WEBVTT 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:24.480 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family now and forever. 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:25.439 Amen. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:26.959 Let's pray together. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:30.640 Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:32.400 All desires know. 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:35.280 And from whom no secrets are hid. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:40.560 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:48.079 That we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:49.040 Amen. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:31.680 Let us pray. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:44.800 O God, from whom all good proceeds, grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:52.159 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:53.199 Amen. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:54.960 Please be seated. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:23.280 Now Saul saw the army of the Philistines, and he was frightened, and his heart trembled greatly. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:38.080 When Saul, whose name means asked, and answered, asked the Holy One of old, the inscrutable God did not answer him through dreams or even through a remote, and not even through prophets, women, or men. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:48.080 So Saul said to his lair, Sake for me a woman who is a ghost master, so that I may go to her and inquire through her. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:04:02.240 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and they went along there with two men, and they came to the woman by night. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:08.479 And he said, Please divine for me through a ghost and bring up for me who I say to you. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:13.759 The woman said to him, You, you must know what Saul has done. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:17.839 How do you not cut off the ghost workers and the necromancers from the land? 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:22.079 So why are you setting a prayer for my life to kill me? 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:32.639 And Saul swore to her by the faithful one, As the ever living God lives, no charge of iniquity shall befall you for this day. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:36.639 Then the woman said, Who shall I bring up for you? 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:40.000 And he said, Bring up Samuel for me. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:48.639 And the woman saw Samuel, and she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:50.160 You are Saul. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:52.800 The king said to her, Fear not. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:54.560 What do you see? 00:04:54.879 --> 00:05:01.600 And the woman said, I see divine beings coming up out of the ground. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:04.399 And he said to her, What is his appearance? 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:09.759 And she said, An old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a robe. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:12.319 So Saul knew that it was Samuel. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.759 And he bowed with his face to the ground and gave him orange. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:22.720 Then Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me to the point of bringing me up? 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:40.480 And Saul answered, I am greatly troubled, for the Philistines are attacking me, and God has turned away from me and does not answer me at all, through female or male prophets, or even through dreams, and so I have called you to tell me what I should do. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:48.399 Then Samuel said, So why do you ask me since the Holy One of old has turned from you and become your enemy? 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:53.920 That's the Holy One has done to you, just as God has both through me. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:06:03.680 So the judge of all the earth has torn the monarchy out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David, the word of the Lord. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:33.839 Let us shout to the rock of our salvation. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:41.199 Let us come into her presence with thanksgiving, with psalms of praise, let us shout to her. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:47.199 For the ever living God is a great God, and a great majesty above all gods. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:53.600 For in her hand are the depths of the earth, the heights of the mountain are hers also. 00:06:54.480 --> 00:07:00.879 For hers is the sea, for she made it, and the dry land to which her hands never acted. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.079 Come, let us worship and bow down. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:14.319 Let us kneel before the angels God earth, for she is our God, and we are the people of her pasture, and the sheep of her hand. 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:12.800 Rather, test the spirit to see whether they are from God. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:18.720 But many false prophets will anger have gone out into the world. 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:23.040 By this, you all shall know the spirit of God. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:30.319 Every spirit that confesses in the flesh Jesus the Messiah has come is from God. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:36.320 And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:45.919 And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that is coming and now is already in the world. 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:51.200 You are of God, children, and you have conquered them. 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:59.440 For greater is the one who is in awe of you, and the one who is in the world. 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:04.480 They are of the world, therefore they speak according to the word. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:07.360 And the world listens to them. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:09.600 We are of God. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:14.080 Whoever knows God listens to us. 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:18.480 Whoever is not God does not listen to us. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:23.840 From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:26.559 The word of the Lord. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:33.679 Now Jesus and the women and men with him came to the far side of the sea, to the region of the Garussians. 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:41.200 And when Jesus got out of the boat, just then a man out of the tombs, with an unclean spirit, met him. 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:56.159 That man lived among the tombs, and not even with a chain could anyone bind him, for he had often been bound with shackles of chains, but the chains he tore off of him, and the shackles he smashed, and no one had the strength to subdue him. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:03.679 So the whole of the night and every day he was among the tombs and on the mountains, howling and cutting himself with stones. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:06.399 Then he saw Jesus from a distance. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:14.879 He ran and bent down before him on the ground, and he shouted with a loud voice, saying, What have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:18.879 I charge you to swear by God not to torture me. 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:23.279 For Jesus had said to him, You unclean spirit, come out of the man. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:27.120 Then Jesus asked him, What is your name? 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:31.759 He replied, Legion is my name, for we are many. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:36.159 He begged Jesus repeatedly that he not send them out of the region. 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:46.399 Now there on the hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding, and they, the unclean spirits, begged Jesus, saying, Send us into the pigs, and we may enter them. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.720 So Jesus gave them permission. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:59.919 Thus the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, about two thousand, rushed down the steep decline into the sea, and were drowned in the sea. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:07.919 Now the pig herders fled and told the news in the city and in the farm country, and people came to see what it was that happened. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:19.519 Women, children, and men came to Jesus and saw the man in whom the unclean spirits had been sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.000 And they were afraid. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:29.679 And they explained it, they who had seen what had happened to the man with the unclean spirits and to the pigs. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:32.879 And then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:39.600 Then, as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by the unclean spirits begged Jesus that he might be with him. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:42.000 And Jesus did not permit it. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:52.559 Rather saying to him, Go to your home, to your people, and tell them the news of what the Holy One has done for you, and what mercy God has shown you. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:59.279 And the man went away and began to proclaim it into decapitals, the ten cities, how much Jesus had done for him. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:05.360 And everyone was amazed at the gospel of the Lord. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.399 Praise thee, Lord Christ. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:32.799 You know the story from Samuel? 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:35.600 How many of you know the story from Samuel? 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.159 And I had a doozy. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:44.320 Especially when we read it with this whole Legion story. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:55.840 Now, as a young person, these were the kind of stories that struck fear into our youth group about red-clawed demons possessing people and bending their will toward evil. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:04.960 These were the kind of stories that made us afraid to play Dungeons and Dragons and touch Ouija boards lest we be, well, demon-possessed. 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:06.480 By the way, I'm not commending those sayings. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:09.679 I just want to say I'm not sure that fear is well placed. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:15.759 Read a particular way, these are kind of like the exorcist movie. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:16.720 Right? 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:20.080 And please, uh, please hear this. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:23.600 Uh the scriptures are clear that people can do magic. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:27.919 This lady really brings Samuel back from the dead. 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:32.720 But please notice that anytime in the Bible somebody does magic, it's not good. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:40.799 Pharaoh's magicians can turn water into blood, but the whole Nile's already blood, so you don't need more. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.519 Pharaoh's magicians can pull frogs out. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:46.240 It's already covered with frogs, you don't need more. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.720 This lady can bring Samuel back from the dead, but he doesn't have anything good to say. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:54.080 So it's interesting to hear. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:00.080 Apparently, magic's real and it's dangerous. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:06.799 Now, I could probably give you a sermon about the dangers of rock and roll music, because I heard that as a kid too. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:11.519 And turn it down, if you play songs from the Beatles backward, it sounds really weird. 