The Advocate

by Pastor Gina Johnson

So next Sunday, we are going to be celebrating Pentecost, as we've said, and Pentecost is, gosh, you know, honestly, I think it is my favorite church holiday because when I was entering into ministry, I would always say, “Man, I love the Holy Spirit. I love the Holy Spirit. I'm a Holy Spirit junkie.” And I remember when I went as an associate minister, the senior minister was like, “Gina, I don't know if you want to call yourself a Holy Spirit junkie,” and I was like, “No, that's what I am. You know how junkies are. They just can't get enough. Like, I can't get enough of the Holy Spirit. It just means so much to me.” And, you know, Pentecost, it signifies, yes, like the birth of a church, but it's deeper than that. Pentecost reminds us of the great celebration of receiving that internal presence, and it's not even receiving it because, you know, it's always within you.

Now, I'm not getting into any theological debates, okay? Getting baptized in the water, baptized in the Spirit, baptized by the fire of the Spirit, speaking in tongues — you guys can do that at lunch when you leave here, all right? But where I stand is that internal presence of the Holy Spirit, as we are divine beings created in the Father's image, is always within us, and if we have the opportunity — you know what? If you guys would move there, we would be solid family, no? Okay, no, no. And so, you know, it's that part of us that sometimes we get caught up in the noise of the world, so we can't necessarily hear the Spirit, but the Spirit is always present, just like God is always present, and it's about recognizing that the Spirit is not reserved for selected people. It's not only for the, you know, few and far between. The Spirit is always there.

And I feel like over the past several weeks, without even intentionally moving in this direction, we've been on this path of enfoldment, and this isn't necessarily a formal series that I'm crafting out, but whenever you are moving towards spiritual enfoldment, which you should be doing all the time, there are going to be these beautiful moments that continue to remind us of who we are and what God has called us to be. And, you know, we don't always recognize that the quiet work of the Holy Spirit is always present with us. You know, we might hear it in Scripture, we may hear it in an audio or in a song, we might feel it in a conversation, through all these areas of our life, but the Holy Spirit is always present, and sometimes the Holy Spirit is just quiet, so it takes us being still. It takes us trusting to hear the Holy Spirit.

So if we go back a little bit, you remember that we talked a few weeks back about the name of the I Am and being very mindful to say, “What are you putting after God's divine name?” Recognizing that your words are powerful, and so when you say, “I am this,” or “I am that,” recognize that you're also taking the Lord's name, and you might be losing sight of something very important, as in who you are, the I Am that you are.

And then last week, as we continued in our journey, we were talking about what are we carrying? Are you holding on to what is important? You know, do you recognize that there is often more strength and formation and presence already taking place within you over the years, over the moments of the day? Do you stop and see how God has always been beside you in the presence of the Spirit?

And, you know, it was always very powerful to recognize that there is never a time in my life, when I look back, where I've been without the Holy Spirit. It just was a matter of, did I know it in that moment or not? The Spirit is always within us. It's always breathing. It's always living. It's always molding. It's always shaping us, but we have to be open to the remembrance of that.

And for a lot of people, they don't necessarily know of the Holy Spirit. You could go to certain churches that are more Pentecostal, and, oh, the Spirit is alive, and it's beautiful, but if that's not something you've experienced, you might go in there and feel skepticism. You might get a little scared. You may think that you've gone to something that's a form of entertainment and want to get up and start screaming and singing along with them, but the thing about it is the Holy Spirit is very personal. It's not just a doctrine. It's not just a historical event that we're gonna spend time talking about. The Holy Spirit is a reality in our human experience. It's a guiding presence that goes with us.

And so, when you listen closely to Jesus in the Gospel of John, he's trying to prepare his disciples for something much deeper than they understand in that present moment. And I'm not going to read this entire 14 and 15 of the Gospel of John, but I do want to read some pieces of it to you. So if you recognize, he's there in the upper room. He has just had the — he's there at the Last Supper, and he's starting to talk to them about what's going on.

So the first verse in chapter 14 says, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.” And then you guys are very familiar with, you know, “My Father's house has many mansions. If it wasn't so, I would have told you.”

And so then Thomas says to him, he says, “Lord, we don't know where you're going, and how can we know the way?” And Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

And the conversation continues on, and then Philip says to him, “Wait, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” And Jesus looks at Philip and says, you know, “Haven't you been with me all this time? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father.”

And so there's this conversation. You can tell that the disciples, they're nervous. They can tell that a shift is coming, and they have this level of uncertainty. And so they're saying, you know, “Jesus, give us something. Show us something. You're gonna leave us. We want to know.”

And so then he says to them, after speaking on the importance of keeping his commandments and being loving to one another, loving each other as they have loved each other, as they have been together over these past years in ministry together, he says, “And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another advocate, that may abide with you forever, the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.”

