St. Paul’s Church in
Bergen & Church of the Incarnation
Jersey City, NJ
January 28, 2018
Year B: The Fourth
Sunday after the Epiphany
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28
The “Unclean Spirit” of Fear
Well,
so far, so good.
Our
first two Sundays worshiping together as an unified congregation have gone very
well, with even more people in church last week, probably thanks to milder
weather and, yes, more parking.
More
important than attendance, these past two weeks there has been such a wonderful
spirit in this room, in this sacred space, and also next door during coffee
hour.
After
last week’s 10:00 service, my father mentioned to me that the style of my
sermon seemed a little different than usual. That could be, I guess, though I
wonder if he wasn’t just picking up on the increased energy here – and my own
response to all of that joy.
These
past two weeks have been the culmination of a lot of work – a lot of work by
the Holy Spirit and a lot of work by the leaders of our two congregations. It
has been a busy but exciting time to lead our church – to lead with Gary and
with our dedicated lay leaders.
And,
you know, one of the challenges of leadership is knowing when you might be
pushing too hard – when you might be overwhelming people with ideas, and
events, and tasks.
I
know I’m guilty sometimes of pushing too hard.
More
than once my dad has said, “It’s hard work being an Episcopalian!”
About
two weeks ago I was afraid that maybe I had really pushed too hard.
As
some of you know, for the past few months Gary and I and a few others have been
trying to start a chapter of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship here in the Diocese
of Newark.
We
planned to make a big push at our diocesan convention, which was this past
weekend.
At
one of our planning meetings someone had the idea of making orange ribbons
(which represent gun violence awareness) and distributing them to everyone at
convention and even having extra to be shared with family, friends, and fellow parishioners.
It
was decided we needed about 600 ribbons.
You
know the next question, right?
Who
would make 600 orange ribbons?
Hesitantly,
I said, well, we have a craft guild at St. Paul’s and I can ask them if they
would be up for the challenge.
The
next day I worked up the courage to call my mother who, as most of you know,
coordinates the craft guild.
After
we exchanged the usual pleasantries, trying to sound as casual as I could, I
told her that I needed a favor.
“Oh?”
I
explained about the Episcopal Peace Fellowship and convention and about the orange
ribbons, and finally asked if she thought the craft guild would be up for this.
She
asked, “How many ribbons are we talking about?”
I
cleared my throat, and then confessed, “Um, 600?”
There
was a long pause at the other end of the line and then finally, “600?!? Are you
crazy?”
Well,
you now the rest of the story: last week after the 10:00 service some of the
craft guild members along with other parishioners stayed behind and twisted and
pinned all 600 orange ribbons, in an amazing act of generosity and dexterity.
And,
at convention these past two days I was so proud to see so many people,
including our bishop, wearing orange ribbons, ribbons made by us.
If
you were here last week you may remember that we heard about the start of
Jesus’ public ministry, when he began to gather his disciples, calling two
pairs of fisherman brothers – Peter and Andrew and James and John – calling
these seemingly ordinary working men to follow him.
I
doubt that these guys knew what they were getting themselves into when they
left their boats and nets but soon enough they discovered that this Jesus of
Nazareth was a great teacher and a great healer – and more than a healer, he
was an exorcist. Jesus is able to cast out what the Evangelist Mark calls
“unclean spirits.”
Now,
I’ll admit that with my modern sensibilities and my concern about confusing
illness with demonic possession, exorcism isn’t a part of Jesus’ life and
ministry that I talk about very much, but it’s clear from the Gospels that
casting out “unclean spirits” wasn’t just a kind of sideline for Jesus – it was
a central part of his work.
In
fact, the casting out that we heard today is Jesus’ first miracle in the Gospel
of Mark, highlighting its importance in Mark’s story of Jesus.
You
know, one of the themes running through the gospels is the fact that although
the disciples have front row seats for Jesus’ teaching and healing, and, yes,
front row seats for his exorcisms, the disciples have a hard time figuring out
who or what Jesus is exactly.
They
have such a hard time recognizing Jesus’ identity that the Church actually sets
aside a special day to celebrate when the Apostle Peter finally figured it out!
