By the Power of God the Father, Jesus has Never left the Faithful, by the Power of Spirit. So How Do We Kill That Beautiful Understanding?

Our passage this week is John 14: 15-21.  We continue in the time after Jesus’ Resurrection, yet before His Ascension.  The disciples will begin a new phase of their lives of Acting on their faith in the world.  It begins with them and is a faith community that continues with us.

So, the Father, who is calling the Son home-the Son who will return again, will not leave the disciples 'in the lurch'.  Another will come, the Holy Spirit, to dwell in their hearts.  This is no less that Jesus coming to reside in their hearts.  The rest of the world won’t get it, but we will understand.  It is how the love of God will continue into this new phase of God’s plan.  So, Jesus no longer in our lives, but, in our hearts, the power of God up close and personal.

This is the framework for understanding how we will act as Christians in the world:

John 14: ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This 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. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ They 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.”

So, how then will the Devil get into the system to undermine what God does for us?  How about making it more important to believe the right thing than to do the right thing?  

According to the Google, ‘doctrine’ “is a codification of beliefs, principles, or instructions held by a group (in this case Christians) acting as a framework for understanding and acting in the world.”  As a framework for understanding and acting in the world, I hope those verses are clear.

We understand God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a framework of understanding how God has chosen to act in the world.  In this case, we are speaking of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

 HOWEVER-and if you are NOT a fan of rabbit hole diving, stop reading here.  HOWEVER, because this is so important, how will the Devil seek to undermine it?

It could start with a close reading of the passage that ends up with something like this:  ”So we have God who is forever and all-powerful above us and surrounding us, invisible yet all-embracing who is ALSO AT THE SAME TIME a human being who came to live among us, tempted in every way and yet without sin who is ALSO AT THE SAME TIME a Spirit, well, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, God inhabiting our hearts.”

Some may consider that seriously cool.  Others may consider that seriously confusing. 

This was so cool and confusing that the Whole church (of the time) got together in Nicaea in 325 and in Constantinople in 381 and codified (made a Doctrine) that God is Three in One.  God is in three ‘persons’ (Divine Persons, not human persons except…Jesus…) and it has been labeled in history as the Doctrine of the Trinity. 

 Now, there’s the key word, not Trinity, but Doctrine. 

Something the church likes to do is to borrow ideas and concepts from the rest of the world to illustrate what we are trying to say.  But we often use those ideas and concepts poorly.  What I have in mind here is that we do not just have a Doctrine of the Trinity, we have a Trinitarian Formula (borrowing and messing up a basic principle of mathematics or maybe chemistry-but for Jesus).  We use this at baptism, “In the name of the…1… Father, and of the…2… Son, and of the…3… Holy Spirit”.

This is how the numbers break out for our Scripture passage for Sunday:

Jesus is speaking here: ¹⁵ “If you love Me(2), you will keep My(2) commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father(1), and He(1) will give you another Advocate(3), to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit(3) of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him(3) nor knows Him(3). You know Him(3) because He(3) abides with you, and (3)He will be in you.

¹⁸ “I(2) will not leave you orphaned; I(2) am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see Me(2), but you will see me(2); because I(2) live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I(2) am in my Father(1), and you in Me(2), and I(2) in you. ²¹ They who have My(2) commandments and keep them are those who love Me(2), and those who love Me(2) will be loved by my Father(1), and I(2) will love them and reveal Myself(2) to them.”

SO…see how easily this can draw the joy and power of these words of Christ?  Like a freshman lecturer in college starting , "Allow me to bore you as we contemplate the Godhead" (yes, Godhead is another name for the Trinity). 

If we get stuck here, the Devil wins.  We lose out on the deeper knowledge and understanding of how God acts in the world and how WE are to follow. 

But if we choose to STOP here, the Devil wins even more.  We believe that God is in Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and you better get that down pat or else you aren’t doing your faith right.  Few people would say that explicitly, but it is laced implicitly across our faith.  Get this right or you don’t move on.

 This is when a Doctrine, an important piece of defining our faith, becomes an Idol, when it takes on a life of its own, when its purpose is “getting it right” and does NOT continue to its Real purpose, "doing it right", as a framework for acting in the world. 

