Sermon thoughts and other musings

Exorcism. What do you think of when you see that word? For me, it recalls nauseating scenes from the movie, The Exorcist (nauseating because I don't do horror movies well). For many, if not most, exorcisms are pure fiction, and demonic possession is an ancient explanation for maladies that we would refer to as psychotic mental illness, or epileptic seizures, etc.

But thinking of demons and exorcisms in that way removes those concepts from our everyday lives. And this passage, though it tells the story of an exorcism, is very much about our everyday lives.

We have a concept of demons, though perhaps we mean it metaphorically. Have you followed the controversy around James Frey and his book, "A Million Little Pieces"? He reportedly said that "the demons" that fueled his addictions also caused him to embellish his tales in the book.

I don't know if demons are real as distinct beings, or if demons are just a metaphor for our struggles. But it doesn't matter what demons are - I know what demons do. A demon is anything that leads us toward doing that which we know is wrong.

Where God is, demons flee. So where in your life have you locked God out? It's often not a deliberate decision; it's as simple as believing that God's way of being doesn't apply to a facet of your life. Do you believe that you can't do your job according to God's way of being? If so, you've locked God out of your job. And the problem is that where God is locked out - that's where demons can stay.

It's human nature to want to lock God out of parts of our lives. We want to confine God to Sundays, to church, maybe to our families. And for me, I've found that the toughest place for me to let God in is to give God authority over my hopes, dreams, and ambitions. But where God is excluded, demons can stay. In retrospect, the deepest problems I've had came about because my dreams and goals were not of God. No wonder I found myself in a pit, calling to God for help. If only I had let God rule over my hopes and dreams, I would have stayed off that path.

So let God rule over everything in your life. Everything now and everything future. Because where God is, demons must flee.