K Pop Jesus - Driving Out Hate with Love (& Fantastic Singing, Dancing, and Outfits)

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
August 24, 2025
Proper 16, C
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 103:1-8
Luke 13:10-17

So, being the father of an 11-year-old daughter, I sometimes end up reading books and watching shows that I wouldn’t necessarily watch on my own. The latest example of this was on Friday night, watching the Netflix animated movie, K-Pop Demon Hunters. The story is about a 3-member, girl K-Pop group who, as the title suggests, also hunts demons. When they’re not killing demons, they are using their music to fight against the darkness of demonic influence. 

The songs are really catchy and fun, and I really enjoyed watching K-Pop Demon Hunters with my daughter. Welcome to your glimpse into the Sullivan household. As interesting as that may be, however, I bring it up because of how they work to overcome the demonic influence in the world. 

Of course, they use magical swords and things like that to attack the demons, but they also use their music to stop the influence of the demons over everyone else. At one point, however, they are also coming under the demonic influence. They’ve let their hatred of demons eclipse their desire to help others, and they begin fighting with each other. They’d been trying to hide all their faults from one another, so when their struggles come to the fore, they turn against each other, and the darkness spreads even further.

Then, after coming together again, they sing a new song, admitting their pain and brokenness, admitting everything the demons had been using to drive them apart. They sing:

We’re shattering the silence, rising, defiant

Shouting in the quiet, “You’re not alone”
We listened to the demons, we let them get between us

But none of us are out here on our own 

 

So we were cowards, so we were liars
So we’re not heroes, we’re still survivors
The dreamers, the fighters, no lying, I’m tired

But dive in the fire, and I’ll be right here by your side

 

I broke into a million pieces, and I can’t go back
But now I’m seeing all the beauty in the broken glass
The scars are part of me, darkness and harmony

My voice without the lies, this is what it sounds like

As they sing their new song, the light spreads and the demonic influence is driven out. Their light spreads, not because of how much they hate the demons. Their light spreads because of how they love each other and connect to all the people around them through that love. 

Now, I’m pretty sure none of us have superpowers to hunt and kill demons, none of us have visible light that emanates from us as we sings, I’m guessing most of us aren’t K-Pop stars, or animated. 

Even without magic, glowing swords; energetic dancing; and aggressively cheerful music, however, we do have a way, to overcome the demonic forces in our lives that keep us separated, that keep us down. We have a way to be freed from the demonic influences that bind us and keep us alone and angry, fearful and contemptuous of others. That way is Jesus. 

While the K-Pop Demon Hunters didn’t exactly ask Jesus for help (it wasn’t that kind of film), they still found the truth Jesus taught, that Satan cannot drive out Satan. As Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”

We heard in our story today from Luke 13:10-17, that Jesus freed a woman who had been bound by Satan for 18 years. We don’t know what had happened to her, only that a spirit had crippled her and she couldn’t stand up straight. Whatever it was, we know from Jesus’ previous teaching that she hadn’t been crippled by the spirit because of being particularly awful. 

Despite a lot of the beliefs of people at the time that any tragedy in your life was because you had angered God, Jesus had made clear in the first part of Luke 13 that this woman wasn’t a worse person than anyone else. So, when he saw her in need of healing, he healed her. He freed her from her bondage to Satan. Now, we’re not talking eternal damnation here. We’re talking about a woman who had been crippled by the devil. 

Most of the people, when the saw her healed and heard Jesus proclaim that she had been set free from the Adversary’s bondage, most of the people began rejoicing. Her being set free set them free as well. The influence Satan had on all of their lives was lessened when Jesus freed this one woman. 

That was true for most people, but it wasn’t true for the leader of the Synagogue. The leader didn’t like seeing this woman freed, and he immediately began telling the people Jesus was wrong for healing her because he did so on the Sabbath, the day of rest. He saw a miracle. He saw a woman healed after 18 years of suffering, freed after 18 years of bondage, and all he could say was, you should have waited till tomorrow. 

