**Please note this service is based on the format of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). Hymns and other prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
Introduction to the day
This
Sunday’s texts paint startling pictures of the horrific nature of sin. The
church’s repeated celebration of holy communion counters that tragic reality in
a continued showing forth of the death of Jesus until he comes again. It is a
dramatic declaration of “how much God has done for you.”
Confession and Forgiveness
Blessed
be the holy Trinity,☩ one God,
whose
steadfast love endures forever.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Merciful
God,
we
confess that we have not followed your path
but
have chosen our own way.
Instead
of putting others before ourselves,
we
long to take the best seats at the table.
When
met by those in need,
we
have too often passed by on the other side.
Set
us again on the path of life.
Save
us from ourselves
and
free us to love our neighbors.
Amen.
Hear
the good news!
God
does not deal with us according to our sins
but
delights in granting pardon and mercy.
In
the name of ☩ Jesus Christ, your sins are
forgiven.
You
are free to love as God loves.
Amen.
Gathering
Song – This
Is My Father's World (ELW #824)
Greeting
The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and
the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Canticle
Of Praise
Prayer
of the Day
Let
us pray.
O
Lord God, we bring before you the cries of a sorrowing world. In your mercy set
us free from the chains that bind us, and defend us from everything that is
evil, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Readings
A
reading from the First Book of Kings. (19:1-15)
1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had
killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger
to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not
make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." 3Then he was afraid; he got up
and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left
his servant there.
4But
he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down
under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough;
now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." 5Then he lay down under the
broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him,
"Get up and eat." 6He looked, and there at his
head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and
lay down again. 7The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and
said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for
you." 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength
of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9At that place he came to a
cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here,
Elijah?" 10He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD,
the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down
your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they
are seeking my life, to take it away."
11He
said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is
about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was
splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD
was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in
the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the
fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he
wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the
cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here,
Elijah?" 14He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD,
the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down
your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they
are seeking my life, to take it away." 15Then the LORD said to him,
"Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive,
you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.
The
word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm
42-43
1As the deer longs | for the water-brooks,
so longs my soul for | you, O God.
2I
thirst for God, for the | living God;
when shall I come to appear before the pres- | ence of God?
3My
tears have been my food | day and night,
while all day long they say to me, “Where now | is your God?”
4I
pour out my soul when I think | on these things;
how I went with the multitude and led them into the house of God,
with shouts of thanksgiving, among those | keeping festival.
5Why
are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, and why are you so disquiet- | ed within me?
Put your trust in God, for I will yet give thanks to the one who is my help | and my God.
6My
soul is heav- | y within me;
therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan, and from the
peak of Mizar among the | heights of Hermon.
7One
deep calls to another in the roar of | your cascades;
all your rapids and floods have gone | over me.
8The
Lord grants lovingkindness | in the daytime;
in the night season the Lord’s
song is with me, a prayer to the God | of my life.
9I
will say to the God of my strength, “Why have you re- | jected me,
and why do I wander in such gloom while the enemy op- | presses me?”
10While
my bones are being broken, my enemies mock me | to my face;
all day long they mock me and say to me, “Where now | is your God?”
11Why
are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, and why are you so disquiet- | ed within me?
Put your trust in God, for I will yet give thanks to the one who is my help | and my God.
43: 1Give judgment for me, O God, and defend my cause against an
un- | godly people;
deliver me from the deceitful | and the wicked
2For
you are the God of my strength; why have you re- | jected me,
and why do I wander in such gloom while the enemy op- | presses me?
3Send
out your light and your truth, that | they may lead me,
and bring me to your holy hill and to your | sanctuary;
4that
I may go to the altar of God, to the God of my | joy and gladness;
and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O | God my God.
5Why
are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, and why are you so disquiet- | ed within me?
Put your trust in God, for I will yet give thanks to the one who is
my help | and my God.
A
reading from the Letter of Paul to the Galatians. (3:23-29)
23Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
The
word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel
Acclamation
The
Lord be with you.
And
also with you.
The Holy Gospel according to Luke. (8:26-39)
Glory
to you, O Lord.
26Then [Jesus and his
disciples] arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27As he stepped out on land, a
man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes,
and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he fell
down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with
me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”—29for Jesus had commanded the
unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he
was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the
bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30Jesus then asked him, “What
is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31They begged him not to order
them to go back into the abyss.
32Now
there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged
Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33Then the demons came out of
the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the
lake and was drowned.
34When
the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and
in the country. 35Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they
came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the
feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36Those who had seen it told
them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37Then all the people of the
surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were
seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38The man from whom the demons
had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home, and
declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout
the city how much Jesus had done for him.
The
gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon
May only truth be spoken, and truth heard. Amen.
After calming a storm in a boat near Galilee, Jesus and his disciples travelled to Gerasenes, where they were immediately confronted by a man. He looked and acted bizarre. The people said the man was possessed by demons.
Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. The crazed man cried out, “What are you doing with me, Jesus?” It was the demon talking in the man. Jesus asked the demon, “What is your name?” The demon replied, “Legion.”
