The Readings
The Epistle
Romans 5:1-5
Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
The Gospel
John 16:12-15
Jesus said to the disciples, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."
The Sermon
We are Trinitarians. What does that
mean? Basically it means we believe in one God with three divine
persons, Can any of you understand how that can be? How can the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit all be one thing. For me it is
really impossible to wrap my head around. Most of the time I
struggle with just running my computer, let alone figuring out the
whole God thing. How could I begin to understand someone who runs
our planet, the solar system, this galaxy and a hundred billion other
galaxies, let alone other universes.
So....for me I have to keep it simple
and very personal. I think that's the way God wants it to be. I
just received something from Episcopal relief and development. At
the very beginning of the letter was a reminder that we are the hands
and feet of Christ. That seems like a good place to start. Jesus
taught us in the gospels how we should treat each other and so many
other things. We are to lead our own lives by the example he has
set. And, since He is no longer physically here it is our task to
carry on his mission. As the hands and feet of Christ we are to
clothe the naked, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, visit the
sick and those in prison. I get that but Jesus told us something
else and it is brought out in today's reading.
He told his disciples that there was
much more they needed to learn and that the advocate would come to
teach them and guide them along their way. I do not believe the
Holy Spirit was there only for that inner circle of Jesus' apostles.
The Holy Spirit is there for you and me as well. We just have to
listen to what the spirit is saying to us. We have to pay attention
and not let our own egos get in the way of the direction the Holy
Spirit is sending us. The operative word when it comes to the Holy
Spirit is to listen. The Holy Spirit doesn't just speak to us in
words. The Holy Spirit speaks to our own spirits. This speech
reaches us beyond even cognitive thought. The spirit may speak to in
times of deep meditative prayer or at other times. The spirit moves
us in mysterious ways and we just have to be willing to be led.
Where does the Father come in. This is
the tough one. Just as I have trouble wrapping my head around the
idea of a Trinity, I do not understand the magnitude of an omnipotent
God the Father. What I do believe is that when I pray to the Father,
the Father listens. I have a cousin who once told me she didn't like
to pray to God for help in sorting out all the troubling things in
her life. He was much too busy for someone as insignificant as her.
I was truly surprised by her logic. God is watching over everything,
EVERYTHING. If God is truly omnipotent, he has time to listen to her
and to me and to you.
I ask that you keep the trinity in your
lives and remember that you are being embraced and guided by the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen
May you have a holy and blessed week!
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