Easter 6 2026

(Psalm 66: 7-end, John 14:15-21)

 I am not a great lover of holidays, I have to admit, where the holiday consists of lying by the pool in a remote villa for a week. I admire people that do, but they make me feel isolated and lonely. I do however enjoy those holiday times when I am near enough places to explore, where people are. I wonder if like me you’ve been watching the programme ‘Race across the World’ where the contestants negotiate their way to different check points across foreign countries, and experience new cultures or places that they haven’t seen before. Working with a sibling, friend or family member they negotiate the travel on crowded trains and buses from A to B and fight their way through crowded tourist hotspots to be the first to arrive. That’s my idea of a holiday amongst the hustle and bustle. There are so many hidden gems of places to seek out if we go looking. Crowded markets, a gallery, castle in ruins, temples or a beautifully laid out garden in full bloom.

That aside I can enjoy time all by myself in a chosen spot and it is necessary to do so. Somewhere I can get away from everything and everybody and enjoy the peace and quiet that only being alone can bring. I can just be or pray or read scripture or read a book. It is a time of renewal and refreshment as I relax in the Lord and enjoy God’s presence in the stillness and quiet of the place.

There is a difference, however, between being alone and being lonely.

Not so long ago I was watching the early evening news and saw a feature story that highlighted children seeking adoption. One child said that he would like to find a forever home because he was tired of telling people that the other children he lived with were only “my foster brother or my foster sister.” Having been in the foster care system practically all of his life, he knew that any foster family’s relationship could end at any time. He wanted to be with a family, to feel as if he was a part of something. He was around people all the time, but he was lonely - and he was tired of it.

If we are honest with ourselves, we want the same things as this boy did. We want to be part of something. We want to be in relationship with people we know will be there for us for the long haul, through the good and the bad. We want to be around people who love us and will be with us come what may.

Like the little boy, we don’t want to be lonely. We want to be loved, cared for, supported, uplifted, embraced, and strengthened. No one truly wants to be lonely.

Jesus has already told his disciples that he must leave them to go and prepare a place for them. He knows this will not sit too well with them. He knows that they will be hurt and will wrestle with feeling alone. They will have to battle bouts of feeling lonely and depressed and this isn’t going to be easy for them.

So, Jesus gives them a promise. Jesus says that God will leave with them an Advocate - another person to stand up and speak on their behalf. Another person to care for them and watch out for them. Another person to move mountains and obstacles out of their way. Another person who will speak the truth - and one whom they will know, because he will abide in them.

Jesus is saying, I am not leaving you alone. I am not leaving you to fend for yourselves. I am asking God to send the Advocate - the counsellor, the helper - to be with you and to guide you. To move in you and to work in you, to sustain you and to free you to be all that God has called you to be.

This passage we’ve heard read today reminds us that we are not alone because the Holy Spirit is with us. The Holy Spirit is moving us, abiding in us. We are being led and guided by the Holy Spirit, and we are not alone.

Yet sometimes we may feel like we are all alone. Sometimes, like that little boy on the news, we may believe that there is no one out there for us, that nobody seems to care.

There have been days when I have wondered about such things. It’s then when I listen, I hear the Lord whispering, You are not alone. I have left the Advocate to defend you, to help and to strengthen you.

I am quickly reminded then that the Spirit is working. And when the Spirit is working, God will have you doing things that you thought you would never do - worshiping in places you never thought you would worship in, saying things you never thought you would say, going places you thought you would never go.

Because when we allow the Holy Spirit to work, loneliness and despair disappear. Relationships are renewed, and hearts become healthy. When we allow the Holy Spirit to work, assurance abounds, and blessings bloom. Faith is formulated, and love is lifted.

And it is then we can sing as the psalmist does in our psalm this morning, “but in truth God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me.” God works through us. God goes before us and with us and God reassures us that we will never be alone, because we will be with Jesus, and Jesus will be with us.

Amen