There was no love there, only fear. There was no freedom there, only continued bondage. The leader of the Synagogue was so caught up in doing things in just the right way and believing things in just the right way, that when God performed a miracle right in front of him, he didn’t even recognize it. He was also trying to free people from bondage, but he was so bound up in being right, that he turned against God, thinking that he was speaking for God. 

‘Behave, y’all. Don’t you dare mess up with any bit of the laws of Israel, or you’re gonna be in a world of trouble,’ or maybe he was more forgiving towards others, and he just really had a problem with Jesus. It’s hard to say exactly, but any way you slice it, the leader of the Synagogue was very upset when Jesus freed this woman from bondage, and it’s hard to see how he could have been walking in the love of God with a heart so bound against a woman being made well.

So, what about us? How are we bound, and what might freedom from that bondage look like? Thinking eternally, we are freed from Satan’s bondage, Jesus has freed us, and nothing can separate us from God. Still, in this life, there are many ways we end up bound or influenced by dark forces. As Paul writes about in Ephesians 6:12, we can end up bound by “the cosmic powers of this present darkness…the spiritual forces of evil...” 

What is it like to be bound by these forces? We have an idea from Jeremiah what it is like to be bound by spiritual forces of darkness and evil. It looks like pointing the finger and speaking evil, being constantly at odds with others. Being bound by forces of darkness looks like being so full of fear and anger that we don’t care about others. 

Being bound by spiritual forces of darkness looks like a nation, and state, and city that criminalizes being homeless, without putting up the money needed actually to house people. Look at what Jeremiah said.

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

As individuals, we can be bound. As a nation, we can be bound. As individuals, we can’t force a nation to unbind itself to injustice and oppression of the poor, but we can show others what freedom looks like. Being freed, ourselves, from the darkness of constantly being at odds with those around us, we can let the light and love of God shine from within us and into the lives of those around us. We can call on the Holy Spirit to grant us peace and patience, gentleness and self-control, peace and joy, faith and love. We can offer a little dose of kindness and let that light shine, freeing others from little bits of bondage, just as we are freed from the little bits of bondage in our lives. 

Most of us probably aren’t K-Pop Demon Hunters, but we do get to be freed from the forces of darkness, we get to be freed by Jesus, and as we are freed, the light of that freedom shines into the lives of others, as love spreads, as kindness spreads, as faithfulness spreads, calling on Jesus to set us free.

A Squadron of Inner Demons

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
St. Mark’s, Houston
June 22, 2025
Proper 7, C
Luke 8:26-39

When Jesus cast the legion of demons out of the man in Gerasa, his healing was far reaching. The man was back in his right mind, no longer a danger to himself, no longer a danger to those around him. His community was healed because they no longer had the crazy demon-man just outside of town, afraid he may come and harm them at any moment. His community was then further healed because the man told everyone what Jesus had done for him.

This is the kind of healing I’d say all of us and everyone we know can experience, because all of us are struggling with our own inner demons. Now, I don’t mean full-on Exorcist kind of demon possession. I do believe that sometimes people are full-on possessed by demons, like the man who had a legion of demons in him, which Jesus cast into the pigs, and I believe Jesus has the power to cast out those demons. Powerful as they may be, Jesus is God, but what I’m talking about here is not that kind of demon possession. Please, no one go out from here saying, “the preacher said I’m possessed by demons.”

I’m talking about what we call our inner demons, our lesser angels. Think about things within us that keep us isolated, harming others and ourselves. Ways that we choose to be right and angry, rather than in love and charity with others. How we hold on to grudges and let that poison eat away at us, slowing harming those around us too. Think about the contempt we have for others, the fear we let lead our lives, and the huge amounts of time and money we spend numbing and trying to feel better.

We may not have a legion of full-on demons possessing us, but I’d guess most of us at least have a decent sized gang or a small squadron of inner demons messing with our lives. I can hear our lesser angels shouting, “What have you to do with us, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Don’t torment us. Just leave us alone so we can torment people.”

I see a lot of people who as far as I know aren’t possessed by demons, but their lesser angels, their inner demons are going strong. Fear from past hurts cause us to lash out in all kinds of ways. Where I work, I see a lot of this among Houstonians who are experiencing homelessness. Past trauma, combined with the trauma of being homeless and a profound lack of sleep and safety. Some folks have the additional challenges of mental health struggles and addiction.

