The reason the title of this sermon is, "The Paraclete Is Not a Bird," is because I never met a pun I didn't use. But it needs explanation. A parakeet, you know. It's a cute, little bird. But the word "paraclete" is probably a word you are not familiar with. It is a rather esoteric word. It is a technical term found mostly in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John. We read only a portion of that chapter this morning, but the word "paraclete" appears there several times.

It is a Greek word. The New Testament was written in Greek. It is one of those Greek words we aren't sure we know how to translate into English. It is translated a number of ways: "comforter," "counselor," "advocate," and a couple of other words as well. In the text that was read to us this morning the word used is "counse…