The Real Demon June 23, 2019

June 23, 2019 The Real Demon Luke 8.26-39 Pastor Jacqueline Hines

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You have no doubt heard your share of stories about demons, devils, and derelicts who are down on their luck, devastated with dire needs, self-destructive, treating people like door mats and chaining daughters in dungeons or downtown begging and living under damp bridges. We all have our stories, too numerous to tell.

In pristine parlors we dare not believe in demons. They are certainly to be named “fake news”, “false stories”, and “frivolous tales”. But the gospel of Luke would beg to differ with us. For he tells the real story of a man in the country for whom demons were very real and even vicious to the point that he could be found naked in the streets  just like my good friend’s daughter few years ago. She was living in Manhattan working on a Master’s Degree, attending high society events, even took photos with   when she suddenly slid of the grid. They called it schizophrenia. Her mom, my friend, had hid the raucous for years as long as she could. She brought her daughter home to live with her in Baltimore and lo and behold one day the police picked her up after police reports were made about her walking through the neighborhood naked, her long wooly hair covering only her face.

This was certainly not the work of God, but the work of misfired DNA, the evolution of lack of care for the environment, chemical chaos, the evil of the life and death medicines being marked up for profit for some crazy CEO rather than the wellbeing of those who need it, refusal to budget treatment for the mentally imbalanced. Why blame God, when WE can do something!

The gospel writer Luke is said to have been a physician and his care for pertinent details is particularly poignant. For this pitiful man in the country of the Gerasenes that Luke tells us about was soon detained and put on heavy guard like Jesus was one day, but even the chains that bound him could not hold him. He would escape detention again and again.  He was indeed a very scary man like our neighbor on Ellis Wood Drive who would sit at the curb side looking lost and lonely and livid, not at all luscious. People were afraid and then one day, he disappeared and neighbors felt safe again.

Somehow this Gerasene Demoniac, a city boy from the Country of the Gerasenes, met Jesus at the shore – probably near the Lake of Gennesaret or the Sea of Galilee – though not really a sea – but really associated with Jesus walking on water and feeding the five thousand and now meeting a scary man.

Strangely, Jesus did not run away from him. Jesus, who sees all the people, immediately took charge and ordered the demon to come out of him.

The demon that had taken over the life of this now helpless child of God, caused him to fall down at the feet of Jesus. What a fall that must have been. The man was not himself. Because of the evil working in him, he was disturbing the peace. He was loud and argumentative, asking questions, demanding answers, saying “What have you to do with me.” In other words, “What business is it of yours that a life is being ruined?”

That is a question that comes to all of us when we witness trouble. What business is it of ours? Sometimes, Jesus makes it our business. Trouble is not always our business, but sometimes, Jesus makes it our business!

Once I frequented a grocery store in a low income neighborhood. In the evenings, all the seafood was regularly removed from the display area and kept in the back, otherwise it would be stolen. It was common to see a police officer escorting adults into the back of the store because they had a couple steaks tucked under their jackets. Besides prayer, it seemed to be none of my business.

One day, however, while checking out, I witnessed two uniformed security guards – a man and a woman – arguing outside the window. I prayed and went to the window, got as close as I dared to distract them. They did not know me, but just by poking my nose in their business, God was able to distract them and interrupt their senseless arguing that was disturbing the peace. Arguments are often demonic according to 2 Timothy chapter 2.

When Jesus saw the scary man with a demon, according to Luke’s gospel of the good news, Jesus was not there answering any questions, he was there asking questions. Jesus interrupted the demon and asked, “What is your name?” He answered, “My name is legion for we are many.” The name told Jesus something important. His name was legion. The name indicates that he suffered from many arguments, many disturbances of the peace, many chains, many wounds. That was what identified him, and he knew his name.

Real demons have real messages from the devil. Real demons communicate and instigate real chaos and rough news for no good reason. Real demons can look like and act like angels and preachers and teachers and terrorists and hair stylists. They can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.  That is why we must pray all the time about everything. Because we depend upon God to guide us day and night.  

This world has some bad demons. They have numbers rather than names. They are anonymous statistics, mere numbers on the edges of manila folders, characters on computer files, and many diagnosis – but few names. But the good news is that Jesus is in the world to extinguish arguments, create peace, deliver us from chains, heal our wounds, make miracles of our messes and unite us in our separateness.  

When I was in seminary with a room full of ministers-to-be, green behind the ears, ready to rule the world, ready to conquer evil and cast out demons, the professor burst our bubbles real good when he said, “If you want to see the devil, look in the mirror.” The whole class was shocked. We Christians do not think of ourselves as having negative or demonic attributes.

