In Exchange for Freedom

Download: Audio

Sunday Reflection

Read Heather Weir’s reflection on this sermon called, “The Cost of Discipleship” on the Sunday Reflections’ blog.

Reference in Sermon

In this week’s sermon, Pastor Elaine quoted from the following: Debie Thomas, Legion, in Journey with Jesus: A Weekly Webzine for the Global Church, June 16, 2019 (https://www.journeywithjesus.net/essays/2259-legion, accessed June 22, 2019).

Sunday Scripture Reading: Luke 8:26-39 (NRSV)

26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. Read more…

Looking to Sunday: Preparing to Hear from God

by Elaine Poproski

There are 4 books at the beginning of the New Testament that we call the Gospels. They’re the books that tell the story of Jesus. Beginning this Sunday and through to the end of the summer, we’ll be focusing in on stories from Luke’s gospel. This Sunday we’ll be hearing the story of Jesus’ encounter with a demon-possessed man who lived amongst the tombs, often shackled and chained. You can find the story at Luke 8:26–39.

The story is fascinating. It was clearly written in a different time and place than that in which we live, but it’s the same Jesus we follow. It’s the Jesus who has compassion on the afflicted, who helps those everyone else has given up on, who steps into the mess of life and frees people from their suffering. It’s the Jesus in and through whom God’s kingdom comes near.

And yet, the help Jesus gives in this story is not neat and tidy. It’s messy. It makes people angry. It carries a cost. Which is one of the things I love about the stories of Jesus we read in the Gospels. He’s so real. He’s so human. And His presence in the midst of mess doesn’t magically wipe away the mess. It just…redirects it.

As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to consider the way(s) Jesus has been present in your life. Think about those messy times, those times when the brokenness of the world seemed particularly obvious and unavoidable. What was Jesus’ presence like in the midst of those times? How did He redirect your mess so that you could experience freedom from the pain and chains of it all? And then perhaps read the words of Psalm 22:19–28 out loud. They’re words of worship written by someone who had also experienced God’s saving presence in the midst of the mess.