The Paraclete // Rev. Matt Kennedy // May 24 2026

"It is to your advantage that I go away" (John 16:7). I think a great number of us come to worship because we want to become closer to Jesus, so how then is it advantageous that Jesus "goes away"? Without some understanding of who the Holy Spirit is, you might get the sense that the point of the Christian life is to suffer in God's absence until one day we might be reunited, but the Bible tells a different story. Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit (in Greek, "the Paraclete") follows him and does all that he does (16:14). God is never far from us because the Spirit walks alongside us!On the traditional church calendar, this Sunday is set aside as "Pentecost", a day to remember the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). Traditional liturgical colors of red adorn the sanctuary as a symbol of the Spirit's flame, but this day is not just to remember a singular historic event long ago. We’re celebrating the ongoing reality that God is not just the mind who designed the universe, but God is ever-present and ever-active as our counselor, helper, advocate, intercessor, and the very breath of God within you!