In reality, to the degree that our lives do not reflect God’s light and love, we easily become pawns for evil.

But, in order to be in the world and not of the world, we must stay in God’s presence through prayer and soaking in God’s word. We must be thankful every hour and repent every day. We must remember that it is God who has made us, not we ourselves.

We must confess that we have not loved the lord with our whole heart.  We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done God’s will. We have broken God’s law. We have rebelled against God’s love. We have not loved our neighbors. We have not heard the cry of the needy.

Even good Christians need to be forgiven so that we can be free for joyful obedience through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that we can tell the world the good, good news that while we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us, that proves God’s love for us. That proves God’s love for US. Amen.

June 2 2019 The Real Lord's Prayer

June 2 2019 John 17.20-26 “The Real Lord’s Prayer” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

At one point in my faith journey, it occurred to me that there is more than one Lord’s Prayer. There is the Our Father that Jesus taught the disciples, then there is the prayer Jesus himself prayed that is recorded in this morning’s gospel lesson John 17. In each case, the prayer of Jesus is good for us to have in our hearts and minds. We ought always feed our souls with all the good we can in order to dilute all the not so good.

We are surrounded, inundated by all kinds of ideas that we must weigh and pray about whether we should allow them into our lives. Our technological age has us reeling with opportunities, entertainment, and access to whomever and whatever around the globe. At the same time, parents walk a tightrope to help children and youth keep a proper balance in their lives when screen time is so much a part of our lives. We have to sift out the inappropriate and unhelpful ideas that are pushed toward our brains and our hearts.

The American Academy of Pediatrics tells us that on average kids spend 7 hours a day on electric media, which is more than any other activity. [slide # 1 child with remote]

It is important that parents monitor what goes into children. Jesus’ prayer is a prayer that God’s children would have love inside of them, a love that would pour out of their being for all the world to experience, a love that would make a difference, make peace, make joy; a love that would unite humanity, demolish division and create harmony.

Jesus prays in John 17 that we have love in us, not just around us. The world has other ideas. Marketing has no morals. Marketing works to convince us to take in medicine whose side effects are worse than any disease. Marketing convinces us when cigarettes come into our lives, we come out cool and guzzling down soda with high fructose corn syrup refreshes us. Marketing has no morals.

Morals come from the master, Jesus. We Methodists market morality and we nurture our souls with that which is holy and wholesome. So when the research tells us that when children have less screen time they are less aggressive, sleep better, get better grades, have more opportunity to exercise and deepen relationships, we listen, we learn, and we pray that God would lead us in the way of wisdom.

British research challenges American researchers saying that the only restriction that should be made for screen time is an hour before bedtime. In order to sort out the details, of which research we should pay most attention to, we must pray. Every child is different. Every family is different. God gives wisdom to all who seek it. [slide # 2 God gives wisdom]

The world is so very complex that if we do not pray and wait on the Lord for insights and ideas, we will be missing the most important guidance ever. There is no way we can see all we need to see with our natural eyes. No prayer means no power, little prayer means little power, much prayer means much power.

Jesus prays in verse 20 for those who believe, those who put their faith into action – who work together – individually and collectively by the grace of God and by the power of the Holiest Spirit. Bethel has a compassionate care Team that seeks to walk with those who need a helping hand, whether it be providing a meal as they recuperate, or a ride to the doctor or the hairdresser. There are over a dozen persons at Bethel who have said, “Yes! I will be on Bethel’s Compassionate Care Team so I can be a blessing where needed.” Such helpfulness has always been a part of the Christian culture and the Bethel culture. The Team works together. [slide # 3  …Team] 

In last week’s Daily Bread devotional reading, it was shared that the Indonesian culture had similar caring teams. They have an attitude called gotong royong. [slide #  4 gotong royong]  which means mutual assistance. Indonesia is over 9 thousand miles from us; a 16 hour plane ride. Australia is to the south of Indonesia. To the north is Viet Nam and China. The Indian Ocean is west, the Pacific Ocean is on the east. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population and 10 percent of its 264 million people are Christians, a little smaller than the US with 327 million. Their primary language is Indonesian – which sounds very much like the Chinese language to me,  for good reason I am sure. “Gotong royong” sounds Chinese.  The word for “hello” is “Halo” [slide # 5  HALO] which looks like our greeting. So often we find similarities among those with whom we are different in so many ways.

Indonesia is not a place where I would want to vacation to, but the devotional reminded me that the Holy Spirit nudges people to act compassionately anywhere and everywhere. I imagine our United Methodist Church has churches and missionaries in Indonesia. [slide # 6 Indonesian praying] We have dedicated and daring missionaries in countries such that we cannot even tell you their names or where they are serving. It is amazing that there are missionaries who choose to serve under strange circumstances, and they serve with God’s peace and joy in their hearts.

