I participated in a virtual Bible study this week, put on by Massanetta Springs Camp & Conference Center. During this week each summer, they hold the Bible and Church Music Conference, which brings in preachers and church musicians from all over to worship and share their wisdom with participants. This year, they were obviously not able to hold the conference in person, and so invited one of their preachers, Karoline Lewis, to hold a virtual Bible study for anyone to attend.
Her study was entitled, Knowing a Christian When You See One, and focused on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John and what that role has to teach us about what it means to be a Christian today.
In John 14:15-31, Jesus promises the disciples “another Advocate,” that will abide with them once he has ascended to the Father. In her study, Lewis pointed out that there are 5 key attributes that this “advocate” portrays. Those attributes are: accompaniment, attentiveness, authenticity, abundance, and advocacy. Each of these, she says, are also attributes that should be lived out in the Christian life. They are also, she says, attributes that we see embodied by the women in John’s gospel.
Accompaniment in John 2:1-12 (The mother of Jesus)
Attentiveness in John 4:1-42 (The Woman at the Well)
Authenticity in John 11:1-45 (Mary and Martha, sisters of Lazarus)
Abundance in John 12:1-12 (Mary)
Advocacy in John 20:11-18 (Mary Magdalene)
Now, I won’t pretend that I can boil everything discussed in a 2-hour Bible study down into a blog post, but I invite you to consider these attributes and the ways that you see them play out (or not) in the Christian life, as I will continue to do over the next few days and beyond.
How do you see these things show up in your own life of faith, and how do you see them show up in the life of the Church as a whole?
