Like most everyone else, I think that television commercials are mostly to give us an opportunity to get up and get something to drink or to go the restroom or something without interrupting the actual show we are watching. For the most part, I am not a big fan of commercials. I can tolerate commercials that are just being informational. But when they are trying to be funny, well lets just say that the majority of them I find irritating. I think they insult our intelligence or they make light of people that are troubled with deep personal problems. When a company that is trying to sell you their cellular telephone service by claiming that static on the old cell phone is what is causing a couple?s marital problems, I just can?t find the commercial acceptable.
Occasionally, however, a company comes across with a commercial that for whatever reason, I really enjoy. It may be because I find humor in them. Back at Christmas time one of the office supply stores had a commercial on with a robot that I thought was very funny. They called it a snowbot. The snowbot helped to sell some of the store?s consumer electronics at Christmas time that is until someone wanted to buy the snowbot?s girlfriend, a computer printer, I believe she was. When his girlfriend was taken away he started saying weeping, weeping until he is given a new girlfriend, a computer extension cord with surge protector. Whenever I saw it I laughed. Other companies have had humorous commercials as well.
One commercial that has been on recently that I enjoy though it isn?t particularly funny is a commercial for Kraft?s new macaroni and cheese product called EZ Mac. The commercial features a boy and his sister. I probably like it because I could see much of myself in the 12 or 13 year old boy. As the commercial begins the boy and a friend are eating the EZ Mac. His sister walks in and asks the friend if the brother impressed him with his ability to boil water and add noodles and cheese. The brother snaps back, "Don?t you have an invisible friend you can go play with?" Not to be out done she comes back with the quick reply, "Not if you?re sitting on her." With that the brother half way stands and then drops back down in the chair on top of the "invisible friend." The commercial continues on talking about the product and the sister corners the brother, having him make her a serving of EZ Mac.
Like I said, I see much of myself in the commercial. But, I also think that I like the commercial because I see something else there. There is a real dose of reality in the little sister?s invisible friend. While I would hesitate to say that most kids have invisible friends at some point in their lives, I don?t have the data to support that assumption, I do know that many kids have invisible friends. It is a fairly common phenomena of childhood for many kids.
Some kids have invisible friends because there are no other kids around from them to play with. Every child wants to play with other kids. When there are no other kids around, does the desire to play disappear? I don?t think so. As a result the child uses his or her imagination to create a play companion. Then at the tea party or at the ball game, there is someone with whom they can enjoy the playtime.
In other cases kids come up with invisible friends because their real friends are human. The real friends make mistakes. The real friends hurt them and upset them. Real friends let them down. And, while all of those things are true for all of us, from young children all the way to our oldest adults, when these disappointments happen, it doesn?t make them any easier to handle and accept. For we adults, young and old alike, and also the youth I think it is easier to accept than for kids. By the time one becomes an adult we have experienced these kinds of things enough, usually in the giving and the receiving, that most of the time we accept them and move on with the hope that things will work out differently next time.
With young children it is a different story. They don?t yet have the experience to realize that these kinds of things do happen. They happen to everyone, including them and their friends. What is more, they haven’t yet realized that even they can be the one who lets down a friend. As a result, children will often retreat into the world of their imagination where everything goes their way and where their friends would never hurt them or let them down.
All of that is perfectly natural. While it may be natural, it isn?t real. It isn?t real, because the reality isn’t perfect. In the real world we do experience pain and tension.
I think that sometimes all of us, young and old alike would like to be able to retreat to the sanctuary of our imagination. Things are safe their. No one there bothers us. No one there hurts us. The problem becomes that sooner or later reality sets in. At some point in time we all have to return to reality. We have to re-enter the real world. We have to interact with real people.
What we need is a real friend that will not hurt us. What we need is a real friend invisible or otherwise that will never let us down.
I believe we have just that kind of friend in the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit we all have a very real invisible friend. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God is our teacher and our guide through life. The Holy Spirit will lead and direct our lives of we will remain alert to God?s will and direction.
Today is Pentecost Sunday. It is the day that many call the birthday of the Church. In our lesson this morning we have the Spirit?s moving on the day of Pentecost.
Pentecost was not a new day of celebration for the first Christians. It was a long standing Jewish Holy Day also called the Feast of Weeks, which originally was rooted in the Hebrew agricultural society. In the Old Testament it is first mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy. It was a day where no work was allowed and the people brought the first fruits of the harvest as gifts to God.
It is in the context of this celebration that the disciples are gathered in Jerusalem. While they are gathered there things begin to happen. First there is a loud noise that fills the house where the disciples were staying. Then tongues of fire rested on the shoulders of each of the believers. That is why fire is a symbol of Pentecost, it represents the Holy Spirit. It is also why the flame is a part of our Church?s symbol the Cross and Flame. The Holy Spirit filled each of the disciples.
When the disciples left the house they began speaking in other languages. People understood what they were saying as if the believers were speaking in the listener?s native tongue.
What they were experiencing bewildered folks. They didn?t understand. They asked, "what does this mean?" Others, probably the more cynical among them thought these believes to be drunk though they were not.
It seems clear to me that when the disciples left the house the tongues of fire were no longer visible. But, their invisible friend was still with them. The Holy Spirit was present and active in their lives leading them, teaching them, and directing them, even in what they should say to those who would listen.
The same is true for us. No, visible tongues of fire don?t sit on our shoulders. If we were to look at two people, one who had faith in the living God and one who did not, just to see the person it would be impossible to tell them apart. To see their lives, to see their actions however, makes it a far different story.
When the disciples left the house people could no longer see the flames. But in their actions they saw evidence of the Spirit. In their actions was the evidence of one who lived a life in the Living God. The people couldn?t see their invisible friend, but they could see their invisible friend’s work.
When people look at us they cannot see our invisible friend. There is no sign on us that people can look at and automatically think that person is a Christian. It is only through our faith and our actions, through our work and our allowing the Spirit to work in and through us, that people can see the Holy Spirit that lives in us.
As people of faith it is not only important that we claim our faith with our voices, it is vital that we live our faith in our actions. How do we do that? When and where do we go to work? I can only give that a general answer, but I believe that if we are a people of prayer, if we make our heart a listening heart, we will hear the voice of our invisible friend who will lead and direct our work just as the disciples of old heard the same invisible friend who directed their lives and work.
Life isn?t always easy. As long as people are in the world there will be pain and disappointment. Our invisible friend will never make it all go away. But what is also true is, if we allow it, our invisible friend will live with us and direct us and comfort us. We may not see that invisible friend, but if we look around, we can see evidence of that invisible friend in our lives and in the lives of people of faith around us. Our invisible friend is alive. Our invisible friend is real. Our invisible friend is at work in the world around us and in each of our lives.
