"And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues."
As many of you know, for the past year I have been serving as the Chaplain to the California State Senate. I go down to the Capitol usually twice a week to open each legislative session with a prayer. This has been a homecoming of sorts for me; I was a reporter at the Capitol for 10 years before having a small career change that brought me here. As Senate chaplain, I usually hang around for a few minutes to schmooze with senators, staffers, journalists and other assorted denizens of the Capitol. By the way, "denizen" is a word my friend and former colleague columnist Dan Walters likes to use to describe those folks who hang-out in the Capitol who don't anything practical, so I think I am now officially a "denizen."
Anyway, one of the joys of this job - and yes, there really are joys hanging around Capitol - one of the joys of my job is arranging for leaders of various faith communities to come and give the opening prayer. This past Monday was one such occasion; we had a delegation of rabbis come to the Senate. These weren't just any kind of rabbis, these were the orthodox Hassidic kind of rabbis, with long beards, black hats and black suits. And not just one or two rabbis; there were more than 100 rabbis. The galleries were filled with rabbis.
One denizen of the Senate, in a stage whisper, remarked that it looked like "Fiddler on the Roof Day" in the Senate. Then the chief rabbi came down to the Senate floor to give the opening prayer, and I must admit to being a bit nervous about how much time he might take to give the prayer.
As I escorted the rabbi up to the dais, the rabbi asked "How long is the prayer?"
"Thirty seconds" I naively answered.
"Thirty seconds! I can't say hello in thirty seconds!"
At that point, realizing that the length of the prayer was completely out of my control, I asked him to write his name down so that the senator who was presiding that day over the Senate could introduce him.
The rabbi wrote down his name. It was a very long name with a lot of non-English sounding syllables.
I handed the paper to the senator, who took one look at it and said, "Here, you introduce him."
So, taking a deep breath, I introduced Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin of the West Coast Chabad Lubavitch. And, yes, I apologized to him, to the Senate, and to you, for mangling his name.
Then Rabbi Cunin launched into his prayer. He took his time, but only as much time as he needed - not a moment more or a moment less. He gave wonderful prayer and I want to read you a little bit of it:
God, our father, grant all of your children, throughout the world, the light, because that's what our mission is here today in this world. The forces of evil and darkness are trying to take away the light, the hope, the security, the warmth from your children. Dear God, grant all the members of this Senate ... the wisdom, the fortitude, the strength, the conviction, to bring the light down to this world by doing deeds of goodness and kindness for the elderly, for the children, for the oppressed, for the hungry, for the homeless, for the substance addicted children....Amen.
If you want to know what the kingdom of God is all about, it is right there in that prayer. If you want to know what the gospel of Jesus is all about, it is right there in that prayer.
Now, I want to be careful here, because I mean no disrespect to my rabbi friend. He was certainly not preaching about or praying to Jesus and the rabbi's prayer stands on its own. I do believe with all my heart that those who pray to the God of love are praying to the same God, so his God is our God. I also believe he was driving at same universal message that is at the very heart of the Gospel we hear today.
Today we hear the continuation of the story we heard last week from the Gospel of Mark. Jesus is moving around the countryside, healing and casting out demons. Again and again, people are healed, and the forces of evil are crushed. It is almost as if the gospel writer is saying, do you get it yet? Jesus is here to heal and cast out demons. That is what the kingdom of God is all about. The gospel writer really wants us to get it, and if you don't, here is another story - and another, and another. Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law and then he heals more people casts away the demons that beset them. And then Jesus goes to another town, and you can almost feel the disciples getting weary, and Jesus tells them that this is the message - healing and life and confronting demons and the powers of evil.
Demons are a difficult subject for us modern people, let's face it. With science and medicine, we have an understanding of the pathology of disease that the ancients would scarcely comprehend. But paradoxically, our scientific mindset makes it easier for us to explain away the evil in our world. Whatever you call it - demons, Satan, "spiritual forces of wickedness" or just plain evil - it seems to me that we must admit there is something very, very wrong in our world, that there is something stands in the way of our living into the fullness of the life God has given us. We see the power of evil in the civil wars in Africa, in the daily bloodshed of the Middle-east, in a father whose mental illness drives him to kill his twin daughters.
Also, if we are honest, we must admit that some of us, maybe all of us, have personal demons getting in the way of being the people God would have us be as individuals. If you are above the age of two, you probably know what I am talking about. What gets in your way? Bring it to God in an honest conversation. What is your demon? Is it an unhealthy habit like too much alcohol or a drug addiction? Is it a bad relationship, or anger that gets the better of you? Do you need to lose weight or quit smoking? What is it that blocks you from living the life God would have you lead?
And that is where the hope of Jesus enters our story. This is where we can ask Jesus for the the courage to push aside whatever personal demons get in our way of being fully the people God would have us be, and the strength to be servants to each other and to our world. This is not about human perfection, but about living fully into being what God has already given us - life. We can do this not because we are inherently better than anyone else - we aren't - but because we hear this proclamation from Jesus that the kingdom of God is already here, today, and we are part of this abundant, extravagant love God gives to all of us. The question for us is: Now that we know it, how will we share this love lavishly with the rest of our world?
There's plenty of good news in this: We aren't alone, we get to do this together, and we have Jesus as our guide. The Holy One is here with us even now. So be not weary but know this: the love of God which passes all understanding will guard our minds and hearts and will be with us now and always.