When the Bible, or some part of it, some set of verses, some proof text, when these become how we understand Jesus' words to “keep my commandments”, when we start somewhere else than Jesus' commandments to sum up the law, to Love God and Love Neighbor, then we’ve been derailed from our faith.

Thus endeth the trip down the Rabbit Hole.

Pastor Pete

Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride...What About When They Were Dating?

 To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,                             

 This Sunday, our passage is John 14: 1-14, where Jesus speaks of the future that He will bring:

 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to the place where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

           So, my usual focus for this passage, after Jesus shares with us this brilliant and comforting truth about what ‘comes next’, is to look at the reaction of Thomas.  It leads to that most beautiful phrase, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” from our Lord Jesus.  But it can also cause Philip’s reaction to be undersold.

          Philip is like, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”  According to their Bible, the bible of Jesus, that would have killed them.  Exodus 33:20, God’s warning to Moses on Mt. Sinai, “But you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.”

          But that’s not the part that struck me.  What is Philip following up on here?   Well, “In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places…”  So, maybe Philip is seeing a dating metaphor?  Jesus and the disciples are at that point in their relationship where Philip is telling Jesus to invite them home to meet this Dad that Jesus keeps going on about?

          Is this in anticipation of the marriage metaphor we get later in the New Testament?  Like in Revelation where the church is the bride adorned for her husband in chapter 19?  Paul talks about the marriage of Christ to the church as the basis for how husbands and wives ought to be married.  So, this is also a metaphoric ‘thing’… a dating metaphor?  Or maybe a formal engagement?

          Jesus is going to prepare a place for us.  In His Father’s house are many dwelling places.  So…like…when we get married, the church will move in with Jesus’ family?

          This is not interpretation based on Biblical or theological language.  This is interpretation based on how love functions in relationships for people.  We date, we get married.  It is no less true than to explore the meanings of what it is that Jesus is ‘the way, the truth, and the life’.  But it does add a dimension to human relationships beyond what we have in this life.

          One of the promises we make in the wedding ceremony is ‘till death do us part’.  And while, as an institution, marriages all too often implode before they close to that, in Jesus, we have a greater hope.  Because of what Jesus has done for us, by His death and resurrection, the marriage of the church to the Lamb, to the Lord, is something that is no longer parted by death. 

          And honestly, if we, the whole church, is (are?) to marry Jesus, it makes sense when He says, “In my Father’s house there are MANY dwelling places.”

 

Pastor Pete.

For Sunday, May 3, 2026 Our Scripture Lesson is John 14: 1-14

 https://youtu.be/JLY4sw79xbk

In addition to this as our passage, this Sunday is also Communion Sunday at our church.  All who know Jesus as your own are invited to come and join us.  Communion carries much loving weight in our faith.

It is the act of sharing in that which Jesus accomplished for us on the cross, opening the way to new life and eternal life in Him.

It is a command of our Lord Jesus, a sacrament that we are commanded to do in remembrance of Him.

It is the opportunity for all the whole family of faith to gather together to worship Jesus for what He has done for us.

It is the moment for any of us who have been pulled, been torn, been tossed, been drained, been broken, been separated from our Lord Jesus to come back to Him in sorrow, in repentance, in hope, in joy, but most powerfully in the sure and certain knowledge of the faithfulness of Christ Jesus.

If it's been awhile, take this opportunity to renew the most amazing acquaintance we have in this life and the next.

Peace,
Pastor Pete

https://youtu.be/JLY4sw79xbk

Dreaming the Possibilities and Walking Its Edges

            As many of you know, I walk for my health.  Each week, I push a little further, extending the possibilities.  This week, the push is out to four miles a day.  Final goal, somewhere between 5 miles (the proverbial '10,000 steps' a day-the 'gold' standard of the Walking for Health literature?) and 7 miles (Biblically inspired as the distance between Jerusalem and Emmaus).

            The first part of the journey is on familiar ground.  Right up Centre Street through Merchantville.  I appreciate how “Centre” is spelled the ‘Canadian’ way.   Most days, my walking takes me along a portion of  Merchantville’s ‘main drag’.  This time, it was out to Cove Road and then Rt. 130.  I will often take this time to argue with God to sort out some of the finer bits of my understanding of God, the Bible, ministry, and everything. 

