John 14:15-21
Remember the first time:
- You walked home alone from school.
- You are left alone at home as a child.
- You are allowed to be alone at home in the evening without a baby-sitter.
- Your parents are away overnight or for a weekend and the house is all yours.
- Strong moments…scary and exciting!
Remember sleeping away from home for the first time.
- The first dance.
- The first kiss.
- Learning to tie shoelaces.
- Learning to tell time.
- Learning something by heart.
- Learning the news of a death of a friend or parent or grandparent.
“I’ll never forget the first time I…” is followed by stories about getting the first real job.
- To being elected to an office at school.
- To finding out you are pregnant with your first child.
The moment when something of importance happens to you for the first or only time is a liminal moment.
- The phenomenon of liminality.
- Liminality and threshold moment mean the same thing.
- From the Latin root limin…meaning the centerline of the doorway.
Liminality is the moment of crossing over.
- It describes the transitional phase of personal change.
- Wherein one is neither in an old state of being nor a new state of being.
- And not quite aware of the implications of the event.
- All stages of life include liminality.
- Life is nothing but moments of crossing over.
- Stitching these moments together into the comforting quilt of wisdom is the task of one’s later years.
And this is where Jesus meets his disciples and us in John this morning.
- In a state of liminality.
- A threshold moment.
- A moment of crossing over.
- A state of being with Jesus physically.
- To a state of not being with Jesus physically.
- And so…Jesus gifts his disciples…he gifts us…with the comforting quilt and gift of the Holy Spirit.
The six of us met during our first semester at Luther College back in our freshmen year.
- We found ourselves sitting at the same cafeteria table for breakfast during our first homecoming.
- Thrown into the excitement and anxiety of the college experience…
- Our friendship helped us survive.
- We were three couples.
- David and Karen.
- Stan and Sharon.
- Chip and Susan.
- The three young women were roommates.
- We three men were their homecoming dates.
- Together…we made our way through the next four years of lectures…lab experiments…research papers and midnight study sessions.
The” brains” in our little group got all of us through our math and science classes.
- The thoughtful ones were able to translate philosophy into real English.
- The quiet members always knew the right thing to say when one of us was going through a rough time.
- The easy-going ones made sure everyone did not take everything…include themselves…too seriously.
We held one another up in the wake of rocky times in our relationships…
- Academic struggles and the joys and concerns going on back home.
- And toward the end of our college careers…we toasted grad school acceptances…first jobs and engagements and subsequent marriages.
- And oh yes…one of us entered the military and served in Viet Nam for several years.
Commencement marked a turn…not an end…in our friendship.
- We continued to be there for one another.
- In good times and bad times.
- Each couple always knew that help…support…a listening ear and understanding were only a phone call away.
- Always honest and frank.
- Always loving and forgiving.
- Never judgmental.
We celebrated one another’s threshold and coming of age moments.
- And more births.
- And more baptism.
- Graduations
- Supported one another as we coped with our experiences of death and loss.
- And…of course…we continue to remain on each other’s Christmas card list.
Last year we met at our college for our 50th reunion.
- But when we met in the college reception and reunion welcome area…we were not six…
- But five.
- Karen had recently joined the Saints of Heaven from Alzheimer’s disease.
- But despite our sorrow and morning…we picked things up as if we saw each other yesterday.
- You see…we all meet once a year at homecoming.
We are older…grayer and wiser since that first breakfast.
- But the experiences we have shared and the memories we cherish make our friendship as strong and as real as the morning it first took root a half century ago.
Shared memories are what bind us together.
- Shared memories are what bind friends together.
A similar memory binds us together as a Church:
- The memory we share and celebrate in the event of Jesus.
- A memory that is as real and as enduring among us today as it was for the Twelve that Holy Thursday night in the room in which the Last Supper was held.
The Spirit of truth…the Paraclete…is the creative…living memory of the Church.
- The Spirit/Paraclete unites us and energizes us as we come together to share.
- As we come together to relive and learn from our memory of the Risen Christ.
- Jesus…the wise Rabbi…
- The compassionate Healer.
- The friend of the rich and poor.
- The friend of the saint and sinner.
- The obedient and humble Servant of God.
The Spirit of truth…the Paraclete…is a living presence among us who makes of us a community of faith.
- A family…a circle of friends who offer Christ’s love…support and compassion to one another.