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[Music] so [Music] welcome to worship with edgewood united church it is a joy to be gathered and worshiped with one another our spirits join together as one united church if you are joining us for the first time the first time in a long time the first time in this calendar year or the first time this week we want you to know that no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey you are welcome here let us prepare our hearts and minds as we enter into worship together please join me in our call to worship adapted from psalm 111 by this i have known the presence of god in the rising of the sun in the smile of another's face in the touch of a hand or the sound of a laugh in the scent of a flower holding the promise of spraying by this i have known the power of god in the healing of hurts in the forgiveness of sin in the giving of gifts beyond all expectation in the shower of love that comes from god's son let us give thanks to the lord with all of our heart let us worship our god whose presence and power endures forever you pull on your work boots crafted from love you hang justice and peace on your tool belt you take on rebuilding neighborhoods when we should walk away what have you to do with us holy god you model compassion for us you take us by the hand to lift us to our feet you show us the path which leads to humility you leave a trail of grace crumbs so that we might follow what have you to do with us brother of the poor you call us to serve by your side you plant words of peace deep into our hearts you raise up little children to whisper hope to us you stand by the side of all who look for life what have you to do with us spirit of grace you teach us how to build up others with love what have you to do with us god in community holy in one everything it turns out everything as we lift our prayers to you our creator in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the dominion and the power and the glory forever now and forever amen [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] help us [Music] is [Music] us [Music] is [Music] oh is [Music] our scripture reading is from mark chapter 1 verses 21 to 28. they went to capernaum and when the sabbath came he entered the synagogue and taught they were astounded at his teaching for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out what have you to do with us jesus of nazareth have you come to destroy us i know who you are the holy one of god but jesus rebuked him saying be silent and come out of him and the unclean spirit throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice came out of him they were all amazed and they kept on asking one another what is this a new teaching with authority he commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him at once his fame began to spread throughout the entire region of galilee for the word of god in scripture for the word of god among us for the word of god within us thanks be to god amen one of the many things i love about edgewood is that we are a christian church filled with many beliefs we are people who have grown up in different faith traditions from catholic to charismatic from methodist to mennonite some of us even grew up in the united church of christ or the congregational and evangelical reformed churches that preceded our denomination some of us even grew up right here at edgewood some of us are people who grew up with no formal religious tradition in our homes receiving language to match our experiences of god much later in life and learning the stories of jesus as an adult some of us are people who have daily prayer practices and read devotionals and theologians for fun while others save this for sunday mornings there is no one right path to edgewood and we celebrate the diversity of faith backgrounds and beliefs among us we share common faith values like our commitment to justice and a belief that god is still at work in the world but part of the opportunity and belonging to this church is the ability to be able to discuss wrestle explore what we believe and why as your pastor and resident preacher i'm often aware of the ways i am called to hold the center of our shared faith up for us to see while providing entry points for each of us to dig deeper into our personal beliefs and perhaps try on new language or imagery that speaks to our experiences of the sacred in this way this recognition that we are coming together with different backgrounds expectations and hopes were not so different from the people who originally encountered jesus the folks whose stories we hear in the gospels now those four gospels of matthew mark luke and john tell the story of jesus's life but they do so through the lens of the diverse people who encountered him there are tradesmen who become devoted followers and radically change their lives once they meet jesus there are people who are defined by their professional and public roles such as scribe or priest or money changer whose experiences of jesus's preaching is from the perspective of those roles there are others who meet jesus only who we only know because of their status like being a woman or a child or being poor or because of their affliction or illness each of these types of people has a different experience of jesus and walks away with a different understanding of who he is what his ministry is and what his connection to god might be in today's story we see two different perspectives unfolding there is a group of people in the synagogue so we can assume they would have been the same jewish religious background as jesus had they spoke the same language they had the same traditions and understanding of god they are not put off by jesus teaching them but are surprised to realize that his teaching is different from the scribes that come to the synagogue he teaches as one having authority this means that they would have experienced in jesus's words a direct connection to and from god rather than the scribes who taught by quoting other priests and prophets jesus speaks from within himself from god within revealing to the onlookers something powerful and prophetic before them but there was one among the people in the gathering that day that had a different perspective on who jesus was there was a man there who is described as having an unclean spirit there are different ways we could characterize this man our different faith traditions might have once said he was possessed by an evil spirit while others would balk at that description some might attribute it to mental illness or some unease in his mind some unease that set him apart from the others but others of us would balk at mental illness and possession being used to describe the same person i wonder if in our edgewood faith context we might better understand this man to be one that is possessed with something that harms him be it an idea or an outlook or a way at looking at the world perhaps we would better understand possession to be what happens when people uphold sexism or racism or classism at the expense of their own humanity or what happens when we hold on to harmful ideas like not believing we are worthy of love or worry worthy of forgiveness or worthy of healing whatever our way of interpreting it this is a man who is unwell and is set apart from the other bystanders instead of absorbing jesus's teachings he challenges him saying have you come to destroy us jesus rebukes him and separates the man from whatever is possessing him that is jesus offered healing that is he allowed the person to be seen before whatever was ailing him he said i will not compromise or seek unity with something that is destroying this man's humanity or harming his well-being everyone present was a witness to this moment of healing transformation but there was a difference in what happened as they left yes many were amazed yes jesus's fame began to spread meaning they talked with their friends and shared their experience