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.120 By the way, if you play any music backwards, it sounds really weird. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:21.600 So there's all of this stuff out there, but I would like us to take a closer, closer look at these stories. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:32.799 And uh, I want to talk about the Samuel story first, and I want to do it in an intuitive way, uh, if you don't mind, because sometimes this happens, and in fact, it happened in the last couple of weeks. 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:43.600 Somebody came in to see me and they said, you know, Mike, I know these couple of people who just have this really close relationship with God. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.120 And I want to have that. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:54.399 Have you ever seen somebody with piety that you wish you had? 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:56.639 I have. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:03.919 In fact, the first time I met with the bishop who ended up ordaining me, that might have been a lapse of his judgment. 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:11.759 The first time I met with him, I thought, like, he's the bishop because his prayers are better. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.720 He is the bishop because he's like the better paragon of virtue. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:23.039 I'm not saying he isn't, but I will tell you, uh his piety any better than yours. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.000 Because he's a person just like yours. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:31.359 I wish when I see the Dalai Lama that I was happy all the time too. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:40.960 But you know what I told this person, which was not what they wanted to hear, and what I hear happening in the story is you don't know that they're any closer to God, you just think they are. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:47.119 You see how they talk, but you don't know what it is like to be them. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:51.119 And this is what's happening in the story. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:55.119 Saul has something that I'm gonna call spiritual envy. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:00.720 He wants God to speak to him in a particular way. 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:02.000 Don't you want that too? 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:04.000 I often do. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:07.200 And it's not working for him. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:08.400 Right? 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.640 He's not getting an answer to his prayer. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:12.319 You ever had your prayer unanswered? 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:13.279 Me too. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.599 Uh there's this other thing that we don't use anymore that people in the Hebrew Bible had. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:19.279 They're called Rumensumen. 00:18:19.440 --> 00:18:21.359 They're kind of like magic dice. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:25.359 And you sort of say, like, God, should I buy this house or not? 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.400 I'm gonna flip the coin, and if it's heads, you're saying yes, and if it's tails, you're saying no. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.640 So you flip the coin and you do whatever it says and pretend it was God that told you. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:37.759 That may sound nuts, but that's that's what these things are. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:45.759 So they roll the dice, which by the way, live in the priest's vestment, and they come up with the magic gate ball, ask again. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:47.759 Like over and over. 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:49.759 So he gets no answer. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:58.640 He even goes to the prophets, to the Dalai Lama, to the bishop, the people who have a good piety, and they're like, I don't know what to tell you. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:00.480 So, what does he do? 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:07.119 He goes to the person he thought had the better piety, and that person's dead. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:14.160 So by hooker crook, he brings that person back from the dead. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:16.799 And what does that person have to say? 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:22.240 You want this thing you think I have, which is why you'll never have it. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:24.880 It's not interesting. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:31.759 And I just want to remind all of us here that it's okay if your piety is not like mine. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:36.240 It's okay if your piety is not like the Archbishop of Canterbury's. 00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:37.119 That's fine. 00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:45.119 Actually, the problem is when we treat relationship with God like a commodity that is ours to possess, we can rest assured we will never have it. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:49.279 We will never have it when we try to possess it. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:55.200 So this person asked me, who I saw recently, should I just read the Bible more so I can get it? 00:19:55.359 --> 00:20:02.799 And the answer is if you do spiritual practices so you could have something, you'll never have what you're trying to get anyway. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:04.960 Should you read the Bible more? 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:05.519 I don't know. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:07.759 I guess it depends how you read it. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:14.799 I know lots of experts on scripture who are about as far away from God's presence as I've ever seen. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:17.119 Sometimes I'm one of them. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:21.279 The question is, how do we read? 