SERMON: Sunday May 29^th: 10 am

Reading: John 14. 15-21

Have you ever been given a memento by a friend who has gone away and you do not now see ?  Have you perhaps been given something by a person who has now passed away – something to remember them by ?  Some years ago, I was given a wooden cross and an icon by a dear friend who is now far distant – so those gifts, those tokens, are a reminder to me of friendship, of that which we shared -  but also a reminder of their physical absence. I have a number of items at home that make me think of people I have known and loved, and these gifts – these mementos – have become for me symbols of those persons’ qualities.

Gifts such as these are precious, and they speak of warm memories, but they can also speak of the pain of being separated by distance or by death. And we sometimes speak of a person’s spirit living on, in what they have helped to achieve, in the foundations they have established, and in the gifts they have encouraged in others.

In our Bible reading from John’s gospel, we read of Jesus, in the middle of a long discourse with his disciples, telling them that he will be shortly be leaving them. We can picture that the disciples are pretty devastated, and they have not fully appreciated what is going to happen. Jesus has pointed to his imminent death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven.

When Jesus is crucified, his disciples will experience an unimaginable sense of desolation, but they will then experience the joy of the resurrection, when Jesus as the risen Christ appears to them, before he is taken up to heaven and physically leaves them. But Jesus’ physical departure after his ascension does not mean that they will be bereft. Jesus he assures his disciples that he will not leave them alone, he will not leave them orphaned, even though they will no longer see him. He will continue to live on in them. But how can this be?

He will leave with them the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, who is called in different versions of the Bible: the Advocate, the Counsellor and the Comforter. This is the same Holy Spirit who came upon Jesus at his baptism in the River Jordan, to empower Jesus for his ministry of teaching and healing. This is the same Holy Spirit who will come upon Ava and upon Harrison to bless them and strengthen them for their Christian life, when they are baptised in a short while at this morning’s service.

So Jesus promises that he will leave the Holy Spirit with his disciples when he ascends to heaven after his resurrection, and physically leaves them. The Holy Spirit will shortly come upon the disciples with great power on the day of Pentecost, and this coming of the Spirit, which Jesus promised to his disciples, will launch the Church dramatically on its unstoppable journey which has been progressing for the past two thousand years. But it also comes to each one of us who loves Jesus and keeps God’s commandments. And the Spirit of Jesus is especially present in Baptism and Holy Communion, which Jesus gives to us as living symbols of his presence.

If we are ready to open our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit, we will find that the Spirit of Jesus fills us and gives us spiritual energy. And we will find that we are not alone, because Jesus, our friend and guide, is with us and he is in us. After the Ascension, the disciples did not see Jesus physically. Neither do we. But we can experience Jesus’ Spirit living within us, if we are prepared to recognise him.

So Jesus is not just someone who we remember, like the memory of a friend or relative who we recall when we handle a gift or memento of theirs. He is not just someone who has had a good influence on the Church and on society. He is not just someone who preached to people powerfully and who healed people in their need. He dies, he rose from the dead, and he is alive today. And he is ready to give us his Spirit, if we are prepared to open the door and invite him in.

May we feel the nearness of Jesus’ presence, and his love.

May we welcome his Spirit, and know that we are not alone.

May we respond to his love by showing it in our lives.

May we be fountains of the living water.

Amen