Another Advocate Abides

 “Another Advocate Abides” was preached at First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA on Sunday, May 10, 2026.

You can hear/watch this sermon here, starting at 26:45.
You can listen to a podcast version of the sermon here.

--

Scripture texts:
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

--

There’s this scene in Glee that instantly came to mind when I read the Gospel of John passage.

For those who never watched it, Glee was a show about a high school show choir. It was loud and dramatic and often ridiculous, but underneath all the singing and chaos, it was about a bunch of teenagers trying to figure out who they were and whether they belonged anywhere.

The scene that came to mind was an interaction between two characters Rachel and Kurt. Rachel was one of the big, at times overly dramatic, ambitious singers. Kurt was one of the few openly gay students at the school, and a lot of his story was about what it felt like to be different.

In one scene, Rachel finds out that Kurt has been excessively bullied, so she says to him, “You may be lonely, but you’re not alone.”

In this tender moment, Rachel reminded Kurt that there are some parts of his life that she may not fully understand but she and the Glee club will walk with him through every moment.

This phrase is not original to Glee. It’s found in the lyrics of several songs and probably even a few greeting cards.

“You may be lonely, but you’re not alone.”

There is a difference.

Loneliness is a feeling, and a painful one. It can come over us even when we are surrounded by people, even when we are doing all the things we are supposed to do and life looks perfectly fine from the outside. We can feel lonely in a crowd, at church, at a family dinner, in a friendship or a marriage or a classroom or a hospital room.

But being alone, truly alone, is something deeper and even more painful. That is the fear that no one is coming, no one is staying, no one sees what we are carrying, and no one will remain with us when life gets hard. Being alone, truly alone, makes us feel completely abandoned.

That is what the disciples were worried about as Jesus continued to allude to his own coming death. They are so worried that Jesus will soon abandon them and they are not quite sure what to do about it.

This passage is in the middle of what we call the Farewell Discourse, which takes place in chapters 13 through 17. At the beginning of this conversation, as found in chapter 13, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. He then tells them one of them will betray him, and so Judas goes out into the night. He tells Peter of his upcoming denials. The cross and Jesus’ death are near. The disciples do not understand all of this yet, but they do know something is wrong.

They are scared and confused, trying to imagine life without Jesus beside them in the way they had known him. Even though he will soon physically be leaving them, Jesus reassures them by saying, “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.” Jesus promises them this. His presence is going to change, but it is not going to disappear.

“You may be lonely, but you’re not alone.”

That is not exactly what Jesus says, but it is close. The one who is going away is also the one who promises to come near so we are never alone.

And Jesus starts talking about an Advocate.

The word translated as Advocate is the Greek word Paraclete, and it is one of those words translators struggle with because it carries more than one meaning. Advocate. Helper. Counselor. Comforter. In our Wednesday Bible Study, one of our members even named this Advocate a Defense Attorney.

All of names are trying to get at the same idea: the Spirit is the one who comes alongside.

The disciples are used to Jesus being the one beside them. They have walked with him, eaten with him, listened to him, misunderstood him, argued with him, followed him, failed him, and been gathered back in by him. But now Jesus is telling them that the presence of God will not only be beside them. The presence of God will be within them and among them by the Spirit. The Spirit continues the presence of Jesus in another way, so that the same love they have known in Jesus and the same community they have felt with Jesus, will abide with them through the Spirit.

And that’s true for us. The Spirit is with and in us, in every season. In joys and celebrations, and in grief and anger and confusion. We may feel lonely at times, but the Spirit never leaves us abandoned or alone.

This passage also lifts up keeping Jesus’ commandments. It does so twice.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus has already told them what his commandments are in this same farewell discourse. Just one chapter earlier, after washing the disciples feet, he says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” And in the next chapter, as Jesus continues his speech to the disciples, he will say it again: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Sometimes we think of salvation as if it is mostly about where we go when we die. But the Gospel of John shares that eternal life is not only a future destination, but eternal life is knowing God and knowing the one whom God has sent. It is being drawn into the life of God, and because the life of God is love, salvation is abiding in that life and allowing the love of Christ to shape us.

And that love is with us in every moment, even when we make mistakes or fail or sin. Christ’s love is still with us. That’s grace!

And for us, as part of our reformed theology, that matters because grace always comes first. God’s love is not the reward for our obedience, but our obedience to love, at its best, is the fruit of God’s love already at work within us. We do not love our way into belonging to Christ. We belong to Christ, and by the Spirit, we learn how to love.

The church, a community of disciples, is meant to be one of the places where people experience the love of Christ. The ways we welcome, forgive, serve, protect, challenge, include, and accompany one another is part of how Christ’s love becomes visible.

Think of baptism. A visible sign of this great love.

Baptism is about belonging to the risen Christ. It is a sign that that we are held by a promise greater than anything in this life. We will not be orphaned, and we will never be abandoned.

Baptism is one of the ways the church dares to say that promise out loud. In baptism, we are proclaiming that Christ has claimed us, that the Spirit is at work with and within us, and that the church has a responsibility to embody that promise.

That is why baptisms are not meant to be private. When the church gathers around the water, the church makes promises too. We promise to nurture one another in faith; to teach the stories of Jesus; to pray, encourage, forgive; to walk together in every season of life.

If we have been claimed by the God who does not leave us orphaned, then we cannot become a community that makes others feel abandoned. We cannot pour water and speak of grace, then build a life together where people wonder if that grace really includes them. We cannot say to a child, “You belong to God,” and then teach them that belonging depends on their identity or hiding the truest parts of themselves. We cannot say to the lonely, “You are not alone,” while leaving the work of companionship to someone else.

The word of God has been misused in ways that have made people feel smaller, more afraid, more ashamed… less beloved.

But if the Spirit is truly the Advocate, the One who comes alongside, then the Spirit will keep moving us toward people who need someone or some ones to walk alongside them. That is part of what it means to be Christlike. It is abiding in Christ so deeply that his love is embodied through us and beyond us.

When someone wonders whether they are beloved or whether they belong, the church’s calling is to become, however imperfectly, a living sign of the answer. We called to live God’s love in the way of Jesus Christ. We remind them they are beloved and they do belong.

We are not a community of faith who have mastered loneliness, fear, grief, doubt, or suffering. But we are a community who are learning again and again that those things do not get the last word.

In a world where so many people feel disposable, alone, unseen, or afraid; the church is called to carry the promise of Jesus. No one will ever be abandoned.

It really is that simple. No one should be forgotten or considered disposable. No one is beyond the reach of grace.

Oh friends, we are beloved. We may feel lonely at times, but we are not alone.

Christ has never left us because the Advocate abides with and in us. And the love that comes from the Spirit is a calling to share that love with others.

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

--