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:23.519 How do we read the story? 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:25.440 And how do we do the practices? 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:34.960 Because if we do the practices to get a thing, I sort of think we never get it. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:39.599 This is how relationships in general seem to work. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:49.920 If you do all the things so that somebody will marry you, and you do, well then you have the rest of your lives together, right? 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.319 You have two years together. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.319 You got two years to figure out what you're gonna do next. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:05.920 And hey, if you run a marathon, if your goal is to run a marathon, I did that one time. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:09.599 When the race is over, what is there for you? 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:16.799 So the question is: do we do these things to get something, or we do these things because we enjoy doing them? 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:28.559 So I have to admit that the first three miles I don't ever enjoy. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.960 Because on average it takes 20 minutes to get your second width. 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:34.160 I don't know if you know this. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:37.680 I was talking to my orthopedic doctor, and he said, I don't really like running. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:39.599 And my question was, what's the longest you've run? 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:40.400 About three miles. 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:41.839 I was like, that's probably why. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:46.000 Because the first three miles are about it's hot. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.359 Ugh, I don't feel like doing this. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:51.279 It's hard to breathe. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:52.240 And then what do you know? 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:58.640 If you do it long enough, you find yourself in sync, and by the way, so it is with every practice worth doing. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:03.200 New things are hard the first time you do them. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:07.519 So it is with Scripture, and so it is with prayer. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:09.599 It takes time. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:14.079 And if we do them to get something, I think we might be disappointed. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:21.119 On the other hand, if we engage in these practices so that we can say, God, what's the story been and where am I in it? 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:27.599 I don't know what you get other than joy. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:32.240 So I'd like to remind you that the point of this spiritual life is not the destination. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:33.519 It is the journey. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:34.720 It is the journey. 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:41.839 And spiritual envy, frankly, will take us to places of death, which is exactly where Saul is living, where Samuel is living. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:48.000 1 John gives us this really interesting thought. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:53.519 Any spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:23:03.519 So, I mean, I suppose you could meet somebody who you think is possessed by an unclean spirit and demand that they repeat that formula. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:11.599 I would rather remind you that the litmus test is whether or not we believe Jesus has anything to do with our bodies. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:20.960 Not whether Jesus Christ is come or is a spirit or is good, but whether Jesus was embodied. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:28.960 Because, you know, sometimes things happen in my body that all I can say is, geez, that feels really unclean. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:32.160 I'm not just talking about going to the bathroom. 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:34.319 I'm talking about arthritis. 00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:36.720 I'm talking about IBS. 00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:40.240 If you haven't had it, you probably will. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:41.599 Right? 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:42.799 Guess what? 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.519 Jesus was embodied too. 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:49.200 Which leads me to this crazy story. 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:51.839 Crazy in a lot of ways. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:53.200 I shouldn't even use that word. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:24:03.200 Leads us to this very different story about this person who is possessed by a bunch of unclean spirits. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:15.920 And we so often, at least, maybe I should speak for myself, I so often hear the story and think like, wow, Jesus met with like the worst person ever, and look, he fixed that person, and we take ourselves right out of the story. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:17.599 Because what do we know about the story? 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:23.759 The guy lives in the tombs, which means he lives in death. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:34.480 And he's so offensive to the people that he lives around that they have tried to shackle him and they cannot make him do what they want him to do. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:41.279 So easy to think that's a story about other people and not recognize that we live in death all the time. 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:47.599 We have habits that we know are going nowhere, but we're so used to them. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:50.400 So used to them. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:55.759 Instead, we like to look at other people and say, they've got mental problems. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:01.440 Can't believe what they're doing, and not say, in what places am I living in debt? 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:08.240 I'll tell you, I've got places I'm living in death, and I've tried to shackle them, and they keep breaking my artificial bonds. 00:25:08.480 --> 00:25:11.200 Have a look at those red boards right over there. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:26.000 That represents every mass shooting we've had in the United States since January the 1st, and you'll see over there right now 64 times 6, which I think is 192, and there'll be another 32 up like next week. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:34.160 Talk about a place of death we've tried to shackle ineffectively, and what do you know? 00:25:34.319 --> 00:25:36.640 It keeps breaking the shackles. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:46.319 I don't have a solution to the problem, and uh look, talking about mass shootings in the United States is not something partisan, it's something political. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:49.359 The board speaks for themselves. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:53.359 192 before June the 1st? 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.119 Talk about a legion of problems. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:00.720 A legion of problems. 00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:04.400 There's a couple interesting details in the story. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:17.200 You notice that when the people see this man dressed and in his quote-unquote right mind, the first thing they do is ask Jesus to leave. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:21.839 Please leave. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:29.279 Why would they ask him to leave when he's done this miraculous healing? 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:33.279 I didn't know the answer, but a couple of flaws. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.599 Now they don't know what to do with this guy. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:43.759 Now he's not presenting a problem, so I guess they have to let him live with them. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:48.799 And they'd rather him be in the penitentiary, because then he's not a problem. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:52.400 We have this problem with ex-cons. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.160 Even after they've gone to prison, are you going to hire them? 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:57.599 Well, that just wouldn't be prudent. 00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:59.440 What are they supposed to do? 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:03.119 It would be easier if we just put them back in jail. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:08.000 If you don't have, if you don't understand that mentality, I don't know what to tell you. 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:10.000 But that's how we function socially. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:16.400 We don't know what to do with people who have done something we think is majorly wrong, no matter how long ago it's been. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:17.599 We don't know. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:21.440 I'll tell you, they might also be afraid because they might be next. 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:29.119 The people who think everything's okay and they're the normal ones, they're afraid Jesus might drive something out of them. 00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:33.200 And that's scary thought. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:40.960 As bad as I want Jesus to fix these crazy politicians, maybe Jesus would like to fix me. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:44.000 And that'll well thought. 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:53.359 I don't love the idea that these unclean spirits, whatever those are, hop into these swine. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:28:00.400 Because, I mean, I know, I know pigs aren't kosher and all, but I mean, I didn't do anything wrong. 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:05.440 The fact that they're drowned, it's just, it's always been a little tough for me to understand. 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:20.799 Now, I've read Bible commentators that'll tell you, ah, this is like a lovely allegory because Legion is the military division of the Roman Empire, and look, that's going into these unclean animals who are being drowned in watery chaos. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:22.480 So it's like a sweet allegory. 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.440 Um, I'm going to tell you, I'm afraid it means something else. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:33.519 And I'm going to go ahead and out myself as this word I sometimes use, and I don't know if that is totally defined as if it's definable. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:43.119 Uh, and it is, I'm afraid, one of the most insidious sins that, frankly, we are steeped in, both within the church and within our culture. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:45.279 And that is the word ableism. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:47.839 Ableism. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:53.359 Now, I am probably the most ableist person I know, personally. 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:56.400 Because the one thing I don't want is help. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:28:59.839 I want to be able to do everything myself. 00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:05.440 It's a matter of independence and pride, maybe. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:09.759 So let me tell you my ableist story, and please hear. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:12.319 I'm confessing something that's wrong. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.240 And I'm going to confess it. 00:29:15.039 --> 00:29:24.240 Two years ago, I was on a hiking trip with this group called National Outdoor Leadership in southern Utah, and we were on a 25-day consecutive hike with backpacks. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:29.680 Now, typically during the trip, as in life, I like to make my own way. 00:29:29.920 --> 00:29:33.200 And by the way, where we were, there were no paths anyway. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:39.519 So we were just kind of walking around in the middle of nowhere and finding what seemed like the best route. 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:41.200 And sometimes I found my own. 00:29:41.279 --> 00:29:48.559 And so literally, the day before, I had made this 800-foot descent down a canyon, come back up, everything was fine. 00:29:48.720 --> 00:29:54.160 The morning up, I made breakfast for everybody, and it was kind of an exotic backcountry breakfast. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:54.960 Everything was good. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:30:06.079 I had my pack on, down we go, and um I went to the same place I'd gone the day before, which involved a little shimmy and then a little hop down to get down. 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:17.920 Except the day before I didn't have a 50-pound pack on, and this day when I did that, the pack caught on the rock behind me and sent me over sideways. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:20.319 So I started rolling. 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:33.839 Good thing I had that pack on supported my spine during the roll, and uh I ran over some dead trees and a couple of rocks, and I stopped about three feet from a sheer 35-foot drop. 00:30:35.119 --> 00:30:41.519 And the only thing I missed was the skin on my hands and a little bit on my side, and the first thing I said was, I'm okay. 00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:43.759 And I guess I was. 00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:46.160 It kind of hurt skin in your hands. 00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:57.759 There were two friends near me, and later I asked them, because I didn't realize once I got up, like, if I'd turned over one more time, I would have gone right off that cliff. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:30:59.200 And what would have happened? 00:30:59.359 --> 00:31:02.000 Well, what happens when you fall 35 feet? 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:14.160 I said, you know, if I'd been hurt and I'd asked you to roll me over the cliff, would you do that? 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:16.400 And they said, no, I could go to jail for that. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:17.680 Of course I'm not doing that. 00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:18.799 And then here, you ready? 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:20.079 Here's the Senate ableist. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:24.559 I'm gonna say, I would rather be dead than be in a wheelchair. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:42.960 I've said that phrase a few times, but like when I was feeding my father with a spoon because he had Alzheimer's, I said not only in my head but in my heart, I would rather be dead than have Alzheimer's. 00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:46.160 You ever said that phrase? 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:48.960 I would rather be dead. 00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:52.240 I'd rather be dead than be an alcoholic. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:55.759 I'd rather be dead than have an addition to narcotics. 00:31:55.839 --> 00:31:57.599 I'd rather be dead than lose my next job. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:31:58.960 Whatever it is. 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:01.920 I don't want to upbraid you if you said that. 00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:08.720 I just want to say that when we say that thing, we are glorifying something that God has nothing to do with. 00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:12.480 Ableism. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:23.680 As if somebody who's lost a limb in the Iraq conflict is a less of a person because they lost the limb. 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:33.039 See, the truth is, if we say, I'd rather be dead than have that condition, how will we treat someone who has that condition? 00:32:34.480 --> 00:32:42.079 If we say, I would rather die than have a mental illness, we love that phrase, don't we? 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:43.200 Mental illness. 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:47.759 That way we can discriminate against people who have different brains than ours. 00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:53.920 If we say that, then those people are to be pitied, not to be loved. 00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:05.440 If we say, boy, you know, this guy on the story must be, he's got schizophrenia, and that's what demons do. 00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:09.359 They give you depression and they give you bipolar disorder. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:15.359 If we say that, boy, then like one-third of the world is to be pitied. 00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:28.240 This idea that neurodiversity is caused by a demon, I wouldn't tell you is rooted in sin. 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:31.839 It is rooted in sin. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:36.160 You may say, but geez, you know, um, you know, this is hard to live with. 00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:38.319 You know, lots of things are hard to live with. 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:44.720 But you realize that if Vincent Van Gogh didn't have neurodiversity, he wouldn't have been the painter you know and love. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:50.480 He did get tired of those voices in his head, and mainly because there was no support for him. 00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:55.039 So, some of his greatest gifts ended up being his darkest shadows. 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:57.680 So it is with everything in life, isn't it? 00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:02.400 So it is with everything that our gifts can be our shadows. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:13.599 But to go to somebody who has autism and say, God would like to heal you of that, I'm gonna tell you it's sinful and wrong. 00:34:13.760 --> 00:34:15.039 Because God made that. 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:20.559 And Jesus was embodied, came in the flesh. 