Calling a Thing What It Is

Transcripts are AI-generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Hey y'all. I'm happy to see everyone here tonight. Uh, my name is Jae. I'm the Pastor of Children, Youth, and Family here at The Table. Um, and we're about to sit for a little bit, uh, not too long, but in order to get ourselves calm and ready to do that, uh, we're all just gonna get ourselves a little bit centered by taking a really big, deep breath together. Um, and then we're gonna let it nice, uh, slowly out so that we can feel calm and centered. So, in order not to ruin the, um, online recording, I'll kind of move this away, but, uh, yeah, let's just take one big collective breath, all right, in and out. All right. Thank you for doing that with me. I think helps me a little bit. Hopefully it helps some of your bodies feel ready. 

Hey, does anybody in here ever get hangry, hungry-angry? Raise your hand. Yeah, raise their hand. High and proud 'cause that is me, right? Anybody ever get a little bit, um, irritated? Really? Uh, you sometimes yell at people that you wouldn't otherwise yell at. Uh, sometimes you argue things you wouldn't otherwise argue. Uh, maybe throw a tantrum right when you haven't had a little bit of a snack. 

And so, let me show you guys a picture of the age. I was when my family first realized that I get possessed, um, by this demon that we call Hanger. Um, I put a halo on myself. 'cause I do think, uh, at that age I was a nice little, uh, a nice little angel. But don't let those, those big eyes and those really chubby cheeks fool you. 'cause I could throw a tantrum that would shake a house that the neighborhood could hear if I hadn't eaten just in time. Does anybody else do that? Right? Did anyone do that as a baby? Any parents in here had babies who did that? 

Um, well, I'm ashamed to admit that at 28, that, uh, that thing, that hunger, that hanger, uh, it still possesses me a little bit that if I, uh, don't pay attention to this thing hanging over me, it can influence my behavior when I haven't eaten and what I haven't eaten. I will say, and I will do things that I would otherwise never do, that I would otherwise never say things that don't make sense. And I, I don't reflect very well on who I am in that moment or what I believe. 

And so I act in ways that are contrary to everything that I would otherwise want. I am dismissive of other people's feelings. I yell at people I wouldn't otherwise yell at. I mean to people in ways that I would never want to be otherwise I might be rude. Uh, while I'm in line at Target, I argue with those that I love over things that absolutely do not need to be argued. And I find myself doing that. Uh, and I find myself becoming this guy. I find myself becoming angry. If anyone's seen Inside Out, like fire shoots from anger's head when he is provoked, that is who I become when I don't have a good sense of what's going on in my body. I make other people mad who weren't mad yet. 

And I found that the only way to end that hangry rampage, at least for me, is for someone who knows me really well, who's close with me, who loves me to call me out and say, Hey, that's not okay. The way you're talking to me right now is not who you are. The things that you're doing right now don't make any sense and are really unkind. And usually for me, that person's my partner or sometimes my parents, I don't know who that person is for you, but do y'all have a person? Do y'all have that person who can stop you and look you in the eyes and say, Hey, that's not cool, man. Hey, why did you say that to me? I think it's important to have at least one person, but hopefully a community of people who can look you in the eyes, either when you're hangry or when other bigger things are going on in your life to say, Hey, what's happening right now is not okay. 

So, right, I need this. I need the calling out of that hangar when I'm behaving poorly to remind me that I'm out of control. And when I am reminded, I am able to submit or listen to a solution, which in this small case might be a snack. It might be a cliff bar, it might be a sandwich simple. But when I do that solution, when I allow myself to agree to it, I can become who I was made to be, who as a child of God, I was made to be loving and kind, happy, thoughtful, a little bit silly, but I can't do those things. I need to be brought out of that other place into these things through a relationship of some kind. 

And so today we're talking about Mark 5:1-20. And in this story, Jesus casts out a demon who's possessing a man who is living alone in the outskirts of a town. And the text actually says that this man on the outskirts of town has been hurting himself with rocks. So this guy isn't out there yelling and scaring people and running around because he is having fun. He's doing it because he's being controlled by something or influenced by something, and he's not having a good time. He is hurting too. 

So demon possession tonight might make us all think a little bit about scary movies, uh, that are definitely not appropriate for the smallest of eyes or ears in this room. Um, but what I really think we could take from that, what it is here is the fact that there used to be a belief in these lesser spirits than God. They were lesser than God. They were jealous of God. And so they wanted to try and influence and control people to go against God. And they controlled humans, in particular because humans were made uniquely in relationship with God. 

And so they wanted to control and be against everything that God represented in the world, which means that these spirits would be against love, that these spirits would be against kindness, justice, being thoughtful, having meaningful relationships, happiness, joy. 

And so the amazing part of Jesus's story in Mark five is actually how Jesus responds. It's not necessarily on the supernatural possession that's happening, but if possession just means to be influenced by, Jesus responds in a way that I think can lend us something so important in our lives right now. 

