¹⁵”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

¹⁸”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” ²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

Today we finish our third and final series on the Stories in the Windows.  These have been exciting sermons for me to prepare and deliver.  I have discovered symbols that I never noticed, stories that I’d never heard.  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that the Trinity Windows on which we have focused were given in memory of Edward A. Flinn of Cameron, Texas, AMC class of 1893.  However, this week I discovered more about Edward Ailes Flinn.  Through the help of Sandra Baxter I received some information from Mr. Ailes grandson, who grew up Baptist, became an Episcopal priest and is now Catholic, living in San Antonio.  He said the effort to donate these windows was spearheaded by Edward Ailes Flinn’s brother, Glenn, a Methodist pastor who served Bryan Methodist Church and was a director of Texas Methodist Student Ministries.  Glenn Flinn also served as an administrator at Southwestern University in Georgetown.  Edward Ailes Flinn died in 1924 at the age of 49.  26 years later his brother honored him and placed these windows in his memory as part of a collective effort of the Texas Annual Conference to build this sanctuary directly across the street from The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.  Later to be named Texas A&M University.  Can I get a whoop?

The Trinity Windows are the choir’s windows, because that is what they get to look at, especially on days like today when they get to hear this sermon twice.  The window on the east is the Holy Spirit Window.  There are some familiar symbols, like the cross and the grapes, and some not so familiar like a dove descending being preceeded by seven flames.  The Holy Spirit is the member of the Trinity that as the Creed said earlier, is the “giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.”  The Nicene Creed has been the most regularly confessed creed in Sunday Christian worship since its development in the fourth century.  The Holy Spirit is the expression of the Trinity who dwells in us, according to the scripture we just heard.  As you look at the east window of the Trinity Window, remember that God dwells with you.  Dwelling is a great word.  Dwelling speaks louder than telling.
 

God Dwells for You on the Cross

The very first sign or symbol that we notice in the God the Holy Spirit Window is that cross again.  We mentioned last week that the cross was a despised image for centuries as a source of cruel capital punishment.  Deuteronomy 21:23 states that anyone who hangs on a tree is cursed.  Paul declared in Galatians 3:13 that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the unfulfilled Law by becoming a curse for us quoting this passage in Deuteronomy.  The cross has become the central sign for Christ.  Why then is it on the Holy Spirit Window?  There are two reasons: First, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all part of the redemption story just as the Holy Trinity is part of the creation story and second, the cross is empty which reminds us of the resurrected Jesus, who by the power of the Spirit was raised from the dead.  Of course, the whole matter of the cross is for you.  There was a chasm created by our sin and selfishness that we were powerless to overcome.  Paul wrote in Romans, his most deliberate theological letter, “God proved his love for us in that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us.”  Christ was being our Advocate, our friend, who stood beside us and defended us to the death.  Now he promised another Advocate in John 14:16 that we just read.  Greek scholars note that there are two words for another.  One means another of a different kind and one means another of the same kind.  You can probably guess which word John used here.  That’s right, another of the same kind.  Just as Jesus stood shoulder to shoulder with the disciples (praying for Peter that his faith would not fail, telling the Phairisees to leave them alone when they were eating a snack on the Sabbath, and demanding that the soldiers in the Garden take only him and not arrest his friends) so now the Holy Spirit stands with us.  Paul wrote in Romans 8:11 some remarkable words about the one referred to as Another Advocate, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”  Did you catch that?  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you…”  This Advocate that was there for you not only on the cross, but also at the resurrection proclaimed through the empty cross, continues to be there for you with power.  God dwells for you on the cross.

James Gulley was one of ten United Methodist missionaries pinned in the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Haiti on January 12.  He was there for 55 hours.  Those trapped kept their hopes alive by singing.  The song they sang as French Fireman were freeing them from the collapsed concrete was the song we sang this morning a cappella, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below; praise him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Amen.”  Where did they get that strength to praise God in the midst of disaster?  How it that these were among the last words uttered by Sam Dixon, the United Methodist Committee of Relief leader who died in that debris?  Another Advocate was with them, dwelling with them.    

Look at the cross at the top of the Holy Spirit Window.  Know that God dwells for you in that cross.  Notice also that it is empty and the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells with you.  Dwelling speaks louder than telling.
 

God Dwells in You as the Dove

The second symbol on the Holy Spirit window is that of a dove, the symbol of peace and God’s presence.  John 1:32 states that the Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism like a dove.  The dove in this window is accompanied by seven flames of fire, that remind us of the seven flames in Revelation 1 identified as the Holy Spirit and the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit descended as tongues of fire over those who were praying.  Jesus promised that he would not abandon the disciples or leave them as bereaved orphans.  Leon Morris wrote, “Jesus will not leave his disciples to battle their way through this world alone.”  God would not only be with them as God had been in Jesus, but God would be in them.  The Holy Spirit dwelling in you is how God makes his home in you.  It is through the dwelling of the Holy Spirit that God sees you. 

