Given by Sherry Black at St. James' Memorial, Marion, IL on May 12, 2008. Who are you, sweet light, that fills me This is the first verse of Edith Stein’s devotion to the Holy Spirit. “You lead me like a mother’s hand,” she wrote. It’s an interesting combination, Mother’s Day and Pentecost. When I was reflecting on this day, this sermon, I thought that it was rather ironic that the Holy Spirit is sometimes considered to be the Feminine person of God—even among people who’s theology I trust. There are some grammatical reasons that the Spirit could be considered feminine, but for the most part even Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “he,” as masculine, so I’ll stick with that. In the gospel of John one of the words Jesus uses for the Spirit is paraclete—which is translated in the King James as Comforter. Other words used to translate this strange Greek word are Advocate, Helper, and Counselor, but I kind of like the idea of Comforter, don’t you?—especially in relation to Mother’s Day. Mother is comfort, and Holy Spirit is comfort. Interestingly enough, where Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as Paraclete, as Comforter. there are some parallels with mothering. Using the King James, in John 14:16 Jesus says I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. The Father shall give you another Comforter who will abide with you forever. First, this implies that Jesus is a comforter, a paraclete too; and both Jesus and the Paraclete, the Spirit, come from the Father; they have the same source. Perhaps one of the best ways of understanding of the word paraclete is the idea of presence. “Jesus is a human presence . . . in heaven, and he is the divine presence on earth. The paraclete (who is himself distinct from Jesus and not simply Jesus’ presence) is to continue that divine presence among the disciples.”1 So, the Paraclete comes from the Father, and will be with them forever. The work of the Holy Spirit is never completed. Reminds me of a mother’s love for her children. This love and concern and wish to comfort and guide never ends, no matter how old our children are. Ten verses later, in John 14:26, Jesus again mentions the paraclete. The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. The Paraclete or the Holy Spirit, is sent by the Father in the name of Jesus. Here he is a teacher and a reminder (sounds like a mother to me!). The paraclete teaches about Jesus, reminding the disciples of Jesus’ words. Perhaps a better translation of this verse is that the paraclete is the “’one will teach you everything, that is, he will remind you of everything which I said to you.’. . . The Spirit understands all about Jesus and will clarify all that Jesus taught.”2 Similarly, isn’t it one of the roles of a mother to teach her children about Jesus? King James' translation of Proverbs 22:6 says to train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. There is one more verse about the paraclete that we’ll look at this morning: John 15:26 when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. The witness of the paraclete is to the truth, and Jesus himself is the truth. Again, the paraclete comes out from the Father, and the paraclete is going to testify about Jesus. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is always pointing away from himself, and towards Jesus; in the same way Jesus always points to the Father, seeking to glorify him. Hopefully this isn’t too much of a stretch, but a mother also should not seek to glorify herself, but should point to Jesus, and be a witness of Jesus, testifying about his love. The Holy Spirit has a number of roles that we don’t have time to look at, but certainly he is a comforter and helper, a teacher and revealer, and the one who directs our attention to Jesus, drawing us always closer to Christ, to the Father. He directs our prayers, and even prays for us. Romans 8:26 says The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. The Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer says this about the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the Trinity, God at work in the world and in the Church even now. The Holy Spirit is revealed in the Old Covenant as the giver of life, the One who spoke through the prophets. In the New Covenant the Holy Spirit is revealed as the Lord who leads us into all truth and enables us to grow in the likeness of Christ. We recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit when we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and are brought into love and harmony with God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all creation. We recognize truths to be taught by the Holy Spirit when they are in accord with the Scriptures. I think that we don’t pay enough attention to the Holy Spirit, so I appreciate that Pentecost is the one day that is all about Him and his work, empowering disciples for mission and ministry. In order to reflect on Him a little more, I’ll close with the entirety of Edith Stein’s Novena, which I began with. Edith Stein was a German philosopher, a Carmelite nun, martyr, and saint of the Catholic Church, who died at Auschwitz. Who are you, sweet light, that fills me Are you not the sweet manna Are you the ray Are you the spirit’s fullness and the power Are you the master who builds the eternal cathedral, Are you the one who created the unclouded mirror Are you the sweet song of love 1 Whitacre, Rod. The Gospel of John. 357. 2 Whitacre. |