2020-05-17 _ 6th
Sunday Easter
●
Acts 8:5-8,14-17 ● Psalm 66 ● 1 Peter
3:15-18 ● + John 14:15-21 ●
Title: Wind Power
[_01_] I really only know
a very little bit about sailboats and sailing, but would like to use such a
wind-powered example to connect to the Gospel this Sunday.
If you know anyone with such a floating vessel – a sailboat
– you know that sailors may have 2 choices. They can travel with their engine
power or motor, or they can sail with the wind.
It’s more difficult, challenging – but also more fulfilling
– to sail with the wind.
One sailor wrote:
there is nothing quite like the quiet absence of engine noise and the
sounds of the water being sliced by the keel of the boat.
[_02_] Now, Jesus and his
disciples were also sailors and fisherman. While they did not have engines and
motors, they had their own personal power with their oars in the water. It’s
often easier to row than to sail. You have more control, but is that really the
way to go?
In the Gospel, this Sunday, Jesus is speaking at the Last
Supper to his disciples about the Holy Spirit being a consoling presence –
being the consoler.
What does this have to do with sailing and the wind?
[_03_] Actually, in New
Testament Greek and among many ancient Christian writers, the Holy Spirit is
symbolized by – represented by the wind, the flow of air, the wind of the Holy
Spirit as a sustaining spiritual energy for you and for me.
But, nevertheless – even though we have the energy and wind
of the Holy Spirit, sometimes, we prefer to travel only by our own engine
power.
[_04_] 2 Sundays from now, on May 31, we observe the
Feast of Pentecost. And, as we read, the Holy Spirit arrives on Pentecost – in
Acts chapter 2 – as a strong driving wind.
The Holy Spirit is symbolized by the wind.
[*** pause
****]
[_05_] In the Gospel, Jesus is speaking about the
Holy Spirt as a consoling presence.
Now, what does it mean
to find or to discover consolation in our lives? Because..the consolation which we find in
discipleship is not simply a consolation that says we will are free of trouble
or difficulty, but rather that there is a consolation beyond these
circumstances, beyond this world.
Also, while we are trapped in our houses – we also may feel
“trapped” in ourselves, we cannot get out of our own way.
This is my personal testimony or witness to this, not just
for COVID 19 but in general.
[** pause **]
[_05_] I can be selfish. I can give in to
fear. I can avoid sacrifices. I can worry excessively about what other people
will say or think of me. I can and do say things that are uncharitable about
another person, just to be amusing. I can get angry or upset about a problem
that is not very important. I can avoid looking bad, but then do not always do
what I can to make the best gift of my talents.
And, that is just a short list.
[_05.01_] I cite this as a
short list of what I can do and be – or what any one of us can be – when we
operate only by our own ENGINE power or by our own motors ..or when my whole
person becomes about technology or achievement. Then, I become also just a
“mobile device.” I may even by under the impression that I myself have
“unlimited data.”
We are reminded in this crisis – COVID 19 crisis – that you
are not alone, that we are not alone. It’s true, we are not. But, how do we
know? Is it because we all have many of
the same financial struggles, health concerns or that we are all “tripping out
about the future”.
Tripping out about the future can also be like taking an
addictive substance.
All of this true. But it’s not just because we are standing
in the same queue or lined up in the same places, or on hold for the same
services. That’s not what unites us.
Every time we make
the sign of the Cross … “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit”, we are asking the Spirit to guide us, even to pray for us
when we do not know how to pray.
Romans 8:26 ► “Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we
ought; but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings.”
[_06_] Right now, it may seem that we are adrift on
the water and we may want to throttle or rev our engines, or put the pedal to
the metal.
I suggest we need more than engine power right now. We also
need the silence of the Holy Spirit, of prayer, to survive and thrive.
You and I sometimes have to take some circuitous routes to
catch the wind and to welcome and receive God’s spirit.
Why is this important?
I suggest it is important not only to recognize the meaning
of living but also the meaning of dying.
Jesus said: “whosoever
will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
and the gospel's, the same shall save it.”
(bible-ref___)
In other words, it is consoling to see someone who is ready
to give up his life, who is ready to die.
However, we often limit this “readiness” or idea of this
readiness only to those who are – say – very old or very ill.
I’ll give you an example.
When my grandfather was dying, my mother tried visited him
frequently and tried to visit his hospital room one last time on the night he
died.
In fact, he died a little while before. There was a
caregiver with my grandfather who told me mother, “He was ready; he went
straight up …. ”
That’s consolation. And we need the support of others in
such times of crisis and illness and dying.
That’s part of what makes this COVID 19 crisis and
stay-at-home order very difficult….
[_07_] We all need the help of the Holy Spirit, of
God’s love, mediated through others, to help us realize meaning in our lives.
[_08_] A final example:
In my last semester of college, I was volunteering and was
under the impression (my own impression) that I was doing a good job of being a
volunteer college newspaper sports reporter for our college basketball team.
After a few weeks of me tormenting and torturing the head
coach of the team with my questions and interviews, I was told by the coach
that my style could use some major improvement.
I was stunned, but could not really argue with him. This is
what the coach told me to do… after the next game, I was to observe what one of
the professional reporters from a city newspaper did. Listen to his questions,
I could learn something.
And, I do recall vividly the reporter’s directness,
diplomacy, effectiveness.
I also realized at that moment – I would never ever have
figured this out on my own.
My engine – my motor – was not enough.
I needed the example of another person.
I also needed that example to connect something in me,
inside. So, it was an inspiration.
But, I’m suggesting that an inspiration is not something
you and I create. It’s a gift.
I treasured that gift, I’ve told people over the years
about the gift and finally …just recently, I felt moved to write a note, an
email to that reporter to thank him.
I’m glad he was still around and accessible to receive it.
This was his response:
I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciated your kind
note, in large part because when you're 62 (as I am) you find yourself
wondering if your life's work has mattered -- if in fact your life has mattered
in any significant way. To know that something I did mattered to you means a
great deal.
Your live has meaning. Our lives have meaning. We may not
always know the effect of our efforts.
Through our faith, we not only have a new MOBILITY, a new
freedom, a new energy, to guide us each day.
[_fin_]
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