Rochester, MN UCC - “The Spirit Will Guide You Into the Truth” - John 16:12-15

For many years the United Church of Christ has used the slogan, “God is Still Speaking” to emphasize the dynamic nature of divine revelation. Our knowledge of God and God’s will is not frozen in one specific interpretation of the texts of the Old and New Testament. Instead, we believe that God continues to reveal Godself in new ways which meet the changing contexts of our world: God is Still Speaking.

 In the gospel of John, Jesus makes a very similar statement. Speaking to his disciples about what will come to pass after his death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus says, “"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” After Jesus ascends to heaven, God’s self-revelation to humanity continues in the person of the Holy Spirit, first poured out on Pentecost and given to all believers in baptism. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit that helps us to interpret the texts of the Old and New Testament- to find there the presence, power, and will of God. Through the Holy Spirit God is still speaking to us in new and fresh ways, helping us to bear witness to the gospel in our ever-changing world.

 Saying that “God is Still Speaking” in new ways through the Holy Spirit given to us, is not the same as saying that God is changing. Our God is eternal and impassible, unchanging in essence, always and everywhere emanating the love that God eternally is. Though Jesus tells his followers that the Holy Spirit will continue speaking to them after his ascension, he also assures them that words of the Holy Spirit are also his words, and the words of God the Father. “[The Spirit] will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” God in the Holy Spirit will always speak freshly to us and guide us in our ever-changing world, but we can also be reassured that the new ways in which the Spirit speaks will also be from and of the eternally unchanging essence of our loving God. This Sunday let us give thanks for God’s unchanging love and let us listen to how the Spirit speaks this love to us in new and different ways.

 Rev. Andrew Greenhaw