Uncommon Prayer

A few years ago a friend of mine handed me a mix-tape (more like a mix-CD), with the intention of it being used in worship. Scrawled on the front of the disc were the words "Uncommon Prayer." On the back of the sleeve that held the disc were names like Louis Armstrong, The Mountain Goats, Mason Jennings, The Flaming Lips, and Iron & Wine. As I held the disc in my hand I remember thinking, "but these aren't Christian groups." 

As I listened to the music, I began to see where my friend was coming from.

These were songs that conveyed beauty of God's creation, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the challenge and experience of God's love.
They just didn't use the words I was familiar with and I realized that

God doesn't just use the words that carry an "official" Christian seal to convey truth or love. 

But then again, the words I was used to hearing don't guarantee some great ideal either. I was brought up in a Christian worship scene that was wrapped up in Veggie Tales and bands like Audio Adrenaline or Newsboys. I remember one song by the Newsboys that was quite popular at the concerts, lock-ins and youth gatherings I attended. It's called The Breakfast Song and it's a catchy little tune that I thought was about cereal, Jesus and faith. As I got older, I would think back to the lyrics with horror. It's a song clearly marketed toward children, where the primary message is a warning about Hell. The song describes a group of young cereal lovers (presumably children, due to the references to gym class) that are mourning the death of one of their friends. But their friend left them a reminder from his short lived life that "when the big one finds you/ may this song remind you/ they don't serve breakfast in hell."

I'm of the opinion that if you have to start off a conversation about the need for God in someone's life with warning on Hell, you've missed the point.

I also think that if you have to sell heaven (or hell) to children through sugary cereals, then you've missed every point along the way.

1

This is why I think that there's something captivating about authenticity, living the authentic life, that is just missed in the larger American Christian consumer culture. We sing songs about the lack of breakfast cereal in hell, when Jesus has provided a wonderful meal for us now, a simple meal of bread and wine. Furthermore the language of table in the Gospel feast is not one of warning, but of invitation. There's a reason why we all shake our heads at the folks standing on the street corner holding signs and shouting scripture warning of sin/death/the end. It feels cheap and unwelcome because we get that same message over and over but all it comes off as is a scare tactic. And a scare tactic is a terrible way to start a relationship founded on love. On the other side, there is an invitation to join in.

Read the words of Jesus that Luke provides:

Luke 22:15-20

"I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and give it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."

There is an earnest desire from Jesus to share in this meal with the disciples. 

When Jesus sits down with the disciples for the Passover meal, he does it with intention, because this may be the last meal he shares with them. What I love so much about this meal is that the people that Jesus so eagerly desires to share it with are broken, hopeless, poor, wandering, untrustworthy, fearful, unworthy.
In other words,

they look a lot like the people both inside and outside the church. 

They are the kind of folks that God desperately wants to be in a relationship with, and their brokenness, their failures, their anger, their mistrust, are all welcome to the table. Remember, at this point in the story these people that Jesus is so eager to love and eat with are about to betray him, run from him, pretend like they have no clue who he is. And still, he wants to be with them. They don't have to be perfect, polished, deserving. They don't have to fit the form. They don't have to look anything like what we might associate with "holy" or "good" because God has already said that they are.
What Jesus tells the disciples in this meal is not that they are damned if they don't shape up, Jesus doesn't warn them about the lack of Capt'n Crunch in hell, but demonstrates that God's love is so relentless that even after all they've done and all they're about to do, God will continue to pursue them. God actually likes these people.
I imagine that the disciples probably had some less than perfect thoughts and prayers after Jesus was killed. What would it look like for us to be honest about our prayer? What would we say to God if we were authentic about who we are and where we're at? What would people say about us if we let our guard down and showed off our less polished self to the world? (They probably wouldn't say much that was good) but what would they say about God? (Probably a lot of truth)

What would the world be like if Christians were common people who relate to God with "Uncommon" prayer.

