Pentecost Sermon

This is actually last year's sermon, but I liked it:

Pentecost, 2007



I like war movies.

Of all the films in my DVD collection,
I think I have more war movies than anything else.

Not everyone likes war movies, of course,
but over the hundred-year history of film,
they’ve proven to be amazingly resilient.

It’s rather strange that I would like them so much,
because I don’t like war.

I have a cousin who just came back from Iraq,
who was involved in some of the historic
battles in Baghdad,
and I worry about him constantly.

I am the daughter and granddaughter of veterans,
and I am more proud of them than I can say.

But I can also see how war takes its toll on people,
steals pieces of their souls,
and I wonder how my loved ones
might have been different,
and if they will ever fully heal.

So, if we don’t like war, why do we like war movies?

I think there is a deep desire in people to be tested.

I think that people want to know
just how strong they are,
just how far their will-power
or love
or loyalty will go
when it comes down to it.

I probably like war movies for the same reason I have always liked the stories of Christian martyrs…
when you read how someone was fed to lions for her faith in Jesus Christ,
you have to ask yourself,
would I be that strong?

And your resolve strengthens,
and you think,
if I’m ever tested like that,
I could be that faithful, I could.

War movies do the same thing for us…
they give us the chance to ask ourselves,
would I be that brave,
that strong,
would I be that loyal to my companions?

Since most of us have not been in a war,
we can only ask ourselves…
would I? Could I?

These films offer us a test of our character,
without making us go through the real thing.

When we see someone else go through the test,
we go through it, too,
and if they can prevail, so can we.

But one of the things about actual war,
and so about war movies,
is that the people involved are never alone.

There comes a point where politics falls away,
where right and wrong are perhaps
secondary considerations,
and all that matters is the guy next to you.

You do what you have to do,
you get through what needs to be gotten through,
because you can’t let him down.

And you know he won’t let you down.

When you’re under fire,
you’ve got his back,
and he’s got yours.

That’s the bottom line,
that’s the reality,
and it’s a supreme test,
because it comes down to
whether you’re going to put
your buddy before yourself,
and whether you will trust him to do the same.

In the Middle Ages,
soldiers actually got assigned a buddy.

You had one other solider,
one other knight,
who was your buddy.

You went into battle together,
and these were battles where people got close up
to kill each other,
and you fought with your buddy back-to-back,
so that nobody could sneak up on you
with a sword or a battle-axe.

He had your back, and you had his.

He couldn’t keep you from having to fight,
from having to face the battle,
but he was there with you,
and nothing could sneak up on you
while he was there,
fighting with you,
fighting for you.

This soldier was called a paraclete.

Your Paraclete.

The guy who has your back when the going gets rough is your paraclete.

That’s a word we’ve heard before…
today we hear it translated as Advocate,
but it’s more than that.

In Greek it means, the one who comes to your side.

Or, perhaps, the one who has your back.

We translate it other ways, too.

Eve was Adam’s Paraclete, his helper.

Jesus was the disciples’ Paraclete, their teacher.

Our Paraclete is the Holy Spirit,
God himself,
and we call him Advocate,
Intercessor,
Teacher,
Helper,
even Holy Comforter.

It can’t be translated any more accurately,
because it’s a word that includes all those meanings,
but I think that’s a good thing.

Sometimes we need one kind of back-up more than another, but at different times we’ll need it all.

We’ll need all the help we can get, of whatever kind.

We’ll need someone—
an Advocate,
a Teacher,
a Comforter—
we’ll need that someone at our back
when we undergo our own tests,
face our own battles.

War movies are satisfying to watch
because the tests and battles that people undergo
are big ones.

There’s always life and death on the line,
at the very least,
and sometimes more.

We want to think that maybe we could be heroes,
like the people in the films,
at least insofar as we carry out what was asked of us.

And we can be heroes,
and sometimes we are,
but it’s not like it is in the movies.

The images of war and battle have always been used to describe the Christian life.

We fight against sin and temptation,
we battle forces of evil,
we arm ourselves against attack,
we claim victory in Jesus Christ.

We are being tested, too,
no less in our way than the soldiers in the films.

But our battles are not usually loud and bloody,
and they seldom leave casualties in the traditional sense.

Our battles are much smaller than that.

Our battles are small and personal and never-ending.

Our battles seldom require a heroic last stand,
Or a brave charge,
and they’re seldom accompanied by a swelling orchestral score.

No, they’re little choices,
little acts,
little niggling temptations
to things that aren’t all that bad
in the scheme of things.

Our test is not to survive a charge or a barrage of bullets, but it is to keep going in the face of tiredness,
to remain kind in the face of cynicism,
to have hope in the face of discouragement.

Not big tests, but never ending ones.

Once we think we’ve gotten some character flaw dealt with, we find that a different one has snuck up on us.

Once we think we’ve solved a problem,
we have to move on to the next problem.

Once we think we’ve made good choices and earned a rest, someone comes along with more demands,
more needs,
and we aren’t sure that we’re up to it.

And maybe we’re not.

And sometimes we’ve given our all,
done everything we knew how to do,
and it still wasn’t enough.
These are battles we lose more often than not.

But God doesn’t just send us out onto these battlefields to fight all on our own.

God is our Paraclete, God has our back.

He is our Defender,
our Teacher,
our Intercessor,
our Holy Comforter,
our Paraclete.

He’s fighting as hard as we are,
and while we might lose some of these battles,
we won’t lose the war.

The war is won.

He stands at our back and pushes, pulls,
and prods us toward that victory.

He has our back,
so nobody is going to sneak up on us
and take away that victory.

That’s what he did for the disciples on the very first Pentecost…
he told them you’ve got to get out there,
out in to the world…it’ll be all right.

I’ve got your back.

And that’s what he says to us, too.

We’re being tried and tested,
we get wounded and fall,
but we don’t have to look back,
because we know who’s there.

Our Paraclete has our back…
it doesn’t mean we don’t have to go into the battle…
we still do.
It does mean he goes with us.

The thing is,
we watch war movies
because we don’t really want to be heroes.

We don’t really want to have to be.

But that’s exactly what we’re called to be.

We are already victors in this battle we never stop fighting…
even when we’re tired,
even when we fail,
even when we lose the battles.

We won’t be tired forever.

We won’t fail or lose forever.

This war will end,
And these little ongoing battles are forming us into heroes.

But until then,
we’ll fight the best we can,
because we know we’re not alone.

We have a Paraclete, and he’s got our back.