In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

As an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church in Canada part of my role is to minister – to provide pastoral care in time of need. But in our denomination I am also identified as a teaching elder who has responsibility for educating you in the Christian faith. I also see myself as the theologian in residence here at Elmwood.

Now the study of theology is not to everyone’s liking because unfortunately it has become a confusing subject filled with its own jargon that is difficult to understand. Strange ideas and words like eschatological, hermeneutics of suspicion, and the teleological suspension of the ethical are bandied about as if they are used everyday in conversation at Tim Horton’s. But the subject of theology is not as arcane as one might think. In my experience, theology and pastoral care are not separate from one another but rather intersect in the painful moments of life.

Over the last week and a half on three separate occasions, in both pastoral and personal conversation, I have heard a phrase uttered that got me to thinking theologically.  The phrase uttered was not identical in each situation but in each instance it conveyed the same meaning. The first time I heard the phrase it took this form, “I almost lost my faith”. The second time it was in this form, “She lost her faith. And finally it was in this form, “I have lost my faith.” And in each situation, the phrase was uttered within the context of personal tragedy.
Something tragic had occurred directly or indirectly to these individuals and the words were uttered. Now, obviously, this is a very serious statement to make because faith is a the heart of Christianity. In all but two of the twenty seven books of the New Testament we find the noun faith or the verb believe. And for Protestants it is especially important because of the centrality of faith in the Protestant Reformation – we are saved by faith and not by works.

I read a story this week of a mother who appeared at the door of her minister’s study one day. And she said to the minister, “My daughter is going away to university in a couple of months. I want you to sit her down and tell her what we believe and why, firm up her faith so that when she gets to university some atheistic professor won’t shake her faith.” This sounds like the speech minister candidates get before they go off to Knox College.

The minister replied, Relax, it’s not some professor that shakes people’s faith. It’s life. The real questions don’t come up in congregational discussion groups. The real questions come up in the middle of the night when you get that late night call and its bad news. It’s these real questions in the midst of life that shake people’s faith.”

As I said last Sunday, the real questions come when the sky darkens, the wind picks up and the waves begin to rise and someone, perhaps who never gave a thought to theology, asks “why?” The real questions come when the stock answers that have worked well in the past no longer give comfort nor satisfy.
It is there in that simple question or in the phrase “I have lost my faith” that theology (faith seeking understanding) is found. And when we ask such deep and troubling questions or utter the phrase, “I have lost my faith”  who will be there to help us and answer our cry for assistance in that time of loneliness and desolation?

In our reading from John’s gospel we find Jesus preparing to leave his disciples. He is at the table with his twelve disciples, his twelve students, his twelve friends, for their final meal together. And he tells them that he is going away. He is going to his death on the cross. But as Jesus prepares to leave his disciples, he tells them that he will not leave them desolate, he will not leave them alone.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.”

He promises them that God will send the Counselor – the Holy Spirit to be with them and the Holy Spirit will teach them all things and remind them of everything that Jesus has said to them in their time together. Essentially, they will not be left alone in their sadness, and desolation. They will receive comfort through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
And that is what Jesus promises us as well in those time when the sky darkens and our faith is shaken. You know I have probably read this passage a hundred times over the years during funeral services. And I have often wondered has anybody heard these words. I mean really heard them in those times when Christ’s presence becomes his absence. What then? Then, as we read in John there is the Counselor – the Holy Spirit which gives the power to remember the words of Christ, peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. The Holy Spirit gives the power to remember in times of desolation that we will not be abandoned.

You have experienced the power of the Counselor in your own lives, perhaps not knowing that is what it was. Maybe when you were reading scripture, working your way through a passage that you have read many times before. And then suddenly a phrase, a word, an image grabs you as never before even through you have read it countless times. That is the work of the Counselor in your presence.

Or maybe you are going through a tough time. For days the sky has remained dark and the waves high. You have not known which way to turn for the sea seems so big and you so small. In you desolation you ask the question, “Where is God?” Then through the word of a family member or a friend you are grabbed and you know that God is not far away but with you in the midst of the storm.

Even in worship together you can experience the presence of the Counselor who teaches and calls you to remember that you are a child of God, precious to God. And it is these experiences that our faith can grow in maturity. Faith as radical trust in God remains but faith as head work or intellectual belief deepens as our understanding of God grows, old concepts are let go and new ones emerge that give comfort in the midst of the storm (theology – faith seeking understanding.

In the midst of life there are so many occasions when we forget what we know – that Jesus the Christ is Lord. So we gather here on Sunday to worship God but also to be reminded through the symbol of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit that Christ will not leave us orphaned even though the skies may darken and the waves grow high.
THANKS BE TO GOD, AMEN.