The Holy Spirit has a vocation to walk alongside you to help and assist you. And to do the same for the whole creation and all people.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Sixth Sunday of Easter, year C
Texts: John 14:23-29, with references to Lamentations 3 and Romans 8
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
What if God has a vocation, a calling?
We know God calls us to vocations. But is it possible that the Holy and Triune God who made the heavens and the earth is also called ? Only God has the authority to call God, so any vocation God has would somehow come from within the Trinity. This is more mystery than we can know, but we do have a precedent. The Scripture talks of the Father sending the Son, and since the Father and Son are one, as Jesus often says, that sending is from within the Trinity.
And so is this calling. Today Jesus says that the Father is giving us the Holy Spirit. Or, as Jesus names her, “the Advocate.” Somehow, inside the life of the Trinity, the Spirit is called to be with us. Because that word “advocate” is all about calling.
The Greek here is a word we struggle to translate to English.
In your Bible translations you might read “Comforter” or “Counselor” in verse 26. Some translations say “friend” or “helper.” All are aspects of this vocation.
But that it’s a vocation is clear from our current translation, “advocate,” a word English got from Latin, meaning “called to.” The Romans used the word as we still do, as someone who appeared on another’s behalf, or was a mediator, or an intercessor.
But in the original Greek it’s “paraclete,” and that’s the word to cling to. “Paraclete” literally means “called alongside.” A Paraclete is called alongside someone to be of assistance.
That’s our wonder: the Holy Spirit has a calling, a holy vocation, to come alongside you for your help, comfort, aid, counsel. It’s the Spirit’s job, not an optional activity.
Paul says the Spirit is your “called alongside person” as intercessor and mediator.
Just as an advocate in Rome would do those roles, so does the Spirit. Paul tells his Roman congregations in chapter 8 that the Spirit speaks on our behalf before God “with sighs too deep for words.”
The Spirit plumbs the depths of your heart and carries your heart into God’s heart. At all times, but especially when you don’t know what to say to God. The Spirit always knows your fears, your joys, your sorrows, your needs, your thanks. We still pray. But this connection is always flowing even without our words.
And Jesus and others in the Scriptures say it goes the other way, too. The Spirit, alongside you, speaks as God into your heart and mind and spirit, sometimes with sighs too deep for words, too. The Spirit is God’s way to communicate with you, reach you, talk to you, touch you.
One way the Spirit communicates is through the words of Scripture.
In Lamentations, Jeremiah is deep in grief and sorrow over Israel’s ruin. The book aches with pain.
But suddenly in the middle he stops lamenting for a moment and says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, God’s mercies never come to an end.” (3:21-22)
“This I call to mind,” he says. The Holy Spirit spoke those words to Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew the promise of God’s never-ending mercies is written throughout Scripture. But now in his deep need, the Spirit gently called this promise to Jeremiah’s mind. And he found hope. I know, because this same thing has happened to me.
I’ve struggled my whole life with fearing making mistakes. Mostly I feared that if I got things wrong, people would stop loving me, I’d be done. Over my life I’ve learned to trust the love of others and I don’t get too trapped in this anymore.
But I’ve also held that fear about God’s love. And this is where the Spirit has blessed me. More times than I can count, hundreds of times maybe, when I’ve been in fear or anxiety, I’ve heard this word, “Nothing, nothing can separate you from God’s love in Christ.” And I found hope, like Jeremiah. Walking alongside me, the Spirit always knows when I need a reminder and graciously gives it.
Jesus said today that the Spirit will remind you what he said. I’ve found the Spirit takes those reminders from all of Scripture, and they’ve saved my life.
But these aren’t the only ways the Spirit is alongside you.
The Spirit might fill you with an unexpected peace in the midst of turmoil. The Spirit might nudge you to do something, care for someone, say something. The Spirit might be a nagging voice telling you to change direction, go a different way. The Spirit might fill you with joy when you need it or courage when you’re afraid. These are just some of the ways I’ve felt the Spirit help me. Others could tell you about many more.
That’s why we need to be better about witnessing to each other. I don’t normally share my own personal things in sermons, as you know. But I did today because we need to be more bold in telling each other what we’ve known and experienced from God.
When you experience the Spirit’s help, tell someone. If you see the Spirit move in them, name that. We can be such gifts of grace to each if we’re willing to share what we’ve seen and heard and known from the Spirit. We can help each other know this presence.
God has a vocation, to be with you.
Let that sink in. It will change your life. If you want to really know this, find quiet places in your life, times for contemplation. When you can listen and actually hear, with no music or news or internet or phones or anything. If we’re so loud in every moment that we can’t hear ourselves think, how will we hear the Spirit’s voice? Read your Bible, too, so the Spirit has words to remind you of in your need. So: listen, watch, read, wait, trust, and you will know: you are not alone, you have help. God is alongside you.
And Jesus and the Scriptures say God’s Spirit is called alongside everyone, all God’s children, all creatures, the whole creation. That’s the joy. So whatever you fear about the world in these days, whatever anxiety you have about your life, know this: the Holy Spirit is called alongside all of that and she is there, working, loving, inspiring, healing.
That’s the job. That’s what the Holy Spirit is called to do. And it will be done.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
