Isaiah 65:1-9, Luke 8:26-39
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
How many Cathedrals does it take to make a people religious? Cathy and I, with some friends, were privileged to travel around a section of Western France this month, including Paris. The beauty of the castles, their gardens, their chapels and the cathedrals that we saw were amazing, as were the art pieces in their museums. Many of the cathedrals and castles were under some kind of restoration, costing millions of Euros, supported by both government and donated funds. Most are visited by tourists on a daily basis; most of the cathedrals and castles have little stores within them for the tourists to buy souvenirs; most of the cathedrals are large enough to fit 4 or 5 of our church buildings inside of them; most have statues and some gold leaf spread around liberally, pipe organs and have wonderful stained glass and leaded glass windows. For the most part they take extremely good care of their buildings and grounds; in many ways they put us to shame, since we are not always inclined to pull a few weeds, pick up a piece of trash or make minor repairs as we see the need and are able, at least not on our own.
But, that is not what makes a church a church, just as the size of a church is not what makes a church a church and the amount of art and gold do not make a church a church; as wonderful as those things can be, it is, in fact, something else that makes a church a church. I found it refreshing that at least two of the cathedrals that we wanted to visit, barred our way from going in, because they had services going on. Cathy, led me away from visiting one cathedral, when though our group was told that it could tour the sanctuary, it was during what seemed to be a worship service; my guess is that we would have been welcome for worship, but the tour had its schedule and we felt uncomfortable intruding. My visits to these cathedrals and chapels led me to the questions, “What is Church and what makes a church a church?”
Reading Isaiah and today’s gospel, we see worship as something that is connected to the relationship between God and his people and the relationship between Jesus and his people. The issues spoken of in Isaiah had to do with the people’s failure to put their relationship with God above their fears and wants and so their tendency to turn to foreign gods for worship, even though God kept a place for them in God’s heart. And our gospel lesson shows us that religion is found, not in buildings, but in Jesus. In this reading, Jesus confronted a man who could not be helped by those who served in Temples and religious buildings; he could not be helped by the best of their healers. Jesus healed the man, this man who others had thought was beyond healing, who lived out on a hillside, in tombs, maybe an area similar to this place. Religion, through Jesus, was present in a place where there were no stained-glass windows, or gold, no pipe organs playing beautiful music, just Jesus, his disciples, swineherds in the distance, swine on a close-by hillside and a demented and tortured man. Jesus had compassion for the man and Jesus confronted the demons that knew all too well the power of Jesus and who threw themselves upon Jesus mercy. Church was on that hillside as Jesus showed mercy and gave healing. Church is here today when the Holy Spirit today comes out to meet us where ever we are, when we are in need.
Jesus set the man free from the demons that tortured the man, and he today, by way of the Holy Spirit is here to heal us of our brokenness. So, what is the brokenness that the Holy Spirit is here today to heal? Admit it or not, you, we, all of us are broken in one way or another; we all suffer sadness, or illness, or anger, or loneliness, and sinfulness and we are all in desperate need of the Holy Spirit’s healing, care and guidance. There are legions of demons attacking us on a daily basis; we may not use that terminology, but the result is the same; we suffer and we need Jesus’ comfort, we need the healing and care, offered us by the Holy Spirit; we need to be in a relationship with Jesus. And, it doesn’t matter the number of demons that annoy us; as Jesus could remove a legion of demons from that one man, the Spirit can, do now, the same for us.
We worship the Lord here today, surrounded not by sturdy walls and beautiful windows but by the sounds of insects and birds, by the wonders of God’s creation. We speak and sing God’s praises, using carefully chosen words and beautiful hymns. We ask for forgiveness and healing and we trust in the Lord to give it, if we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit; and so, we know that we will be forgiven and we will receive the healing that we truly need. Of course, that’s where it gets complicated; we sometimes want and ask for things that we do not need or may not be good for us; we sometimes look for a kind of healing, that in the mind of God, we really may not need. Still we want it and ask for it, and so we should, the hard thing for us is accepting with joy the kind of help or healing that we are given. The man who received Jesus’ healing in today’s Gospel, was happy with his new and restored life, but he wanted to continue each day walking with Jesus, and that was not permitted by Jesus. The man was sent back to his family and community to share the good news of all that Jesus taught him and did for him and did for others. With Jesus, and now with the Holy Spirit, we do not always get everything for which we pray, but rather receive that which God feels we need.
Look around at this wonderful place; if my trip taught me anything it is that I am a privileged person, and you know what, regardless our issues, so are you privileged; God has given us much more than we deserve. We join together in the worship of a God who loves us, died for us, forgives us and answers our many prayers, who wants little more than to grow a relationship with each and every one of us. Buildings, stained glass windows, organs and such help, but we know that church is all about our relationship with God the Father, Jesus God’s Son and the Holy Spirit. In the end, that is really what matters.