Sermon Notes June 17, 2007

I Kings 19:1-15a
Luke 8:26-39

Where or when do you notice God in your life? Is it as you are watching “Dancing with the stars”, “Survivor” or the Mariners baseball game on TV? Is it as you are in a rush to get to the next thing and all the lights seem to be red? Is it as you discover that all your laundry has turned pink because of a red sock in the Dryer?

Probably not. Elijah is in trouble. He knows this much. What he doesn’t know is what to do about it. Elijah has just had a great victory and he is in trouble, for while the battle is won he is now all alone. Elijah considers the powers of Wind, Earth and Fire and he does not find God there. You know that in many parts of the ancient world Wind, Earth and Fire are considered the basic elements of the earth. They are powerful and sometimes they are even worshiped. Yet Elijah does not find God there.

Elijah finds God in the Silence.

Where do you find God and why do you spend so much time with that which takes you away from God?

In the Gospel we encounter a crazy man. This dude is out of his mind. He runs around the countryside without clothes and is uncontainable. He has little regard for his well being. Yet it is this crazy man that is immediately able to identify who Jesus is. We then have this fantastic account of how Jesus heals this man of his demons and sends the demons to the pigs who then jump off a cliff. It’s a pretty cool story but we must pause here for a minute.

What is JESUS doing in a country where there are people raising PIGS? We all know that pigs are unclean for Jewish people. They don’t eat port, and they don’t raise pigs for pets. What is Jesus doing here? This is scandalous. Jesus shouldn’t be there.

Then what does he do? When the man he has healed ask to become a disciple and to follow him Jesus says something extraordinary. He says, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”

When you encounter the living God do you tell anyone about it or do you remain silent afraid others will think you are a bit strange?