The Reformers looked at passages like today’s and said, No, that’s wrong. Jesus promised to send the Spirit, and then all through the Book of Acts we read about the Spirit descending on many people—not just priests. As long as we have the Holy Spirit, we may directly approach God. As long as we have the Holy Spirit, we are connected to each other and energized for the building of God’s kingdom. As long as we have the Holy Spirit, we are the body of Christ, doing Christ’s work in the world.
We don’t need a pastor to love God. We don’t need a pastor to love our neighbor. Now, I’m not saying that we don’t need a pastor at all, only that God is with us regardless. We can still come together to worship. We can still confess our sins, and we still know that we are forgiven. Rather than a priest giving us absolution, we simply need to be reminded that Jesus Christ already did that. We can still encounter the Word through the reading of scripture and illumination by the Holy Spirit. About the only thing we can’t do ourselves is communion and baptism. Now, I’ve been given special dispensation to serve communion to our congregation and to baptize two of our newest members, but I would argue that the approval I received is necessary to call ourselves Presbyterian, not to call ourselves Christian.
Over the past couple of weeks, we saw our limits, but also our capabilities, when we lost two members who were dear to us. If Carlene and Frank had passed away five years ago, Lou Ellen would have taken the lead on the arrangements. If they had passed away three years ago, there would have been no services because of the pandemic. But when they passed, the church rallied around. Thanks to Katie especially, and Tina, and Ken, and Amy, and Lorie, and Melba, and too many other people to name without leaving someone out, we came together to support the Mays and the Jessops. Some people were stretched thin, and maybe there were some things that could have been done better. But at the end of the day, we achieved the two basic goals: surrounding the families with love, and reminding them—and everyone who loved Carlene and Frank—of the hope that we have through the resurrection of our Lord. We were connected to each other, supported by each other, and strengthened individually and as a church by the action of the Holy Spirit.
So again, I’m not saying that the PNC should stop searching for a new pastor. What I’m saying is that with or without an installed pastor, WE are the church. A pastor might have new ideas for how we can act out our love of God and our love of our neighbors in the community, but the love remains the same. The love we share is the action of the Holy Spirit, flowing through us and among us.
The question before us, today and every day, is, who are the neighbors that we are passionate about serving? On campus, we’re going through an exercise to evaluate new and existing programs against four criteria: mission, demand, passion, and capacity. I would say that every program, every activity, in every organization, needs to be evaluated on these four dimensions. Our mission is to build God’s kingdom, but that’s too broad to be useful. Our community has a lot of needs, a lot of people who need to experience the love of God in their lives, but maybe not an awareness of how they can connect to that love or what role our church might fulfill in their lives. Passion—there are lots of things that we could do, but only if we have a critical mass of people who care deeply about making them a reality. And finally, capacity: the reality is that we cannot be all things to all people. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit who amplifies our efforts. Still, there are only so many hours in the day, and many of us have a lot of other demands on our time or are limited by health challenges. So again, there are lots of things that we could do, but only if we have people who are able to see them through.
I don’t know what the future holds for us. I don’t know what new ministries we should embark upon, or what we should stop doing so that we have the resources to grow in a different direction. What I do know is that as long as we are guided, strengthened, and energized by the Holy Spirit, we have everything we need to play our part in transforming the world. Amen.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download