Green Tea and The Holy Ghost John 14: 23 – 29 May 13, 2006

A few weeks ago, when I began to take my morning shower, I realized that there wasn’t enough soap in the soap dish to get the job done, so I went to the closet, where I know we keep the bath soap, to get a fresh bar.

In the Van Orden household, Dial has been the soap of choice for decades. So, naturally, I found a package of Dial bars, right on the closet shelf where I expected them to be.

As I unwrapped the soap, however, I realized that this bar was different. The wrapper didn’t look right. So, rather than just tearing it off and tossing it in the wastebasket, I looked more closely. Much to my surprise, the batch of Dial we had recently purchased – probably because it was on sale – contained green tea.

At the time, I didn’t think much more of it. If anything, I remember chuckling a bit to myself. After all, what does green tea have to do with soap? But later, after I had a chance to think a bit more about it, I realized that green tea is not just an odd ingredient in a bar of Dial soap, it has begun to show up in all kinds of places you wouldn’t expect tea – of any color – to be.

For example, there is probably no other food or drink that has, at least reportedly, the medicinal benefits of green tea.

Actually, this is not just a recent phenomenon. The Chinese have evidently been using green tea as a medicine for more than 4,000 years.

Today, there is apparent scientific evidence that green tea reduces the incidence of cancer and lowers cholesterol. In addition, it appears to be helpful with rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease and weight loss. There have even been some studies that suggest it may be effective in the treatment of HIV!

And by the way, the reason I found green tea in my Dial soap that morning is because it also kills bacteria – a good thing for a deodorant soap.

Why, you might ask, does green tea do all of this wonderful stuff? Well, I asked myself the same question.

The answer, it seems, is - are you ready for this? - Epi-gallo-cat-e-chin Gallate, also known, thankfully, as EGCG, a compound – an antioxidant, actually – that is present in green tea but absent in other kinds of tea.

This compound, and the green tea that delivers it, so it seems, is the closest thing to a universal elixir that I have ever seen or heard about. It’s powers border on being spooky, if you ask me.

Actually, my guess is that whether you call it green tea or epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, the real effect of this wonder-substance rests in the way it helps to trigger our body’s natural ability to heal itself. Just knowing that EGCG is doing its thing in our body makes us feel more healthy and when we feel more healthy, more often than not we are more healthy.

Let me put it this way: Green tea works. We’re not sure why it works. But that doesn’t diminish for a moment the evidence that it improves the health of those who consume it.

Which is why it reminds me of the Holy Ghost - or the Holy Spirit, if you prefer a more Protestant name for this third person of the Trinity.

Bear with me for a moment. I am not suggesting that the reason green tea has so many health benefits is because it is somehow infused with the power of the Holy Ghost. What I am suggesting is that the Holy Spirit – the least understood of the three persons – is like green tea in three respects:

First, the Holy Spirit is everywhere. For example, the Holy Spirit is here, right now. Here when we pray; here when we sing; here when we reach out our hand and shake the hands of the people around us. The Holy Spirit will also be present in our Lovefeast today and again later when you sit down with your family for dinner.

Second, the Holy Spirit causes things to happen in ways that we cannot possibly understand. Some describe it as opening and closing the doors to the hallways of life. Others describe experiences that remind us that the Spirit is active whenever people of faith act to do God’s work. Still others cite examples of the Spirit’s working when potential disaster is averted.

But no matter how powerful a description we might use, the Holy Spirit never ceases to amaze us by working in our midst.

And third, and perhaps most importantly, the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is with us enables us to act differently than we otherwise would.

In our Gospel text for this morning, Jesus says “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

Following Jesus’ example: loving as He loved, giving as He gave, serving as He served, would simply be impossible without the Holy Spirit – the Advocate, in Jesus’ words – beside us. But with the Spirit, all of these things are possible indeed.

You and I have the ability to do great things as a Church – as the Body of Christ in this place. In fact, our power is limitless. And that is true for one reason and one reason only – it is because the Holy Spirit works in us and through us to bring about God’s will. Just knowing the Spirit is here helps us rise up and make our world a better place.

Friends, we’re not serving green tea this morning at Lovefeast. But we most certainly are serving the Holy Spirit. So let us join together now in that Lovefeast celebration, soaking up all we can of the strength the Spirit gives us. And let us remember to expect great things as the Spirit works in us and through us.

AMEN