Descriptive or Definitive?

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 8

Luke 8:26-39 

June 23, 2019

homily preached at First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Indiana

Several weeks ago

When Reverend Kevin texted me about preaching today

I did what any wary itinerant preacher would do:

Before saying YES

I went straight to the lectionary

To see the text for the week

And there…I found…this vivid, colorful, weird, story

Of the Garasene Demoniac

So I texted back
Absolutely!

…It’s the Garasene Demoniac!

To which YOUR pastor replied (followed by a winking emoji):

Perfect…you will find a bunch of demoniacs here!

We will see…

                                                                                                                                                

Today’s story is part of a diptych

A diptych is when two panels of art or two stories

Are placed side by side and hinged together

Each story sheds light on the other

My title for this ditych in Chapter 8 of Luke, is

“Two Bloodcurdling Incidents!”

the HINGE is FEAR

Just a few paragraphs ago, Jesus and his disciples were in a boat…

Jesus was asleep when a terrible storm swept in 

The disciples were fearing for their lives

But Jesus dispelled the chaos…He calmed the storm

And in that scene those bewildered disciples end with this:

“Who is this, then, that commands even the winds and the water to obey him???” 

At this point in Luke’s narrative…
the disciples are still trying to come to grips with who Jesus is exactly

But today…we quickly learn 

THAT the demons do.

These are Jewish stories

Shaped by Jewish norms…which means a couple things:

Those 1^stcentury listeners knew what Opposite meant

Gentile territory---

with pigs---

Think UNCLEAN---

The very mention of the region of the Garasenes 

Called to their minds the brutal and bloody massacre of that town by Roman soldiers

The name Garasa would have had the same conjuring power as say…

Columbine, or Waco

And the Demons---with the Name LEGION
This was an obvious allusion to the Legions of the Roman Army…

a legion = 6,000 soldiers

So our 1^stcentury Jewish audience had a lot to cheer about

No more pigs…no more demons…a comeuppance for the Romans

Yippie on all accounts!  

Sorry to say…there wouldn’t have been an iota of sympathy for the pigs or the pig-farmers.

In our story the first line that refers to “the demoniac”

Dignifies him by calling him “A man OF the city”
He is ---regardless of all else---connected to the city and her people

There is something co-dependant going on here

But from that first line the Man is known only by what possess him

What occupies him defines him…His name is LEGION

Our MAN is naked and has been that way for a long time

He is shackled and is homeless…living among the dead

To his family and friends this…man of the city…IS…dead
 

From time to time 

His seizures were so violent that he broke free 

fleeing wildly into the desert.

The scene I have painted in my mind’s eye is a Mel Gibson-esque;)

                                                                                                                                    

Now, your Pastor may have been kidding…

About this being a den of Demoniacs 

But my guess is that at different times we have

All felt “Possessed” 

And if that word is a little too loaded for our sensibilities 

We might say OCCUPIED…

My guess is that at varying times we have felt powerless to break free

Of that which occupies us…heavy burdens, sadness, grief, addiction, 

…pathological busyness???

If any of you have ever watched CHICAGO FIRE

Or if you’ve been a patient in a hospital

Or worked in healthcare 

you will know this strategy

Sylvia Brett, she is the Indiana born EMT in the show

She comes upon the scene of the disaster

And the first thing she does is ask the bloodied almost dying victim:

Tell me your name?

Charlie

Okay Charlie…don’t worry…Hang in there…we are going to take great care of you

In the hospital, Clinical personnel are trained to do that too…

It puts people at ease…it humanizes them.

But in my hospital experience…

I Implicate myself here

Outside the patient’s room…the names quickly disappear

Things revert:

the Diabetic in Room 4

the Drug-seeker in Room 5

the Suicide in Room 6

When I was working in the hospital

I met a woman who had just earned her 3-year chip at AA

AA was very important to her well-being

But she told me how 

One day

after three years of standing up and saying

Hi my name is…let’s say, Eve

Hi my name is Eve and I am an alcoholic

She found herself continuing with an addendum

Hi my name is Eve and I am an alcoholic…a Child of God

I thought about this in relation to this story

Being an alcoholic

Or a diabetic or a community volunteer or a Barista at Starbucks

These are all descriptive…and…true

But they aren’t definitive!*

CHILD OF GOD…now that’s definitive!