There’s a crud ton of inner demons I see every day, and whether the inner demons are cause by trauma, homelessness, mental illness, or even the daily stress of a regular, working, with a home kind of life, our inner demons tend to do the same things to us that the legion was doing to the man in Garasa. We’re not exactly living among tombs, but metaphorically, sometimes we are, our inner demons keeping us from good relationships and community, leaving us in darkness.

Well, as we heard in our Gospel reading today, Jesus brings light into our darkness. For the man with the legion of demons, the first thing that happened was that Jesus was there with the man. Then, Jesus had a conversation, not just with the man, but with the demons; he knew exactly what he was dealing with. Then, he cast them out and brought light into the man’s darkness.

For us and our inner demons, the first thing to do is invite Jesus in. Ask for Jesus’ help in healing us and bringing light into our darkness. Then, have a conversation with Jesus, telling him everything that’s going on. We call this confession, being totally honest with God about ourselves. God knows all of it anyway, so we might as well tell the truth, trusting in God’s compassion and love for us. Then, offer to God all of your inner crud, handing all of your inner demons over to Jesus. Ask Jesus to hold them and heal them, to hold and heal you.

Then, commit or recommit to walk in Jesus’ ways. Like the man with the legion of demons, our healing goes far beyond ourselves as we bring greater light into the world. We bring healing to others as we are healed. Our anger turns to peace and forgiveness, our fear turns to trust and acceptance, our desires to be right turn to love and charity. Then, do it again, over and over, every day, continually seeking healing from Jesus.

The world could use more of that: peace and forgiveness, trust and acceptance, love and charity. That’s living out Jesus’ mission for the church, for us to be healed that we may help bring healing to others, to a world full of inner demons, bringing love and light.

"That's All" - Locking Jesus Out (and letting him back in)

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston

May 25, 2025
6 Easter, C
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Psalm 67
John 14:23-29

So, I’m gonna talk today a little bit about demons, which is always tons of fun, and it may seem kinda weird because there weren’t any demons in our Gospel reading today. It was really all about Jesus making his home with us, and I’m gonna get to that, but thinking about Jesus making his home with us make me also think about other things that make their homes with us.

Anger can make its home with us. Violence can make its home with us. Fear and resentment can make their homes with us. We have all sorts of things that can make their homes with us, and that got me thinking about what Jesus said in Luke 11:24-26.

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.

A demon leaves someone, comes back, finds the place looking swell and figures it’ll invite some friends and really have a party in there.

Ok, so let me clarify what I mean about demons making their homes in us. I’m not talking about full on Exorcist kind of demon possession. I think Jesus was, and what he said also works with lesser demony-type things. I’m talking about some of our desires or emotions, ways of life which really harm us, and we just can’t quit. Get what I’m saying? I don’t want everyone leaving here saying, “The priest said I’ve got demons in me.”

When Jesus talked about demons making their homes with us, again, think about us choosing ways of life that harm us. Let’s say you wake up in the morning, you’re in a foul mood for whatever reason, and you choose just to stay in a foul mood, if you even think about it at all. So, now you’re grouchy, and you’re angry, and you’re taking it out on everyone around you. Let’s call that grouchy anger a demon. You keep nursing it; you keep feeding it, and eventually it just becomes part of who you are. Sure, you’re occasionally happy sometimes, but basically, you’re just a pissed off, bitter, angry person. I’d call that something like a demon that has taken up residence. 

At some point, you decide to kick the demon out. “I’m tired of being grouchy and angry all the time,” you say. So you decide to put on a cheery disposition. You smile, you have some optimistic thoughts, and for a couple of days, you’re feeling better. Then one bad thing happens, and now not only are you pissed off and grouchy because of the bad thing that happened, but you’re also pissed off and grouchy because being cheerful didn’t work. In fact, it made everything worse because you’re just as pissed off and grouchy as you were before, but you were also hoodwinked by all that damn smiling optimism. 