I just want to stop there and talk about that for just a minute. See, a lot of times we don't talk much about the Trinity. You know, when I go down to do the benediction every Sunday, I say, “May the blessing of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit rest mightily upon each and every one of us.” But I could just say, “May the one, may the I Am, may God, which encompasses Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, may the Christ rest mightily upon you.”

And so we have God, who sent us Jesus, his only begotten Son, to walk with us, to teach us, to be the living embodiment, the closest thing that we have in human form to Christ's presence, modeling the way, showing us what to do, and now Jesus says, “Hey guys, I'm gonna be with you a little longer, but I have some things to do. I have some things to prepare.” And he leaves his understandings, his teachings, not only to his disciples — there's some women involved in that too, but again, that's another message on another day — but he says, “Okay, you guys keep asking questions. I'm gonna pray to the Father, and he's gonna send you an advocate.” And he says, “The world can't see this because they don't know him. They don't know the Father. The world is not built based on the Father, but you guys know him, First Christian Church, everyone listening. You know him. He is in you.”

And so when he is in you, I am in you, and that is Jesus saying, “It's the Father, it's the Son, it's the Holy Spirit,” and that's what he's telling them.

He says again in verse 26, “But the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” He says, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

And he's telling them, “I am sending you a piece of the Father. I am giving you a piece of me that is going to live within you. I'm essentially reminding you through the power of the Spirit of who you are, and as you navigate in this world without me, you are gonna have peace. I'm not leaving you anything that you need to be afraid of. I'm not leaving you to take on a task that is gonna overwhelm you and overcome you. I'm leaving you an advocate.”

You know, in the historical meaning of the advocate, it was meant to be like a legal intercessor that would come in and take care of everything on your behalf, and we also read, you know, the paraclete is another word. It says the paracletus, which is counselor, helper, and comforter. And so he says, “But you know, I am sending the advocate, and when the advocate comes, who I'm going to send you from the Father, this is the Spirit of truth.”

And so again, we look back at what's taking place here. He begins speaking to them about this advocate. This is a presence that will always be there, that will always be there. He tells them, “You're not going to be abandoned. The Spirit is going to teach you. It's going to remind you. It's going to guide you into truth.”

He's beginning to prepare them to realize that the presence that they have been experiencing through Christ Jesus is now going to be living with them, is going to be within them, because it always has been, but now Jesus is making it in such a way that not just experience — now they are going to awaken within.

And I think one of the reasons that this matters so much, the reason that Jesus is taking all this time to speak to them — you know, this is one of those red-letter Bibles, and it's all red, it's all red except for their questions — because he's trying to make it clear to them how to recognize wisdom.

You know, one thing is knowledge, and we can attain and attain a whole lot of knowledge, but without the Spirit, without the inner truth, without the movement of God in that knowledge, it's just knowledge. It's just puffed up. You can hang all kinds of accolades and papers on your wall, but if you don't have the discernment of the guidance in the Holy Spirit, your knowledge isn't worth that much. It might get you far in the world, but last time I checked, the world isn't permanent, so that's not where we're trying to get far.

But it's interesting because when you have the presence of the Spirit, and Jesus is trying to teach them what that actually means, when you have the presence of wisdom, then things are different. Knowledge becomes wisdom, truth, and power, and authority, guidance.

The ancients, they often spoke about wisdom like a living presence, and so in the Hebrew Scriptures, wisdom is often defined in feminine language. Yeah, ladies, hear that, right? Use that one at home when your man's not listening to you. Be like, “Well, you know what they say about wisdom.” No, but seriously, it's usually defined in feminine language, and in Proverbs, you know, wisdom calls out in the streets and invites humanity to wake up. Wisdom calls out in the streets and says, “Let's see things differently. Let's live differently. Let's not give in to the world.”

And later, the Greek uses divine wisdom and refers to the Sophia, and if you have a little curious heart or a mind that's willing to explore and know your God deeper, know the elements of your faith deeper, then go look up the Sophia. Go look up this beautiful text called Epistis Sophia, and it tells you about that wise feminine element of God that's not merely intellect, but it's holy wisdom. She is holy wisdom. She is the living breath of God, and she comes in through creation, through guiding, through revelation, and through awakening us, and it's such a beautiful piece of history.

But, you know, there's the other side too, that as many traditions have talked about the Holy Spirit and have offered it to us as a comfort and a guidance, over time there have been those who have found the Holy Spirit to be very controversial because they were worried as people are running around saying things like, “Well, God told me to do it,” and they would say that very irresponsibly.