I’m beginning to think that we are culturally obsessed with descriptors

Maybe even…we confuse that which describes with that which defines?

We cant forget the ending of the story

This is where Luke, the Master Storyteller, 

deliberately offers the hearers an opening into the story

It’s open-ended---what will happen?  Will the Man go back?  The the townspeople send HIM packing?

There he is 

Our Man…once again…OF the Town

-Demons Gone

-Seated at the feet of Jesus (the stance of a disciple)

-Clothed

-And in possession of his right mind

This is certainly very GOOD NEWS!

But its the townspeople’s turn to be possessed 

They are possessed by fear

They circle their wagons

“We were comfortable with our old routine

“we all had our roles to play

“We managed our demoniac quite well…didn’t we

“Everything was under control

“And…you never know…There’s no telling…What if it doesn’t stick???

“No way…NOT IN my backyard!

And they kick Jesus on down the road!

We do that don’t we?  I certainly do.

To some degree

We come to know who we are by who we aren’t

Don’t Most families have at least a mild “black sheep”???

…well at least I’m not my sister---

So:

We here at First Presbyterian…

Or we Christians…

Or we Evansvillians or Americans

Or we Democrats…or Republicans…

AT LEAST we aren’t like those-----fill in the blank

Describing ourselves and/or our communities by what we aren’t

Is a convenient and easy default stance

But it just Doesn’t hold.

When the Demoniac was Healed…made whole…

and brought back to his identity as---Child of God

And when the townsfolk…those who defined themselves over-against him---

…When they saw him

They. Were. UNDONE.

And here I believe is the crux of the matter:

Being scared to death that what is most powerful in this world

…means to HARM US 

comes far more easily

than knowing that what is most powerful in this world

…actually LOVES US**

SO

Whether we go in as the demoniac or the townsfolk

This story seems to be about identity
Who are we?  Who is this Jesus? And who is this God Jesus has come to reveal?

What is definitive about who I am?

What is definitive about the Community of First Presbyterian Church?

What is definitive

Not just descriptive

What is grounding and sends us forth in love

On the left side of the diptych

Jesus calmed the Chaos at sea

Showing his power over the natural world

On the right side of the diptych

Jesus expels EVEN a LEGION of Demons

Showing his power over anything that is an occupying force

And in all this

Jesus sets us free

And invites us

Over and over again

To know DEFINATIVELY who we are

Not as descriptions of our own making

Not as descriptions someone else makes of us

Not over-against what we are NOT

But DEFINATIVELY

My friends God definitively NAMES us:

God names our status as Child of God

God names our Being as IN CHRIST (to use Paul’s language)

God names us in Baptism

Sons and daughters, Beloved disciples

But all these names represent a work-in-progress

And so we gather on Sundays 

To recall our names

And with the promised help of the Holy Spirit

and in company of each other

we hear Gods ongoing call to act our way into our names

Why?  

Because knowing that what is most powerful in the world

…actually LOVES US

Can save the World!

Thanks be to God!

*this distiction came to mind after listening to David Lose commenting on this pericope on "sermonbrainwave" episode 122

**this insight comes from John Shea, The Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels, Luke Year C, p. 179

The Important Thing is...

