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The Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that have you inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation and that you will empower our application. Amen The Message: I don't usually give titles to my Sermons. But if I did the title I would give this one would be "Divided Hearts or Undivided Hearts." The subtitle would be "How do we know if our hearts are divided?" I am going to begin my message this morning in an unusual way. Steve should be able to click on the link and we will listen to a song. OK, so that song is by an Australian contemporary music duo, Luke and Joel Smallbone, who performs under the name "For King and Country." Some of you may know the brother's well-known sister Rebecca Saint James. The song, as you might have heard in the chorus, is called "Burn the Ships." I not only like this song because the brothers are Australian, but I also like the story behind the song. When Courtney, Luke's wife, was pregnant with their second son, she had to deal with acute morning sickness. The doctor gave her some pills to help with the nausea, which started to affect her mentally and she found couldn't stop taking them. Even after having outpatient therapy at a mental hospital, Courtney kept feeling a pull to the pills. One day, she decided she had to do something symbolic and flush the pills down the toilet. Then she'd be done with the guilt and the shame and feel able to move on with her life. This song was inspired by that episode. Luke explained to Christian Contemporary Music magazine: "When she was flushing those pills, the analogy of burning the ships came to me: the story of the sailors not wanting to explore the new world, wanting the comforts of their boats. Their leader calls them out and says, 'We've got to burn the ships. This is a new world.'" Luke was referring to an incident that is supposed to have occurred back in the 1500'a.An article I read as I researched this idea tells about the incident this way: "According to legend, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés issued a rather interesting order to his men as they began their conquest of the Aztec empire in 1519. The order was simple: Burn the boats. He wanted his men to realize that they had no opportunity to retreat, so they had to give this fight everything they had. Failure was no longer an option and winning this battle just became that much more important. There is much debate about the legitimacy of this story, both in reference to the true intentions of Cortés and whether the actual burning took place at all. However, regardless of the accuracy in this particular case, it illustrates an important point which can be applied to almost everything we do." Now I don't want to get caught up in a discussion about whether or not this incident really happened or whether the conquest of the Aztec nation was an ethical act by the conquistadors. Luke Smallbone saw his wife's actions as a symbolic gesture that enable her to be free of that thing that was stopping her life from being all it could be. Cutting off the opportunity for falling back into destructive behaviors meant a significant act at a particular moment. It was something she could look back at and mark in her life as the moment she determined to do things differently. Today in the Revised Common Lectionary there are two readings from Kings which can be used. Both tell something of the life and relationship between Elijah and Elisha. In the story, we didn't read, is the foundational story about Elisha's call to follow Elijah. One significant thing that happens in that story is that Elisha slaughters and sacrifices the bulls that he has been using to plow his family's fields. Elisha is basically cutting his ties with his former life and setting himself up to unconditionally follow Elijah. Then in the story from Kings, that we did read we see the results of Elisha not being able to turn back. He determines to follow Elijah until he eventually takes up the mantle of the prophet and he begins his own ministry. Elijah keeps trying to have Elisha stay behind, but Elisha tenaciously determines to continue to follow him. Then when we read the Epistle from Galatians it is all about making decisions and sticking with them. I am not going to spend a lot of time looking at the negative aspects of life without the spirit as it is outlined in this reading. You can take the Bulletin home with you and read Galatians 5: 16-21 for yourself. Then you might want to take some time to meditate on it for yourself. I want us to focus on the positive influence of the Holy Spirit. The reading from Galatians makes it clear that if you living in the spirit - or living with the spirit within you - your life should reflect that lifestyle choice. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? "By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit." I am sure I am not the only person who has struggled with the day-to-day application of that concept. But we keep seeking to accomplish what we need to and we keep seeking the Holy Spirit's guidance and participation with us. I have to admit that I need reminding of Luke and Courtney Smallbone, of Elisha, and of Cortes and his conquistadors. I need reminding of Joshua's words to the people of Israel, in Joshua 24: 14-15, when they were on the border of the Promised Land. “Now, therefore, revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Sometimes we need a symbolic act to fix in our minds and hearts the decision we have made. Flushing the pills down the toilet as Courtney did. Burning the boats as Cortes did. Slaughtering the oxen as Elisha did. Choosing to be Baptized or Confirmed into the Christian faith. Sometimes we need to declare by a symbolic act that we have an undivided heart. When it comes to the Gospel reading this morning Luke reminds us once again that Jesus was clear and specific in his words to those who were following him. Jesus is looking for undivided hearts. He is looking for behavior that reflects that the Holy Spirit is within us and guiding our behavior. He rebukes the disciples - James and John - for wanting to call down fire on the villages that turn Jesus away because that behavior doesn't reflect the Holy Spirit. He