Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
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Dunbar
UCC
March 1, 2009
Mark 1:9-15
Hat Trick
- A hat-trick in Hockey is when a player scores 3 goals in one game. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus scored a number of hat tricks -- in just the first chapter! He cast out a man’s demon, healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and cured a leper. It’s as if Jesus knew his time was short, so he got right to work casting out demons, curing disease, and preaching good news. That’s all he did-- and it’s the mission he passed on to us.
- Our mission is to do just three things. We’re called to 1) be exorcists, 2) healers, and 3) bringers of good news. But we forget....and have to keep reminding ourselves -- who we are, who Christ is, and the vow we made at our baptism to follow him. Notice that the devil tempted Jesus after he was baptized -- THAT’S WHAT TEMPTATION IS -- At baptism, we promise God “Thy will be done.” And right after we make that promise to God -- the devil says, “No, no, no! Don’t worry about God’s will-- do what YOU want -- do your will.”
- We come to church to remember who we are, and to discern God’s will. And Jesus showed us that God’s will isn’t complicated -- it’s just three things: First, we are to cast out the demons -- beginning with the demons in ourselves! The demons of greed -- demons that make us complain all the time. We whine -- don’t you get tired of listening to whining! Demons of hate -- having a black president really exposes the racism in our country. There’s a lot of these demons. A political cartoon suggested Obama is a chimpanzee who needed to be shot -- in a national paper -- a suggestion that somebody assassinate Obama. People still say he’s not American. Isn’t Hawaii in one of the 50 states? Some say they hope he fails. (Last time I looked in my history book -- none of our families are from this land -- we all came from other places!) Racism is demonic -- and spreading bad will among people. Someone told me the other day: “I just can’t stand to see a black family living in the White House.” We are called to exorcise many demons -- but the demons of hate and racism are some of the meanest, and ugliest.
- Jesus left us with plenty of work to do. This is the time of year to think about what it means to follow him. Jesus is the one who said, “Look -- the Kingdom of Heaven is right here, every time we we put a demon to rest, every time we offer healing, every time we bring the good news of God’s unconditional love for every person on this earth.