You'll Never Walk Alone, John 14:15-21

Early in my ministry, I was asked to do some marital counseling. Each person had a number of complaints about the other person. After a couple of sessions, it was very clear that these people really loved one another, but they had lost or forgotten how to communicate that love to the other person.

Not knowing how to say it to the other person, only knowing what they wanted as a sign of the other person’s love, one of the two said, “If you really love me, then you would …”

What each of them wanted was to know that they were valued by the other person. Somehow, after many years of marriage, they had just gotten out of the habit of saying the word that we all long to hear. They had forgotten to say each other’s name at home and in public.

At home, they didn’t use names at all. In public, the man referred to his wife as, “the wife”, and the wife referred to her husband as, “my old man.”

Beyond that they had gotten out of the habit of saying that they loved one another. The wife said, “I cook his meals. I bake his favorite cookies. I do his wash. I clean the house. How many ways do I have to say, ‘I love you’?”

The husband said, “If I have to tell her that I love her, then what have we been doing all these years? Isn’t what we have gone through enough to let her know that I love her? If I didn’t love her, I’d have left years ago.”

It took some practice, but eventually they learned to call each other by name again, and they even learned to say those other three words, “I love you.” And as far as I know, they are still working out what it means to be married and in a relationship with one another.

Today, we hear something like this couple’s words, “If you love me, then you …”. But these words are not the same. I want to be very clear here. These words are not the same.

Jesus words might even be translated here as, “Since you love me, you will follow my commandments.” But whether you read it as if or since, Jesus speaks of being in relationship with him and the world by loving one another. This loving relationship that Jesus calls us to is not only about saying, “I love you” nor is it only about doing things in the world for one another and our neighbors. It is a relationship that communicates in thought, word, and deed, our care and concern. It involves calling each other by name and letting that person know their value to us.

Jesus says that he will not be in the world forever, but that for those who are in this loving relationship with him that he will send another (hear this clearly), another, advocate. That is, Jesus will continue to be our advocate in our relationship with God, AND we will get another advocate: the spirit of truth.

Last week we learned that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life; and today we find that we will be given the spirit of truth, the breath of truth, the thing that makes life possible, in a life-giving relationship of breath itself.

In this new relationship, we learn that we will not be orphaned, lost in grief without direction, when Jesus is crucified and buried. We will be given the words of hope, of resurrection, and all of this is going to be IN the relationship of God’s mysterious being.

Jesus says, “As I am in the Father, and you are in me, and I am in you, so now this relationship of God’s presence is augmented, that is made even greater through the promise of this advocate who is coming to us.”

So how do we claim this relationship, and how are we claimed in this relationship?

First, we are claimed by name in baptism. In Baptism, we are called by name to be in relationship with Christ in, with, and under the water joined with God’s word for us. Through these waters, we are called to be in ministry with one another for the sake of the Gospel. In this relationship of love and caring, we are given the knowledge of the promise of salvation.

Second, in our baptismal lives, we hear the story of what Christ has done for us, Christ’s life given for us, and Christ’s words of forgiveness and presence. Hearing these words, we gather to know Christ’s presence in our lives at the altar receiving Christ’s true presence in, with, and under the bread and the wine together with Christ’s loving command to eat and drink. In Baptism and Communion, we are assured that we will not be alone in the challenges of this world.

That is what Christ does for us. But what about our half of the relationship? How is it that we call out God’s name? How do we say those words of love to God? How do we recognize that mystery of us being in God and God being in us?

Our recognition of that relationship of love we have with God is expressed each week in worship when we say the creed. This amazing statement of faith allows us to publicly name God and declare our trust in God. This simple statement claims our place in our sacred relationship with God.

We do not say, “I believe that God created the heavens and the earth.” Instead, we claim our place in God acknowledging that without God and our relationship with God, we cannot know the beautiful gift. As our awareness of this room comes to us because we are in the room and our awareness of this building comes to us through being in this room also, so now we claim our place of faith, that is, our ultimate trust, in God. We state that our awareness of the world and the needs of the world are encountered through our place IN God of life and all of creation.

We say, “I believe IN God, the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” In our older Nicene Creed, we add that creation is more than heaven and earth; it includes all that we see and all that we cannot see. We acknowledge that there is more to this world than we can know. There is more to the universe than what we know. As a matter of fact, there is a cosmological multiverse that far exceeds our imagination.

But that is not all. We publicly state that our relationship in God is more than a loving parent, we name God’s word made flesh, revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. We name his birth, his ministry, his death and resurrection. Yes, we name him before the world with pride.

Even more than that, we acknowledge and give thanks for the gift of the advocate, the one who speaks for us, the one who always walks with us. We publicly declare that we know and love God in the presence of the Holy Spirit whose work continues in and through the Church. We recognize that work in the communion, that is, in the relationship we have with all of God’s people in the world depending on the faithful witness of those who have gone before us. In this amazing community we receive forgiveness and come to know the assurance of life everlasting.

In this amazing statement of faith, we name God as being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, claiming and naming those things that God continues to do for us. Continuing in that relationship of love that has called us by name, we go out to share that love with the world around us. We do not go out sharing God’s love in order to be saved; we go out and share God’s love because we are saved.

It is not something that we do alone, we do it in the company of one another and in the company of the great advocate who has come to us—in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

In the words of the old song, “When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and don’t be afraid of the dark.” Indeed, walk through the winds, walk through the storm. You’ll never be alone. God is with you.

One of the things that Martin Luther said that continues to dazzle me concerning God’s presence with us is, “God is closer to us than our skin is to our bodies.” With a loving, embracing relationship like that, how can we help but respond by hugging those whom God has sent us?