That sounds like what Jesus was talking about, with the demon leaving, then coming back with a bunch of his buddies to make things even worse than before. We hear people talking about fighting our inner demons. That’s what I mean, and boy howdy, we can have a lot of those. I’ve mentioned anger, grouchiness, violence. What about addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex? What about thinking the world is against you, what my dad called, “having a chip on your shoulder”? God, I hated it when he said that. He was right. I did have a chip on my shoulder, and it was based in fear and insecurity. Again, we’ve all got our inner demons that we struggle with.

Jesus said in our Gospel lesson today, “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” That sounds a whole lot better than angry, lusty, fearful, spiteful demons making their home in me. “Keep my word,” Jesus said, “and I will come and make my home with [you].”

Here's where the altar call happens, right? Come up here, proclaim that you want to keep Jesus’ word, and all will be well from here on out, right? Nah, see keeping Jesus’ word is not a one-time deal. Jesus said he’d make his home with us. That’s an everyday kinda deal. We’re following in Jesus’ ways as best we can, not perfectly, but we’re trying, and Jesus is with us, staying in our house, in our selves. Then we see something we want to do that we know Jesus is going to say “no” to, so we ask Jesus if he’d like to just take a walk for a little while, stretch his legs, and when he gets around the block, we lock him out. 

Now, when we do that, and we all do that, Jesus ain’t gonna force his way back in. The demons will. They don’t knock. They just force their way in and say, “Piss off, this is my house now” Jesus doesn’t do that. Jesus knocks and says, “What’s going on? You wanna let me back in.” 

Well, we’ve kicked Jesus out, we’ve followed ways that we know are harmful for us, so at this point, the house is already a wreck. Even without any major terrible demons coming in, it’s pretty messy. We’re not sure we wanna let Jesus in. We’re kind of ashamed. At the same time, things have been kinda fun. We’re not sure we wanna give things back over to Jesus just yet. Tell you what, Jesus, let me have my way for a while, and you come one back whenever I want you here. Thanks so much.

I’m not saying Jesus won’t come back when we treat him like that. Rumor has it he will, but when we kick him out and lock him out, we do tend to let in a lot of demons. We do tend to hurt ourselves. We do tend to hurt others.  

So, the suggestion Jesus has instead is that we keep his word, we keep his ways, we seek his guidance and follow his teachings, and he will come and make his home with us. In God’s kingdom, Jesus has many dwelling places, and we are those dwelling places. 

Jesus is resurrection and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is love and peace, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is way, and truth, and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us.

Way, truth, life, love, peace, resurrection: those all sound pretty good, a far cry from the various demons we often invite in. So, rather than give an altar call and ask people to come here and commit to keeping Jesus’ word and ways, let me offer this. Make the altar call every morning. Every day we decide to trust Jesus enough to follow his ways. Every day we chose Jesus’ way, truth, and life. Every day we choose Jesus’ love, peace, and resurrection. 

Every day we do well; every day we mess up; and every day we return again to that altar call and invite Jesus in, committing to keep his word as best we are able. Some days we’ll be more able than others, and Jesus will reward our efforts by making his home with us. 

Some days, we may kick Jesus out, and even then, Jesus will be outside, ready to come back in when we’re ready to unlock the doors and welcome him back in. So, “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says, “and do not let them be afraid.” “Peace I leave with you; my peace own I give to you.” For, “those who love me,” Jesus says, “will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.”

"That's All" - Locking Jesus Out (and letting him back in)

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
May 25, 2025
6 Easter, C
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Psalm 67
John 14:23-29

So, I’m gonna talk today a little bit about demons, which is always tons of fun, and it may seem kinda weird because there weren’t any demons in our Gospel reading today. It was really all about Jesus making his home with us, and I’m gonna get to that, but thinking about Jesus making his home with us make me also think about other things that make their homes with us.

Anger can make its home with us. Violence can make its home with us. Fear and resentment can make their homes with us. We have all sorts of things that can make their homes with us, and that got me thinking about what Jesus said in Luke 11:24-26.

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there. And the final plight of that man is worse than the first.