1. Sugary Cereal photo from TheAtlantic.com

A New Spirit

"They came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. The people were spellbound by the teaching, because Jesus taught with an authority that was unlike their religious scholars. Suddenly a person with an unclean spirit appeared in their synagogue. It shrieked, 'What do you want from us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are the Holy One of God!' Jesus rebuked the spirit sharply: 'Be quiet! Come out of that person!' At that the unclean spirit convulsed the possessed one violently, and with a loud shriek it came out. All who looked on were amazed. They began to ask one another, 'What is this? A new teaching, and with such authority! This person even gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey!' Immediately news of Jesus spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee." - Mark 1:21-28

There is something about exorcism that has fascinated people for thousands of years. 
When I was growing up the one movie that my mother insisted that my brother and I never see was the 1973 film The Exorcist because it scared her so much. 
There have been plenty of exorcism themed films to come out since the original especially over the past decade.
To many of my friends, who were not very religious, one of the first questions that was on their mind after they find out that I was pursuing a life of ministry was “does this mean you’ll be doing exorcisms?” 
And really, that’s not an unfair question, 
especially when the first “work” that Jesus does in Mark’s Gospel is an exorcism. 
So if Christians are supposed to follow in the example of Christ, it makes sense that exorcism is something that I would do. 
However, as with most things, there are some stark differences between what's going on in our text and what pop culture has to say about exorcism.
Right before this passage in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is finding disciples and telling them he will make them fishers of men.
Now the first thing that Jesus does after recruiting his first disciples is take them to a town called Capernaum along the shores of Galilee. This is probably a town that the disciples are familiar with. 
And Jesus, being the disciple's Rabbi, brings them to worship on the Sabbath. 
The text says that Jesus showed up in the synagogue to teach.
In order for Jesus to be able to teach in the synagogue he has to be recognized as a Rabbi by more than the disciples, but by the community. 
We know from the Gospel of Luke that Jesus spent some time in the temple in Jerusalem studying under the Rabbis. So perhaps the people in Capernaum already know this and recognize Jesus as someone who has authority as Rabbi. 
At the very least it's clear that Jesus already has some authority to be able to stand up and teach. 


And there's a lot that could be said about what Jesus does with that. 


The Gospel writer makes a huge point out of the authority of Jesus in this teaching moment. 
Now, I could say that the sole purpose behind this authority is for us, the readers, to understand Jesus as the Christ.
Which I think is entirely valid, but if we're reading through the Gospel of Mark like a narrative, 
like it was written, 
then we already know of Jesus' relationship to God when the heavens part at his baptism. 
One of the themes that the Gospel writer Mark is all about is this idea of who is in the know and who isn't. 
Who understands what's going on and who doesn't.
Some would say that the question that Mark keeps asking us is: "do you get it?"
But there is also something else going on in our text today.
The way that the Gospel writer has written this story is what some commentators call bracketing.
Mark uses bracketing to 
1) make a claim, 
2) interject some information and 
3) come back to that claim to show how the interjected information supports the claim.
In our text bracketing is used to give us the idea is that the person with an unclean spirit is meant to appear while Jesus is teaching.
So the crowd's reaction is not only to the words that Jesus speaks, but also to the effects that they have.


So lets look at our story again. 


Jesus and a couple disciples come to worship, 
Jesus gets up to preach, 
but Jesus isn't some ordinary preacher. 
When he speaks to the text, 
the people recognize something, 
they hear something that they haven't gotten from any of the scribes, or religious authorities who have worshiped with them before. 
Then in the middle of Jesus' teaching, 
there comes this person with an unclean spirit. 
Jesus uses his authority to call out the unclean spirit and the people are amazed.
 The idea of an unclean spirit tells us something a little different than we're used to hearing when we think about exorcism.
A central practice in Jewish faith in the first century is the notion of purity. 
Ritual purity, 
Spiritual purity,
Physical purity.
Being pure, is the lens through which the scriptures have been interpreted for the people with whom Jesus is worshiping, and the lens through which they interpret what and who is socially acceptable.
So for someone to have an unclean spirit, means that they would be entirely unaccepted.
The fact that this person is even in the synagogue would come as shock.
Due to the bracketed story telling that Mark is engaged in, it would be safe to say that this person is already among the worshipers.
No one really seems to acknowledge that there's an unclean spirit among them until the truth comes out.
If all of this has been to prove to the people that Jesus is the Christ, then their affliction seems like little more than God using them. 
Why should anyone be burdened with an unclean spirit?
Why should anyone be rejected based on purity?


