[Sermon] Keep the Party Going

Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo

May 10, 2026 + The Sixth Sunday of Easter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMzmyHzvBt0

Psalm 66 doesn't just praise God in good times — it testifies to what God did when the going was hard: the testing, the fire, the water, the narrow place. And still, the community comes out the other side singing. In John 14, Jesus names the Spirit as the one who will make that kind of resilient, ongoing praise possible even in his physical absence. Pastor Hector argues that obedience to Jesus isn't a condition for love but its natural overflow — the way a community that knows it belongs doesn't need to hoard, perform, or destroy to feel warmth. The Spirit is not a consolation prize for Jesus' departure; the Spirit is the movement itself, sustaining resurrection people who are already free.

Sermon Transcript

From YouTube's automatic captions, lightly edited by AI for readability.

Grace to you and peace from God, Aba, Father, Mother, Creator, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, our friend, the one who lives in us, the one who gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. And we said amen.

I believe that through this little message — this short message for our young worshippers — you kind of got where we are going with these next few minutes. But I think it will be good just to reflect on one thing that I found interesting in the gospel for today. But before that, I want just to do a little recap of what we were talking about last Sunday when we were here.

As you may remember, last Sunday we were reading part of the same passage, and we said that this passage in the gospel according to John are the discourses of Jesus. Jesus is telling them and preparing the disciples for what is to come as he is on his way to Jerusalem. So last Sunday, as he was talking to the disciples, in that passage there were a couple of questions that the disciples were asking Jesus when he was telling them that he is going somewhere. Thomas says, "Where are you going? How can we know the way?" And Philip says, "Show us the Father." And Judas — the other Judas — says, "Why don't you reveal yourself to the world as you are revealing yourself to us?" A number of questions that the disciples have. How many of you have questions for Jesus? Good questions for Jesus. Right? I believe that each one of us would be like the disciples, asking questions to Jesus.

But guess what? If you read the gospel, don't have your expectations too high, because in the gospel according to John, Jesus gives zero answers to your questions — or at least his answers do not go along with what we are expecting or the way that we are used to expecting our answers. Jesus, instead of giving a bunch of answers to their questions, gives himself to them, and that is a big difference. He says, in response — if you remember last Sunday — "I am the way and the truth and the life." Right? He doesn't say, "This is the map. This is the strategy. This is what you are going to do. This is what you need to expect." Jesus says, "Look at me, because in me you will find the answers to your questions."

And what is that answer? As we were saying last Sunday, Jesus is saying basically to the disciples: you are living in a world that is trying to discourage you from being who God called you to be — a narrative that is negative, a narrative that separates you, a narrative that divides you. And you are going to change that narrative with your life, with this witness, from a narrative of despair and hopelessness into a narrative of life and hope — with your example, with your witness, with your words, with your actions.

So today, the gospel that we just read I believe addresses two different dimensions of the believer's relationship with Jesus, or I would say of the relationship that Jesus has with the believers. First of all, I believe that the passage tells us that one's love of Jesus and keeping his commandments cannot be separated. In the gospel, every time that we talk about commandments, we talk also about the love of Jesus for us. The second thing that this passage tells us today is that the abiding and indwelling of the presence of God — even after Jesus' death and departure — is with those who love him.

But then I got into this question that maybe is one of your questions: do we love Jesus because of what we need to love him and obey him, or if we obey him does he love us? Which one works?

Both ways.

At this end of the season of Easter, some questions I believe emerge for the disciples, and I believe they are the same questions for us. What does it mean to live in a relationship with Jesus in his absence — or at least physical absence? How do we keep going? As I was talking with our young worshippers: how can we do it? Where do we find the strength?

Today's passage tells us that the Holy Spirit is the source of the strength, witness, unity, and belonging. The Spirit's work is to unite in a deep and intimate relationship that fosters belonging as an essential part of our identity as members of the body of Christ, as members of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You know, I have shared with you that I have come to believe in the research and studies of Dr. Gabor Maté, who talks about attachment and the importance of attachment in the earliest stage of a child — to feel connected, to be touched, skin to skin, to feel the closeness and the embrace — in order to grow healthily and in order to be able to relate to others and to feel himself or herself as part of the community. Not just as an individual isolated, trying to find how to survive in a world where the conditions are adverse and sometimes hostile.

