I’ll Be There For You
First Congregational Church – Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 1, 2005
Rev. Steven A. Peay, Ph.D.
[texts: Acts 17:22-31/John 14:15-21]

            For several years many peoples’ Thursday evenings included a visit with “Friends.” I don’t mean a dinner or book group, but the television show. I think it was around for ten years and helped to shape, as well as to reflect, American popular culture. The theme song was catchy with the constant refrain, “I’ll be there for you.” When you think about it, that is what defines true friendship, the willingness simply to be there for those for whom we care, for those whom we love.

            When Jesus gives his final instructions to his friends he tells that that, “I’ll be there for you.” They know that they are going to be facing some changes in their relationship and, no doubt, they had expressed their fears about these changes to Jesus. We human beings don’t like change or uncertainty, do we? So Jesus tells them that he’s going to send them “another Advocate” who will be with them forever. Further, he says, “I will not leave you orphaned” because the life he was going to was more than they expected and certainly more than they could see.

            When Jesus says these things he echoes the great refrains of the Hebrew Scriptures. If we look at the essence of the Old Testament, from Genesis onward there is a consistent theme which is the presence of God. The core of the covenant relationship is the promise of presence – God says, “I will be your God and you will be my people.” God tells Israel, and us, “I’ll be there for you.”

            The early church looked back over their experience of Jesus and realized the promise of presence was theirs, too. Paul’s speech in the Areopagus certainly reflects this notion. He goes so far as to demonstrate it to the Greeks from one of their own poets, Aratus. Aratus also spoke of One in “whom we live, move, and have our being,” and says, “for we too are his offspring.” [“Phaenomena, sec 1” as quoted in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations] Paul is demonstrating to them that the cosmos, the created world made by God, is good and a sign of the great commonality of all humankind as the children of God – a God who wants to be with us and to make the Divine presence felt in us and through us.

            In a time of growing fundamentalism – be it Christian, Islamic, or otherwise – this is something we need to remember: the goodness of God and the goodness of creation, including ourselves. Paul preached a God who could embrace people where they were and we, for our part, must do the same. God can and does embrace people where they are. So, when Paul talked about the “world judged in righteousness” he was not referring to the cosmos but to the oikoumene, the empire. What we do with what God give us will be judged and we need to make that distinction. Our lives, our wills should be “oned” to God in Christ and life lived out of this oneness.

            Following his sermon Paul probably felt like the part of the “Friends” theme that says, “I’ll be there for you. When it’s not your day, your week, your month, or even your year. . .” He had preached a powerful message and no one got it. (I know what that is like. Some Sundays you preach your heart out and as people leave the meeting house it is crystal clear that they missed the point entirely!) It was long after Paul’s sermon that there was a church in Athens! The message here for us is that we shouldn’t grow discouraged if the message we bring isn’t immediately received. We should keep at it, understanding that the promise of Divine presence, the “I am with you,” is real. The promise of “another Advocate” speaks to this powerfully. The “Advocate” is the paraklete, a Greek word that can be variously translated as “one called alongside to help,” or as “encourager,” or “comforter,” “counselor,” or even as “exhorter.” This is the Holy Spirit who comes into our lives and fulfills all of these roles as we go from day to day and situation to situation. It is the Holy Spirit who makes possible the transformation of oikoumene and the restoration of the cosmos.

            What is more, The Paraklete also continues and sustains the promise of presence, the “I’ll be there for you.” Sometimes that’s hard for us to grasp, especially when we’re going through difficult or troubling times. I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating. A minister had a son who was terribly afraid of storms. Once, when a real “boomer” was coming through the lad cried out for his Dad in the middle of the night, “Daddy, Daddy! I’m scared!” His father came in, comforted him and told him, “Don’t be frightened. God is with you. God is right here with you.” It was quiet for a while and then, when the lightening flashed and the thunder boomed, the boy yelled out, “Daddy! Daddy! I’m scared!” His father called back, “God is with you!  Go to sleep!” Quiet and then yet another BOOM! Suddenly the father felt a tug on his pajamas and heard his son’s voice, “Daddy! Daddy!” Rolling over, he looked at the boy and said, “Didn’t I tell you that God is with you?” And the lad’s response was priceless, “I know you did and I know God is with me. But right now, Dad, I need somebody with skin on!”

            Where do we find “the encourager” with “skin on”? Here. Two weeks ago I visited the Sunday school classes and in each one I asked, “Do you know who I am?” One little four year old looked right at me and said, “Jesus.” I told him that I wasn’t Jesus; but that I was a fairly good friend of his – at least I hope so. The more I think of it, though, the more poignant and profound that child’s response becomes. You see, I believe that the church does continue the Incarnation, the enfleshment, of God in our world. And I’m in good company, too, since it was Paul who first called the church “the body of Christ” and I could reel off a slew of my favorite theologians (those both living and now living forever) who have taught the same thing!

            So, we’re the means by which others are touched by the Divine presence. That’s why Jesus tells the disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” What were his commandments? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Or, as Augustine summed it up, “Love and do as you will.” When we love as unselfishly and as consistently as Jesus did we will do nothing that will harm another in any way. To will as Jesus willed is to be one with God. To will as Jesus willed is to love people into freedom and then to hold them in relationship.

            One of the fastest growing churches in the country is a Lutheran church up in Minnesota. Its pastor, Michael Foss, has written a book, Power Surge. As its core, and at the core of their growth, is the integrity – not expectation, but integrity – of church membership. Essentially, it is the promise of presence. All of the members of Foss’ church carry a card that says, “You will be cared for and will be called upon to care for others.” It’s on everything at that church from stationery to website. What’s interesting to me is that it’s not rocket science and, unlike so much of church growth stuff, it’s not gimcrack, it is the Gospel, pure and simple: “I’ll be there for you.”

            We have the same thing, it’s called our Church covenant and it is what gathers us as a church and should guide us in our living. Look on your ‘order of worship.’ There it is and see what we commit ourselves to be and to do as “followers of Jesus Christ.” Under every clause of that covenant statement there is the promise of presence. Each one of us who has “owned” that covenant has made the promise of presence, we’re saying to God and to each other, “I’ll be there for you.”

            That’s the challenge I place before you today and the one before me as well – to really live out that covenant promise of “I’ll be there for you.” On Thursday several of us attended a workshop in Madison and the speaker, Michael Durall, said that every church has a “back to Egypt committee” (like the folks in Exodus who said, “Let’s go back to where we knew what we had.”) He also pointed out that there are also “scarcity” and “anxiety” committees, all because people always fear what they might lose. Well, today I’m telling you that the risk of living out our covenant, being the encouragers and comforters and challengers we’re called to be overcomes that fear. What is really important is to remember the promise and to see it in the created world and the people who walk this Way with us. It is simply this: “I’ll be there for you.”

            Last year I saw this cross in a bookstore in Boston. It says, “I am with you always” and has a labyrinth on it to symbolize that in life’s maze God is there for us. While I have a number of colleagues who wear crosses, it’s not been my custom to do so. Today, however, I’m putting this on as a sign to you of my commitment to be there for you as your companion on the journey. I’ll be there for you and I trust, I know, you’ll be there for me, too. Together, we’ll know that God is always with us and what else matters? “I’ll be there for you.” God’s promise in the Christ, made real in us and through us. “I’ll be there for you,” our promise to each other. It’s enough. Amen.