05-17-2020 Sunday Sermon

First Congregational Church
May 17, 2020
6th Sunday in Easter
John 14:15-21
“The Vision of Love and Truth”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

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This week, I read that the word Lexophile" describes those that have a love for words, such as "you can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish”. And "To write with a broken pencil is pointless." The article also said that there is an annual competition sponsored by the New York Times to create the best, original lexophile. So those of you new to this church family and who have been keeping up with these Facebook Live messages are perhaps getting an idea of what is coming next.


When  the smog lifts in Los Angeles U.C.L.A. I  got some batteries that were given out free of charge. A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail. And my new mantra: I’ve always had a photographic memory but it was never fully developed.


This morning’s scripture passage follows on the heals of last week’s passage which described part of the time during Jesus’ last discourse to the disciples, according to the Gospel of John. Jesus had told them that he was going away, and the disciples were struggling with that notion. They wanted to go with him, so they asked where he was going. Jesus’ response what that they did know where he was going - he’d just spent three years telling them. And after three years, for whatever reasons, they were still struggling in their understanding and acceptance of Christ’s course. But that wasn’t the end of Jesus’ address. Last week, Jesus laid down the first layer of a double layer cake. This morning, he lays down the top layer.


Scripture John 14:15-21 
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”


Acupuncture  is a jab well done. That's the point of it. When  chemists die, they barium. I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.
I was able to catch a podcast Bible lesson from BibleProject.org yesterday, and don’t you know, the timing was amazing. It was a lesson about hope, Biblical hope, and how it’s different from optimism. And basically, the difference is that Biblical hope is anticipation in a person - God - despite what is going on, whereas optimism is anticipating through a situation and believing in the best possible outcome. Biblical hope - anticipation and person - God / optimism - looking for the silver lining.


In terms of our passage, Jesus is giving the disciples that Biblical hope and anticipation through himself - and a promise to send another “person” after he’s gone - which is, of course, the Holy Spirit - or the Spirit of truth, as he says here.


Within that idea of Biblical hope, it is not only about a person - God - but also about that person’s character. In the Old Testament, the prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, would readily admit that there was no evidence that things would get better, but they encouraged the people to choose hope in God anyway.


Years ago, I happened to attend or share a wedding with one of my predecessors, Dick Stoddard. Being at that right place and right time, something he said struck me, perhaps because I have never married, but it is still true of friendships. He said that getting married was choosing to love your spouse each and every day - first thing in the morning until the last thing at night. His emphasis was on the choice that the couple was making and would make everyday a promise to keep.


Hope, not optimism, is a choice we make everyday, to take sides with God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, to believe that God will bring about a future that is as surprising as a crucified man rising from the dead.


I'm  reading a book about anti-gravity and I just can't put it down. When she saw her first strands of gray hair she thought she'd dye. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine last week is now fully recovered.


Tim Mackey, from BibleProject.org said, “Christian hope requires us to get up again tomorrow to a world filled with instability and sickness, and yet choose patient trust in God, knowing that things may not get better.” That seems like one tall order.


Without a shadow of doubt, I know with every fiber of my being that I am not the only person that wishes for some aspects of February to return - or even last summer or fall. There is a sort of anticipation in the air, that feels like we’re holding our breath, that maybe we’re getting ready for a big celebration, or that a newscast would say that everything is all better now.


Back in February, we could hug, we could shake hands, we didn’t have a mask or gloves as one more item to think about before leaving the house for the store.


Christian hope is not that things will return to 2019, but that God has a plan for us that is even bigger than, more liberating than raising a dead guy to life - eternal life. God’s promise of that free, unending life is exactly the same as it has been since the beginning of time, and we can bank on the fulfillment of that promise because of God’s previously fulfilled promises - of a child born to a people needing a Messiah and Savior - and that child growing into his position as Son of God and Son of Humanity. A + B = C. Promised Messiah + Resurrected Christ = God’s vision of truth and hope, out of God’s love.


Police  were summoned to a daycare center where a three-year-old was resisting a rest. I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me. When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate. Hope is not wishing. Hope is confidence that God’s future is already present - said Steve Garnaas-Holmes.