            What does a pastor argue with God about?  Well, deeply pastor-nerd things like: "Are the passages in the Bible where God reveals God’s nature to us meant to be ‘descriptive’, descriptions of the divine in the language of the fallen human, or ‘prescriptive’, prescriptions for how we must define and understand God?"  Like I said, deeply pastor-nerd.  

            Took Cove out to Rt. 130, placed my life in God’s hands as I dared to cross at the light, and continued on up to Westfield Avenue in Pennsauken.  Again, very familiar ground.  This is how we drive home from 73, 295, the Turnpike, and when coming south on 130.  On the corner at the top of the hill is a tavern that advertises good burgers.  One of these days, they will move from my ‘gunna try’ list to my ‘did try’ list. 

I took the left onto Westfield Avenue into the ‘downtown’ of Pennsauken.  It’s not really a downtown in the way Centre Street runs as Merchantville’s ‘downtown’, but it is a central corridor through the community that is NOT a highway.  It’s a bit different, more spread out, different economic and residential mix, a more diverse community.  But it is FPC’s Neighborhood.  There isn’t another Presbyterian Church in town. 

So, now my thoughts toward the Lord are more conversational, more interventionist in nature.  This is a drift from the nerdy to the necessary.  How do we reach out most effectively to this part of the neighborhood?  What is different and what does Pennsauken have in common with Merchantville?  Intercessory prayer-asking for God’s intervention-lead to intercessory prayer.  So, God lead us to serve Pennsauken led to a reflection of our Healing Service yesterday.  General intercession to more immediate needs.  For me, any pastoral care ‘list’ begins with intercessions to enter the lives of our people from the Lord.

So I’ve been up on Westfield Avenue before, and the question becomes, when pushing the loop, where to cross back over Rt. 130.  I’ve come back across at Merchantville Road, by the Pennsauken Library and the Starbucks.  I’ve come back across Browning, passing the Dunkin’ (can you sense a theme?) .

From the church side, I have also gone up Maple Avenue as far as and over the pedestrian bridge on Rt. 130.  So, today, looking at the map, it seemed right to close the loop.  That means taking Westfield Avenue out to Federal, and taking the left.  Because Maple Avenue, from the church, turns into Federal on the other side of Rt. 130.

Somewhere along Westfield Avenue, this means crossing from Pennsauken into Camden.  I knew I was in Camden for sure when, along Westfield Avenue, I passed a Spanish-speaking church that used to be one of the Presbyterian congregations serving Camden.  I recognized it from the orientation to Camden I received from my brother in the Lord, the Reverend Floyd White, who, in retirement, continues to provide pastoral leadership to the last remaining Presbyterian church in Camden (on the other side of the City) as well as being a community organizer, social advocate, missions organizer, and outreach specialist in this community.  And this does not even begin to touch on the work and support that his wife offers to the community.

            In Camden, the housing stock is different, more connected housing and ‘row homes’.  Pennsauken has homes that were built as single family homes that are often divided into smaller units in the present day.  A little history to consider here.  After World War 2, we praised the GI bill that paid for higher education and bought homes for generations of returning soldiers.  The mandate for the homes were single family homes.  Urban housing ‘stock’ in cities like Camden was ineligible for this aid precisely because they were connected.  Urban paid the price for ‘suburban’ expansion.

            In addition there are more boarded up locations, everything has the tighter feel of a 'real city', there is a lot of ‘urban armor’ in place, grills over a lot of windows and doors.  One streetside exit to the former Presbyterian church has a whole armored cage built around it.  But even so, beauty exists.  The corner unit on one length of connected housing had serious urban armor, grills over the window and front door, but also beautiful hanging baskets hanging in a row along the porch.

Took some time to realize that I wasn’t talking to God anymore as I walked.  I was in a state of what my police chaplain education identified as ‘hyperawareness’.  What is going on around me?  Who is coming close?  Where is there a blind corner?  Is this space dangerous?  Who is coming toward me?  It was during this time, when I wasn’t talking, that God had a moment to enter the conversation (It was a realization too that shutting up can be an excellent thing in times of contemplative prayer).

It was just two reminders.  The first, that here, like on Centre Street in Merchantville, like on Westfield Avenue in Pennsauken, like at the Starbucks or the Dunkin’ or the Station (old train station downtown Merchantville), that here, in Camden, every face I see is the face of Jesus, if I have eyes to see.  