But,
one of the odder aspects of the Gospel is the fact that, yes, the disciples and
others have trouble recognizing Jesus’ identity, but the “unclean spirits,”–
they know exactly who Jesus is – yeah,
the demons, they know Jesus only too well and they want nothing to do with him.
As
we heard today, the unclean spirit possessing the man says,
“What
have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know
who you are, the Holy One of God.”
The
unclean spirit knows exactly what’s coming and, sure enough, faced with the divine
power of Jesus the unclean spirit will fold like a gambler who’s overplayed his
hand.
Jesus
says, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And Mark tells us, “And the unclean
spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.”
And,
I imagine everybody else there looking with wide eyes and opened mouths,
wondering at what they had just witnessed.
So,
what does a long ago exorcism have to do with us, here today?
Well,
it seems to me that we don’t have to look very hard or very far to find “unclean
spirits” wreaking havoc in our city, in our country, and around the world.
In
fact, there are so many unclean spirits – anger and jealousy, racism and so
many kinds of hatred, greed and selfishness, violence in word and deed – so
many unclean spirits crying out and wreaking havoc that it’s a little hard to
know where to begin.
But,
I think the “unclean-est “ of all the unclean spirits and the spirit we see
doing its demonic work so effectively today is fear.
It’s
fear that causes us to hate the stranger and build walls to keep people out of
our lives, out of our land.
It’s
fear that causes us to hold on for dear life to what we have, refusing to share
with others.
And,
yes, it’s fear that causes us to arm ourselves to the teeth, no matter the
consequences, no matter that our guns don’t make us safer – quite the contrary,
no matter how many people, no matter how many innocent people, no matter how
many children, pay for our unclean spirit with their lives.
With
all the news of the government shutdown and DACA and CHIP and a president who
makes news every single day, and the horrible hit-and-run on the Boulevard just
a few blocks away from here, plus all the other stuff going on in our own lives,
you may have missed the school shooting in Kentucky the other day.
Actually,
you probably have missed the at least 11 school shootings this year (remember,
it’s still only January) and the 50 or so that have taken place this school
year.
In
Kentucky, this time it was apparently a 15 year-old student who did the
shooting. He killed two other students, Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan
Cope, both also 15, and wounding 21 others.
Later,
later in the news it was reported that Bailey was able to call her mother as she
was dying.
The
sad fact is that our unclean spirit of fear has gotten us into such a mess that
our schools have become fortresses – and our unclean spirit of fear has made
these events so common that we barely notice – they don’t make the front page,
or if they do they’re quickly forgotten.
At
this point we barely remember the massacre in Las Vegas, where 58 people were
killed and 851 people injured – just a few months ago, back in October.
And,
we barely take note of the shots ringing out up and down some of our avenues
and side streets.
Like
the man in the synagogue long ago, we are possessed by unclean spirits,
especially the unclean spirit of fear.
And,
just like the unclean spirits of two thousand years ago, the unclean spirits of
today know the power of Christ – they know the power of Christ’s people and all
people of goodwill when we work together – so they do everything they can to
keep us divided and distracted – to make us too numb, too overwhelmed, and,
most of all too afraid, to cast them out.
And,
yet, think of all those orange ribbons.
Last
Sunday nobody really felt like sitting in the parish hall and making all those
ribbons, but, accomplishing that daunting task in about an hour and a half was a
tiny - but beautiful - taste of what we can accomplish when we work together,
when we allow Christ to work in and through us.
Next
week, both St. Paul’s and Incarnation will have our annual parish meetings when
we’ll look back at an eventful year and look to the challenges and
opportunities in the year ahead – at least the ones we can see from here.
My
prayer is that Christ will cast out the unclear spirit of fear that still may be
within us - cast it out so that Christ can then use us to exorcise the
unclean spirits that possess our society and cause so much pain and sorrow.
And,
here’s the thing: the unclean spirits know very well that if we, the Body of
Christ in the world, get our act together, well, then like a gambler who’s
overplayed her hand, they won’t stand a chance.
Amen.
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