Rev. Robin Finch
Easter 6, Year A, 2023
Acts 17:22-31; Paul in Athens said God does not lie in shrines made of human hands; Psalm 66:7-18; Bless our God, you peoples; make the voice of his praise be heard; 1 Peter 3:13-22; it is better to suffer for doing good than to suffer for doing evil; John 14:15-21; Jesus gives the promise of the Holy Spirit to the Disciples;
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise, and ever enjoy your consolations. Amen.
Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphaned.” By this time in Jesus’ ministry and His time with the Disciples, there may have been a sense of foreboding among them. He was trying to comfort them and assure them that He would come back. We know now He was speaking of His resurrection and His risen presence in their lives, and to assure them they would be spiritually alive. At that moment they were probably bewildered and numb with a sense of impending tragedy; but the day would come when their eyes would be opened, their minds would understand, and their hearts would be kindled – and then they would really see Him.
“I will not leave you orphaned; I will leave you another Advocate, the Spirit of truth.” Jesus said that this Spirit would abide with them and live inside them. That is a wonderful promise Jesus made to His disciples, and a promise He makes to us. Jesus does not leave us to struggle alone. Our part is to invite the H.S. in, to make a space for the H.S. to dwell, and then wait in expectation and prayer.
The H.S. is a comforter, who enables us to be brave, helps us to cope. And the H.S. guides us as to what to do and enables us to do it. How have you experienced the H.S. in your life? As a comforter, helper, advocate, counselor, one who has your back? Or maybe that still small voice, holy presence, spirit of truth, or holy light?
For me the H.S is a comforter, a holy presence, and speaks in a still small voice. I have never experienced a burning bush as Moses did, a flash of blinding light as with Paul, or an audible voice as so many encounters are described in Scripture. Sometimes the H.S. speaks to us through other people. Sometimes we recognize them. Very early in my process of considering a call to ordination, someone asked me, when are you going to begin formation? He didn’t say, are you going to begin formation, but when are you going to begin formation. I replied that I hadn’t personally heard that call from the H.S. He said, then you are not listening. We all need friends like that!
One challenge of living the spiritual life is that there are so many distractions in the world which may be obstacles to our receiving, knowing, and hearing the H.S. Perhaps we do not have idols made of gold, silver, or stone such as those found by Paul in Athens. But an idol of any kind stands in the place of God. An idol takes up valuable space in our hearts – space which truly belongs to God.
Paul points out that the shrines and places made by humans do not and cannot take the place of God. Do we ever make God in our image, rather than the other way around? God is not made by us, God is the maker. Paul was perhaps concerned that the people of Athens, by worshipping idols, would be prevented from making a personal connection to the Living God. Paul probably set some of his listeners on a path to see more clearly their “unknown God” as the God of all.
Paul also told them that God made humans to search for Him, and that He is not far from us. It is by God that we live and move and have our being. We are children of God. God, as the great Creator, wants to be in relationship with us. And that is kind of incredible because we were not created as perfect beings. And yet God loves us anyway; as they say, warts and all.
This reminds me of a poem I read in a book about Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The title is “Anyway”, and the poem hangs on the wall of the children’s home in Calcutta. I assumed Mother Teresa wrote it. But one time I heard it read, and it was not attributed to her, so I looked it up. It was written by Kent M. Keith in 1968 and is called the Paradoxical Commandments. He later wrote a book, “Anyway: the Paradoxical Commandments: Finding Personal Meaning in a Crazy World.” It is amazing to me how appropriate this poem is today, 50+ years later.
ANYWAY
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered,
LOVE THEM ANYWAY
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives,
DO GOOD ANYWAY
If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies,
SUCCEED ANYWAY
The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow,
DO GOOD ANYWAY
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable,
BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY
What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight,
BUILD ANYWAY
People really need help but may attack you if you help them,
HELP THEM ANYWAY
Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth,
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU HAVE ANYWAY
To close, these are the verses from Ephesians, which we normally hear at the end of Morning Prayer: “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.” Amen.