The season of Easter continues this weekend. If you are curious, we are at about day thirty-five out of the fifty for this season. The longer season gives us the chance to reflect on the death and new life of Jesus. We listen for the promises in the Gospel lesson, which today turns to the sending of the Holy Spirit or Advocate.
The disciples are deservedly anxious in the Gospel lesson for this weekend. We pick up halfway through John, chapter 14. We need to remember that this chapter began with the promise that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Today, we see Jesus caring for the disciples, and so too for you and me. In John’s Gospel, this moment anticipates the Pentecost event, which is celebrated this year on May 23-24. Jesus promises the Advocate, literally the One called alongside you and me.
God promises to be an accompanying God. God is intensely relational and present for us in the ebb and flow of life. As the followers of the way, truth, and life, accompanied by God, we are invited into an awareness of the abiding presence. Shaped by the God who accompanies us, what does it mean that we walk with one another?
Yours in the name of the Risen Christ Jesus,
Pastor Peter