Seventh Sunday of Easter

June 2, 2019

Homily preached at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

New Harmony, Indiana

Acts 16:16-34

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

John 17:20-26

So I have these two adorable grandsons

My big problem is that

One is in Denver CO

And the other in Sarasota FL

And I am here in Southern Indiana (well most of the time)

One of the joys of grandparenthood

Is reading stories to your grandchildren

At 2 Theo and Sam are just getting beyond 

those chunky beginner cardboard books

They are starting to follow a simple unfolding narrative

…just barely

So my idea to lessen the distance

Was to make a video of me reading them a book 

I grabbed one that was short and simple and familiar

It’s called 

The Important Book

It catalogs the characteristics of A spoon, grass, snow, and apple

Each concluding with the line

“But the IMPORTANT thing about a spoon is that…you eat with it

The important thing about Grass… 

The important thing about Wind…and so on

Given today’s colorful

And dense

And weighty readings

I think this might be a good homiletic strategy

In our reading from Acts

It is a tense scene

Philippi is a Roman Colony…the text is clear to say

It is as Roman as you can get without being in Rome

Not a friendly place for diversity of religious belief!

We have a slave girl…doubly enslaved

Being property of her owners

And then, possessed by a “spirit of divination” 

(the word implies a negative possession) 

she is used as a money-making machine

Paul and Silas, after showing their power to heal

like Jesus in the Gospels,

Face the powers-that-be on a trumped-up charges

that play on the easily aroused fears of the crowd

…again, like Jesus 

Paul and Silas are tortured and imprisoned

I love that detail “in the innermost cell---and chained by their feet”

In other words, with no possible means of escape.

Then an earthquake

And then all the doors and the cuffs are opened

But The Important Thing about this Story is that

Scapegoating violence against the apostles is returned with grace and forgiveness

Unlike what would happen in an episode of Game of Thrones

Paul and Silas want to SAVE the jailer…literally

Like Jesus’ prayer of forgiveness from the cross

The important thing

is that the cycle of evil for evil is broken

and a family is saved

John the Divine

Is the name given to the author of the Book of Revelation

The whole book is a vision…full of symbols upon symbols

Our text today is part of the dramatic conclusion

This is apocalyptic literature

The intent is to offer hope to the persecuted

When the time seems unredeemable,

filled with pain, sickness, grief

Can there really be any good news?

St. John the Divine answers as he proclaims a cosmic vision

I am the Alpha and the Omega

The first and the last

The beginning and the end

This God of ours spans all time

Embraces all time

And at the same time steps into time 

Into human history

Not as a swashbuckler 

(the swashbuckler symbol would have been a ferocious Lion…not an easily slaughtered lamb)

God chooses differently

The important thing

About John’s Cosmic vision

Is that God chooses differently

God will not add to human violence 

by coming with a divine version of the same thing

No

God chooses differently

Choosing to suffer alongside those who suffer…

Promising that simply being with them

Spending time with them

Praying with them

Is a foretaste

A foretaste of a time when there will be no more suffering 

and no more pain

When all is God and all is love

And our Gospel 

We are back at Maundy Thursday

Jesus has gathered the lot of them for a final meal

He washes their feet

They share bread and wine

He tells them to love one another

No more time for Q & A

No more teaching

He must prepare them for his departure

What does he do?

He prays.

First Jesus prays for himself

Then the prayer focuses on the disciples 

(who are there…next to him…within earshot)

And today we hear the last part of that prayer

And the IMPORTANT thing

About today’s conclusion of 

What is known as Jesus’ 

High Priestly Prayer

The important thing…

Is that we are hearing Jesus pray for us!

We are the ones who believe because of 

the Proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ

that has made its way

through countless generations…starting with those very disciples

all the way…To US!

And at the heart of that prayer is ONENESS

One of the most revelatory encounters I had as a hospital chaplain

happened when I visited a gentleman who was suffering from so many 

co-morbidities…that is the clinical way of saying

that he had a multitude of things going on that could kill him

After a wonderful visit

He asked me to pray for him.

And I could tell he meant…now.

We joined hands and prayed.

And then

Just as I was getting ready to leave
 he asked if he could pray for me!

I don’t know if I had a particularly wearying day?

If somehow my face indicated that I needed this?

For whatever reason he was prompted to pray for me

…not vaguely during his quiet alone prayer time 

But here, now, and out loud.

Somehow he spoke to every need I had at that moment in my life

He nailed it!