I was so sorry I did not get the chance to see the play at People’s Light Theatre that shared the story of the Diary of Anne Frank [slide # 7  Frank family] because everyone who saw it was blessed. This week a colleague who saw it said that though Anne and her family were in hiding from the Nazis, their suffering was undergirded by God’s persistent and enveloping joy. [slide #  8 annex]

There are blessings everywhere and good in all of us, but even more so when we are intentional about letting Jesus into our lives. Our spiritual life blossoms when we let go and let God. We also do well to let God guide us into letting other Christians into our lives. That is when unity happens. And when we step past our comfort zones and accept the invitation to bring the Jesus in us into the lives of others, we are more apt to become one family.

Recently a Christian grandmother shared some good news about her relationship with her grandsons who are also Christian. She dared to follow the Spirit’s leading and relate to them in a fresh way. She bridged the gender gap. She bridged the generation gap. She invited her grandsons into a deeper oneness with her, a unity, and a harmony that is intended for all God’s creation. Perhaps the Lord has put it on your heart to do or say or be something new for your grandchildren or for someone. Continue to pray and talk to other Christians and see where God leads you.

When we believe in the goodness of Jesus, when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, when we humble ourselves before our creator, we become one with the Spirit and with one another. When we put our money where our mouth is, when we submit ourselves to the idea that Christian actions and attitudes speak louder than the most pious and politically correct words; when we turn our hearts to loving mercy and doing justice, we are  in harmony with God’s purpose and God’s people. In spite of the fact that we are miles or generations apart, we are constantly drawn to each other in magically magnetic ways. We bring a unity, a oneness, a harmony to all the places God leads us. Things start to click. [slide #  9 magnets]  

Jesus prayed in verse 23 that we would be one. [slide #   10  completely one] Rev. Dr. Eric Law, founder of the Kaleidoscope Institute [Slide #   11 Eric Law] taught us an important lesson on unity during Annual Conference a couple years ago. He told the story of two persons standing on a street corner when a police car drives up. One person on the corner believes that the police are coming to help. The other person believes the police are coming to harass. When Christians agree on what the story is, unity happens.

In our Methodist conversation about LGBTQ issues, [slide #  12  rainbow] we did not even agree with our esteemed episcopal leaders about what the story could be going forward. After spending a couple million dollars and many months of dialogue and debate, many fear for the future unity of the United Methodist Church.

Some remember how our other stories ended: the story of accepting nonwhites in the Church, the story of accepting women, the story of allowing alcohol in moderation instead of total abstinence, we have many stories. The stories are not always easy to live into, but we are yet alive. If we seek God faithfully, God will help us live to tell new stories that we can share that the world will become a better place.

Our story may even be like the story of the 23 million dollar Millennial Bridge over the Thames River in London. [slide #  13  Millennium Bridge] The thousand foot long footbridge opened on June 10, 2000 and came to be called the Wobbly Bridge because as thousands of people walked over it in just a couple days, it began to wobble and wave. Engineers weren’t worried about the bridge falling, but walking on the bridge was as uncomfortable as walking on an ice rink. [slide #  14  Millennium Bridge lower view]

The problem was that the bridge was a suspension bridge. Parts of it hung by heavy cables, but the engineers did not realize they needed some type of shock absorbers. When you walk across a suspension bridge it sways naturally. Soldiers who march in sync know that when you walk across a suspension footbridge you can’t walk in sync. You can’t walk in unison. Just like a driver sliding on an ice patch knows you have to turn your wheels in the direction the car is sliding – which is counter intuitive, a trained soldier knows that in order to get across a suspension bridge together without losing one’s equilibrium, everyone must step forward in their own way.

There are many such situations in our spiritual life when, as the song Many Gifts, One Spirit reminds us, “In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise one Giver, one Lord, one Spirit, one Word known in many ways, hallowing our days. For the Giver, for the gifts, praise, praise, praise.”

The Millennium Bridge was closed just two days after it opened and engineers took two years and fixed the problem. After all, there was no way to train pedestrians to walk in counterintuitive ways. Unless they were soldiers with training, they would always play it safe by going with the flow and following whatever wave that came there way.

So it is a good thing for us to walk by our own faith, to pray our own prayers, to listen with our own ears, and make our own moves and our own choices at the impulse of God’s love. Then regardless of our differences, we will walk in harmony with God and we will become united and one another in amazing ways! May it be so today. [slide #   15  Millennium Bridge] Amen. [slide #  16   if God brings you….]