The Advocate

Readings:
II Kings 7
John 16:1-15

Focus:
John 16:7:"Nevertheless I assure you that it is in your interest that I am leaving you. If I do not go, the advocate will not come, whereas if I go, I will send him to you."

I often think about how the advantage to us of Christ's death and resurrection was to take the punishment for our sins, and bring us the possibility of eternal life, and indeed that is a very great advantage of it. But there is another aspect that is important, and that is that when Jesus left the world, he sent the Holy Spirit in his place. The Holy Spirit teaches us about God's truth, and gives us the comfort of his presence. It is wonderful that God cares so much for us, that he would provide for us in this way.

This makes me think of one of my favorite hymns, by the 15th-century writer Bianco da Sieno, set to the tune Down Ampney by Ralph Vaughn Williams:

Come down, O love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with Thine own ardor glowing.
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn, til earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.

And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,
Shall far outpass the power of human telling;
For none can guess its grace, till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.