Or more truthfully, he allowed the Holy Spirit

To nail it through him.

The important thing about that encounter 

Was the grace---the gift---of being reminded that 

Prayer is not a monologue

It is a conversation…with many partners

And that being specifically prayed for 

Out loud, eye to eye, present one to the other

Is pure witness!

Last time I was with you it was Mother’s Day

I don’t remember who I was talking to

But we decided that on Morning Prayer Sunday’s
we missed the ‘sign of peace’

…that messy, meandering, co-motion that is pure St Stephens

And so I have been thinking about that

The liturgical purpose of the sign of peace

Is to offer that last chance to put aside any blocks to unity

To physically 

Embrace the other

Is like saying

“we’re good”

It is unthinkable to gather around the table for Eucharist 

If “we aren’t all ‘good’”

So---even though it is a Morning Prayer Sunday 

and we aren’t getting ready to approach the table

I wonder if we could share a sign of peace

And as we do let’s make it an obvious prayer for the ‘other’

When I say “Peace be with you”

That is my prayer that anything that is grasping for your attention 

Anything that will lead away from oneness

---or away from peacefulness

---or away from healing---

the prayer is “Be Gone! Peace---Be with you”

The important thing about John’s final prayer for our oneness

Is that it was made eye to eye with his gathered friends…

And through them 

Eye to eye with each of us

And so 

Even though it isn’t a Eucharistic Sunday

let us offer one another

A prayer for peace and oneness

in us 

and through us 

to the whole world

Call and Response

Fourth Sunday Of Easter 

Year C (RCL)

Good Shepherd Sunday

Psalm 23

John 10:22-30

This week it has become clear to me 

that our hearing…

HOW we hear

WHAT we hear

IF we hear

Has much to do with what is going on in our lives…

Which makes me wonder what you heard in this Gospel text?

Were you sympathetic to those gathered around Jesus who want straight-talk from him?

Wouldn’t it be easier if things were simple like that…just tell me what I am supposed to believe, how to think, how to judge???

Did you feel the sting of exclusion in Jesus’ words…thinking…what about those who find themselves in the ‘not belonging’ category? 

Did you take offense at being called a sheep and bristle a little at the thought of needing a shepherd?

All reasonable enough...

But…For me…Today

With my Mom’s death still fresh

And adding Psalm 23 to the mix

I hear only one thing

COMFORT 

It is what I want to hear

It is what I long to hear

I am just swept up in the comfort of the promise…

the promise of being known…intimately

And besides wanting it and longing for it

I really believe this is what John has in mind for us to hear

John’s Gospel is difficult to ‘get’ one little Sunday-swatch at a time

But…we like little swatches

We’ve grown accustomed to them…not just on Sundays 

We live in a tabloid age…don't we

We are used to short, simple, and plain enough 

I have recently learned something about journalism from my niece

She explained to me about long-form journalism

Long form is like using the panorama function on a camera

It takes in surrounding details…it isn’t afraid of complexity

It is allusive and deep and seeks to understand rather than to conclude or solve

But it all follows from rather simple and clear questions

The opposite of this

At its worst

Might be called tabloid journalism

It discerns, for us, what is important

It tells us what to believe

It scoops up the role of decision-maker

All so that it can fit in a tweet or on a bumper sticker or a bold headline

There simply isn’t room for anything more

I read this week

That the Greek word translated as the verb BELIEVE in John’s Gospel

Means 

To find what is important

To decide where we stand

And in what we will trust

Sounds to me like John’s Gospel is akin to Long-Form journalism!

John’s Gospel becomes disturbing

When the simple choices become complex

Do I live in the light? OR darkness?

Seems clear and simple but

Yikes…both!

Do I see or am I blind?

Again…Yikes…both!

Do I hear the Shepherd’s voice or am I distracted by so many other voices?

On any given day…both…for sure!

