The Spirit of Advocacy
a sermon based on John 15:26 - 16:15
by Rev. Randy L. Quinn

Jesus promised his disciples that after he was gone, he would send an advocate. We have come to know this advocate as the Holy Spirit that descended upon the disciples on Pentecost.

And here we are, centuries later, celebrating that event. This is Pentecost Sunday. It is in many ways the birthday of the church, for it was when the power of the Holy Spirit descended that the disciples began to preach and proclaim the message of God's saving grace. It was then that the followers of Christ took on a new meaning, a new purpose.

The Holy Spirit, the advocate, or as other translators express it, the comforter or the counselor, comes to stand with us and within us as we face the world. The Holy Spirit does not come to give us an excuse for not acting, but rather gives us the power to act. It is not the comforter who pats us on the back and assures us that all will be well, but rather the comforter that pushes us along with words of encouragement. "Go ahead, you can do it."

The advocate is not one who stands in our place, but stands alongside of us and helps us find the words to speak and the approach to take. It is the coach who keeps us focussed and on track. The spirit of God comes in so that we may speak out and proclaim the good news of salvation.

One commentator has made use of the Hebrew and Greek wordplay involved with the word spirit (which also means breath and wind). He reminded me that the concept of "inspiration" involves breathing in the spirit of God. And it is this very breath (that is the wind or spirit) that provides the medium to carry our word, or perhaps more correctly the word of God. That sounds rather complicated until you try to speak without using any air. You simply cannot proclaim the good news without inhaling, without being inspired.

The Holy Spirit comes to us for a specific purpose, and that is to give us the means as well as the where-with-all to proclaim God's grace before the world.

For that to transpire, we must first recognize where the advocate is in our lives and how the advocate works in our lives.

You've probably experienced that before. Perhaps you have found yourself in a position where you have felt compelled to speak, even though what you needed to say wasn't very popular. Perhaps you have been like Jeremiah, who spoke about a "burning fire" within him (Jer 20:9) that he could not ignore.

That is the advocate within us. The Holy Spirit often will speak from within us and encourage us to choose the right path or to speak the right word. It cannot always be clearly identified, but we know that the urging comes from something outside of ourselves.

As I have been working with the Senior High Youth and now a few adults with our covenants of discipleship, I have found myself becoming more and more in tune with this advocate within me. I have learned to hear the spirit's prompting to pray more often and more regularly. It has been an exciting adventure as several of us in those groups have developed new and sometimes richer times of prayer, bible reading, and devotions.

Now, I am not speaking about will power. That is something else altogether, though the two may have similar expressions. It could be will power that keeps us to our commitments, but it could also be the Holy Spirit, speaking as our advocate who keeps reminding us of our commitments.

More often than not, however, I think the advocate comes in the form of another person who carries God's word to us. It may be our husband or our wife who encourages us. It may be our parents or a teacher or a co-worker who keeps us on track when we lose our focus. Anyone who seems to be concerned about our well-being may be speaking on behalf of the Holy Spirit -- whether they know it or not.

I can look back over my life and name several people who have carried the voice of God into my life, serving as the advocate when I was unable to recognize the Holy Spirit speaking to me directly. These have been counselors and teachers, friends and colleagues. I didn't always listen to them, either, but I now recognize how God had placed them in my life for a clear purpose.

And I know you can reflect upon similar circumstances in your own lives.

I told you about Mike several weeks ago. He is a teenager who first came to our home as a foster child. We have kept in contact with Mike and continue to offer support and encouragement to him. I truly believe that we are among the few people in the world who are serving as his advocate. And it is hard for me not to reflect upon that and feel as though we are serving as the voice of God in his life, whether he realizes it or not.

I have watched others serve as advocates, too. I know of a family where the son is intimately concerned about his mother and her needs. At every corner, she finds evidence that he has been there ahead of her to lay the groundwork. He is functioning in the role of the Holy Spirit for her. (In her case, I think she recognizes the advocate that Jesus speaks about and has promised for her.)

I suspect that there are times when each of us have seen the advocate at work in our lives and perhaps times when we have served as the advocate in the life of someone else. But there are also times when we as a church are called to be the advocate to a group or to our society.

Historically, the church has been involved in many struggles, leading and guiding and directing as an advocate for others. Perhaps it is time once again to name those places where we have been called to be advocates.

I think immediately of children. Our society doesn't always respond to the needs of children effectively. I think that we are called to be their advocate. I believe that we can take on issues that will directly affect our children and all of the children of our society. We can do that through the schools, through community efforts, through the electoral process. But we need to remember our sacred calling to be their advocate.

Children cannot always see what is best for them. It is up to us to guide and direct them. And I think we can.

I also think about the elderly in our society. It is easy for many people to disregard them as 'used up' and no longer of worth. It is up to us, speaking on behalf of the Holy Spirit, to help society learn respect for and value the elderly. They cannot do it alone. We can be their advocate. This can be done by modeling or it can be done through the political process. But it must be done. Again, I believe that it is a part of our sacred calling to advocate on behalf of the elderly.

And in our local setting, I feel as though we can become advocates for the migrant workers, both Anglo and Hispanic. Again it will take an intentional effort on our part, but we can and must speak on their behalf whenever and wherever it is appropriate. The Holy Spirit has called us to be their advocate and we must speak out.

The Pentecost story, the story of the Holy Spirit descending like a mighty wind and resting upon the Christians like tongues of fire, happened then and it happens today. But it doesn't just 'happen'. It happens for a purpose.

We have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. We have been filled with the breath of God. We have the word of God on our lips and the spirit of God in our breath. We must speak. We must act.

Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would be an advocate. When the spirit lives within us, we become the advocate.

Let's respond with the certainty that the spirit of advocacy is within us and among us. Let's become aware of the presence of God's Spirit as our advocate and how we may become the advocate for others.

Amen.