The church was worried at times that people were getting too far away from the structure and the doctrine, in other words they were pushing out the Holy Spirit. One thing that I love about the disciples of Christ is they want you to get in there, they want you to read it, they want you to sit with it, and let Spirit reveal it to you. They don't say, this is what it says, you don't have to read it, I just told you what it says.

They say, no, ask the questions, read between the lines, and if you allow yourself, listen behind the words, because there is so much there. You know, some people become so uncomfortable with mystery that they're never opening to the Holy Spirit, and in those moments where there's a guiding presence helping things come together, they're like, hey you know, I just, I got lucky, I made it through that one. Okay, that's fine, you can call it luck, but I tell you, I know it's something a little bit more than that, a lot more than that.

You know, people become uncomfortable when religion becomes institutionalized, but that's exactly what they do when they want the mystery solved and revealed. Part of the joy, part of the experience, is the mystery. Part of the Holy Spirit is the mystery.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this that we hear, and that we read, and that we experience throughout different denominations, one thing remains the same, and that's Jesus is still speaking about the Holy Spirit as an advocate, the wise counselor, the faithful teacher, the guide, the intercessor that'll give you the words to pray. You can sit in silence and the Holy Spirit will speak for you. Jesus wasn't just trying to give us rules, he was trying to teach us how to not only see people, but to see ourselves fully, to see what we're made up of, to see how we can discern, and we can recognize the difference between fear and wisdom, between reaction and truth to what is going on.

You know, we have that message that one time about, you know, is it real? Is it true? Is it truth? The Holy Spirit guides us in truth, because in this world, with all of the noise, whether it's our own noise, or whether it's the noise coming at us, we need that deeper presence of God within us, and that's what the Holy Spirit is. When something happens in your life, what is your first inclination? Is it panic? Is it frustration? Is it to assume the worst? And how often do we spiral into a place of either wanting to control it all, or wanting to run away from it all? But with the Holy Spirit, you can develop that spiritual maturity to know that that voice is never going to leave your side. It doesn't matter what you're going through, that that presence of the Spirit is always going to be with you.

Have you ever had that moment where you're about to do something, and you just feel something telling you to pause? Something reminding you to listen? Have you ever been moving through your day really busy, really active, and all of a sudden someone pops in your head, and you're willing to put everything down and call that person? And good thing you did. You know, how often do we hear stories of someone who all of a sudden goes to check on someone, just because they popped in their head, and it was that moment that saved their life? I woke up as a little girl in the middle of the night. My dad was on TDY, and I just couldn't understand where was my mom.

I was very little, and I was sleeping in my mom's bed whenever my dad was on TDY. I woke up, and she wasn't there, and I went downstairs, and she tried to kill herself. And it was one of those moments where in the time, I don't know what that means, but now as I look back as a teenager, as I look back as a young adult, as I look back, that was the Spirit.

That was the advocate. That was the counselor. That was my teacher.

That was my Sophia saying, hey, something's missing right here. I had a doctor tell me the significance of me finding my mother in the moment that I did. That is the Holy Spirit.

You know, it's interesting, because a lot of times, the way that peace rises in these challenging situations, the way that peace rises, whether it's something small, you're about to take your final that you've studied and studied for, and you're like, am I gonna do this? Can I do this? All of a sudden, you're like, you know what? I got this. And maybe you don't call it the Holy Spirit, but just know that that presence, that presence is that higher power reminding you that yes, you got this because you are me. You are greater than anything that this world is gonna place before you, because you receive from the divine, and you are the divine.

You know, there's an old story about Michelangelo when he's carving out the statue of David, and someone wants to understand, how do you create something so beautiful? He says, I saw the angel in the marble, and he just carved until he set the angel free. Isn't that beautiful? I love that image, because it just reminds us that we are closer to spiritual life than we realize. There are promptings, and there are nudgings that are telling us to do something, and sometimes the only reason we don't hear the Spirit, we don't listen to the Spirit, is because we're afraid.

But even it says in the gospel, I didn't give you a spirit of fear. I gave you a spirit of power, and love, and a sound mind. You see, there's already something beautiful, and wise, and compassionate, and it's alive, and it's within you, and that's the Holy Spirit.

That's what's refining you. That's what's been refining you, and awakening you all of these years. Sometimes I think what people hear words like advocate, or comforter, and we talk about God with that mystery, and that mystical side of things, we place them so far away.

We place God far, we place Jesus far, we place the Holy Spirit far, the saints, the prophets, but that's not true. As they all come into the oneness of the divine, they're right here. They're right here.

What if the Holy Spirit is far more intimate and practical than you realize? It doesn't matter what age you are, it's never too late to awaken to that powerful presence that is you. Sometimes if you stop and ask that question, you know, what if there always has been a quiet wisdom weaving things together? What if what I see in my mind is just the surface of how extraordinarily divine life really is? You know, there's moments where I would try to make a decision, and I would always refer to the Holy Spirit as a thin red line that weaves together every part of my life. And when I would be trying to make that decision, and trying to discern whether or not something was aligned, I would just wait.

