Here we are on this fourth Sunday after epiphany. And so far we’ve followed a star with the Magi, did a Q & A with Philip and Nathanael, and confronted Jonah’s fears and enemies all so God could reveal to us God’s self in the most amazing ways.  
 
As you might recall me saying, God will use anything, good or bad, to get our attention and to bring us back to our rightful place in God’s divine love. Today God uses a demon-possessed man (Read Mark 1:21-28)
 
As Mark moves us from the seashore to the sanctuary, God moves our attention to a group of people in a Capernaum synagogue. As they sit in awe of Jesus’ powerful teaching, a man gets up and begins to scream at him. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
 
I can’t help but wonder if this man was screaming before Jesus came? Or did Jesus say something to trigger him to go off the rails?

Do you think the people knew there was an unclean spirit among them? If so, why did they let him enter the synagogue?  By Jewish law it would have made the whole place unclean.
 
In every church, on any given Sunday, sits a person hiding a secret demon that is dying to come out.
 
Mark says the man cried out and Jesus responded by saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” Jesus speaks to the man’s pain and the unclean spirit submits to the Holy One of God.
 
Did you notice what happened? How God revealed a divine truth about our Lord? The congregation in Capernaum did. They sat there amazed, and in total awe of what this young rabbi could do.   
 
It might be hard for us to see because we tend to imagine demons and exorcisms like those in Hollywood films. But there is no head spinning or bodies being flung against the walls. All we have is a holy man being confronted by an unholy spirit, and insight into God’s power and authority as it flows through Jesus into the man.
 
A couple of years ago back in Greenville, I had a similar experience. I stopped into Margo’s Restaurant to say a quick hello to some friends who were in there having breakfast. While I had to decline their offer to join them at the table, I did, however, reciprocate by inviting them to join me at God’s table on Sunday. This not only garnered some laughter but a few uncomfortable stares too.
As I was leaving, a young man in his early 20’s was watching me with an inquisitive look on his face. Embracing the spirit of hospitality, I invited him to church as well. But like my friends at other the table, he met my invitation with a half-hearted smile.
 
While walking to my car I heard a voice call out to me. Thinking it was the young man, I stopped and turned around only to discover it was someone much bigger and a lot less friendlier. This guy was a great big ape of a man with scars and tattoos all over his body.
 
He had no problem exercising his physical presence to intimidate me. I used to wear a clerical collar to let people know that I am a non-threatening kind of guy. But in this case it did just the opposite. It only seemed to fuel this man’s rage. By the look in his eyes and the venom spewing from his mouth, I wouldn’t be too far off to say this guy was possessed with an evil spirit. One that clearly didn’t like me.
 
Now, I’ve been confronted before. But this particular time threw me. And it did so because the guy kept asking, “Who do you think you are, holy man?  Who said you could invite my kid to church?”
 
In my lame attempt I answered him, “I was just doing what God has called me to do, which is to love everyone just as God has always loved me.” This clearly was not the answer he wanted. Just as I thought I was doomed, his anger morphed into accusations.
 
After a few colorful words he blurted, “You’re a liar because I’m unlovable.” His anger and rage towards me seemed to turn on him. And I realized this victimizer was a victim to his own demons.
 
I don’t know what possessed this guy to confess that to me, but I quickly assured him that God loved him, no matter what. I told him there was nothing he could do to stop God from pursuing him and loving him. Not even hurting me. And that’s when it happened.
 
All the rage and anger that had been building up inside him just sort of stopped. It was like that evil spirit just packed and left us standing there in a public parking lot.
 
I would come discover this man’s demon was the church. Something horrible had happened to him there that caused him to hate God and everyone associated with religion. That bitter demon would grow and festered within him; taking control over his life.  
 
We all have our demons. And I’m sure if you give it some thought you could identify the ones that are yours. And these demons will continue to run and ruin your life, to cripple you with fear and anxiety, until you let them go. As it’s often said in 12-step groups, “Change only happens when the pain of holding on is greater than the fear of letting go.” 

The man in Capernaum had figured this out. The epiphany that God reveals to us through this demon is simple yet complicated. It’s simple in that we discover Jesus holds all power and all authority over all things, people and personal demons alike. Your deepest fears, your darkest secrets, don’t even come close to the power of God’s redemptive love you receive through Jesus Christ.  He invites you to let them go. And allow God to take care of them for you.
 
On the other hand, it’s complicated because our demons will do anything to hold on to the power we give them. Let’s be real, they only live and thrive within you because you let them. However, you also have the power to let God do what God does. As a wise meme once said, “Give God your weakness and God will give you his strength.” 
 
That strength is love – the secret to Jesus’ power and authority.
 
