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"Dealing With Our Demons" Sermon Preached By Rev. Richard E. Stetler - June 20, 2004 I Kings 19:1-15; Luke 8:26-39
We would
be distracted if we concentrated on the sidebars of this experience.
For example, we would miss the point of the story if we tried to explain
the identities and nature of the demons, or tried to answer why Jesus
would choose to erode a farmer’s livelihood by destroying his herd of
pigs or why Jesus would deny the healed man’s request to follow him.
The central message of this story is what
to do with our demons. All of us have them.
They are not the result of more primitive life forms co-existing in our
bodies as some people have suggested. In ancient times people were
thought to be possessed by demons when they exhibited erratic behavior
patterns that set them apart from the rest in their respective
communities. Mental illness and epilepsy were common examples of
misunderstood disorders that afforded people the judgment that they were
possessed by demons.
In our
society we tend to label our addictions or conditioned, habitual
responses as “our demons” because of how they appear to assume control
over our lives. Our thoughts are dynamic and energetic so what we
feed with our responses will grow.
Many people learn to live with their habits and responses. Others
find them exceedingly difficult to manage once they have grown.
They can outcrop at the most inopportune moments. They can dominate a
person’s life by poisoning countless relationships and by
sabotaging many career opportunities.
People
who cannot forgive, for example, appear to be held prisoner by their
resentments. People who easily lose control of their hostile emotions
have created a response mechanism that prevents them from being
reasonable when their expectations are not met. People, who do not have
control over events in their lives, can suffer anxiety attacks. Once I
was mountain climbing in California with a friend of ours and she began
to talk to herself, “Okay, you can do this. Calm down. You are not in
any danger.” She had neglected to tell me prior to our climb, that she
had an extreme fear of heights. She had envisioned that our hike would
take us along well-worn trails. What we had to negotiate were large
boulders and ledges. Her demon was preventing her from enjoying the
adventure of climbing. Her demon would not allow her to see the
commanding views that surrounded us. Recently
I performed a wedding ceremony for a small bridal party without having a
rehearsal. The bride was enthusiastic and showed no signs of being
worried. The groom, however, had grown very pensive. Obviously he did
not want to appear foolish in front of the guests, but the larger issue
was that he had no control over what was about to happen. His demon
would not allow him to face uncertainty without also causing him to
experience a high level of anxiety. I asked
him if he could relax while flying. He said, “Of course.” I said, “You
have no anxiety during such flights because you have confidence that the
pilot knows how to fly the aircraft. Today, I’m your pilot.” Even
though he understood my metaphor, he still wanted me to instruct him
what he was supposed to do and when. Our
problem is that we have developed and cultivated a large number of our
own demons because we imagine that they can protect us with certain
defenses, empower us with righteous indignation, give us pleasure,
provide guidance or give us permission to set aside our responsibilities
through our non-ending litany of excuse making and finger pointing. We
create many such demons in our childhood. As we feed them through the
years, we empower them to stunt our growth, retard our flexibility and
resiliency or completely shut down our sense of wonder, mystery and
adventure. We become their slaves. They appear to take on an existence
of their own and their chief enemy is the power of our will. Many of
them have their roots in fears we never dealt with as children.
For
example, young bullies can grow up to be like the man who killed another
man some years ago over a disagreement at a hockey game in New York.
The game in question was one where their sons played on opposing teams.
Some children can grow up in such a hostile home environment that they
learn to spend the rest of their lives seeking validation from various
partners with whom they instantly become intimate. Let us
return to the central message of the story. What are we to do with our
known demons? Jesus would tell us, “If you trust me, I will take your
awareness and consciousness to levels where you have never been. Give me
your voice and I will teach you to sing. Surrender the need to seek
your wholeness in others and I will teach you that you are already
whole. Let go of self-taught responses that do not serve you and I will
guide you to discover your undeveloped skills of patience, kindness,
forgiveness and understanding. Trust me with your destiny and I will
promise that your life will never bore you.”
Our demons have the potential to destroy
the quality of our lives. The art of
living comes from letting go, forgiving everything and everyone and
trusting God for all outcomes. When Jesus’ guidance becomes central
within our living patterns, our demons quite often lose their power. The task before us is far from being easy. Many of our demons have grown to an enormous size and strength. The man came to Jesus from the security of the burial caves and sought liberation. The result for us can be the same. It is like purging our computer of a virus; it can and will be done when we bring ourselves to one who has the skill. The first step of such an exorcism is ours to make. We must bring ourselves before God and ask for healing. Little David slew a giant named Goliath because of where he had placed his trust. So can we when we confront our demons, stop feeding them and bring them to God. THE PASTORAL PRAYER
Eternal God, we enter our sanctuary this
morning realizing that worship is one of the most refreshing ways to
begin our week. Until we arrive here, we are seldom aware of the
accumulation of distractions that have blocked our awareness of your
presence. Thank you for loving us even when we do not respond, when our
vision is fixed on self-interest and when we slip into pleasures that we
hope will neutralize the voices that call to us from all directions.
Jesus prayed, “Our Father who art in
Heaven,” and so we too have often used that name in describing you. We
know that each of our dads have had the potential to reflect your
nature. Often dad’s words stood between us and what was not wholesome.
We accused him of not understanding us while he was protecting us from
dangers we could not see. He could fix our broken toys and mend our
aching hearts. He instilled confidence by helping us confront our
demons. As the years passed and our understanding grew, he became a
real person, an advisor and a friend. We now know that many of the
values we see in ourselves sprouted from seeds he sowed in our inner
garden when we were not looking. Thank you for this marvelous source
from which we have learned the value of character and integrity. We pray these thoughts through the spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray . . . |