January 28, 2024
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
" Lean in with Love"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
January 28, 2024
You don’t have to work too hard to picture our story today. Just look around you. The context is corporate worship, like what we are experiencing now, people gathered to hear God's word, to praise God, an ordinary Sabbath day is what the community expected, but what they got was far from ordinary. And it’s not just the exorcism that makes it unordinary, though we’ll get to that. The first unordinary thing is that Jesus gets up to preach.
We don’t know what he says, we don’t even know from our text if they invited him to preach or if he just got up to preach, but what we do know is that the people who heard him preach are wowed. A much better preacher than the religious scholars they are used to hearing, because he preaches with Authority and conviction. Pay attention to that word authority... because it comes up again.
While he’s preaching, there is a disruption no one expects. A man busts in shouting and yelling. I picture him almost belligerent in his demeanor, unhinged, and unable to control his behavior, completely at the mercy of whatever possessed him. The crowd frozen and in shock looks around at each other… “ummm… what do we do?”
I remember back in my days working at a church in downtown Philly, we had daily meals in the sanctuary for people who were unhoused. We practiced radical hospitality, and anyone was welcome to come and dine with us. But because a lot of the people who did come were unhoused, many of them were also struggling with severe and unmedicated mental health issues, and often, our dinners would get disrupted with someone getting a little bit out of control.
So the church also employed a bouncer, Big Mike, whose name was accurate. He actually worked nights as an actual bouncer at bars, but the church employed him during the day to manage difficult situations at our meals.
I remember one time I was eating with a group of folks, and a guy started having an episode, he was seeing things that weren’t there, and started throwing his food, and shouting. After a moment of panic and shock where I sat there helpless, I eventually ran to get Big Mike only to find him already coming.
The thing about Big Mike is that he wasn’t there just to kick people out, though he would if it came to that, he was trained in de-escalation techniques, and ways to safely restrain people to keep them from hurting themselves or others.
While we were in shock and felt like running away. Mike knew exactly what to do. He calmly and lovingly talked to the guy. He didn’t judge him for what he was going through, and he was actually able to bring his behavior from a 10 back down to a 3, we’ll say. In a way that was nothing short of miraculous to me.
This is the first thing I picture when reading our gospel story. An orderly event disrupted by a disturbance, someone in crisis, with folks shocked and unsure what to do.
And Big Mike, who knew exactly what to do, who came running, and through his training, his presence, and his loving demeanor was able to change the Spirit of this man who was struggling.
I was amazed at Big Mike and his ability to settle a situation that felt unsettle able.
It’s no doubt the people there in the synagogue were amazed too. A teacher with a new kind of authority who actually does what he says he’s going to do to. A teacher who actually lives what he’s teaching about.
While we don’t know what Jesus preaches in this story, I think it’s safe to assume it had something to do with how to treat people who are struggling how to do care for them and not turn away, I think it’s safe to assume it had something to do with love. Because even without words, I think Jesus’ actions are teaching us here as much as any sermon he gave. How to live as God intends. How not to run away from those who are suffering, but how to lean in with love and understanding.
We aren’t given many details about this man with a quote “Unclean spirit.” We aren’t told where he came from before, what his story is, why he is the way that he is, and why he is so angry. All we have is this quick moment of transformation. We’re not even told what happens to him after. But here’s what I hope happened. I hope all the people there in worship saw how this man changed when Jesus treated him with love and dignity. And I hope this new authoritative teaching change them too. How they treat people who are different from them, and people whose minds work differently too. I hope that this new authoritative teaching expanded their own hearts, and I hope that after this, this community made space for this man and other people like him, because of Jesus.
It makes me think of my home church. Which was for some reason home to many kids on the autism spectrum, some more severe than others. We had non-verbal kids who would some time burst out with noises, and kids who didn’t quite pick up on social cues and needed extra help to understand worship. One of my favorite kids was named Peter, he wasn’t very verbal, and would sometimes get loud when he was upset by something, but most of the time was always smiling. He had an obsession with wasps nests, he absolutely loved them, and would often bring the latest additions to his collection with him on Sunday to show off to the churches members, all of whom, even those who were a bit afraid of wasps rejoiced with him as he turned them around in his hands which almost always would bear the marks of the stings he got going to collect them.
Without fail, one of the members would say, Peter… Do you want to walk with me to see if we can find any more at the church? And all through the worship service, they’d go and walk the church grounds, eyeing the tree branches, and meandering in and out through bushes to see what they could find.
At the time, I remember wondering why we had so many kids with special needs at our church, but thinking back the answer was obvious.
Because most of the time, these kids and their families experienced communities who turned away… who judged them, or froze up unsure of what to say or how to treat them, or turned away from them entirely. But what these families experienced when they came to our church was entirely the opposite. A community that not only welcomed them, but leaned in to better understand their struggles to see how they might care for them and offer support. There were no wasp nests on the grounds of the church, but these members were right there to meet Peter’s passion, excited to explore with him which kept him happy and made him feel loved, and gave his parents an hour to be in worship, not worrying about their child because they knew he was with people who loved him and knew how to help him stay in good Spirits.
