In the ‘80s
I attended a Christian Education Conference in Texas. The theme was
"New Sunday Schools for a New Day: A Place Where Everybody Knows
My Name." Even then, people were being reduced to numbers! There
was a lack of person-to-person contact, and instead of reaching persons
when we dialed a number, we reached automated voices referring us
to numbers, numbers, and more numbers! There was and still is a longing
for personal contact, genuine caring, and for being called by name
instead of a number!
But there are times in
our lives when it seems more comfortable to remain distant and not
be called by name. "If they know who I really am, what then?
What will they think? What will they say? And what will they ask me
to do?" This is especially true in our relationship with God!
Sometimes it is too hard to be alone with ourselves and God, because
we are afraid to acknowledge who we really are!
I used to think of the
man Legion in today's Gospel lesson as someone much different than
you or me. That was until a time in my 30's when I felt like Legion!
My life wasn't as dramatic; I didn't need to be sent away or shackled;
and I certainly went around fully clothed! But I felt very alone and
in the tombs of despair. I was physically well, and I looked just
fine. Most people didn't know there was anything wrong, unless they
happened to see me crying or happened to be someone I had to say "no"
to or ask for help. My life was at such a low point that I wondered
whether I would ever be able to be the active person I had been.
The reason that I am sharing
this with you is that you see before you a person much different than
the one I have just described. This dramatic change started in February
1979 and continues to this day. It began when I intentionally stopped
and listened and opened myself totally to God. Almost 30 years later,
I still need to remind myself to stop! Ironically, I have found that
pastors have an especially hard time giving themselves permission
to stop doing God's work and just "be" in the presence of
God! My husband often says that I only have two speeds - fast and
stop! Most of us need to be more intentional about stopping and listening.
So, as I revisited this
story of Legion, as well as Elijah, and the psalmist, I saw more of
you and me in our journeys to come closer to God and to truly discern
and act upon God's purpose for our lives. When I read and studied
this Sunday's scriptures, I saw a movement from "Withdrawal"
to "Witness". The scriptures speak of silence, thirsting,
healing, and witness. Let's start with our Need to Stop and Withdraw
and Be Silent. How do we address our need to stop and withdraw and
be silent in a world that encourages us to surrounded by noise and
constantly busy? We get so overwhelmed that sometimes we just want
to go HOME! And often it's no better at home! In a world where we
are constantly busy and often multi-tasking, what does it mean to
discern God's presence in our life? What does it mean to be called
by God in such a way that we are never the same again? How can we
answer "The Call", and how can we be filled with and over-flowing
with God's love in such a way that it brings a joy, a passion, and
a peace as we go forth into God's world? The answer is that we regularly
need to take time to just go HOME - home as it relates to being in
close relationship with God.
Being a child of God and
a follower of Jesus is not just about what we "know" and
what we "do". It's about "RELATIONSHIP" and it's
about "LOVE". God calls out to each one of us, and each
one of us longs for God. And when the call and the longing unite,
we are in relationship!
Really coming home to God
often means saying "no" to the requests of others and our
own personal desires in order to say "yes" to God. We need
to find time to come home and be alone with God. We need times in
our lives when we can stop, withdraw from life, and be silent before
God.
Elijah was burned out,
depressed, and fearful. His feelings had thrown his view of reality
off balance, and he wanted to die. His feelings had shut down the
ways he usually cared for himself, and in his exhaustion he ran away.
After a time where his needs were ministered to, Elijah was told to
stand on the mountain. But while on the mountain, he was not able
to hear the voice of God in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire.
It was only in sheer Silence that God spoke to Elijah. And having
heard God's voice, he was told to go back where he had come from and
to continue to do what he was called to do. Sometimes it is the silences
in our life that call us to new possibilities, new directions, and
often back to finish the work we have started.
Just as the psalmist, there
is a great Longing within each one of us! St. Augustine said, "Our
souls are restless until they find their rest in God." Beyond
our intrinsic longing for God, there are times when we need to regroup
to satisfy our physical needs; we need to satisfy our hunger, our
thirst, our need for physical exercise, and our need for rest, before
we can move forward. And when we are ready, God sends us out again
stronger than before.
Have you ever longed for
something with a thirst that could not be quenched? Have you ever
been so thirsty that you panted for a fresh cool drink? The psalmist
knew this kind of a thirst, because he lived in the desert. And so
he described his longing for God's presence as a deer's panting for
running water! In this morning's psalm, we experience the woundedness
of the psalmist's soul. The wound within him caused him to be down
in the dumps and he felt that even God had abandoned him! People taunted
him and said, "Where is your God?" In this psalm, he reminded
himself to hope in God, because one day he would again praise God,
his helper.
Once I had a conversation
with a friend about how angry I felt towards God. She asked me if
I had expressed that anger directly to God. My reply was, "No,
of course not; you don't get angry at God!" She then proceeded
to tell me that, "Yes, you do! Just look at the psalms! The psalmists
didn't withhold their true feelings from God! And besides, God already
knows how you feel; you need to sit down and talk to God about it!
Be open and honest with God!" And you know what? She was right;
this was the beginning of a closer relationship between me and God.
The Rev. F. Belton Joyner,
Jr., a United Methodist pastor in North Carolina wrote: "Even
when we are honest with God, God does not go away! Rev. Belton asks
us, 'Have you ever acted or spoken in such a way as to impress someone?