Robin Shope was one of those teachers we read about every so often. She taught in Lewisville, Texas - remedial reading to teenagers who, because of their behavioral difficulties, were still in junior high school. (Having been a teacher, I can’t imagine how hard that would be.) She said, “Many were gang members, lived in single-parent families, or struggled with learning disabilities. Failure, anger, and lack of confidence and self-discipline were their constant emotional companions. Why should they try? Who cared about them?”


Robin prayed over each student, each day, never really knowing if her efforts would ever pay off. She also had a “rewards” box in her room, for those who made genuine effort over the course of the week.


Tony was one of the hardest to handle. He was a Hispanic teenager with a hot, 16 year old temper, still in the eighth grade. Naturally, like one more ingredient to the stew, Tony was the leader of the class. Everyone took their cues from him.


There came a day when Tony had a good day, so Robin invited him to choose something from the rewards box. After sorting and sifting, he finally brought out a small American flag. When other kids started snickering at him, he began to wave his flag in the air, and naturally, the class was beginning to fall apart.


At the end of her wits, Mrs. Shope said, “Tony, if you don’t put that flag down, I'll have to sing to you. And believe me, you won't want that!” As any teacher - and most everyone can guess - Tony kept on waving the flag. So in a shaky voice, she began a song from church: "Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart…”


The students quieted, seemingly mesmerized. Tony laid his flag on the desk; his dark eyes watched Robin as she sang. Was he angry? "And the King is in residence there…" The last notes died away.


The class was silent. "I haven't heard that since I was a kid in Sunday school," Tony said. "Do you know any more songs?” "Uh…" Robin was astonished at his reaction. He seemed completely sincere, even a little vulnerable. "How about ‘This Little Light of Mine'?" another boy suggested. "We used to sing that at my church."


Her students had attended Sunday schools, churches? She didn't even have time to ask, because a teenager in the back of the room had already started the next song. Together, in that most public of school environments, everyone sang one hymn after another; they were reminders of a younger, more innocent time in their lives when they had been filled with hope. "Jesus loves me, this I know…." Robin looked at their faces, heard the sweet purity of their voices, and blinked back tears.


After that day, the classroom climate changed. If everyone behaved, then "Sunday school singing" would take place at the end of the day. Robin took requests, connected certain songs to lessons, and exulted at the enthusiasm her teenagers now showed. She gave thanks to the unknown pastors and Sunday school teachers who had planted these seeds in her students. Often she caught Tony's eye during a special phrase and saw that the meaning had touched him too. No one from the principal's office ever reminded Robin that what she was doing was technically against the law.


Tony and some of the others graduated at the end of that year, and Robin lost touch with them. Occasionally, she wondered about Tony. Had those daily moments of relaxation and spiritual peace had an influence on him, enough to keep him from falling back into the ruthless street culture? She would probably never know. God had other plans.


Ten years passed, and Robin continued to teach remedial students. One day she pulled into a car-repair shop to have some work done. The manager of the shop, a handsome young man, greeted her and took her information. He seemed vaguely familiar, but Robin couldn't place him. She was struck by his good manners, but mainly by the sparkle and joy in his eyes.


As he finished the paperwork, the man looked at her. "You don't remember me, do you?” Robin hesitated. He smiled. "I'm Tony.” "God reached me through those songs we sang," Tony told her. "I wanted my life to mean something. So I went to mechanics school, and I go to church every week now, and"—he looked around proudly, then back at Robin—"don't give up on kids like me. Keep praying!"
 
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”


Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Holy and Amazing God, thank you for your vision of love and truth. Thank you that we can count on your truth, on your steadfastness, on your promises. It’s not been easy lately, and there have certainly been harder and more difficult times in the history of this world. And we know that all through those times, you have been with us - with your Spirit of truth and love. So give us eyes to see your truth this week, in ways that comfort and settle our anxious optimisms, that they become more real Biblical hope in you. For all your promises - fulfilled and yet to come - all your people say, Amen.