I would wait till I felt that inner thread moving. I would wait till I saw that inner thread guiding me. When I was asked if I wanted to have brain surgery, I prayed to God.

I said, I know we're not supposed to ask you for signs, and I know we're not supposed to test you God, but let me have a Gideon moment, and throw my fleece on the ground, and I want it wet, I want it dry. I want it wet, I want it dry. And you know what's funny is I asked him for confirmation.

I wanted three forms of confirmation. And within the next three days of making that prayer, I spoke to an Avon lady whose son had had brain surgery, and how wonderful it went. I found out from a dear friend of mine that his uncle had epilepsy, and had brain surgery, and how wonderful it went.

I went to a hair salon to get my head shaved, so my little Isabella wouldn't be afraid of her bald mommy. And as I sat there, there was a gentleman sitting across from me, and we started a conversation. He's like, oh you know my wife was just in Rochester having brain surgery, and it came out wonderfully.

And it was after that third one where I thanked God immediately. And I even said to the man I was talking to, I said, well thank you, you're my third confirmation from the Holy Spirit. I don't know what he thought in that moment.

He smiled, and he said, well that's great, I really hope everything works out. And I said, well don't worry, it will, because you were the third confirmation. And that was it.

That was it. You know, the Holy Spirit is a living sense of guidance that will say, yes, keep going, keep going. No, not yet, not yet.

And that's okay. Sometimes people would understand what I was saying when I referred to the Holy Spirit, other times they didn't. But it was okay, because the experience of the Holy Spirit is so personal, it's so intimate.

My inner connection with my Sophia is something very unique and special to me. And I can use it to define things, I can use it to love, and to guide, and to teach people, but so can you. So can you.

It's that guide, it's that accompaniment, it's that advocate that's with you, bringing you a song of strength, and power, and faith. And it doesn't mean that things are going to be free of challenges, because it's not about, oh, when I have the Holy Spirit, I won't be challenged. Well, you know, I like to say that challenges are that beautiful classroom in which we grow.

Challenges are the beautiful space in which we get to remember who we are, who we love and serve, and the power and authority that is within us from God to be used for love and service. And so sometimes the Spirit will lead you to let go of old ways of thinking. Sometimes it's going to lead you to be open to new opportunities and new thinking.

Other times it's going to prompt you in ways that will grow you beyond old versions of yourself that for some reason you're still clinging on to. But the most important underlying awareness to hold on to is you are not alone. Is it a loss? Is it a gain? Is it a failure? Is it a success? Is it a transition today, or is it one five years from now? It doesn't matter.

The Holy Spirit is there with you. There's always something greater within me that's drawing me. It's saying, hey, Gina, remember there's greater wisdom there.

There's greater compassion for you to experience and give to others. There's greater truth for you to receive, and to remember, and to share. And that's not just for Gina.

That's for all of us. As the living presence of God is continually within you, it's continually inviting you to a greater awareness. The Holy Spirit is not something that we talk about symbolically.

You know, the Holy Spirit isn't reduced to something mentioned in this book, or some dove necklace that I wear around my neck. The Holy Spirit is the living, breathing presence within all of human life, within each and every one of us. And that's why when I was reading through there, and Jesus roots all of his presence in the I Am, and now he's saying, this is not merely a distant name of God.

This is the divine presence that's going to come and be within you. The Holy Spirit is going to awaken you. It's going to give you courage.

It's going to give you compassion, discernment, and strength. And that's what Pentecost is really about. That celebration of that eternal companion known as the Holy Spirit.

The advocate, the wise counselor, the helper, and if you're willing to stretch a little more, the Sophia. It's there with you. And this is only the beginning of the conversation.

You know, because next week we're gonna celebrate fire, and breath, and awakening, and strong winds. But that's next week. So this week I just invite you, as you move through your week, to look for that thin red line.

To look for and see how it guides you, how it comforts you, how it helps you get through everything, and how it always has. And if you're really brave, maybe even start your days by saying, Holy Spirit, where will you have me go today? What will you have me say today? Holy Spirit, who will you have me be today? And I guarantee you, doing that, you will recognize the power of the Holy Spirit.

Please pray with me.

Our most gracious and loving God, we are so grateful for your Spirit. We are so grateful for Christ Jesus, our beloved Savior, our beloved brother, our friend. And God, as we are here in this space, we know that your Spirit is speaking to us right here, right now, and it always is.

So God, silence the noise, open our ears, our hearts, our minds, and let us receive your message, that we may take it, we may apply it, and we may share it with the world. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.