Have you smiled when you really wanted to grit your teeth? Have you
told someone you were fine when you were angry or hurting? Have you
ever laughed when you felt like crying or when someone told you a
joke that you either did not understand or one you believed was totally
inappropriate or hurtful? Have you ever given a large tip in order
to appear generous? The psalmist tells it like it is! But in not denying
the hurting places of life, the psalmist lifts up the good news that
God is still in charge and is a helper worthy of praise as in the
words of a much-loved hymn' "O God, Our help in ages past; Our
hope for years to come…" God knows us as we truly are and
loves us still."
As we enter Luke's account
of the man who lived among the tombs, we are near a series of caves,
in the county of the Gerasenes by the Sea of Galilee. This troubled
man had been cut off from his community, and he was so physically
and emotionally spent that nothing, not even chains could control
him! His problems were so numerous that he could not name them! When
Jesus asked him his name, the man said "Legion", a word
describing a force of 5,000 soldiers. Perhaps this man had been in
the military and had witnessed the horror of war. Perhaps he was suffering
from what we now know as PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder! In
fact, he was probably so bad off, pulled in so many different directions,
that he really didn't know if he was coming or going! Many times we
are like Legion; we are pulled in so many directions, and often we
have many needs that go unmet.
We may not have been as
low as Elijah, the psalmist, or the man from the Gerasenes, but if
we are honest with ourselves, with others, and with God, we have all
been there in one way or another! At such times we often feel deserted,
frightened, and discouraged. Perhaps some of you here this morning
are burned out, feeling down, and perhaps wondering where God is in
all of this. In this wondering and wandering about in the desert places
of our lives, God is calling out to us, not only in the silences but
also in the winds, and earthquakes, and fires.
Like Elijah, when we feel
alone and in need of redirection, if we continue to call out, we will
find God and we will be reassured and redirected. Like the psalmist,
we will say, "By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and
at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life…"
And like Legion, Jesus knows "our" name, and Jesus will
take "our" rough places and make them smooth. We will experience
God's Healing!
We often think that we
are the only ones in need of this Healing and transformation, but
we are not! Others around us - persons of all ages in our homes, our
church, our community, and our world are in desperate need of this
Healing and transformation in their lives. But it's scary, isn't it?
It's hard enough to allow God to change "us"! What will
we need to do differently? What will we need to do without? What attitudes
and absolutes will we need to change or be open to change in order
to remove our barriers to being all that God has created us to be
as individuals, as a church, and as a world trying to work together?
What will it cost? Are we willing to pay the price?
And what about others around
us? What if they really change? How will it change our lives? When
Jesus commanded all that held Legion in the tombs to leave and the
man received Healing, the people were filled with fear! When they
saw the man clothed , in his right mind, and sitting at the feet of
Jesus, they should have been rejoicing because the man was healed
and at peace, but they were afraid!
Why? Well, the keepers
of the swine were suddenly out of business! It was good for the man
who was healed, but expensive for all of those shepherds! New possibilities
replaced their old ways, and they weren't ready for what might come
next and how much this change could cost! Maybe they would have to
be open to learning from the very one they had feared and stayed away
from! Maybe they would have to depend upon the very one they had looked
down upon, the very one they had failed to help or even listen to
as a person of worth, one who was helpless and hopeless! Maybe their
standard of living would need to change, and maybe the man who became
whole again might become an agent of unknown changes in the community
around them!
Healing isn't always welcome,
and it doesn't always bring peace! Healing often transforms our lives
so much that we are called to Witness to the Good News and to work
for the transformation of life around us! In these weeks following
our celebration of Pentecost, we are reminded of our baptisms, of
being clothed with the Holy Spirit, and of being witnesses to God's
presence in our lives.
Like those in the Scriptures,
let "us" come closer to God, our helper and our healer,
and let us come closer to each other and the world. Let us reach out
to the untouchables around us and offer them the love of Jesus - not
just the words and the uttered prayers of salvation through Jesus!
Let us reach out and "be" Jesus to a hurting and needy world.
Sometimes we will need to wait in Silence, but other times we won't
be able to wait for Silence; we may need to hear what God is saying
in the winds, the earthquakes, the fires, the pain, the wars and the
injustices.
As we discern God's word
to us, let us be ready to give others the Silence they need to be
in closer relationship with God. As we satisfy the Thirst and Longing
within us, let us be ready to help others who are longing to be in
a closer relationship to God and to feel God's love more fully.. As
we experience God's Healing in our own lives, let us reach out in
Healing to others. Let us give others bread that they may be ready
to receive the Bread of Life; let us give water that they may be ready
to receive the Living Water and the Cup of Salvation; let us give
others clothes that they may be ready to be clothed by the power and
presence of The Holy Spirit; let us reach out like a loving and caring
parent that others may be ready to believe in the God who is the Father
and Mother of us all - the Perfect Parent; let us all find ways of
being healers that others may know the Great Physician Jesus Christ.
Can you see the ripples
widen as the healing and enabling spreads throughout God's world!
This is what it is about Brothers and Sisters! It's powerful! It's
contagious! Let's open our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our minds
to God's healing and God's leading. And let's be open to telling our
stories to others! May God help us! Amen!
©Dorothy
Bimber Worley, 2007. Permission is given for brief quotation with
attribution. All other rights reserved.
When
We Are Called...