and started passing on the story of jesus's sacred power at work but they didn't leave fully transformed they left as witnesses only one person left transformed one person did not just witness jesus's sacred power at work or hear a good story they experienced it for themselves i wonder about this difference between witnessing or hearing about something transformative and experiencing it i wonder about this difference between listening to jesus talk about how god's love can free us from harm and experiencing the liberating power of god's love for ourselves i wonder what it takes to move from learning about something to experiencing it one thing we know about that man with whatever was harming him whatever forces were possessing him that day he came with his full flawed pained self before jesus he did not hide his demons he did not shirk he cried out from his pain and jesus responded just as fully part of the healing comes from the man allowing himself to be seen to cry out to confront jesus and say what are you doing here what have you to offer someone like me and jesus looked at that man's demons and said come out of him he knew this man could not live fully if he was clinging to the things that kept him separate from god's love today we are just shy of three weeks away from the season of lent in the christian church this is a season of deep reflection a period of 40 days representing the 40 days jesus spent in the wilderness these 40 days take us to holy week into easter and so we use this as a season of preparation of prayer of ridding ourselves of the things or thing that keeps us separate from god's love that keeps us separate from the fullness of our humanity sometimes we think of giving up things like chocolate because every time we reach for the m m's and hold back we're reminded of god this year though i would like to invite us to approach lent differently instead of learning about god or jesus or learning about prayer i want to invite us to imagine what it would be like to open ourselves up to an experience of god to open ourselves up to the kinds of healing transformation that the gospels explore that our story unearthed that we long for in our lives i am sharing these lenten hopes now so that we can take the next three weeks to identify what it is that is possessing us so to speak and how we might open ourselves to an experience of god and lent to free ourselves from that harm or pain and you don't have to do this on your own i'm literally your in-house resource with ideas and guides and books and prayers to send you on your way so use me email me put me to work the first step is identifying what it is that is possessing you and keeping you separate from your humanity is it clinging to a culture of white supremacy or to the patriarchy or to the idea that one group of people is better or more deserving than another is it shame or guilt or fear or doubt is it the belief that everyone has it more together than you do or your quest for perfectionism or a nagging voice in your head saying you will never be good enough what possesses you and stops you short from receiving and giving love from letting your light shine from following god's call for you we've all got something most of us have a few somethings i've got a whole list of them and you don't have to start with the hardest one pick one just pick one something you are longing to free yourself from something you would like to turn over to prayer and to god and to experience a life on the other side of and once you name what that thing is how will you go about the business of freeing yourself is it a prayer practice you might pick up that points you in another way is it a practicing of writing and reflection of excavating your story so that it can be placed somewhere outside of yourself is it a daily or weekly reading is there someone you can be accountable to or who is on a similar journey our church is made of many histories many religious paths many spiritual interpretations but we all came to edgewood longing for something often that something is connection for something bigger than ourselves something kind of like god or a longing to live a full authentic life or to immerse ourselves in justice and service and love in these longings i invite us to remember jesus not just as a teacher or a prophet but as a healer a healer who welcomes all to bring their full broken messy selves before him and say here i am longing for love longing for transformation longing for wholeness this lent may we hold this healer the sacred healer a little closer and wonder anew what wholeness and transformation and love might look like if we are willing to give up that which harms us possesses us and keeps us from seeing god beside us among us and within us amen the lord [Music] [Music] besides [Music] is [Music] she leads me [Music] arms [Music] there is nothing that can shake me she has said she [Music] she my head with oil [Music] and [Music] kindness [Music] behind me [Music] oh is [Music] ah please join me in the spirit of prayer dear god we're a pretty smart church and we're great we're great at learning about you and filling our heads with facts and histories but what we are longing for this day is to experience you to feel your holy spirit rush beside us to know the healing power of jesus within us to be transformed by your love so god today we begin our prayer and gratitude for all the opportunities we have had to experience you those mountaintop experiences times in this valley when we remembered we are not alone those people who have journeyed beside us and picked us up and pushed us forward who those people whose light your light we see reflected in their eyes we give thanks and we pray that our connection to you will deepen that we will be freed from those things that possess us and keep us separate from your love from your call in the world that keep us separate from justice god we pray for all of us who are struggling this day for those of us who need healing from physical illness from emotional heartache we pray for comfort for those who are grieving we lift up continued deep longing out crying out for healing from this coveted pandemic we sit in grief crying out with those who have lost loved ones crying out for communities that have been uprooted and torn apart crying out for hope in our world we pray to you god almost hearing your holy spirit whispering i am here i am already at work we pray to you with hope for our collective future hope for transformation hope for healing for our spirits for our communities for our world in christ's name we pray amen and grant us thy peace [Music] good morning i'm mark dunn member of the governance council here at edgewood and i am here this morning to invite you and encourage you to attend the annual meeting of edgewood church like everything else this last year it will be a virtual meeting there will be a zoom meeting next sunday at 11 o'clock we have a year really to celebrate edgewood has done very well in this last year but we have that to look at we have officers to elect and we have a chance to look into the next year with some other exciting things coming up and we have a balanced budget to pass which is always a good celebration so hope everyone can join us for the zoom annual meeting next sunday at 11 o'clock friends lent is still a few weeks off but i invite us to begin preparing now it has felt like so much in the last year has caught us off guard or we've not wanted to face the reality of the way things are so we put things off we say it'll happen when it happens but this month this coming month i invite you to prepare to reflect to really get at the heart of what is possessing you what do you need to be healed from how are you longing to experience god's love at work in your life so invite us to enter into this journey the beginning weeks knowing that no matter where that journey takes us the grace and peace of god will surely follow amen do do do [Music] do [Music] you