All Saints Lutheran Church

Pastor Raita Neely

Easter 6C; Rev. 21:10,22-22:5; John 14:23-29

May 16, 2004

This May, my friend Marlene would have been 63 years old. But Marlene only lived to be 43. She died twenty years ago the day after her birthday.

Marlene was a close friend, a soul mate. We had children who were the same age, we enjoyed reading the same authors, we attended the same church, we co-chaired Vacation Bible School, we taught third grade Sunday School. We had similar likes, dislikes and interests. We would take long walks together and talk about the may things that interest women and mothers who are in their late thirties and early forties.

Marlene was diagnosed with cancer when she was thirty six. The doctors said she had at most a year to live. She fought this verdict with her body, mind and soul. And she beat the odds, at least for a while. She lived seven more years -years full of pain, set backs, little bits of hope, but lots of courage and much outpouring of love to her friends, her husband and her three young children. Those few years were a precious gift to Marlene because they gave her children a chance to know her a little more and to mature before their mother died.

The last weeks of Marlene's life were given over to providing for her family in a very practical way. She arranged for several people to make sure that fourteen year old Tania would get to piano and dance lessons. She made sure that 13 year old Mark would continue with swimming lessons and confirmation study. She found a hockey mom who understood all the intricacies of getting 8 year old Paul into his goalie gear and taking him to hockey practice. A number of us, her neighborhood friends agreed to be "emergency" Moms and Dads as needed. She did everything she knew how to do in order to leave a little of her spirit of love and care for her family. She wanted to be sure that her children had some "helpers" when she was no longer able to help them.

Our Gospel text for this morning has much the same setting as that for Marlene and her family and friends. Jesus knows that he will die very shortly. So he gives his disciples his "last words" as a loving parent to his children gathered around his death bed.

The concerns of the disciples are understandable. What will happen to them cut adrift from Jesus' leadership and wisdom while at the same time they are confronted with the complex challenges of daily life. Where will they find guidance and direction? Certainly Jesus has not told them everything they would need to know for the uncertain future. So Jesus seeks to give them courage by two promises:one - the gift of the Counselor and the other the gift of his peace.

These promises, set in the dramatic context of Jesus' last hours, are intended not just for the disciples whom Jesus walked with in his time on earth, but also for each of us who have become disciples through their witness. The early church knew what it was like to be without the presence of Jesus and was acutely aware of the ever diminishing circle of those who had known Jesus. At the same time, the second coming drifted farther away into the mists of someday while they were faced with the issues of their day.

How much like our lives today. We live in a world confronted by issues undreamed of in the first century - environmental pollution, weapons of mass destruction, biological weapons, nuclear energy, substance abuse, medical ethics and the list goes on and on. We cannot find much in the words of Jesus that precisely relates to many issues confronting us. The community of faith can, of course, in light of the dilemma, admit to irrelevancy and become only a sort of museum of ancient antiquities with no word to speak to today. But the text from John will not allow such escape. Here are promises and challenges for the future, suggesting ways the church confront issues in the absence of the physical Jesus.

Jesus is leaving, but we are not left alone. Jesus' work on earth has been completed, but God does not leave us without a helper. God remains present in our lives through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the ongoing, contemporary presence of Christ.

The Spirit is given us as gift through God's word and the sacraments. The Spirit is counselor, advocate, helper, friend, comforter. The Spirit is intercessor and defender who comes to help or protect, who stands by you to strengthen you. The Holy Spirit assures us of Christ's presence in our lives.

And it is the Holy Spirit who ties the past and future together for us. It gives us faith to believe in Jesus and also helps us look forward to the day of His coming again. It is the presence of Jesus and the presence of God with and for us in the world now as we live in the time between the resurrection and the second coming.

The Holy Spirit is not like a warm, cozy blanket which protects us, but rather it is God's presence enabling us to come to terms with what life brings us. When life feels out of control, or we are overwhelmed by circumstances or events, it is our Lord's promise and the power of his living Spirit that enables us to pick up the pieces and still find meaning, purpose and goodness in our lives.

Everything we need for our journey of faith, everything we need to keep us from falling, everything we need to give us hope, everything we need to carry us through the dark night, everything we need when everything else has failed, everything is ours because we have the Holy Spirit. And so every day we pray that the Spirit would fill us as individuals and the congregations where we gather. The power of this grace is with God. The openness to receive that grace is with us.

I read recently of an Episcopal congregation that had gone through a building program and experienced some problems with the installation of new carpet. The carpet built up a huge charge of static electricity either due to dryness in the air or some odd propensity of the carpet itself. During the Eucharistic prayer the pastor intoned the words of institution, lifted the chalice to the lips of an assisting minister, and watched in horror as a sudden electrical discharge knocked the man flat on his back.

There's a bit of truth here in what we should expect when we are open to the Holy Spirit to do its job among us. Perhaps Holy Communion should be more like a jolt of grace than a sweet sip of kindness. Perhaps our meal together should knock us off our center because it is attempting to rearrange our priorities and keep us centered in Christ Jesus.

In that centering, we also receive Jesus' other promise - "his peace." When you have Jesus' peace, you know it. It is a time when you know wholeness in relationships, when you experience forgiveness and are able to forgive, when you seem to be drawn into prayer for yourself and others, when you are in tune with God and you experience overwhelming joy that has no particular explanation.

The peace Jesus gives is very holistic. It includes health, security, happiness, economic stability, safety, and harmony in your life.

The peace that God gives is not an individual peace, to be kept in our possession. There can be no true peace, unless it is shared by the whole community. If I see you hungry, homeless or hurting, there is no peace for me, except as I walk with you in your need and share with you what I have.

You can see then that the peace Jesus gives cannot be separated from his love and mercy. As you experience His love and mercy you are commanded to show that love and mercy to those around you. Jesus tells you to right inequities and injustices that breed conflict or war. Jesus wants you to challenge the prosperity that favors the rich and burdens the poor. Jesus' peace in the community is born from both the painful knowledge and the empathetic meeting of all members of the community.

Most of the time you and I experience peace dimly, partially, intermittently. And so often, the peace Jesus gives is not the peace we expect. Our conflicts are not eliminated, our suffering is not taken away. In other words, peace is not the absence of struggle, but the presence of love. Peace comes with the assurance that we are not left alone to face what the future will bring. The Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ our Lord stands with us and walks with us into our future.

This peace comes from the One who gave you life. His peace allows you to live and love in a world of international tension and conflict; His peace enables you to look at your neighbor with compassion and respond with whatever you can do. Jesus' peace invades the closed circles of our private worlds and says, "Do not be afraid." We cannot manufacture this peace. It is a gift - for troubled hearts, for confused minds, for anxious spirits.

For the last twenty years I have watched my friend Marlene's children grow up. There has been much joy and also much pain in their lives. We have attended all of their weddings. They all have children of their own. Sometimes in our conversations they will ask, "What did my mom say about....?" I have tried to witness to their mother's spirit the best I can. And so often, her children will witness to me of who their mother was, by a phrase, or a deed, or being people of love and compassion.

We are Christian people who have lived in the sunlight of God's love. We have absorbed God's compassion and light. Knowing that love and that light, we start to give away that love. May your light and love shine on us, O, God, and may your peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.