The reason we had so many kids like this was because we followed Christ’s new authoritative teaching, that isn’t just lip service empty of meaning but does what it says, that lives it out through action.
We now know more about the inner workings of our brains than at any time in history. The fields of psychology and behavioral health have expanded our understanding of how the human body works and what is really going on in the minds of our brothers and sisters.
In a world that far too often turns away from those who behave differently from the norm, or think differently from the norm, what if Christ’s church leads the cause of acceptance, mercy and love for people who are neurodivergent or dealing with mental illness? What if we don't just follow Christ’s authoritative teachings of words but also his actions, and lean in where others turn away, to bring healing to those who have been far too long outcast and ignored.
May we too follow this new teaching of Christ, and live our lives in this way of love. May we be a community of healing for those who are suffering not just because of the conditions of their brains but also because of the way people treat them because of it, May we lean in with love, meet people where they are, and with Christ like mercy help them feel understood, known and loved.
And in so doing, bring healing, and be a reflection of God’s being on earth.
May it be so, amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “Andante” from English Suite trans. Bernard Fitzgerald
McKenzie Shalosky, trumpet and Emily Foster, piano
INTROIT “Sing and Rejoice” Emma Lou Diemer
Sing and rejoice this Sabbath day, the Lord is with us!
Give thanks and praise this Sabbath day, the Lord is with us!
Sing and rejoice this Sabbath day!
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP By Thom Shuman
One: Thinking we know all the answers,
yet wondering if we haven't missed something:
All: we enter this sanctuary of Truth.
One: In the company of sinners,
in cahoots with saints:
All: we gather as God's people.
One: Standing by folks of deep, abiding faith;
seated with those who stumble through the Kingdom:
All: we lift our praise to God
*HYMN 327 “From All That Dwell Below the Skies” LASST UNS ERFREUEN
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION By Nancy C. Townley Jim Legg
How can we look at this world and not sing of your praises, O God? The beauty and majesty of the world is overpowering! Yet we have a tendency to take all that you do for us for granted. We treat the world with callous indifference, using its resources carelessly and with little regard to the future. We insist on war as solutions for problems rather than peaceful striving. We turn our backs on people in need, the weak and downtrodden go unnoticed in our midst as we always believe that someone else will care for those in need. How foolish we are, O God, And How ignorant we have become…
Silent confessions are offered
Forgive us. Heal our hearts and spirits. Make us fully aware of all our blessings and our responsibilities. Help us be agents of peace and hope to others. Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE 551 “Lord, Have Mercy” LAND OF REST
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “When In Our Music God Is Glorified” arr. Harriet Ziegenhals
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE: Mark 1:21-28
Then they entered Capernaum. When the Sabbath arrived, Jesus lost no time in getting to the meeting place. He spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars.
Suddenly, while still in the meeting place, he was interrupted by a man who was deeply disturbed and yelling out, “What business do you have here with us, Jesus? Nazarene! I know what you’re up to! You’re the Holy One of God, and you’ve come to destroy us!”
Jesus shut him up: “Quiet! Get out of him!” The afflicting spirit threw the man into spasms, protesting loudly—and got out.
Everyone there was spellbound, buzzing with curiosity. “What’s going on here? A new teaching that does what it says? He shuts up defiling, demonic spirits and tells them to get lost!” News of this traveled fast and was soon all over Galilee.
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Dorothy Kyle
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 181 “Silence! Frenzied, Unclean Spirit” EBENEZER
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE written by John Birch, followed by The Lord’s Prayer Ella Bryan
When prompted respond: May the God of Healing Restore you
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY “Pastoral” from English Suite trans. Bernard Fitzgerald
McKenzie Shalosky, trumpet and Emily Foster, piano
*OFFERTORY RESPPONSE 709 “God, We Honor You” ABUNDANT BLESSINGS
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION by Richard J. Fairchild
Loving God, you are never far from us, you are as close as our breathing.
We recognize you as the one who heals the wounded spirit and gives new life to the broken hearted. We offer these gifts to You, O God, as a sign of our commitment to Your grace and authority. Take us and use us and all that we have, so that it is your reign we realize on this earth through our lives. We pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
*HYMN 793 “O Christ, the Healer” ERHALT UNS, HERR
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING Michael Ayers
Moment for Mission - Wilson Foster Montreat College Conference Special thanks to the IPC for assisting her to get there with a scholarship
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION Marie Boozer
CHORAL RESPONSE “Hold Us Ever in Your Keeping” Gary Matheny
Hold us ever in your keeping, comfort us in pain and strife,
Constant hope and faith renewing, Lead us to a nobler life.
Grant, O Lord your richest blessing: Send your servants forth in peace.
POSTLUDE “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place” Norwegian folk melody arr. Melissa Blanton
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452