corrects those who want to follow him but feel that they have other priorities. We have talked before about how when we use the word but it eliminates all that comes before it. It would be an interesting exercise to read Luke 9: 57 -61 and count how many buts there are in those verses. Then it would be interesting to do some evaluation on what gets eliminated by the use of those buts. The things that the people Jesus is talking to seem like reasonable reasons for needing a little extra time before responding to what Jesus is asking. Jesus challenges each one of them. He cuts to the heart of the matter and defines how someone with an undivided heart will respond. Joshua when he is speaking to the People of Israel put is very simply: "Choose this day whom you will serve." He challenged the people to give up the gods with a little g of their ancestors. He also made it clear that the people would have the opportunity to get distracted by the gods of the people already living in the Promised Land. He called on the people to choose God. I believe we have that choice to make as well. But I believe that sometimes it seems harder for us because the distinctions and distractions we are faced with are more subtle for us. The things that we have to decide about are more like the ones the people Jesus was speaking to in Luke 9. They are good things, reasonable things, things that we might well understand to be culturally correct or expected. Sometimes, I believe, we find it difficult to choose. Or we take what we think is the easy way out. We decide that both are of equal importance to us. We often don't want to choose and so we try to give "enough time" to our Christian faith and spiritual practices to ease our consciences and then go on and do the things that we would rather be doing. So we go ahead and dabble in both camps. Without realizing it or acknowledging it we make room in our hearts for things other than our relationship with Jesus. We divide our hearts and seek to satisfy the call of Jesus while still maintaining our loyalty to other things. As I end this morning I want to ask us all to consider Joshua's challenge: "choose this day whom you will serve?" What might be causing you to have a divided heart? If you can identify what draws you away, is there a symbolic action you can take to "burn your boats?" I would like to close with the Preface for Pentecost: Almighty and most merciful God, grant that by the indwelling of your Holy Spirit we may be enlightened and strengthened for your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. The Gospel: Luke 8:26-39
Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me" -- for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. Prayer: Lord, you have promised that when two or three gather in your name you will be present with them. We depend on that promise today and pray that you will move among us. Lord, we pray that have you inspired Mike's preparation, that you will enliven his presentation and that you will empower our application. Amen The Message: Storytelling is a powerful medium for sharing truth and communicating to others things that are important to us. Many cultures have a well-developed history and tradition of storytelling. Before writing and printing became established most cultures depended on their storytellers to pass on the oral traditions or the laws and rules of their communities. The early members of the Christian faith and its precursor the Jewish faith tradition depended on storytelling as its primary means of communicating their experience and knowledge of who God was. You can see and hear that in the Old Testament readings which are read to us each week. These are the stories of the people of Israel and their understanding of who they were in their relationship with God. These accounts are recorded with that sense of storytelling to pass on a cultural understanding. Many of these stories are not just factual accounts of the People of Israel and their history. These are folk law stories. They are designed to capture the story of the Heavenly father dealing with his children. There is a sense that these stories are told in isolation from the rest of the world's inhabitants. There is almost an aspect to these stories that they don't even acknowledge that other people were living around the people of Israel. Unless of course, there was a threat to the existence of the people. Or that somehow the other people became tools in the Lord's hand to correct or redirect the people of Israel. Even when it comes to the New Testament there is a sense in which some of the stories are told from that storytelling perspective. The story contains information and details which draw the listener in and allows the storyteller to paint a picture that illustrates a point. A part of the impact on the hearer is because it appears that this is a moment when no one else is aware of what is happening. The story is for those involved and for those who will hear the story at another time. I had two experiences this week which highlighted for me this important aspect of Scripture and storytelling. The first one happened as my day began on Tuesday morning. Monday evening a series of wild winds and thunderstorms rolled through the area. The storms impacted us because at about 3 am in the morning the power went out in our neighborhood. This has happened before and so we were not too concerned. But on this particular morning time began to roll on by and we still had no power. I kept hearing about other people who lived very close to us who had their power restored. I could still use my cell phone and the data on my phone allowed me to communicate with folks. So I knew that this was not a widespread issue. Eventually, it seemed to come down to the area around the Rectory and the church. When I called the power company they said that could tell me that the power was out, that they didn't have a time when it would be restored, but that the technicians were working on the problem and power would be restored shortly. So, here I was going through this experience and trying to work out what I could do to accomplish "all of the things that I need to get done, which I normally get done on a Tuesday morning." While everyone else around me seemed to be able to go on