Philippians 3:10-15 and John 14:16-19 by Chelsea Page

If I see everything as going bad in the world, how can I claim that God still good? Isn’t God present in and responsible for the bad stuff happening all around? People at the hospital who are losing their lives or losing loved ones often ask this question. They are mad at God and wonder why God makes bad things happen or allows bad things to happen.

I’d like to share two more metaphors for the Holy Spirit that help to answer this question. They are photographer and hospital chaplain. Many of you know that I’ve been working two days a week as a student chaplain at the hospital, as part of my ordination requirements for the United Church of Christ. It is a very strange job, the only goal is presence. You know the phrase, Don’t just stand there, hurry up and do something? Being a chaplain is like what the activist Catholic priest Daniel Berrigan used to like to say, Don’t just do something, hurry up and stand there! You stand as a stranger right at someone’s bedside. Sometimes in groups a chaplain feels invisible, a fly on the wall to very private moments. Out of all the hospital staff, the least helpful, the most pointless. But love has no point. Love is sometimes more a being than a doing.

The other metaphor is photographer. I just saw the documentary about the Japanese incarceration called And Then They Came for Us, featuring newly rediscovered photos by Dorothea Lange. She was opposed to the incarceration but she took to government photography job in order to document the people’s humanity for the historical record. She was right there at the seen witnessing the injustice firsthand but could do nothing about it but observe, all the while looking deep into the people’s eyes.

I wonder if this is how the Holy Spirit feels. God may be more of a be-er than a do-er, a helper but not a fixer. Yet manifests in many ways, energy, presence, and warmth, so that there’s something for everyone, be-ers and do-ers. That’s how much God wants to be with you, willing to show up in whatever way you need.

Maybe that’s why we have this complicated three-in-one God as well. The three persons of the Trinity have different ways of showing up to be close to you, and yet they are so constantly sharing in unity with one another to the point that they seek to remind you of the others. Jesus said, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” (v25-26) Maybe there will be a day when I’m not only mad at the world, the church, and myself, but also mad at God the Parent for not making everything better. Or maybe one day I’ll be mad at Jesus for leaving the disciples and leaving this world such a mess. If so, I know that the Holy Spirit will be there for me as Advocate, true Helper, and Comforter, to be with me and help me remember the unfailing goodness of the Holy.