June 24, 2007

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Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Read Luke 8:26-39

Read also I Kings 19:1-15; Galatians 3:23-29; Psalm 42

Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him.

                                                                                                                                                               Luke 8:30

"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.

                                                                                                                  Luke 8:39 

.    My name was Legion    .                      

Like the Gerasene madman,

I too am bound in chains,

many of my own making,

crying out for deliverance,

yet defying the deliverer

and lacking the scapepigs

to bear away my pain.

"What have you to do with me,

 Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

I beg you, do not torment me."

And yet he comes,

addressing the demons within,

breaking the chains that bind me

to my place and time,  

the angers and the lusts,

the fears and  phobias,

the jealousies and hates,

the senseless rages.

(Let’s call them what they are.)

He sets me free!

What fearful liberty!

The crowd draws near.

Like moths drawn to a flame

they come to see

what wonders the healer brings.

But power such as this

is more frightening

than the demons he exorcised. 

“Let him be gone,” they cry.

So, sadly, the healer departs.

But what of me?

No longer legion,

where do I go,

what do I do,

now that I am one?

And like the Garasene,

I go back home,

declaring by every word and deed,

the liberating joy

the Master Healer brings.

When Jesus comes with therapeutic grace,

             He wipes the torment from the troubled face.

                                                                                                                  --- rvc

*** D I S C L A I M E R ***

The Weekly Lessons are based on the lectionary texts for the week – usually the Gospel lesson. They are not designed as a formal commentary.  Rather, they are the personal reflections and original compositions of The Relay Online editor, Rev. Robin Van Cleef, and offer a jumping off point, using the scriptures as triggers to thought, imagination, and (we hope) empowerment.  As you read them, let your own imagination play, and let the Spirit speak to you, leading you where it will.  The Gospel Lessons reflected on this site may not be copied, reproduced or otherwise manipulated elsewhere on the internet without the expressed consent of the author.

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