Pastor's Blog

Demons

Forty-five years ago, he was 19 years old and walking a patrol in the jungles of Vietnam. The nightmares continue to this day: buddies dying suddenly and instantly at his side, innocent children burned and mutilated, the stinging napalm burning his eyes and nostrils. He has tried everything - drugs, alcohol, therapy - but he can't escape the memories and the images etched in his mind. The demons of war.

She is in her mid-forties. She spends her days stocking shelves and ringing up sales. She makes a few cents more than minimum wage. And each night she returns to her small, empty apartment. Just a year ago she was happily married - or so she thought. But her life and marriage came crashing down in betrayal and acrimony. Now she is alone and terrified at the prospect of meeting anyone and engaging in any kind of relationship. Her greatest fear is being hurt again. The demons of cynicism and brokenness . . .

He flunked out - big time. He did not know how to handle the new responsibilities of being on his own; he couldn't manage the demands of his studies and work schedule. He had worked hard to get into this first-tier university - but the immensity of the school swallowed him up. He's home now, working deadend part-time jobs that he thought he had left behind forever when he graduated from high school. His mom and dad are understanding and supportive - but he is knows they are disappointed and realizes the major outlay of tuition that was lost in his failed freshman year. He has no idea what to do next. The demons of failure . . .

Demons exist in all our lives. Traumatic experiences, emotional disasters and shattered dreams trap us, enslave us, cripple us; these "demons" so drain us of hope that we surrender to them rather than confront them. In tomorrow's Gospel, Jesus drives out the demons that have destroyed the lives of those possessed. Healing was a central part of Jesus' ministry - Jesus sought to restore the sick, the suffering, the desperate, and the lost to communion with God and to community with family and friends. Jesus' healings are central to his revealing the reign of God: God's dream that no one should go hungry, no one be imprisoned or enslaved by the tragedies of life, no one is left to stumble and fall alone in the darkness. Christ calls us to the work of driving out "demons" that divide our families, sever friendships, and rend our spirits in hopelessness and despair by the power of our own compassion, forgiveness and understanding.