The second is that this too is our neighborhood.

I took Westfield Avenue out to Federal Street and took the left.  Federal Street is Maple Avenue, depending what side of Rt. 130 you are on.  And instead of the game of chicken that crossing a light on 130 feels like, there is a pedestrian bridge (but after three plus miles, its a whole new game of making the knees bend to the steps...).

Walk along Federal Street toward Rt. 130 and you will see what God’s work in Camden looks like.  I passed by the Urban Promise Campus, school to aid to community garden and Brittin Village, a housing community of Volunteers of America, built on the old Army Reserve Center. 

This is our Neighborhood.  Or part of it, the parts to the north and west of our location.  And that’s on the earthly side.  There is another Neighborhood that we are called to be, that is a Neighborhood in the Kingdom of God.  That is a way of thinking about church that came to me early on in my ministry. 

As many of you know, I walk for my health.  Some days it is simply to enjoy God’s creation.  Some days it is just to clear my mind and sweep out the unnecessary.  Some days it is time to ‘get into it’, whatever ‘it’ might be, with the Lord and see where it leads.  Sometimes it just about dreaming the possibilities.

Pastor Pete

Our Scripture Lessons for our Healing Service on Sunday, April 26, 2026

 https://youtu.be/3bEyJA4UM_s

Our Scripture Lesson for our Healing Service on Apr. 26, 2026 is John 10: 1-10.  Follow the link for more details about the service and the sharing of our Scripture from four versions of Scripture to offer up a wider understanding of the Biblical passage translated into English.

Peace,
Pastor Pete Hofstra

https://youtu.be/3bEyJA4UM_s

Jesus appears to All the Disciples, Except Thomas...then Thomas...the World's Best Known Doubter

 To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,                                

 This Sunday, we share Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance to his disciples from the gospel of John.  John 20: 19-31: 

  ¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

          I did it again.  In reading over this passage, I spend so much time on the story of Doubting Thomas (D.T.), I found myself blowing past the larger context.  Jesus appears to all the disciples (except D.T.) first time out and there is a post-Resurrection, pre-Pentecost event located here.  Jesus puffs on the disciples to grant first access to the Holy Spirit.

          And he leaves them great power and responsibility.  “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”  At first glance, does that look like Jesus has granted them permission to turn on and turn off the free gift of salvation that Jesus gave his life for us to receive?  There are ‘power brokers’ today in the church who presume that is exactly the authority they have.

          How terrifying is that?  That the Holy Spirit, the very presence of Jesus within us, can make we who are Jesus’ disciples wise enough and authoritative enough to know a person’s heart?

          But maybe, just maybe the story of Doubting Thomas is to illustrate what this great power and responsibility look like?  Thomas is like “No Way” to Jesus’ resurrection.  The disciples are like “Way…”  Then Thomas spouts off about putting his fingers in the wounds before he will believe.  Which is exactly how Jesus calls him out. 

          Imagine Jesus holding up his holed hands and wiggling his fingers, pulling up his shirt to reveal the previously wounded side.

          Now, what if that is what Jesus means to ‘forgive’ and ‘retain’ sins.  That this measure is made in the demonstration of the truth of Jesus to the people the disciples will come to?  Thomas believed and was forgiven.  But what if he walked away?  He would have retained his sin of doubt and disbelief.

          But note what Jesus did.  I played with the image, Jesus holding up his wounded hands.  But what Jesus did was to come to Thomas in love.  Come and see.  Here is the truth of the matter.  “Do not doubt but believe.”  And Thomas believed.    

“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe”, Jesus goes on to say.  Therein is the power of sins forgiven.  Therein is the centerpiece of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples.  Therein is the work we are called to do in Jesus’ Name.

 

Pastor Pete

John 20: 19-31. The Scripture Lesson for Sunday, April 12, 2026, the Second Sunday in Easter

 Please click this link to go to the video:

https://youtu.be/ODhcsx7wdcc

The story this Sunday is Jesus appearing to his disciples, then having to RE-appear to satisfy the doubts of Thomas the Twin.

https://youtu.be/ODhcsx7wdcc

Pastor Pete