---

My oldest friend is Julie…not really oldest but most long-standing;)

… from High School to college to first apartment and job

But life got complicated

-living in different places

-those busy years with little children and work schedules

-moves from city to city

Distance separated us 

But we never lost total contact

About two years ago 

Almost by accident

we connected again

Being together was a balm for both of us

It was so comfortable

I would describe the ease with the phrase “we just get each other”

We talk and laugh and cry

It is so safe

Because…even more than family

She knows all of me…the good, bad, and ugly

We just ‘get each other’

To be known and understood like that

To have someone just ‘get’ you…really get you

Such a gift

John wants us to ‘get’ Jesus

And to allow Jesus

To ‘get’ us

The Gospel keeps piling on the metaphors 

to get at who Jesus is

Jesus is the Bread of Life

Jesus is the Light of the World

Jesus is the sheep-gate, 

Jesus is the vine…

And today we continue 

What is called 

The ‘Good Shepherd’ discourse in John 

Which digs into the metaphor of Jesus

As the Good Shepherd

the 4^thSunday of Easter is always ‘Good Shepherd’ Sunday

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

Is so intimate…isn’t it

Can’t you see the sweet Jesus posters in the Sunday school classrooms?

Not bread, or light, or a vine

But a person

A shepherd…who is only a shepherd because he has sheep!

They go together

The shepherd knows the sheep

And the sheep hear the voice and follow

They GET each other

Jesus and the Father get each other

John uses the language of being one

It doesn’t mean ‘the same entity---or the same being’

It means that the Father is known through the life of the Son 

They ‘get each other’ …perfectly

John’s Gospel is an invitation

It isn’t about solving the mystery of life

---We are living in it---it is impossible to fully understand and be in it at the same time---

We can only listen for the voice and commit…believe…and trust

So right now I am filtering my life through the experience of Mom’s death

I am sure that will fade in time

But all I hear today is tremendous comfort 

Comfort in knowing that Mom 

-who was not one to succumb to over-thinking-

-mom who was so okay with not having all the answers-

I am comforted

Knowing that she heard the Shepherd’s voice 

And---what about that bit about how there is not going to be any snatching!

Don’t even think about it!  Comforting!

But to do justice to Jesus in John’s gospel 

I must go beyond the comfort related to death and the promise of life eternal

John wants all this to speak to the present life. 

To us.  NOW. 

We live in the Resurrection…NOW

Easter is…NOW

Eternal life begins NOW.

We know this

It is evident every time we experience God

God…

Present in the Spirit

Present in the Son

Present in the Word of God

Present here where two or more are gathered

In our praying and our singing

In the all that is true and beautiful and good

In whatever way the love God reaches into our hearts to 

…understand us

…forgive us

…to make us whole

…to GET us as he invites us to GET him

No wonder

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

Is such an enduring image

It’s alive!

It moves!

I think that is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel 

We are in Chapter 10

If those gathered are really seeking to understand

They have had plenty of opportunities

Their problem

Is that they haven’t heard what they want to hear

What they expect to hear

They haven’t heard a message that echoes their own sound-bites

While I was in FL with my Mom

And then staying with Dad until the funeral

A chaplain friend of mine called to tell me of her sister’s death

She had had a long struggle with alcoholism

This week we talked again

We talked about Comfort 

And I expressed my deep gratitude for the comfort of cards, and messages, and flowers

But comfort has been stubbornly elusive for her

Though she in her sister’s hospital room

And was at her chaplain best

She confessed that when she left 

She was just plain angry

Her sister was too young

Her sister had children and grandchildren who loved her

Her sister had so much to live for

This week 

My friend shared that her anger 

Has been a weighty stumbling block

But it is being replaced by compassion

…comfort is coming

And in her keen self-reflection, she said

You know I really thought I was doing God’s work

God’s work of judgment 

As if God needed my help

And I completely missed it

For all the noise of anger in my own head

I couldn’t hear the shepherd’s voice

New Life from death

That is the everyday Easter miracle

Today’s WORD asks us to find the miracle in the call and response 

between Shepherd and Sheep

In the act of really ‘getting each other’