Daily Devotion – May 26, 2021 – Pastor Brian Hansen

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 

26”When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. 

“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 

7Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. 12“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 

The word used in John’s Gospel for the Holy Spirit is Paraclete, which we sometimes translate as “Comforter.” The Holy Spirit as Comforter eases our distress, encourages us, and comes to us in times of trouble to remind us of Jesus’ presence and promises. And it’s just that kind of comfort, I imagine, that is at the heart of Jesus’ discourse to his disciples in the fourth Gospel. They were distressed, feeling orphaned and abandoned, and so needed that kind of comfort and advocacy.  However, everywhere I look in our Pentecost texts for this week is seems to me that the Holy Spirit isn’t comforting anyone or anything but instead is shaking things up.  In all of our readings for this week the Holy Spirit is as much agitator as comforter. And when I think of what an agitator does, I think of my washing machine, which has an agitator that does the work of getting things shook up a bit so they can be made clean.

Not only does the Spirit comfort us, but the Spirit also agitates us to encourage and sometimes nudge us to do the work that God needs done. This is certainly true in the readings for this week, and it is also true in our world. If we heed the Spirit’s nudgings, we will inevitably be pushed beyond what is comfortable and end up stirring things up. We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the answer to a problem, but what if the Spirit’s work is to create for us a new problem, the problem of making us uncomfortable for the sake of what God needs us to do in our community and in our world?

Jesus commands us, his disciples, to “care for the least of these and in so doing know that you are caring for me.”  Jesus’ command was to “go and make disciples” and to “love one another as I have loved you.” And when we truly respond to this calling through our words and deeds, we discover that this kind of work is inherently disruptive, difficult, and at times even dangerous. And so, Jesus sends the Paraclete, the one who comes along side us to encourage, equip, strengthen, provoke and, yes, at times to comfort us so that we can get out there and do God’s work.

So perhaps this Pentecost as we sing the hymn “Spirit of Gentleness” we need to truly ask God’s Holy presence to stir us from placidness as we trust in God to nudge us to places of discomfort.  And perhaps this week we might pray that God would send the Holy Spirit into our lives and into our community to shake things up by preparing and equipping each and all of us to share the disruptive, surprising, and life-giving word of grace of the God who will not rest until all people enjoy abundant life.

Let us pray:  Life-giving Spirit, move us to respond to your callings in this world.  Guide our Church and guide our daily walks that we might be agitators of your transformation grace in the world you so love.  AMEN