Journeying With the Spirit

"The Israelites had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in 

the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the 

Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and 

tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ 

wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, 

you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 

but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall 

speak to the Israelites.'”

--Exodus 19: 2-6

"Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through 

whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing 

the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering 

produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope 

does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit 

that has been given to us."

--Romans 5: 1-5

“Jesus said to the twelve apostles, 'See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; 

so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils 

and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, 

as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are 

to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you 

who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and 

a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated 

by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you 

in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel 

before the Son of Man comes.'"

--Matthew 9: 9-23

On the day after Christmas, 2007, I picked up a little black dog on the road near my childhood home in Virginia. As we drove up to the house she sat upright in that seat, and looked at me, as if to say with excitement, ‘We’re going on a journey!”  And she was right.  From the mountains of Virginia to the streets of New York City and down to the bluegrass of Kentucky and now to North Carolina, where the sky is always God’s shade of blue—that’s Tar Heel blue—this little girl and I have been on a journey. 

This dog!

 A classmate once said of Casey and me as we walked along the sidewalk of the seminary, “There goes that man and the Holy Spirit!”  I think he was right!  Casey’s presence on this journey has reminded me of the Holy Spirit’s presence.  Sometimes walking ahead of me, sometimes beside me, and sometimes not coming along fast enough because she’s stopped to smell something!  But as Casey has been a companion for the better part of a decade now, she reminds me that the Spirit has been my constant companion for 33 years now, journeying with me through the highest peaks and lowest valleys. 

In his letter to the Romans the apostle Paul reminds his audience—Christians who were going through some pretty low valleys—that the Spirit has been the agent that has poured God’s love into their hearts.  This means God’s love, through the power of the Spirit, will never leave them, no matter how low those valleys get.  He says:  “suffering produces endurance, and endurance character, and character hope, and hope does not disappoint us.”  Paul knew that the longest journeys—the ones with the most suffering and disappointment and setbacks—always lead to the promised lands.  This is because of the hope that has been given to folks through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

This theme of journeying is there in our Old Testament and Gospel readings, as well.  We find the children of Israel in the middle of the Exodus, heading into the Sinai wilderness, and God speaks to Moses to remind them that they shall be a treasured possession out of all the peoples, a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.  This is the hope God gives to the Israelites in the midst of their excruciatingly long journey, which saw many sufferings—it does not take 40 years to walk from Egypt to Canaan, by the way!  Meanwhile, in the Gospel from Matthew, we hear Jesus call the 12 apostles and send them out—an apostle is one who is sent, which is different from a disciples, which is one who follows.  He tells them what they can expect on their long journeys:  they will be like sheep in the midst of wolves, some will die, and nearly all will suffer in some kind of way.  Yet even in the midst of all of it, Jesus says, the Spirit will give them the words to say and will never leave them, and in the end they will be saved.  The hope of which Jesus speaks--the hope that the apostles can endure their sufferings--is the same hope that God gave the Israelites in the desert, the same hope Paul will later write about to the church in Rome.

But make no mistake we’re not talking about a hope that is some kind of shallow optimism.  Paul writes this, his final letter, only a few days before his own execution.  The Israelites tried holding onto hope but fell back time and again over the course of 40 years—which is the length of time for the entire generation of people who knew Egypt and wanted to go back there to die.  As for those 12 apostles that Jesus sent, history tells us that all but one died as martyrs of the faith, and that one—St. John—lived out his days imprisoned alone on an island.  So that hope that we speak of is not about just saying “everything will be ok” and ignoring the hard stuff.  It’s a hope that we can endure the hard stuff, and face the suffering, for suffering has no meaning anymore thanks to Jesus’ own suffering, for if he can endure the cross and grave and live again, then by God—literally—we can endure whatever suffering faces us.  God never left him, after all, and God does not leave us, for the Spirit that pours out God’s love in our hearts is on this journey with us.  Paul says we are justified by faith.  Well, our faith is not about shallow optimism, but it is about knowing that our God, the living God, walks with us always. That’s the Christian hope, the kind that is born out of a long, and often times difficult, journey, the kind that does not disappoint us.

Those of you who remember the days when we read Morning Prayer regularly on Sundays will remember the line:  in you, O Lord, is our hope; and we shall never hope in vain.  It is the Holy Spirit, our advocate, guide, and comforter, who generates that hope in us through our journey, no matter how long and difficult that journey is.  We are all on a journey.  Mine and Casey’s is still on-going, and I’m in the midst of starting a new one with my fiancee Kristen.  Some of your journeys are  troublesome right now, scary, and uncertain.  And at times, all of our journeys will bring us sufferings to some degree.  Yet each of you has the Spirit walking beside, before, and behind you.  And like a faithful dog, or a loving partner, she will give you hope in something, in someone, so much greater than yourself.  So wherever you are on your journey, know that you do not travel alone.  Whether we’re talking about the Israelites in the desert, the 12 heading into the midst of wolves, Paul sitting in a cell in Rome, or someone in North Carolina trying to hang tough during a hard time, the children of God are never, ever alone.  That is the faith by which we are all justified!