Sunday’s Readings: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20; 1 Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21
From your Pastor’s Desk:
Many people are deeply concerned about what is happening in our world. And not just rising gas prices. And not just National Security. It seems, rather, that there is a growing sense of National Insecurity. The secular world says people are returning to church because they are afraid. That may be so in some instances, but I feel that they are just ‘returning home’. They no longer wish to be alone. They miss and wish ‘family’.
That is what we experience on the local level, but what about the global one? There is a danger to not see people as people. Not as children of God. But as ‘collateral damage’ or ‘expendable’. Having spent a good deal of time in the military, I have seen what those terms mean.
How many innocent children have died? How many innocent parents have died?
In today’s Gospel, the words “I will not leave you orphans” still speak directly today to some of our greatest fears and challenges, abandonment and isolation, loneliness, and vulnerability. Can we be an advocate for those who left orphans or those who are in despair and full of questions such as what will I do now, where will I go, what is going to happen, who will nurture me and stand with me?
These are some of the same thoughts going through the disciples’ heads.
These are some of the same thoughts going through our heads.
This is when the church, at its best, can be a community of love, that love which gives the church a great power to provide support so desperately needed. The community where the advocate is present provides solace for those who need an advocate. And that advocate is Jesus, the advocate of the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of Jesus, and the Spirit of God.
For us we may not see or hear the presence of God all the time. But the power and presence of God is always available for us. No matter how frightened or alone we feel, no matter how much we feel abandoned or how weak or powerless we believe we are, that does not mean the Spirit is not here. That does not mean we are not loved.
We may feel separated from God, but God does not go anywhere. God is always with us, even when all we can see ahead of us is loneliness and despair. God protects and provides for us. We are God’s treasured possession. We are God’s children, brothers, and sisters of Christ Jesus. We are friends of Jesus. Jesus promised He will never leave us orphaned. He promised to be with us always through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
And if we live out the commandments of loving God with all we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves, that is proof of our love for Christ. It is not simply saying we love Him. It is doing what He told us to do. That is the measure of our faithfulness and of our love for Jesus. It is because of love for the Father and for us that Jesus embraced the mystery of the cross. It is because of our love for God that we are enabled to endure the sufferings of life. For we know that this life will pass away, but our love of life in Christ will live forever.
Be not afraid.
Father Ron