When Jesus removed the unclean spirit, the people in the pews saw more than raw physical power; they witnessed the power of God’s love. Throughout the scriptures, Jesus repeatedly exercised love and compassion to all who come to him. He still does.
 
Notice how Jesus does not ignore this man, or his demon. He listens. And shows compassion to both. He hears our cries, too. And with the power and authority of God’s love, he delivers us from our anguish.
 
The take away here is this: Jesus puts his words into action. And I wonder if Christians did the same, would we have less angry demons confronting people inside churches or outside places like Margo’s?  
 
This week I hope that you will set aside some time to really think about the demons that control you. Take inventory of all the junk that’s stopping you from being your true self. Name them. Write them down and pray over that list. And day-by-day give them over to the merciful grace of God’s redeeming love.
 
I’d like to close with some words of encouragement from St. Paul, who wrote to the church in Corinth, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13 ESV).
 
That way of escape… is the way of love; the way of mercy, the way of compassion and peace. That way is the way of Christ Jesus. Just as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever more, Amen.


​
Works Cited
Special thanks to Ismael Ruizz-Millan whose essay inspired this message. Christian Century. Dec. 28, 2017. https://www.christiancentury.org (accessed 01 25, 2018).

This title is taken from a song title sung by the Velvet Underground and Nico. The song opens like this:
I'll be your mirror
Reflect what you are, in case you don't know.

I often write about Jesus being the mirror for us to see God (both through him and in others).  I like this metaphor because it keeps our focus where it can be the most effective, both for personal and public well-being. This is not an original thought by any stretch of the imagination. But while I don't claim it as my own, I cannot think of a better way to see God then how God revealed God's self to us through Christ.

Others have written that nature is the mirror in which we all come to see God, or at least God's creative imagination.  St. Paul wrote to the churches in Rome, that thanks to the world around us we have no excuse to not know God (Romans 1:20). While I do not disagree, we must accept that this too  includes both the good (sunsets, snowfall, and butterflies) and the bad (hurricanes, fires, and human nature).

During the season of Epiphany, scripture and the world around us, our eyes are called to be open to see God in our midst, in whatever way God wishes to reveal God's self to us. As a wise man once said, there is no length that God won't go to open our eyes and our hearts to divine truth. 

Thomas Merton,the father of modern mysticism, had this to say:

“Man [sic] is the image of God, and his inner self is a kind of mirror in which God not only sees Himself, but reveals Himself to the ‘mirror’ in which He is reflected.”  
​
When we seek to live and see contemplatively, with an intention of being One with God,  we begin to discover that everything is an epiphany.  We begin to see God in not only in people, or places, but also in poems and songs, art and commerce, and in life and even death. 

So next time you look in the mirror picking yourself apart because your skin is not as tight as it used to be, or you have unwanted hair where it ought not be growing, or a lack of hair where it ought to be...that about what really is being reflected from that face staring back. 

After all, that is what other's first see. ​

​In honor of the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I would like to present to you this very small excerpt from his wonderful sermon entitled “Transformed Nonconformist,” based on Romans 12:2 which reads,  “Be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

"Do not conform is difficult advice in a generation when crowd pressures have unconsciously conditioned our minds and feet to move to the rhymed drumbeat of the states quo. Many voices and forces urge us to choose the path of least resistance, and bid us never to fight for an unpopular cause and never to be found in a pathetic minority of two or three.

"Even certain of our intellectual disciplines persuade us of the need to confirm. Some philosophical sociologists suggest that morality is merely group consensus and that the folkways are the right wats. Some psychologists say that mental and emotional adjustment is the reward of thinking and acting like other people. Success, recognition and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority.

​"In spite of this prevail tendency to conform, we as Christians have a mandate to be nonconformist. We are called to be people of conviction, not conformity; of moral nobility, not social respectability. We are commanded to live differently and according to a higher loyalty.
 
 “When an affluent society would coax us to believe that happiness consists in the size of our automobiles, the impressiveness of our houses, and the expensiveness of our clothes, Jesus reminds us, “A man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses...When we, through compassionless detachment and arrogant individualism, fail to respond to the needs of the underprivileged, the Master says, “Insomuch as you have done it unto one of the least of theses my brothers and sisters, you have done it to me.”
 
Dr. King taught us that everywhere and at all times, "the love ethic of Jesus is the radiant light of hope revealing the ugliness of our stale conformity." Therefore, let us go now, not to be conformed to this world, but to be Christlike in the world; inviting others to “come and see” the one who gave his life for all for the salvation of all.

I often tell the story about driving through the backroads of Michigan late at night. Out there in what some might call 'no mans land' there is no light to be found other than that which is provided by nature. Such light was about as rare as street lights along these twisting back roads.

it's not like I have never driven in the dark before, but on the particular night it was late, I was tired, and we were nearing the end of a 12 hour drive. On top of that, it was winter and very cold. The fear of black ice or suicidal wildlife had me white knuckled.

