June 24, 2007
The Ven. Richard I Cluett
1 Kings 19:1-4, 8-15a + Galatians 3:23-29 + Luke 8:26-39
Have you noticed that Jesus’ whole ministry is about bringing?
1. Bringing God’s reign into being,
2. Bringing people into an experience of God’s reign through teaching and praying and witnessing and by being an example of what God’s kingdom is like,
3. Bringing people to one another to show that in God’s reign, God’s kingdom, god’s realm, and God’s way, no one is to be left alone, no one is to be left out, no one has to go through life alone,
4. And bringing people to their rightful place in the kingdom community and to their rightful role – their job, their work, their vocation – in the ministry Jesus shares with all who believe.
In the fanciful gospel lesson this morning, the story of the man possessed by demons – so many demons they were legion and are so named (naming powers in the Mediterranean region was a way of gaining power of over other, demonic powers) – Jesus makes his point: In God’s kingdom there are no outcasts. No one is beyond the pale.
Don’t worry over the details of this story. Not every jot and tittle, not every word of this story is gospel truth, but the story does indeed tell a gospel truth. The telling is an elaborate enhancing of an exorcism story, but the gospel truth is here, real, and important.
In this part of Luke’s telling of the gospel story, Jesus is in the fullness of his ministry, at the heights of his powers, demonstrating what the reign of God can be, should be, and is. He is coming from the experience in the boat where he stilled the waves during the storm.
And so he steps ashore where he is greeted by a man who is deranged. This man has sunk so low he can sink no lower. He is in the most abject form of human estate. He has lost all: family, friends, wealth, home, even membership in human society. He wears no clothes. He has been locked out of the city. He lives among the tombs of the dead, sent away alone to be vulnerable to all the dangers of the wilderness – much as Jesus was sent into the wilderness after his baptism.
But for this man, there was no one ministering to him – no angels, no human being. He is alone, completely at the mercy of the heat and the cold and the rain and the snow, and at the mercy of wild animals, and at the mercy of bandits, and at the mercy of people who just like to torment the likes of him, and at the mercy of the dementia that eventually found him and claimed him. Bound by humans who feared him and bound by demons who possessed him.
He was at the mercy of powers that have no mercy. Cast out and utterly alone.
This story, at its heart, is what it is like to be totally alone and bereft; bereft of friends, colleagues, companions, family, and the love and care of any human being.
And then comes Jesus, bringing with him, the kingdom of God. The translation we use these days, the New Revised Standard Version, tells us that the man was healed by Jesus. A better translation, closer to the truth, is to say that the man was saved by Jesus. He was healed, but he was also saved and restored to the possibility of a full and fruitful life, lived in the midst of the community.
That is the nature of God, that is the nature of Jesus, that is the nature of the community that gathers in His name: to bring into relationship with God, with Jesus and with his community all who seek, all who ask, all who come.
As most of you know I have just returned from a visit to Kajo Keji in Sudan. One, and only one, of the many things that struck me there as it did on my first visit, was what life is like in the villages of southern Sudan. In each village, all are cared for, each person regardless of age, gender, status, health, ability, infirmity, or deformity. All are in and of the community, and have access to the resources, care and compassion of the community. No one is set outside the community.
Those who are crippled or disabled, those who are deformed, those who are deranged, those who are too elderly, those who are too great with child, those who are too young, those who are outrageous in their dress, those who are outrageous in their behavior, those who have left to work or to learn and have returned to live again among their people, those who are desperately ill, and those who are near death – all live inside the village compound and receive the love and care of the community.
It is not because of the primitive nature of their society or their culture, it is because of their being disciples of Jesus Christ living in God’s kingdom. This is how it is in the reign of God! They live in the kingdom of God here on earth, now..
There is another place where I have noticed this interesting, kingdom lifestyle being rather blatantly put into practice, in the community known as the Cathedral Church of the Nativity.
In the lifestyle of the children and youth of this cathedral community there are no outcasts. The kids welcome all kids.
The kids welcome shy kids, they welcome cool kids, they welcome smart kids, they welcome younger kids, they welcome older kids, they welcome new kids, they welcome back former kids, they welcome kids with a disability, they welcome kids who are jocks and kids who aren’t, they welcome quiet kids and they welcome noisy, rowdy kids, they welcome city kids, they welcome suburban kids, they welcome rich kids, they welcome poor kids, they welcome bookish kids, they welcome Ipod kids, they welcome funny kids, they welcome sad kids.
They even welcome an archidiaconal kid, along with grand-parent kids, other adult kids. They welcome each and every one who comes along.
They treat each as if all are equal before the throne of God – and so they are, and so are all people – equal before the throne of God and equal in the community of those who follow Jesus as Lord and Savior.
I wonder where they learned that? Could it have been learned here? (He asked rhetorically.) Yes, I have come to know in the last two years that they learned it here. And I think that like their teachers and parents and mentors here, they will live it out in all aspects of their lives.
And so my friends, here is the preacher standing in the pulpit to preach now a heartfelt farewell and thank-you – for all you have shared, all you have done and all you have given, for all you are.
You invited me to come in, and welcomed me, and trusted me to offer my best gifts and love. This time with you has enriched my life beyond measure. My spirit rejoices in you, in your life together and in the work that you do on God’s behalf and the welfare of God’s people. This cathedral family is blessed with people of deep devotion, strong faith, willing spirits, mighty gifts, and wonderful diversity. This cathedral family is blessed with a strong, gifted, creative and loving staff of ministers both lay and ordained. It has been a joy to work with people in leadership ministries in so many areas and to watch them grow in those ministries, taking increasing responsibility for the life, mission and ministry that is in through, of, and from this cathedral.
The man you have called as your new dean is a dear one to me, well known to me and loved by me. I could not be happier for you and Tony Pompa, and his family, that God has brought you together and I look forward to seeing the fruits of the kingdom that together you will bring for God.
And so, not good-by but farewell until another time, and my heartfelt thanks to you and to God for the life and ministry we have shared.