with their lives. I found myself without power. This meant that I was waiting and watching, looking for signs that things were going to change or had changed. I was very aware that others, other people close by, all around me were unaware of what was happening to me and what my circumstances were. The second experience I had this week was an eye-opening one for me. I participated in a very interesting exercise as part of a committee that I am part of. This committee has existed for a long time and recently had an infusion of new participants. The result of that has been a review and revision of some of the forms and paperwork that the committee uses. At the core of these suggested changes has been a desire to more effectively do the work of the committee. To aid that process the committee participated in an exercise called a "Theological Reflection." A Theological Reflection is made up of four parts. Participants are given a common issue or question and then they reflect on the four parts from their personal perspective. Those four parts are: 1. My own experience 2. My theological perspective 3. What current culture says about this. 4. My own position - a belief statement So we were broken into small groups and were asked to answer these questions: 1) Why am I a part of this group? 2) a) What do I bring to the group? My past experience and knowledge. b) What Bible passage informs this work for me? c) How is this work seen by secular society? d) "I believe ________ about this work?" 3. What do we want others to know from this discussion? Is there an invitation to action that comes out of this discussion? I found this exercise very helpful in the context of the committee and its work together. I found that when I was able to formulate answers to these questions I was able to articulate my views in a much more concise and effective way. I found I could put into words some of my thoughts about how the committee could move forward. So, by now you are probably wondering what does all this have to do with the Gospel or any of the other readings for this morning? Well, I have to say that the story of the demoniac is very much one of those storytelling exercises for me. It is full of context and the constraints of the experience of the disciples as people who were based in the Jewish faith and its understandings. The disciples find themselves in this account in very foreign country. They are in "gentile territory" they are no longer surrounded by the familiar or the commonplace. They are the strangers in this place. Suddenly it seems that Jesus makes a theological change in his approach to ministry. Somehow the emphasis or the focus of his ministry turns to an outcast from a gentile community. The disciples must have been rocked by what took place. They encounter the demoniac. Now, if anything would make them want to turn around and head back across the lake to the safety and security of their home place this would be it. A crazy man who has been vilified by his own community confronts them and challenges everything they understand about what and who Jesus is. Jesus is unfazed by this man. He engages him and provides him with relief from the "legion" of demons that have invaded his life. Jesus also confronts the existing society's methods of dealing with this man. Those from this community have chosen to bind the man with chains and shackles and they have placed him under guard. Yet despite all that, time and again, he has escaped and gone out into the wilderness naked and alone. This man confronts Jesus and names him for who he is. Jesus responds by dismissing the demons and the man is restored to health. The villagers and townspeople from the area are incensed. They are not grateful, and thankful for the restoration of the man. They are seized with fear and ask Jesus to leave. The man himself pleads with Jesus to be allowed to accompany him and leave this place. Jesus tells him his life, and ministry is among the people who have treated him so badly. Now because this story is in the Gospels I believe we can fall into a trap if we are not careful. If we do not look beyond the obvious we can suppose that this is in our modern terminology "a big news story." It really isn't. The people on the "other side of the lake" have no idea what has just happened. It is easy to forget that this all takes place in an isolated place, where the only way that this story will be related to the rest of the followers of Jesus is by it being told by the disciples when they get back to the other side of the lake. Unless the disciples tell the story these events will remain here in the country of the Gerasenes. We have to recognize that the disciples did tell the story. Then we have to recognize that others must have told it down through history until it was recorded for us to read today. A part of why this story is important in our context today is that we live in extraordinary times. We have to stop and remind ourselves that modern communication means we can hear and know about things almost instantaneously. We can know about things happening all over the country and all over the world in a way that has never happened before. My experience of the power outage here in Huron on Tuesday morning is a great example of that. Because my cell phone was working I could communicate my situation and challenge almost instantaneously with people far beyond my local area. People in Australia knew I didn't have any power. I was not restricted like the disciples were restricted. I did not have to rely on word-of-mouth communication to get the story out. I could just push a few buttons on my phone and the information was shared internationally. So, what does the Theological Reflection that I mentioned earlier have to do with this message this morning? Well, one of the downfalls of the immediacy of the information being shared is that it can be faulty. Perhaps we need to have a means of evaluating the information we are hearing. The Theological Reflection process can provide a means of seeking to judge what is being said and how I might respond t it. How do we interpret the stories we hear? How do we evaluate the impact on our lives? Who would you believe? Why should we believe them? |
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