I was in Ghana in 2008 as a part of a team that had been working with a group of women who had been rejected from their community because they carried HIV/AIDS. 
Many of them had been abandoned by their husbands and families, or were too ashamed to return home. 
At that time Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for over 70% of the world's total HIV/AIDS population. 
But in many countries, the stigma and lack of education can be far worse than even the terrible stuff that happens here in the States. 
They came together after their leader Hagar was left in the hospital by her family and Hagar began to notice that there were a lot of other women in her same situation. 
So Hagar brought them together and formed a group that they called "Women Living Positively with HIV/AIDS." 
They started out as a support group, they would survive as long as they could. 
But, as their group began to grow it became increasingly apparent that there was more they could do. 
So they reached out to my home church. 
They didn't want to just survive, they wanted to live. 
Eventually they got the idea to start up a business to generate revenue so they could buy medicine and provide for each other. 
They had pooled what little money they had and began working. 
They created fabrics and clothing, and they changed their name to First United Women because no one would buy their product if they were associated with HIV/AIDS. 
In order to keep the business running, they were going to need more funding then what they had. 
Part of the reason my group was there was to help facilitate a series of micro-loans and to provide a market in the states for them to sell more of their product. 
On the second to last night that we were in Ghana, we had invited our new business partners to celebrate with us at the small hotel we had been staying at in Kumasi. 
We got the music going, 
people were dancing, 
playing games, 
we had this big dinner, 
and other people began to notice. 
Some of the other folks staying at the hotel came out and began to party with us. 
Then the hotel staff slowly took up the invitation to join in. 
At the end of the night, after the First United Women had left, 
some of the staff approached our pastor and asked who all of those women were. 
They were asking because they had had a pretty good time and thought that they had made some new friends. 
So our pastor told them, and the look the staff had was utter confusion. 
Someone said "But they looked so... alive."

Dancing with and revealing the First United Women did the same thing for some of the hotel staff, as the exorcism did for the community in Capernaum. 
The problem is not with the person with the unclean spirit.
Jesus continually challenges the religious authorities who would claim that sickness and possessions are the fault and punishment of the sick and possessed.
I don't believe that, Jesus doesn't believe that.
What Jesus is doing is speaking truth to power.
By removing the unclean spirit Jesus frees the community to see one another in a new light.
Suddenly purity is less important if there is someone with the authority of God who can say that the impure is now pure.
In the understanding of the religious leaders, only the clean could come to God.
However, by the example of Jesus, God comes to the "unclean," bringing them into wholeness and life.


There is a commentary that looks at the sociological understanding of what Jesus has done here.
They say that in an honor & shame society, the shared information about one's status would be the basis upon which an individual would be judged.
So there are two big changes that happen in our text.
One is that Jesus of Nazareth, is elevated in status to someone who teaches with unique authority, the authority of God.
The other is that the person who was possessed, 
has been restored to their community.
I think there's also a third change that happens.
When Jesus removes the unclean spirit, he reveals the brokenness of the community.
The community, in coming to recognize the depth to which God desires for us to be whole,
to go out and be in the presence of the "unclean,"
to touch someone who is sick,
to love someone who doesn't look like you,
or think like you do,
the community becomes open to a new Spirit, to the new thing that God is doing.

When one of the hotel staff in Ghana had the revelation that the women he had met was alive,
God was at work,
calling out the "unclean spirit" and revealing the depths of God's love, that even a woman with HIV/AIDS can have life, 
be whole,
be worthy of love.
The work that Jesus is involved in with this exorcism is exactly that same work.
Jesus is calling out the unclean revealing to the Capernaum community that even the person they've tried to ignore can have life,
be whole,
be worthy of love.
And most importantly,
when they get that,
when we get that,
we become open to what the Spirit of God can do,
and we're made whole as well.
And if that is what exorcism is all about,
then I guess I would do that too.