Pentecost Sunday is here.
My Preaching text will be 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. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
4 … “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless 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. 8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 11 about 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. 13 When 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. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
As a wedding gift, a relative once gave us a homemade set of wind chimes. They were constructed from long metal tubes and would resonate in harmony as the wind caused them to sway and sound off. When we dared to put them up, they added music to the wind that was invisible. I suppose some might call the chimes noisy and even annoying, but there was also something beautiful in the tones and something mystical about being able to play with the wind. Perhaps in some ways our lives should be to the Spirit as those chimes were to the wind. What sounds, harmony, and movement come from your life as you feel the Spirit of God blowing? Does anyone perhaps even find you annoying?
