June 15, 2025 at Saint Peter & Saint William Churches in Naples, FL
Proverbs 8: 22-31 + Psalm 8 + Romans 5: 1-5 + John 16: 12-15
One week ago, we celebrated the moment when we were brought to life. We called it, Pentecost. As the creation story in the First Book of Scriptures tells us, the very breath of God awakened that first man and but left him with no identity. None of us have any identity until we are connected in a relationship. Without a mother and father, we are nameless. We are nothing. God saw this, and God created all sorts of other things, but plants and animals to name still did not give that one creature a name and make a real person. God’s solution was Eve, and in that relationship an identity was born, and with that, life began. Realizing and acknowledging the essential importance of relationship for life and identity is what can lead us into the Divine presence revealed to us as three persons. So, here we are one week after Pentecost invited to reflect upon the identity of God in the Trinity.
The four verses of John’s Gospel we have just proclaimed are the beginning of the final words of Jesus the night before he died. He speaks of the relationship he has with the Father and of the Spirit that springs from that relationship. To encourage and comfort those at the table with him, and give them hope to see through what is to come, he speaks of that Spirit, his Spirit, the Spirit of the Father that called life into the womb of a virgin in Nazareth.
He tells us that this Spirit will come to judge, convict, and correct an unbelieving world and expose the deep-seated causes of human pain, suffering, and death. That Spirit will open our eyes to see what causes the suffering of this world, and that Spirit will bring comfort to the suffering and courage to those ready to challenge those causes. Too much of our formation in faith is centered on Jesus, leaving us not quite focused and responsive to what he has left us in his absence.
The story we told last week about the moment of Pentecost can easily lead us to miss the real work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Expecting a mighty wind and tongues of fire, or an earthquake-like awakening is dangerous leading us to miss the Spirit’s real work. In our American English, that word “advocate” does not exactly describe how Jesus tells us the Spirit will work. In other English-speaking cultures, an “advocate” is a defense attorney – someone who stands beside someone in need. As a “Comforter” the Spirit comes alongside all who suffer, face crises, experience persecution or discrimination, or are lonely and need comfort. The Spirit brings strength to the weary and hope to the discouraged.
It is a Spirit-filled people, you and me, who do these things, and often it comes as little more than a deep urge to take a stand because the Holy Spirit is nudging and awakening us to those who need someone to stand beside them. That Spirit nudges us back into life-giving relationships when we have tried to go “solo” through this life. Who we are is determined by who we know. Instead of thinking we have to be perfect and do everything just right in this life, we might simply live as grace-filled disciples who have already been saved and let the Holy Spirit put us to work.