Even though I had my brights on, the darkness was so intense that it just swallowed up whatever light my car could produce. To make matters worse, I couldn't see behind me beyond the warm glow of the dashboard. In fact, I had enough light to see a few feet in front of me. The only ray of hope I had in this moment was the faint glimmer of two red tail lights a mile or so ahead of me.

My eyes shifted from side to side and back to the middle of the road. If ever there was a time to live in the moment this was it.  Of course I kept my focus on driving, but I'll admit my mind began to wander like the twist and turns of that old country road. I couldn't help but think God was telling me something. In fact, it was my focus on discovering that message that kept me from not having a complete panic attack.

The great theologian Henri Nouwen wrote, "We often want to be able to see into the future. We say, 'How will next year be for me?' 'Where will I be in five or ten years from now?' There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day."

It dawned on my that God was pointing me to where I needed to be, at the helm of a Ford Explorer. My family was the precious cargo that I had been entrusted to safely deliver to our home.  I had just enough light to do just that.

But in that wild darkness I realized that what Christ did on the cross took care of the need to look behind me. And what his resurrection meant was that there was hope, red tail lights if you will, somewhere in the future. But it's here, in the now, that I was needed, and that we are all needed. For it's in the very present moment where most danger lurks, and temptations jump out at any given second.

Nouwen concludes, "The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk (or drive) through life with joy and be surprised at how far we can go."

Inside us all is a divine light that guides our steps, that illuminates our paths, and blinds the temptations from getting too close to us. Let us look inward to find that light, and rejoice in it without needing to worry about the great beam that will be cast over the world to take all the dark shadows away.

We should count it a blessing that we are not able to see completely in the now, the bright light that shine throughout eternity where "there will no longer be any night; and they will not have the need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever" (Rev. 22:5).

We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more. --The Earth Charter, Preamble (1).

Blessed are the poor

Letting go is basically making space for more—and for all otherness—inside of my small self. Jesus made this point in his very opening line in his first sermon: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (see Matthew 5:3). We do not live in a culture that appreciates letting go or “poverty of spirit.” We are consumers and capitalists by training and by habit. Yet, just as in the Trinity, all infilling must be preceded by a necessary self-emptying—or there is never room in the inn!

Blessed are you

Most of us do not understand this awareness because we are totally identified with our own pass­ing thoughts, feelings, and compulsive patterns of per­ception. We have no proper distance from ourselves, which ironically would allow us to see our radical connectedness with everything else.

Such radical connectedness is holiness. Some degree of detachment is absolutely necessary to get started spiritually. “Detachment, detachment, detachment,” taught Meister Eckhart.(2)

To many, surrender and letting go sound like losing, but they are actually about accessing a deeper, broader sense of the self, which is already whole, already content, already filled with abundant life. This new identity is the part within that has always loved and is Love. All each of us has to do is let go and fall into it.
Let it go; let it be
References:Adapted from Richard Rohr, Just This (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2017), 53-54, 87-88.
[1] “The Challenges Ahead,” The Earth Charter,http://earthcharter.org/discover/the-earth-charter/.
[2] Meister Eckhart, On Detachment. This treatise can be found in The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart, trans. and ed., Maurice O’C. Walshe (Crossroad Publishing: 2009), 566-575.​

Last year my good friend Dawn introduced me to what she calls “Star words.” It is a long list of words that correspond with a particular number. The idea is simple. Pick the first number that comes to mind and that will be your word to focus on for the year. 
 
Last year my word was “change,” which seemed a bit serendipitous since we’d just moved back to LA and I was feeling stuck between what had been, and what could be. As I began to focus my meditation and prayers on my star word, I began to see the different ways God was showing me to change my personal and spiritual life. 
 
Because of one number that God placed on my heart, this church was born. And now God reaches people who seek answers to life’s bigger questions, but would never step inside a “church.”
 
This year I took Dawn’s list of star words to our Facebook family and the response was overwhelming.  I think that most of you would agree that your word was spot on to what you are struggling with or had a desire to focus on this year. 
 
But there were some who didn’t participate. A buddy of mine thought placing the fate of his spiritual focus on a randomly picked number was too “horoscopy and astrological.” 
I don’t know if he was joking, but I do know that when we close our eyes and ears to the different ways God speaks to us we put our spiritual health and growth in danger of missing a revelation.
 
This was not the case of the Magi, who upon seeing one thing ended up discovering something completely different.
 
We do not know much about these wise men other than they saw something in the sky and sought it out. They also seemed to have some idea of Jewish scriptures. The gifts they brought were highly symbolic of this ancient culture: Gold (symbol of a king), Frankincense (symbol of a priest) and Myrrh (symbol of death).