The need for connection is the emotional and spiritual growth of belonging and having a common and shared purpose in life. Last Thursday, a number of members of the congregation — by the way, 20 members of the congregation — were at an event organized by the Cocoon House, which is one of the organizations in the area that we have partnered with, that we as a congregation decided to partner with and to support. This organization supports teenagers, especially youth who are experiencing homelessness — young people who have in some ways experienced detachment from their families for different reasons.

At this event, we were able to hear the story of three young people who were telling us of their journey and how they found themselves completely detached from the family unit. One of them was even explaining how he and his brother had to spend a night in the winter with temperatures below 32 degrees, and they were just cuddling together. Others were talking about the losses of their families, their fiancées — this sense of loneliness, this sense of detachment from community. They were suffering through losses, the breaking of the support systems around them.

So I could see the power of separation, the power of the breaking of the connections among the members of families and communities. But they were talking about how this organization, and other people through this organization, were able to extend their hands, to open their arms, to offer words, to be present for them — and in small acts of kindness they could experience an impact that changed their lives. And today they have a career. They are growing and becoming what God called them to be and to become as human beings.

One of these young people, who is now an adult, was present, and in her testimony — in her witness of how she was supported by these small acts of kindness — she quoted a proverb. Some people say it's an African proverb; others say it's more of a social media wisdom. But it's related to another proverb that probably you know, also quoted as an African proverb: to raise a child, we need a village. Well, the second part of that — or the counterpart — is this: the child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.

This proverb highlights the critical need for community, for nurturing, and for inclusion. And I believe that this is what Jesus is telling the disciples, who are now concerned about being left alone.

When we wonder, Jesus knows how we feel when we wander in the cold, dark, and lonely valley of the shadow of death. When we end up in those spaces, we turn inwardly. It's a mechanism of defense. It is a mechanism of survival, because we are looking, we are seeking, for warmth and belonging. And sadly, when we turn into ourselves, we burn bridges, we burn relationships. And eventually the whole system around us breaks up, and we lose the true source of life and meaning in our lives.

And when we are at the bottom of this pit, this is when these questions come up in our hearts. Do I love Jesus enough for him not to leave me alone in this place? Am I obeying perfectly? Maybe not. And that's why Jesus doesn't love me.

And when we get to that point, it is depressing. It is isolating. It is actually very destructive for our lives. Jesus doesn't want the disciples to get to that point. Jesus knows that he has called the disciples to have life that is abundant — life that is to be shared, life that is flowing through them. And Jesus says, "Given that you love me, show it by doing what I have told you."

In these words, Jesus puts emphasis on the relational and participatory nature of this calling. This is not contractual. It's not about "I obey Jesus' commands, therefore Jesus will love me." It is about Jesus saying, "You are loved, and the love that has been placed in your heart is already there. What I'm giving you is the Holy Spirit, that will help you to hold dear and to really believe in this promise that I have given you — so that you can be free, and let the love that I have put in your heart flow naturally through you and through your life and through your witness. You will be changing that narrative that is telling you that you are worthless, that you are nothing, and that you need to suffer or earn your value in this society."

So we can read this passage — or it can be heard — as: given that you are living in my love, with me, obedience will naturally flow. And obedience, my siblings in Christ — another little connotation of this word in the scripture — is to hold dear the teachings of Jesus. Make them important in our lives and aim to live according to that.

Jesus reminds us today: you are not to be pulled by the narrative of despair, death, and destruction. Jesus, with these words, is founding a movement — not an institution. The church, not as an institution, but as a movement. A movement that is a Spirit-sustained love. Not a conditional institution that accepts people who behave in the way that we behave.

The powers of our day — of fear, division, the narrative of despair, the logic of scarcity and control — are indeed threatened by this reading of scripture: that you and I are already free, that we already have the gift of love in us. Why? Because if love is not a transaction but a gift, then there is no political or religious authority that can claim to mediate it or withhold it. This movement — of which you and I are a part — the movement of the resurrection people, is based on such love and cannot be co-opted into empire, nationalism, or fear-based tribalism, because it produces communities that naturally resist the narrative of destruction. Not by force, but by living as people who are already free.

Jesus said, "Keep the party going. The Spirit will sustain you."

And that will shift the narrative of despair and hopelessness into a narrative of life and hope. And the good news, my siblings in Christ, is that the Spirit of truth tells us that it's not about us knowing Jesus, but about being known by Jesus. And because we are known by Jesus, we belong, and we are made whole.

My siblings, keep it going. Let's keep the party going. Will we?

Thanks be to God.