Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018 (full size gallery)
Two upcoming events are closing in – Souper Bowl to raise food and money for the Village Harvest (Feb. 4) and the Thirteen Concert (Feb. 11). The Thirteen page is here. We distributed a new pocket card to promote the concert. The last Village Harvest was Jan 17. We have two articles on the food issue – Poverty and Hunger Facts" and Local Food Insecurity
This was the last Sunday of the month and so there were two services, 9am and 11am. A very wet Sunday – attendance suffered plus with people being away – only 7 at 9am and 22 at 11am. There were certainlya variety of umbrellas plus the fog was magnificent on the river. A reminder of what Robert Frost wrote – "The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on."
We did welcome Tom Guthrie back from his church job on the Eastern Shore and celebrated Helmut’s upcoming birthday on Feb. 1
During the announcements Ken gave a very poetic presentation on why people should signup for the Shrine Mont retreat in May. He cited the ability to separate ourselves from the trappings of modern life (cell phone) and reconnect with each other and nature. He cited the hikes, the beautifil brooks and overall environment of beauty. Plus the food is plentiful and filling.
The sermon placed the attention on Jesus action in eliminating the unclean spirit from the man. Jesus has the authority! Catherine had everyone close his/her eyes and imagine the scene but in the context of our own bodies as the sanctuary – what’s there and what you would rather not be there – things that crowd out the Holy Spirit and disruptive demons. Then at the end of this segment – "Now, imagine Jesus within you, teaching you, with authority. Imagine Jesus rebuking the things that are disrupting your life. Imagine what your life would be like once Jesus casts out these things. Dwell in this spaciousness."
We try to eliminate our own demons in our own way which may or may not work.
From the sermon -"Therapy is a great resource. Medicine is a great resource. Knowledge is a great resource. We have so many things to help us deal with and get rid of our demons. But as Christians, we can all be guilty of forgetting the first and foremost resource, the most valuable resource we could ever hope to have to help us, and that resource is Jesus, the Holy One of God. We forget to ask Jesus to cast out our demons because we are so caught up in trying to deal, on our own, with the demons in our lives.
"All of us have the opportunity, throughout each day of our lives, to remember that Jesus is the one with the authority to rid us of the things that hold us back from loving God and one another as fully as God would have us do. Resolve this day that you will remember, before you place your hope and trust elsewhere, to turn to Jesus first and give him the ultimate authority in your life."
Today’s readings explore the scope and meaning of God’s authority. In Deuteronomy, Moses encourages the people to listen to God’s prophet and thus heed God’s word. In 1 Corinthians, Paul explains that true obedience to the law will be balanced by love and compassion. In today’s gospel, Jesus demonstrates his divine authority by healing a man with an unclean spirit.
The Deuternomy passage describes the role of the prophet to make known God’s will, a role distinct from the fortune telling, communication with the dead and divination practiced by pagans.
This passage validates prophetic practice by telling of the establishment by Moses of a succession of prophets to mediate as he did between God and the people. A criterion is established to aid in distinguishing the true prophet from the false.
In the postexilic period, when prophetic activity ceased, the statement about the raising of “a prophet like me” (v. 15) was interpreted as the promise of a “prophet like Moses” to come in the last days. The early Church saw this fulfilled in Jesus.
The Gospel is Jesus teaching in the synogogue. He not only teaches but frees a person possessed by a demon. This illustrates the nature of Jesus’ message. Mark emphasizes Jesus’ activity as teacher, but in contrast to Matthew and Luke, he gives less of the content of Jesus’ teaching. Rather, he stresses Jesus’ effective, powerful authority.
One manifestation of this authority is Jesus’ exorcism of an unclean spirit. Mark does not tell miracle stories for the sake of arousing awe. He tells them to give witness to the meaning of Jesus’ presence.
In the Old Testament, the title Holy One is used preeminently of God, but the same words are also applied to humans. As applied to Jesus, the term takes on the meaning of one who uniquely reveals the power of God.
In the first half of this gospel (1:1–8:26), Jesus teaches in veiled language (4:11), through action and parable. The authority of his “new teaching” (v. 27) is seen in its effect upon others. The description Matthew gives of the crowd’s reaction to the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 7:28) is in Mark their response to Jesus’ total self-presentation. Jesus’ authority is manifested in his deeds and words. His destiny is one of obedience to his Father, not one of status.