Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

If we were to do a quick brainstorming right now about our experiences with the Holy Spirit, what it does, how it works, when and where, my guess is that we would come up with a collection like this: The Holy Spirit can be a kind of voice, a form of energy, within oneself, even more so in a group, so the word fellowship would probably come up. The Holy Spirit can be identified as that which sometimes nudges, prods, or points. The voice of the Holy Spirit can be there when all of a sudden a reading or a sentence in a sermon or a prayer stands out and makes sense, connects. The Holy Spirit is felt present in a moment of quiet, groundedness, or peace which grows out of a certain situation but cannot entirely be explained by it.

John uses two words for Spirit: pneuma, which is spirit and wind. In Hebrew that would be ruach, the spirit-wind that hovered over the waters in the beginning. By the way, in Hebrew it is a feminine word, in Greek it is neuter, and I’m glad it is not masculine.

In addition John uses the word Paraclete. Paraclete has a wide range of meanings and my sense is that they encompass about every nuance of our experiences of the Holy Spirit: The Paraclete is the one who exhorts and encourages, the one who comforts, the one who helps, the one who makes appeals on one’s behalf. King James translates Comforter, in the NRSV we read Advocate, there is also Counselor, Helper. No one translation captures the entire range of meanings. So some people simply leave it with the Greek term, paraclete.

It is Pentecost and we celebrate today the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church.

Thinking back to the disciples who became apostles after Jesus death’, it is impossible to overstate the crisis that the believing community faced as a result of Jesus’ death. There is a brief conversation recorded in John 6 between Jesus and Peter, Jesus wanting to know whether the disciples also would leave him as others do because his teachings are too difficult for many people to accept. And Peter replies: Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life!

Indeed, where can they go, the disciples, the community of believers, you and me? When Jesus is the Word made flesh, when he is the one who makes God known to us, represents God for us, where else can we go? Peter and the disciples are not leaving Jesus, but now Jesus has left them! Is this the end of the words of eternal life? Is Jesus’ revelation of God now over, is it limited after all? Or does it have a future?

And when we sing Peter’s words before the Gospel reading “Alleluia, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia,” does that mean that we are in a crisis each time we sing it, a crisis that is impossible to overstate? Maybe we aren’t, but should we? Is this why we sing it before the Gospel reading, to sharpen our senses? At least we are told where to turn to - to the Gospel, the word of God, Christ; we turn to the Word made flesh that did not leave us alone like children without parents but sent us the Advocate, the Spirit, the Comforter, the Counselor; or in the language of children, your most favorite baby sitter.

It is the theological genius of John to present the Paraclete as the solution to the crisis. The Paraclete has the same rank as Jesus, speaks the words of Jesus, reminds the disciples of his teachings, is sent by God and is sent by Jesus, witnesses and abides, just as Jesus does, “abide in me as I abide in you.” The promise of the paraclete makes what looks like an end a new beginning, the beginning of the life of the community of believers where Jesus is present although physically absent, so that the good news of the incarnation can be spread.

The promise of the paraclete is genial also because it shows that Jesus and his words are reliable, something we can trust, and fall back on in times of crisis.
Jesus and his love proves reliable because he does not ignore the fears and anxieties of his followers who will live on after he leaves them. He promises and actually himself sends the spirit, the spirit of truth, the paraclete. He does indeed abide with the community of believers, he is present among those whom he loves and who love him, he is after all the good shepherd who cares for his own in both his death and beyond. Jesus is the good shepherd, and the bread and the gate and the life and the light, and through the paraclete accessible at every time and in every place.

The paraclete is sent to the community, to all of the apostles. Never can the spirit of truth be a private possession, owned in one’s individual heart. That is why we will always be pulled back into the community of the church, even after periods of absence, of taking a break from life with the community of believers: because if we are really touched by the Spirit of truth, the paraclete, then we learn to distrust our own private, subjective feelings and experiences of God and return to the community of believers to have those experiences checked, confirmed, changed, straightened out and renewed. Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life - and they are read and heard in the gathered community of faith.

Have you ever wondered, dear congregation, about the literary style John uses? Were you ever left after one of the Gospel readings in these past weeks feeling kind of dizzy, lost track of the train of thought? You were not alone.

I think, John does this intentionally. Goes around and around and around, says the same thing from all angles, repeats words until they become a mantra and then drops a new word like “abide”, or “one”, or “love one another”, “remind” and “teach”, words which then weigh quite heavily in the ongoing stream of words. John’s literary device here is a circular way of thinking. The words, their sounds, the phrases encircle us while we listen, weave themselves around us. Become like a lullaby. This motion reflects what the paraclete does. The paraclete, the spirit is with the community of believers, abides, puts itself around them, wraps around them like a warm blanket, embraces them like in a big hug.

John has laid a strong foundation for the teaching of the trinitarian dogma in which the church understands the one God as known to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which was not developed fully until much later. He has given us the paraclete, the advocate, the comforter, the counselor, the helper, full of grace and truth.

As we do our work and pursue God’ s mission in this world, dear congregation, as today’s apostles, we are called to learn to understand not only different languages and cultures, but also other religions, other ways of life, other ways of thinking, communicating and decision making. As baptized people whose faith is nourished and engendered at the table we can be assured of the presence of God’s spirit all around us, supporting and guiding and sending us out to do good work, embraced with the words:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Amen.