I finally went to the movie Avatar last week.  It was a pretty interesting movie with strange characters and a fable like plot.  There was one part of it that really spoke to my soul.  One of the natives of the planet Pandora speaks to the earthling, known as Sky People, since that is where they came from.  She says, “Sky People cannot learn, because they cannot see.”  To which, Jake Sully petitions, “Then teach me to see.”  When Jake Sully, one of the Sky People, really gets it he is able to say to Neytiri, “I see you.”

The Holy Spirit in you teaches you to see.  You have the ability to see this world and its needs as God sees it.  God dwells in you as a dove and dwelling speaks louder than telling.
 

God Dwells through you in the Grapes

The third main symbol found in the window is the cluster of grapes, combining with sheaf of wheat in the west window and the cup in the center window to remind us of communion the holy mystery in which God has given himself to us.  Every time we come to this table we pray, “grant that we may go in the strength of your Spirit to give ourselves to others.”  Judas asked Jesus why he was only going to reveal himself to his followers and not the whole world.  Jesus indicated that all who loved him would obey him and all who obeyed him would reveal him to the whole world.  He would know longer be confined to thea small geographic location of Palestine.  Jesus combined in this passage love, obedience and the dwelling of God.  That is, if we love him, we will keep his commandments, and God will dwell in us and through us as the Holy Spirit.  R. V. G. Tasker asserts that this obedience is not a cold exercise of will, but by the warm love of the disciples.  So then when we invite the Holy Spirit to dwell in us through love, the Holy Spirit dwells through us in obedience.

Last week we had a lot of news coverage because the Portable Medical Clinic that we outfitted wound up in Haiti, just a couple of miles outside of Port au Prince at an orphange.  KBTX carried this story (watch video). 

More doctors than medical clinics; that's how a disaster relief organization characterizes the situation in Haiti. However, one medical clinic survived the quake and is still offering help, and it was sent there by a College Station Church.

A&M United Methodist Church is trying to help earthquake ravaged Haiti, in a big way, for the second time. "You know not everybody is able to leave the country to go on a mission trip," said A&M UMC member David Brochu. That's why the church is going to build a portable medical clinic in their parking lot like one that just arrived in Haiti a few months ago.

"We were told it might end up anywhere in the world," said Brochu.

The church works with relief group Christian Alliance, which sends clinics all over the world. 23 have gone to Haiti in the last 10 years, but the one from College Station is the only clinic known to have withstood the quake.

"It had been placed at an orphanage just outside Port-au-Prince," said Brochu. "We were told they were seeing 60-70 patients a day, that was prior to the earthquake."

Now, the church is ready to take a bare container and transform the inside again. The last one had three examination rooms and a lab area, and was insulated and air conditioned. All the labor was performed by volunteers.

It may not seem like much to come up here for a few hours laying plywood, stuffing  insulation, and installing an air conditioner.  However, to those in need, God is dwelling with them through you.  The response to the media has been so amazing that a Baptist Church wrote a check to us for 5,000 this week to help with the next container.  They were not alone.  The leaders of this endeavor met on Thursday afternoon and have determined that we will say ‘yes’ to Christian Alliance’s request for us to convert three contaniers into Portable Medical Clinics, all designated for Haiti relief.  The Holy Spirit dwells through you.

I am reminded of President Obama’s speech that he made here in October of last year.  He said, “If 11 year-old Erin Buenger -- whose all-too-short life touched so many in this community –- could travel to Washington and lobby members of Congress for cancer funding while going through chemotherapy, if she could raise money by making lanyards and writing her own cookbook –- all while making the honor role – then surely you can find the strength to serve even when you face challenges in your own life.” 

Erin Buenger not only raised money and lobbied congress; she was a child of God with a deep spiritual well.  Her mother, Vicki, recalled one of Erin’s teachers remarking that she always listens like she means it.  Vicki said, “She lived the same way she listened.” 

When Dan Forrest heard about Erin’s well-lived life, he put one of Johanna Anderson’s poems to music, in memory of Erin Buenger.  It is entitled, “Lord of the Small”. 

“Praise to the Lord of the small, broken things, who sees the poor sparrow that cannot take wing.”  The last stanza of this song reads, “Praise Him, O praise Him all ye who yet live, who’ve been given so much and so little can give, our frail lisping praise God will never despise, He sees his dear children through mercy filled eyes.”  Some time those eyes are your eyes as God dwells through you.  Dwelling speaks louder than telling.  Amen.