· CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

· ADULT EDUCATION

· EFM

· JOURNEY TO
   ADULTHOOD
      RITE 13
      J2A
      YAC

· VACATION BIBLE
   SCHOOL

· SERMONS

· CURSILLO

· HAPPENING

· RESOURCE LIST
      Chapel Library
      Recommendations

SERMONS

Pentecost
May 27, 2007

By The Rev. Alston Johnson

We have all heard the old saying, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” It is a reality that we see repeated throughout our lives. Hammering away at the different projects that either we choose, or that choose us.Link by link, we mold, we connect, we fashion a chain that will bind us to something meaningful in this life. With these links we mark our journey: love, success, security, legacy, and sometimes, almost like an afterthought, we tie in spirituality.

Link by link, we draw the bits of our lives together hoping to be bound to something that will give us an “ultimate meaning,” something that will result in a larger purpose. All that we hold dear, all that we desire, all that we feel we have earned in this life, bound together link by link, giving us a hold on something larger, something meaningful, something like a handhold on heaven.

There are many hard won links in these chains that we construct, but they will never be stronger than their weakest link; our chain of meaning in this life will never be stronger than our own points of weakness.

Jesus comes into this world building a kind of chain. Link by link he is building a chain that will forever bind earth to heaven. His first links are the disciples. Forsaking popularity, riches, even simply being understood by those who should understand him, Jesus molds and shapes the disciples into the links of His chain. He takes the twelve and begins to make a new passage to heaven.

Jesus hammers away and shapes the disciples as He teaches, as He performs the works that His teaching implies; ironically, Jesus shapes the disciples as He himself is being poured out.

In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus is already beginning to turn his face toward Jerusalem, already beginning to carry the weight of the world upon his shoulders. It is now that He hears Philip say, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

I have to believe that Philip is being naive, innocent, not really knowing what he is asking. Like someone whose curiosity is itching to be scratched, Philip says, “Show us the father and we will be satisfied.”

This is neither the time nor place for such a request.

Philip knows that water has been turned to wine; a blind man has been healed and can now see; there is a man named Lazarus raised from the dead. Philip has heard Jesus say over and over in the hearing of those who should recognize him, that He is the one sent by the Father. Philip has become one of the links in this chain, and yet he asks Jesus for something more; something in effect that Jesus says has already been provided.

There are times when my heart breaks for Jesus; thinking about the material He has in hand to do his work, to build this chain between heaven and earth. Something so weak as human understanding. Something so fickle as human commitment. Something so weak as Philip’s request, yet Jesus forges ahead to reshape the world.

I have to believe that Jesus is trying to give Philip the benefit of the doubt; trying to give him an “out.” If you cannot believe me because of my own words, at least believe me because of the works themselves; believe me because of the life, the miracles, the teaching, the witness, the hope, that you see rising up in my midst, Philip.

Notice that Jesus does not answer Philip’s request. Instead, Jesus gives Philip a pledge and promise. Jesus gives Philip the pledge and promise of Pentecost.

When we give ourselves to Jesus, when we give him our hearts, weak links that they may be; when we love Him, in the midst of our doubts, in the midst of failures, when we struggle to reach out to Him, extend ourselves in His direction . . . He will forever reach towards us in return.

There is one who comes and stands in the gap with us.

There is one who comes and binds together the weakest link.

There is one who keeps the chain from breaking between heaven and earth.

Jesus is giving Philip a pledge that stands for each of us, for all of us. “ . . . he will give you Another Advocate, to be with you forever.” The promise to Philip, and the other disciples, as Jesus finishes his work in Jerusalem, is that Jesus means for us to make the journey as well.

The Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the friend and guide, dwells within the Church, and within her children, so that we might share and know the very things that Jesus shared with the disciples when He was with them. Things that can make all the difference in a sometimes difficult journey: comfort, strength, stamina, hope, and kindness.

We can know that the Holy Spirit is in our midst when we find that there is a presence dwelling within us helping us to speak the words of love, when perhaps we would not be able to speak them on our own. When we are able to share love with others, when we find it most difficult.

We can know that the Holy Spirit is at work in our midst when we find that something Christ like is happening to us, for us, within us, and we know that it could not be because of our own goodness; it is God at work in us, through us, for us.

That is what we celebrate on this Feast of Pentecost - that Jesus sends his own Spirit to stand in the gap with us. We are not left defenseless in this world to then make our way to God by our own devices. Jesus sends his own Holy Spirit to come and bind us together when our weakest links would threaten to leave us adrift in doubt, anxiety, and selfishness.

Jesus means for us to make the crossing from this world to the Father.

Our chains are only as strong as their weakest links. Jesus is telling us that even our weakest links to Him will never break. With the Holy Spirit alive and present in this world, our weakest link is transformed, our weakness is transformed; it becomes the place where God will stand for us and with us.