He addresses the man who is struggling, and Jesus doesn't just get rid of the man so that these spirits won't bother people anymore. Jesus doesn't hurt the man so that the spirits will leave. Jesus's response is to ask, what is your name before anything else? Jesus must ask, “what is your name?” Jesus asks this simple question, "who are you?” to the bad spirits and the bad spirits reply “Legion.” 

And it is after Jesus finds out the name, that Jesus is able to help that man. He's able to take the man back to his life, to his body, to his dignity, to give him peace. Hear that again. It is only after Jesus confronts and has a name for the things that are hurting the man that Jesus is able to help, that Jesus is able to heal. 

So talking about all these, these words like demons or evil spirits, it can be hard, right? It can be hard because we can be afraid that if we read this text and take it too literally, it can really be harmful to people. It can really hurt people. And some of us might have been hurt by this text. But I do think even if we cannot take it literally, that we take the Bible seriously. And if we take the Bible seriously, it can have amazing insight for how we relate to God and how we relate to others with very, very good news if we can take what it tells us seriously. 

And so I take it seriously that Jesus shows us that freedom and healing, that forgiveness and dignity and peace all comes after we do the very simple work of asking what something is called, of giving something a name, calling a thing what it is. 

So remember, I often only remember to eat once Isaiah, my partner, says, you're hangry. What you're doing is not okay. The way you're speaking to me hurts. And so I have this quote from, um, or not a quote, but an idea for Martin Luther. And Martin Luther has this idea, and it's called Theology of the Cross. And it's in opposition to this thing called theology of glory. Theology of glory is when we live only in the glory of life. We only ever want to talk about the joy. We only ever want to talk about what's good. We only ever want to turn everything into a positive. And that's not the Christian life. The Christian life demands that there are times, even in the joy, we can experience that. But it demands that we live in a life where we view the cross and can call a thing what it is. Call evil, evil, and good, good. 

So Martin Luther talks about the importance of being able to call something what it is. In order to receive liberation from a thing, in order to experience reconciliation from a conflict, you have to be able to say, we are in conflict. You can only be healed if you say that you are hurting. So this only comes when we were honest and real about what is evil, what is hurting us, and stopping us from being loving just merciful. We can't live in a theology of glory, toxic positivity. Maybe some of us are familiar with, we're accepting a false peace. 

So if I have this paper, guys, kids look at this paper. If I have this paper and I go like this [crumples sheet of paper], then I go like this a couple more times, and I go like this, and I just rip it. And then I take a pen and I try to write a note on the whole piece of paper. Is it gonna be very legible to you, Jack? If I were try to write Hi Jack on all these tiny scraps, what did I just do to this paper, Jack? I destroyed it. And Soren, is it possible for me to, to make a picture out of this? No. But if I lie to myself and I keep saying, “oh, Soren, there's nothing wrong with this paper, I can totally use this paper.” I just like, just let, just gimme a second I, and then I give it to you. Will you take the note? Would you take it for me if I said, oh, don't worry about it. It's, it's fine. Probably fall apart. Probably fall apart. And that's because we're not being honest. 

The only way I could put that back together and make a note and give it to somebody is if a first say and admit that I ripped it up and then say, I need some tape and I probably need some help piecing it back together. That's what this idea is talking about. 

The other thing that I take very seriously from the gospel of Mark tonight is that Jesus doesn't discard the person. Jesus talks to the man. Jesus knows the man. Jesus stays with the man. Jesus blesses the man. The only way that we can move forward from something that might be influencing or controlling or life our peace, our dignity, our communities, our families, Is to ask, what is your name? It's to stare down the thing and to call it what it is. We need to find those things that stop us from being loving, kind, just or healthy. The things that take away our joy, the things that steal our peace and give it a name. 'cause if we give it a name doesn't just exist as this free floating thing that we have no idea how to tackle. It becomes something that as a community or as a family or as friends, you can actually approach, you can actually take time to deal with. You can actually find blessing together. You can find something new. But that's only possible once we call it what it is.

So as you came in or maybe in your pews, you see that there are slips of paper. Uh, if you grabbed some on the way in and grabbed a pen, that's great. There's also pencils in your pew. This is the participatory part. 

Today I want to invite you, um, if you feel comfortable to write or draw, if you can't write something that is influencing or has power over you or somebody that you love, that makes it difficult to, or stop someone from being loving, kind, just, or something that is affecting or hurting somebody's peace. So that's big. But essentially kids, you can also write something that is something that is hurting or affecting somebody's life that makes them sad or that is stopping them from, I don't know, experiencing happiness or experiencing community. Those could be things like bullying. Those could be things like conflict. But write something if you feel comfortable. 

And what you'll do with this slip is on your way up for communion tonight, there's a basket. And this basket will be where you drop the thing that is stealing your peace or the piece of another, and you will drop it right as you come up to experience and taste the love of God, that as you come up, you drop your burden and pick up immediately a reminder of God's promised Love.