In
Latin, legion refers to a company of up to 6,000 Roman soldiers. By calling
himself Legion, the man is telling us that he has hundreds or thousands of
demons inside of him.
Jesus
commanded the demons to be released from the crazed man. The demons did and
entered a bunch of pigs. These pigs ran down a steep bank in a frenzy and
drowned in the lake.
In
other words, today we got to hear an awesomely weird story of when Jesus casts
a legion of demons out of a naked dude and into a herd of pigs – pigs who then
throw themselves over a cliff and drown in a lake.
Those
suffering from mental illness were often described as being possessed by
demons. At the time the gospel was written, they didn’t know about things like
epilepsy or mental illness so they just called it all demon possession.
The
man in the story is a real human being in real pain. Haunted by the demons of –
what? His own making, his upbringing, his circumstances, his genetic predisposition?
He
wanders the local cemetery, naked and alone, unable to live in society or even
at peace with himself.
He’s
given no real name in the story, but everyone in town knows who he is. Kept
under some sort of guard yet physically strong enough to break the bonds of
chains, he remains bound by the demons themselves.
The
NRSV translators say not that he lives “among the tombs” but rather “in the
tombs.” He is, in effect, entombed by his mental illness, dead to any sense of
real living.
If
you have ever been with someone in the midst of a psychotic break you will know
that they do suddenly possess superhuman strength – that it would not be beyond
the imagination to see them breaking their chains and shackles and making a run
for it.
If
you have ever spent time with someone who is depressed, schizophrenic, or
struggling with an addiction, you know the compulsion to keep them safe at all
costs – even if the cost is their freedom of movement, their fullness of life.
While
we are perhaps more enlightened about such matters than they were two thousand
years ago, those in the throes of mental illness and those who love them know
what it is to be “living in the tombs.”
If
we set aside our own notions of what a demon is and focus on the man himself,
we see someone who is cut off from his family and community, who has to be
chained up in a place no one else will go for everyone’s safety, and who lives
out his existence in horrendous conditions.
While
we may not use the term demon in the same way, we still have individuals who
live like this today. People tormented by anxiety, addiction, and unjust
suffering are everywhere.
And
do we treat them any differently than the townsfolk of Gerasenes?
More
and more, prisons are becoming our mental health facilities. This man was
chained in the tombs because of his possession. How many of those chained in
our prison system are suffering from mental illness?
The
man in our story has no identity apart from his affliction. As David Lose asks,
“Don’t we also tend to define ourselves in terms of our deficiencies and
setbacks, our disappointments and failures?
Not
always, of course, but enough to rob us of the abundant life God hopes that we
experience and share. Why is it that every time we want to take a risk and in
this way be vulnerable, we are reminded of every failure, every disappointment
we’ve experienced before? Perhaps because we’ve allowed these things to possess
us. We, too, are Legion.”
When
Jesus performs a healing, the man comes to his right mind, puts on clothes, and
sits down to listen to Jesus’ teachings, along with the others who were there.
Word gets back to town, and people are scared.
After
hearing how he has been freed, the people do not celebrate his good news.
Instead, overwhelming fear hems them in and holds them captive.
When
the townspeople saw that the man no longer had demons and was clothed and in
his right mind and sitting at Jesus’ feet, they did not exactly celebrate this
– instead became possessed by their own demon.
They
were used to calling him “Crazy Naked Guy,” not Jim or Bob or whatever his real
name was. What would happen if the mentally ill start getting well and living
clothed and in their right minds among all of them?
The
text tells us that seeing the man healed, they were ceased with fear and begged
Jesus to leave their town. So he did, but not without one final conversation with
the now-healed man.
The
former demoniac meets them at the shore and begs to be taken along. He will be
a disciple, too. He will sit at Jesus’ feet each day. He will travel from town
to town, learning how to spread the good news. He can even help others by
talking about his own healing.
But
Jesus has other plans. He tells the man that he must stay in Gerasenes and
spread the good news of what has happened to him. Jesus wants this man to be an
apostle, not just another follower.
When
things are going well it is tempting to stay right where you are in that holy
space to perpetuate the bliss. Here Jesus said, you must go out into the world
and share that goodness.
He
is no longer the man who runs naked in the tombs. He is now the healed man. He
is now the one who shows the grace of God just by walking down the street and
greeting his neighbours. The things they take for granted, this man will remind
them that those things are a daily gift from God.
I
imagine there were those in the case of this man who were simply unable to
imagine a different future with him and for him. If they wanted Jesus gone, I
can only imagine they wanted him gone as well, for his newly found wholeness
came at their actual expense.
It's
no wonder he wanted to accompany Jesus from there on out. It was no wonder at all that he begged to
leave it all behind and start again in a new place where he had no history to
contend with.
But
Jesus is not sending him back to live in the relationships the way they were, with
him in chains, looked down on by the people, perhaps verbally and physically
abused and neglected. He is sending him back to live in changed relationships.
Part
of healing of self is also the healing of relationship and community. There is power
when we go back home to our family and friends and tell how Jesus has been
the source of healing in our lives.
