FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH
Teaching Reaching and Healing, all with God's Love
Castle Rock, Colorado
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From Cindy Buschagen
Associate in Ministry

  May 2008

        In serving this congregation, one of the delights of my ministry is that of leading Bible Study.  Currently, the Brown Bag Bible Study gathers each Monday at noon, and we explore the lessons for the upcoming Sunday.  This week we had looked at the lessons for the 6th Sunday after Easter, which led us to a close look of John 14: 15-21.  This was the portion of Jesus’ “Farewell Address” to his disciples, where he announced that he would be leaving them, but promised that he would not leave them “orphaned”. That encouragement serves well in today’s context. What Jesus told his disciples on that last evening, prior to his betrayal, was that the “Father will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” This gift was known as “the Spirit of Truth”.  We call it the Holy Spirit. That Spirit communicates the truth…the truth about sin, the truth about righteousness, the truth about judgment, and the truth about us.  The Holy Spirit also provides comforting reassurance, that we are not “orphans”.  Because Jesus can not be with us, in the same way he was with his 1st century disciples, we cannot experience the truth Jesus imparts with his real presence.  We can, however, know the Truth, by invoking the Holy Spirit to be with us.
    The disciples had to learn, as do we, how to have a relationship with Jesus in his absence.  We have learned that while Jesus may be absent, God is not.   But, the disciples, and each of us wish to cry out, “Jesus, stay with us!” In the movie Camelot, at the end of the last scene, King Arthur sings of Camelot –the most idyllic place on earth and, that for one brief, shining moment, there was a place, a very special place, called Camelot.  As with King Arthur and his knights, Jesus and his disciples had shared shining moments when the truth shined its light on the darkness of humanity’s souls.
    Jesus had called his disciples to live and love in ways that seemed impossible. “How are we to do that, Lord, if you leave us?”  They had had a hard time loving in that way, even when Jesus was with them.  How could they begin to show that love, when He was no longer with them?   Without the Holy Spirit, that would have proved to be impossible.  At the center of this Farewell discourse is “Love” and “Spirit”.  Jesus’ message was that the Holy Spirit would be the guide for the disciples, both yesterday’s and today’s disciples.  The Spirit would show the way, “guiding you into the truth.”
    Church historian, Rosemary Rradford Reuther says there are two things the church must do.  
1) We must pass on the tradition from one generation to another.  Tell the story of Jesus to your children and to your children’s children; and 2) be open to the winds of the Spirit by which the tradition comes alive in every generation.  This is different than simply “remembering with nostalgia” as King Arthur did in Camelot.  It’s deeper than memory. When the going gets tough, even those of us who consider ourselves to be children of faith, are sometimes tempted to say, “this is crazy; Lord!”  The life of faith can be like that.  Doubts can settle in; despair can overwhelm us; sometimes the whole idea of believing in God may seem crazy.  Jesus knew his disciples would have days like that.  Jesus knew future generations of disciples might have days like that.  Those days… those times… are when we need to cling to God’s promises.  But, we are also to cling to one another.  After Jesus made His promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, he went on to tell them a story.  “I am the vine; abide in me, as I abide in you.”  The Spirit will keep us connected.  The Spirit will teach you how to love one another.  The Spirit ties us to Jesus.  We feel the tug of those ties, each time we settle for answers that may make “sense”, but don’t give life.  That’s when we need to invoke the Holy Spirit to come to us.  When we do, the Spirit will abide in us, and will help us to know how to love one another, how to listen to one another, and how to discern God’s will.  “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful.”
 
                                                                                                                                                         Faithfully,
                                                                                                                                                           Cindy Buschagen, AIM