Rev. Debbie Cato
Fairfield Community Church
Luke 8:26-39
June 19, 2022
Holy God, Open us that we may hear you. Silence
any voice in us but your own so that we may clearly hear you and what you are
calling us to do. In Jesus name, Amen.
Forgetting
Your Identity & Values
Jesus
crossed boundaries when he arrived at the country of Gerasene, opposite
Galilee. He was no longer in Jewish
territory but rather in the land of the Gentiles. Jesus showed that God’s healing and love and
teaching was for everyone.
Immediately
as Jesus stepped out of the boat, a man
who had demons, ran toward him shouting at the top of his voice. He had broken through the chains that bound
him for his strength could not be contained.
He was naked and commanded Jesus’ attention. Jesus said to him, “What is your name?” The man did not answer, but the demon
answered for him, “Legion.” Legion meaning,
6,000 demons. A Roman legion had 6,000
soldiers. The man was so traumatized
that he forgot who he was. He no longer
had an identity of his own. He forgot who
he was. The demons had taken over.
That can
happen to any of us. To a kid who is
bullied and begins to think they are stupid or ugly or worthless. To a young woman who is assaulted and thinks
it’s her fault and her shame takes over her identity. To someone who is the victim of domestic
violence and begins to believe that indeed they are worthless, incapable of
anything good, that everything is their fault, they are unworthy of love. To a
child who is raised in an environment of abuse. To someone who has lost their
job and remains unemployed
for a long period of time. They come to
believe they have nothing to offer. They
are worthless. It happens as we get
older. We can’t do the things we used to do and we feel useless; unneeded. That sense of worthlessness sets in.
Trauma
creates depths of self-doubt. It erases
our personhood. It clouds our sense of belovedness
as a child of God.
Jesus’
asks the man’s name and one of the demon’s answers. He’s named by what keeps him bound. We aren’t that different. We define ourselves by our setbacks,
our “lacks.” Society seeks to define
activities that are insufficient. All of
this is compounded by the isolation of Covid.
Especially in young people. Add
this to the toxic political climate, lies spued so easily through social media
that are believed because it’s on the internet.
Pretty soon our true selves are
lost. Who are we?
But Jesus
knows that Legion is not the man’s true identity, just as he knows that our
brokenness is not our identity. Jesus
heals and transforms the man back into a human being and a beloved child of
God. Jesus is still healing and
transforming us today. He wants us to be
wholly who we are designed to be, not the false images we have taken on of
other people and circumstances that have been put on us. We must allow Jesus healing love and grace to
pour over us just like it did the man filled with 6,000 demons.
What’s
interesting about this story is the reaction of the people when they see the
man has been healed. You would think they w0uld be happy that their crazy,
naked homeless man was healed. But, they
are afraid. They are not happy for
him. They are not amazed at the miraculous
healing. They are
afraid.
The
people in Gerasene had lived with the man possessed by demons, and even
though they said they wanted to help him, when he finally was helped, they did
not know what to do with the man who had the power of God. They
were used to him they way he was. It was even more frightening to them that he
was whole. That he was healed. Int they would have to change their
ways. The community was different
now. Change is hard. Even good change. Positive change.
This same
sense of loss of identity can happen to a church after years of decline. You see yourself as “dying”. As “small” – as if that’s a bad thing. You feel hopeless and lose your sense of
identity and value. You get tired. You become afraid to hope. Sometimes
we are burned out to the point we cannot try something new. We’d rather stick with the old patterns even
though they lead to dead ends because we are afraid that something new will
fail us or be more trouble.
Sometimes
in the church it is more frightening to listen to where God may be calling us
to be something new, than to stick with the old ways, even though they haven’t
worked as well, but because we know them.
Even though we will just continue the pattern of burnout unless we are
willing to embrace the transformation God intends for us.
Even
Peter, having experienced the resurrected Jesus, still went back to his old ways around others because of the
social loss he would experience if he embraced the Greek believers in the same
way he embraced his fellow Jewish believers.
Paul called him out for this and knew that the church had to be
something new if it was truly to be the church of Jesus.
We are at
a crossroads. We have an identity. We are a church “Creating
a welcoming community for all ages to love and serve God, each other, and our neighbors.” Do you
believe that? I saw it last Saturday at
Flag Day as we made and served and sold Kettle Corn and talked with people. The hugs, the laughter, the
conversation. The preschool children and
families that came up to our booth. We
are a welcoming place.
We’ve
identified values that define our church.
We are about community. We are about the children and youth in
this community. We are welcoming and
accepting. We are all about relationships. We had 5 tables of people working out
values and the consistency between the tables was amazing. This is what we are about, church! Community, children & youth, welcoming
and accepting, and relationships.
When we
finished, someone – I’m sorry, I don’t remember who, said, look – it fits with
our mission statement. We know who we
are!
In
September we will figure out the action steps to go with the values. We will do it as a congregation. They will not be the same things we have done
in the past. They will not be things we
do inside this church. They don’t work
anymore. They will be things we do
outside these walls. They will look
different because church looks different now.
You may
feel afraid, even sad because things are changing. That’s O.K.
It’s normal. But the Holy Spirit
is with us breathing new life into our church,
our congregation, our community.
Take our
values home and put them somewhere that you will see them on a regular
basis. Mull them over this summer. Pray over them. Write down thought that come to you about
actions we can take to live out our values and bring them to our September
meeting. Plan to do more than just come
to church on Sunday mornings. We need to
be the church in the community and that will take a commitment. But if Pancakes in the Park and Flag Day
Kettle Corn are any indication – it will be a lot of fun. This is a great community we are planted
int. The Holy Spirit will guide us. We are in this together.
Unlike
the demon possessed man, we know our identity.
We are a church “Creating a welcoming community for all ages to
love and serve God, each other, and our neighbors.” We care about community. We care about the children and youth
in this community. We are welcoming
and accepting. We care about relationships. This is who we are. This is who God is calling us to be. Thanks Be to God! Amen.
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