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:26.000 And by the way, all the abilities you and I have are only temporary anyway. 00:34:26.559 --> 00:34:29.599 If you live long enough, they will depart from you. 00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:33.519 I'm discovering this, my 40s are long enough. 00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:35.920 I thought it would have been my 70s. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:37.920 Nope, nope, they're already leaving, right? 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:42.000 These things, they leave us, which doesn't mean God has left us. 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:45.199 Does not mean God has left us. 00:34:51.199 --> 00:35:12.159 We use this language because it's convenient, but it's so couched in ableism that when we say somebody has a mental illness because they've had three incidences of depression, which is the definition of major depressive disorder, mentally ill just seems like a stretch. 00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:26.559 And quite honestly, it seems like, well, we'd be demonizing, to use that word, a lot of folks who didn't do anything wrong, who didn't do anything wrong, and get to live with that. 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:33.360 Get to live with that, because I'll tell you, as somebody with that condition, there are gifts from it. 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:35.039 There are gifts. 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:37.039 They're not convenient. 00:35:37.679 --> 00:35:39.840 Ableism is all about convenience. 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:45.360 They are not convenient, and they can give gifts. 00:35:46.239 --> 00:35:52.239 Very helpful to read this book that we're reading on Wednesdays called My Body Is Not a Prayer Request by Amy Kinney. 00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:55.840 And she does this thing that I had not learned when I did my Hebrew studies. 00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:56.960 That's very interesting. 00:35:57.119 --> 00:36:05.440 You know, in the very beginning in Genesis chapter 1, God looks at everything God has made and says, it is very, very good, right? 00:36:05.679 --> 00:36:09.199 And she contrasts the Greek mind with the Hebrew mind. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:14.639 In the Greek mind, each individual thing is perfect and flawless and perfectible. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:17.039 Until you turn about 25. 00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:20.079 Have a look at Greek statuary, right? 00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:21.840 That didn't last forever, right? 00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:25.760 Everything on its own is perfect. 00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:32.800 Reading this again in Hebrew, my eyes, well, I perceived what I had not seen. 00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:38.800 The scriptures say God looked at everything together. 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:42.320 And it was good together. 00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:46.400 It was good together. 00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:54.320 When each thing has to be perfect, then we discriminate. 00:36:56.320 --> 00:36:59.679 When everything is good together. 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:03.679 We have a community. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:05.599 And what does it take to have community? 00:37:05.840 --> 00:37:06.880 Accommodations. 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:08.400 Consideration. 00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:10.480 How can I support you? 00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:13.199 What's the worst way to be good together? 00:37:13.440 --> 00:37:15.199 I don't need nothing from you. 00:37:16.639 --> 00:37:18.480 You may say that's the sin of pride. 00:37:18.559 --> 00:37:19.840 That's a sin of ableism. 00:37:19.920 --> 00:37:22.639 And it's a sin because that means I'm not with you. 00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:29.119 We all know people who love to help, who are hard to help. 00:37:31.519 --> 00:37:35.840 I actually think this story is about that. 00:37:38.159 --> 00:37:40.719 This story is about that. 00:37:43.440 --> 00:38:05.199 Now, the sad thing is to think that for a lot of us, recognizing Jesus Christ has come in the flesh in a person who has an autism or a diagnosis from a DSM V, we might do that when pigs fly. 00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:11.360 Which is our shame. 00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:24.960 I think once again, this is not an ordinary message. 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:27.119 This is not ordinary time. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:34.480 This is an opportunity to reorder our spiritual ending. 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:48.079 How it is we engage in spiritual practices, the ways in which we conceive in whom God is embodied, and in what ways God is embodied. 00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:54.800 Interesting thing I learned this week is that there was a woman who was born without the ability to hear. 00:38:55.679 --> 00:38:57.440 And she had a dream about heaven. 00:38:59.360 --> 00:39:02.239 And they said, What was it like talking to Jesus? 00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:05.039 And she said he was really good at sign language. 00:39:08.400 --> 00:39:10.480 Because you know what the normal thought would be? 00:39:10.719 --> 00:39:12.320 Well, she can hear in heaven. 00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:16.079 Her thought is that he can communicate with me. 00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:27.840 So this is our opportunity to reorder, to reorder our imperfections into God's embodiment. 00:39:28.079 --> 00:39:30.159 Because the truth is, it's going to come to all of us. 00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:32.159 It's going to come to all of us. 00:39:32.239 --> 00:39:34.880 And it doesn't need to be a disaster when it does. 00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:38.000 It gets to be a gift because we are good. 00:39:39.519 --> 00:39:43.280 Exceedingly good, says the Hebrew Bible. 00:39:43.760 --> 00:39:49.519 When we do this, not out of pity, not out of coercion, but because God's here. 00:39:49.679 --> 00:39:52.320 We are very good together.