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I like comic strips – some of my favorites are Peanuts, Garfield, The Far Side and Lou Ann. Lou Ann and her friend Bernice are always having some great debate – like this . . . Bernice, you know sometimes I wish I could be like Cinderella and sleep for 40 days and 40 nights – Lou Ann, you’re mixing up Noah and Sleeping Beauty – she is the one that slept, Cinderella had the glass apple or something. Bernice, you’re so dumb. It was the glass slipper and that was Snow White - Sleeping Beauty at a poison apple and went to Oz and met the seven dwarfs – Oz! That was Dorothy, you Dope! She had the glass slippers! Bernice, they were ruby slippers and she had to return them by midnight . . . You remember – the white rabbit kept telling her that she was late and she fell down a hole . . . Yes, yes – I know that one – her name was Allison. Allison in Disneyland. Oh Bernice – you’re hopeless! Well, just like Bernice and Lou Ann – we can get mixed with the fantastic and miss the point.
So tonight, I’ve chosen a scripture to help us stay on target with our beliefs as Christians. This an account that tells about one in a series of three miracles performed by Jesus – It’s one in a series of demonstrations, if you will, of power of the Messiah’s Word – This particular one is also found in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. And in keeping with our current church season – Pentecost – a time as you recall with me. After the resurrection of Christ – the birth of the Christian Church, and of followers and believers through the work of the Holy Spirit. And as I was thinking about this, it seems to me that the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our world may seem really fantastic, sometimes out of reach, not exactly real for us and certainly unexplainable many times. Some of these miracle stories of Jesus’ activity while on earth as living, breathing flesh seem so far out of reach that we may have trouble placing ourselves within them. And so what we base our faith on becomes like a mixed up fairy tale and we miss the very point that we are to proclaim about that faith. As the story goes – Jesus and the disciples are traveling from place to place. They meet this man. This man has a huge presence of evil within and about him. He is living in the cares outside of town signifying him as an outcast, unclean, unacceptable person. He no longer has a single personal possession – not even a shirt for his back – to his name. Apparently he has been in this state for sometime. This guy in bad shape! He had totally succumbed to the evils of his life. There was nothing left of him. Notice that Jesus speaks to the evil in the man – not to the man himself. The evil tries to bargain with Jesus. The almighty power of Jesus is recognized by the evil posers of this man. They are no match. And they plead – Don’t send us back into the abyss! Don’t send us back into the bottomless pit! Jesus asks the evil to identify itself – "I am legion" it said and it might be note worthy that a legion was the equivalent to a Roman regiment of approximately 6 thousand soldiers. This was some big evil! A testament to the power of the Messiah. So Jesus gives "Legion" permission to enter a herd of pigs on a nearby hill (and you’ll remember that according to Jewish law – that swine are unclean beings) So the evils goes from unclean being to unclean being. And what happens next? The pigs run down the hill into the lake and drown – following traditional folklore that demons are destroyed by drowning. And the man was healed of his possession. Pretty fantastic, huh? Even more fantastic is the previous story where Jesus commands the wind and sea where the disciples themselves are anguishing "We are perishing!" and Jesus asks them – "Where is your faith?" That’s the question for this evening. Where is our faith tonight? Are we slumbering around in a mixed up fairytale or do we have a strong sense of who we are and better yes – whose we are? Are we just coming to church, have a couple of Bibles laying around the house, send our kids to church camp, go to a women’s or men’s church group just cause it makes us feel good, or we like the people, or because it’s the socially acceptable thing to do? This morning Dave preached on the impact our physical and emotional fitness has upon our faith fitness and how this impacts the level of joy and happiness and quality of our lives. (web site) A question to ask ourselves is how can we be intentional about our faith and measure our belief? How often should we take our faith fever? The answer – every day how – through prayer, worship, study, dialogue and fellowship with others. Becoming a student of the master teacher – Jesus Christ. I’d like to leave you with a story about belief that has a fairy tale theme – It’s from Robert Fulgram’s book – All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten - He tells it in 1st person. And it goes like this – Giants, Wizards, and Dragons was the game to play. So I mustered the troops in the church social hall and explained the game which is really a large scale version of brick, paper, scissors that involves some intellectual decision making. But the real purpose of the game is to make a lot of noise and run around chasing people until nobody knows what side you’re on or who has won. Well, organizing a room full of wired up grade schoolers into two teams, explaining the rudiments of the game, achieving consensus of group identity – all this is not mean accomplishment – but we did it with a right goodwill, and we were set to go. When the excitement of the chase had reached a critical mass – I yelled our _ "You have to decide now which you are – a Giant, a Wizard, or a Dragon!" While the troop huddled in whispered frenzied consultation an urgent tug came at my coat sleeve – A small child was standing there, looking up at me and she asked in a matter of fact voice – excuse me, where do the mermaids stand? Where do the mermaids stand? We stood there staring at each other. Where do the mermaids stand? Says I Yes, you see, I am a mermaid. Well, me dear, there are no such things as mermaids (as if there really were Giants and Wizards and Dragons in the room!) oh but yes, I am one. You see I guess she couldn’t relate to being a Giant, Wizard or Dragon. She knew her category – Mermaid and was not about to leave the game and go over and stand against the wall. Where a loser would stand. She intended to participate where ever mermaids fit – into the scheme of things without giving up dignity or identity. She took it for granted that there was a place for mermaids and that I would know where. Well, where do the mermaids stand? All the mermaids, all those who feel different and those who do not fit the norm, for whatever reason, or who, do not accept the pigeon holes and the available boxes. What was my answer at the moment? Well, every now and then I do say the right thing - "The mermaid stands right here with the King of the Sea!" say I. So we stood there, the mermaid and the King of the Sea – reviewing the troops of Wizards and Giants and Dragons as they flew back and forth in great disarray. And I’ll tell you, it’s not true by the way that mermaids do not exist. I know at least one personally and I believe that I have held her hand. The people who witnessed Jesus driving the evils from the man and went into the pigs as well as the healed man himself held the hand of Jesus that day. They sat at the robe of the master. They believed! The man was said to be clothed again and in his right mind. He was whole once again. He wanted to stay with Jesus, this miracle worker, who had saved him. But instead, Jesus sent him out with a missionary proclamation – Return to your home and proclaim how much God has done for you. And he did. Where is our faith tonight? It can be found by examining where the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives. We have to be intentional and pay attention. We can be faithful because God is faithful. Claim a relationship with the Almighty and tell the world what you have found as a faithful witness and believer. |
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07/08/01 - Evening Service