We
share our story of God’s healing powers in our own lives, healing our
anxieties, healing our depressions, healing our marriages, healing our inner
despair, healing our low self esteem, healing our alcoholism, healing our
addictions.
There
is power when we tell the story of God’s healing in our own lives or lives of
our family.
There
are so many voices trying to possess and discourage us that we might still call
them Legion. Yet against all of them stands the still, small, but mighty voice
of the one who still crosses oceans and boundaries to tell us of God’s love and
call us back to our right minds and grace-filled identities.
In
no way do I diminish mental illness into thinking we can pray it away. But we
can remember that Jesus saw the image of God in the man from our story, saw his
messiness and his beauty, loved him unconditionally, and bestowed God’s grace
upon him.
Can
the church imitate Jesus in offering healing?
We
not only can, but we must! Through our baptism, because we are clothed in
Christ, as we read in Galatians, we are granted the authority to exorcize
demons.
To quote Nadia Bolz-Weber, “You dear people of God are clothed with the one whom demons fear. Claim it. And tell those demons to piss off. In the name of Jesus, Amen.”
Hymn
of the Day
– Here I Am, Lord (ELW #574)
Apostles’
Creed
Let us declare the faith of our baptism as we say together
the Apostles’ creed.
I
believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I
believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On
the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I
believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
United in Christ and guided by the Spirit, we pray for the
church, the creation, and all in need.
Silence.
Holy
God, you hear the cries of those who seek you. Equip your church with
evangelists who reveal the continuous call of your outstretched hands and your
promises of a home in you.
God
of grace,
hear our prayer.
You
hear the cries of the earth. Restore places where land, air, and waterways have
been harmed. Guide us to develop and implement sources of energy and food
production that do not destroy the earth.
God
of grace,
hear our prayer.
You
hear the cries of those who are marginalized or cast out. On this Juneteenth
observance, guide us continually toward the end of oppression in all its forms,
especially white supremacy. Bring true freedom and human flourishing to all
your beloved children.
God
of grace,
hear our prayer.
You
hear the cries of those who suffer. Come to the aid of all who are homeless,
naked, hungry, and sick. Bring peace to any experiencing mental illness, that
they can clearly recognize your loving presence.
God
of grace,
hear our prayer.
You
hear the cries of those who celebrate and those who grieve on this Father’s
Day. Nurture mutual love and tender care in all relationships. Comfort those
for whom this day brings sadness or longing.
God
of grace,
hear our prayer.
We
give thanks for the faithful departed whose lives proclaimed all you had done
for them. At the last, unite us with them as we make our home in you.
God
of grace,
hear our prayer.
God
of every time and place, in Jesus’ name and filled with your Holy Spirit, we
entrust these spoken prayers and those in our hearts into your holy keeping.
Amen.
Peace
The
peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Offering
Hymn – Praise
the One Who Breaks the Darkness (ELW #843)
Offering
Prayer
Let
us pray.
God
of abundance, you have set before us a plentiful harvest. As we feast on your
goodness, strengthen us to labor in your field, and equip us to bear fruit for
the good of all, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Dialogue
The
Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift
up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let
us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Preface
It
is indeed right, our duty and our joy,
that
we should at all times and in all places
give
thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,
through
our Savior Jesus Christ;
who
on this day overcame death and the grave,
and
by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.
And
so, with all the choirs of angels,
with
the church on earth and the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, Holy, Holy
Thanksgiving at
the Table
Holy
God,
our Maker, Redeemer, and Healer,
in the harmonious world of your creation,
the plants and animals,
the seas and stars
were whole and well in your praise.
When
sin had scarred the world,
you sent your Son to heal our ills
and to form us again into one.
In
the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do
this for the remembrance of me.
Again,
after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do
this for the remembrance of me.
Remembering,
therefore,
his acts of healing,
his body given up,
and his victory over death,
we await that day when all the peoples of the earth
will come to the river to enjoy the tree of life.
Send
your Spirit upon us and this meal:
as grains scattered on the hillside become one bread,
so let your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth,
that all may be fed with the Bread of life, your Son.
Through
him all glory and honor is yours,
Almighty Father, with the Holy Spirit,
in your holy Church,
both now and forever.
Amen
Lord’s Prayer
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
Our Father
in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us
today our daily bread.
Forgive us
our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from
the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the
kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
Invitation to Communion
In Christ’s
presence there is fullness of joy.
Come to the banquet.
Sharing of the Eucharist
Prayer
After Communion
As
we have feasted around the table, let us pray.
Life-giving
God, through this meal you have bandaged our wounds and fed us with your mercy.
Now send us forth to live for others, both friend and stranger, that all may
come to know your love. This we pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Blessing
The
God of peace,
Father,
☩ Son, and Holy Spirit,
bless
you, comfort you,
and
show you the path of life
this
day and always.
Amen.
Sending
Song – The
Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve (ELW #551)
Dismissal
Go
in peace to love and serve your neighbor.
Thanks be to God.
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