Sermon Notes — June 8, 2025
John 14:25-28
June 8, 2025
Dr. Craig Goff
The Shy Member of the Trinity
Back in February, Stephanie and I attended a storytelling festival on St. Simons Island in Georgia, where John and Charles Wesley spent some time when they were missionaries from England. It is an important Methodist historical site and a beautiful place.
While we were there we heard a lot of great stories, but one story really stood out to me in light of my coming retirement. I wanted to share it with you because it illustrates what is really important in our text today and what Pentecost Sunday is all about.
It is about a man who lived in the Liberian rainforest. He was a hunter. His name was Ogalousa. He had a wife and many children.
One morning Ogalousa took his weapons down from the wall of his house and went out into the forest to hunt. His wife and children went to tend their fields and drive their cattle out to graze.
At the end of the day they returned home and ate cassava and fish for dinner. Darkness came but Ogalousa did not return.
Another day went by, still Ogalousa did not come back. They talked about it and wondered what could have detained him. A week passed, then a month. Sometimes Ogalousa’s sons would mention that he hadn’t come home. The family cared for the crops, the sons hunted for game, but after a while they no longer talked about Ogalousa’s disappearance.
Then, one day, another son was born to Ogalousa’s wife. His name was Puli. Puli grew older. He began to sit and crawl. The time came when Puli began to talk and the first thing he said was, “where is my Father?”
The other sons looked across the rice fields. “Yes,” they said, “where is our father?
“He should have returned long ago,” another one said.
“Something must have happened. We must look for him,” another son said.
“He went into the forest, but where will we find him,” another son asked.
“I saw him go,” another one said. “He went that way, across the river. Let us follow the trail and search for him.”
After days of searching they did find him as they came to a clearing among the trees. His bones scattered about on the grounds, his rusted weapons nearby. They knew then that their father had been killed in the hunt.
One son stepped forward and said, “I know how to put a dead person’s bones back together.” He gathered all of Ogalousa’s bones and put them together, each in its right place.
Another son said, “I have knowledge too. I know how to cover the skeleton with sinews and flesh. He went to work and sinews and flesh covered Ogalousa’s skeleton.
A third son said, “I have power to put blood into a body.” He went forward and put blood in Ogalousa’s veins, then he stepped aside.
Another of the sons said, “I can put breath into a body.” He did his work and Ogalousa’s chest began to rise and fall.
“I can give the power of movement to a body,” another son said. He put the power of movement into his father’s body and Ogalousa sat up and opened his eyes.
“I can give the power of a speech,” another son said. He gave the body the power of speech and then he stepped back.
Ogoalousa looked around him. He stood up. “where are my weapons?” he asked. They picked up the rusted weapons from the grass and gave them to him.
They then returned home. His wife prepared a bath for him and special food.
For four days he remained in the house. On the fifth day he came out and shaved his head because this is what people do when they return from the land of the dead.
He killed a cow and there was a great feast to celebrate his return. He took the cows tail and braided it. He decorated it with beads and shells and bits of shiny metal. Everyone agreed it was the most beautiful cow tail switch they had ever seen.
Ogalousa carried it with him everywhere to dances, to important village meetings.
Everyone admired it and some of the men grew bold and asked him if he could have it but he kept it in his hand. It was so beautiful women and children of the village began to ask for it too.
Then one day at a banquet Ogalousa stood and said, “A long time ago I went into the forest to hunt. I was killed by a leopard. Then my sons came to save me.
I am going to give my cow tail switch to the son who did the most to bring me home.
Then an argument started. “He will give it to me,” said one son, “I was the ones who put his bones together.” “No me, “said another son, I covered his bones with sinews and flesh.”
All the sons who searched for Ogalousa thought they should be given the switch.
When it came time to present the switch to the son who did the most to bring him home he gave it to his youngest son who had been born while Ogalousa was in the forest.
The people of the village then remembered that the child’s first words had been, “Where is my Father?” And they knew Ogalousa was right.
For there is a saying among them that a man is not really dead until he is forgotten.
So, how long will it take you to forget about me?
It doesn’t matter.
There is an old saying which I always thought was terribly corny but is nevertheless true.
If we meet and you forget me, you have lost nothing. But if you meet Jesus Christ and forget him, you have lost everything.
Maybe that is a little corny, but it is true.
Preachers come and go. Some of you will remember longer than others. Some for good reasons some for not so good reasons.
I would like for you to remember me, but not nearly as much as I would like to think that I have helped you get to know Jesus and what the Gospel is all about.
Pentecost Sunday is about the day the Holy Spirit came to the church.
Biblical scholars and theologians sometimes refer to the Holy Spirit as the shy person of the Trinity.
Because the Holy Spirit’s role according to our text today is to remind us of everything Jesus has taught.
Again, I know it sounds corny but if you forget me you’ve lost nothing.
But if you forget Christ you’ve lost everything.
Ever since I announced my retirement I have suggested that there are some questions that Adam Hamilton identified as being really helpful for any church to spend some time discussing.
This church is important because the Holy Spirit works through you to remind the world all that Jesus has taught us.
And what has Jesus taught us? God is love. God is love. God is love. And there is no greater power than God’s love. You can forget me and that is ok but don’t forget God is love.
God loves you. God loves you. God loves you.