A demon leaves someone, comes back, finds the place looking swell and figures it’ll invite some friends and really have a party in there.

Ok, so let me clarify what I mean about demons making their homes in us. I’m not talking about full on Exorcist kind of demon possession. I think Jesus was, and what he said also works with lesser demony-type things. I’m talking about some of our desires or emotions, ways of life which really harm us, and we just can’t quit. Get what I’m saying? I don’t want everyone leaving here saying, “The priest said I’ve got demons in me.”

When Jesus talked about demons making their homes with us, again, think about us choosing ways of life that harm us. Let’s say you wake up in the morning, you’re in a foul mood for whatever reason, and you choose just to stay in a foul mood, if you even think about it at all. So, now you’re grouchy, and you’re angry, and you’re taking it out on everyone around you. Let’s call that grouchy anger a demon. You keep nursing it; you keep feeding it, and eventually it just becomes part of who you are. Sure, you’re occasionally happy sometimes, but basically, you’re just a pissed off, bitter, angry person. I’d call that something like a demon that has taken up residence. 

At some point, you decide to kick the demon out. “I’m tired of being grouchy and angry all the time,” you say. So you decide to put on a cheery disposition. You smile, you have some optimistic thoughts, and for a couple of days, you’re feeling better. Then one bad thing happens, and now not only are you pissed off and grouchy because of the bad thing that happened, but you’re also pissed off and grouchy because being cheerful didn’t work. In fact, it made everything worse because you’re just as pissed off and grouchy as you were before, but you were also hoodwinked by all that damn smiling optimism. 

That sounds like what Jesus was talking about, with the demon leaving, then coming back with a bunch of his buddies to make things even worse than before. We hear people talking about fighting our inner demons. That’s what I mean, and boy howdy, we can have a lot of those. I’ve mentioned anger, grouchiness, violence. What about addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex? What about thinking the world is against you, what my dad called, “having a chip on your shoulder”? God, I hated it when he said that. He was right. I did have a chip on my shoulder, and it was based in fear and insecurity. Again, we’ve all got our inner demons that we struggle with.

Jesus said in our Gospel lesson today, “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” “Those who love me will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.” That sounds a whole lot better than angry, lusty, fearful, spiteful demons making their home in me. “Keep my word,” Jesus said, “and I will come and make my home with [you].”

Here's where the altar call happens, right? Come up here, proclaim that you want to keep Jesus’ word, and all will be well from here on out, right? Nah, see keeping Jesus’ word is not a one-time deal. Jesus said he’d make his home with us. That’s an everyday kinda deal. We’re following in Jesus’ ways as best we can, not perfectly, but we’re trying, and Jesus is with us, staying in our house, in our selves. Then we see something we want to do that we know Jesus is going to say “no” to, so we ask Jesus if he’d like to just take a walk for a little while, stretch his legs, and when he gets around the block, we lock him out. 

Now, when we do that, and we all do that, Jesus ain’t gonna force his way back in. The demons will. They don’t knock. They just force their way in and say, “Piss off, this is my house now” Jesus doesn’t do that. Jesus knocks and says, “What’s going on? You wanna let me back in.” 

Well, we’ve kicked Jesus out, we’ve followed ways that we know are harmful for us, so at this point, the house is already a wreck. Even without any major terrible demons coming in, it’s pretty messy. We’re not sure we wanna let Jesus in. We’re kind of ashamed. At the same time, things have been kinda fun. We’re not sure we wanna give things back over to Jesus just yet. Tell you what, Jesus, let me have my way for a while, and you come one back whenever I want you here. Thanks so much.

I’m not saying Jesus won’t come back when we treat him like that. Rumor has it he will, but when we kick him out and lock him out, we do tend to let in a lot of demons. We do tend to hurt ourselves. We do tend to hurt others.  

So, the suggestion Jesus has instead is that we keep his word, we keep his ways, we seek his guidance and follow his teachings, and he will come and make his home with us. In God’s kingdom, Jesus has many dwelling places, and we are those dwelling places. 

Jesus is resurrection and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is love and peace, and Jesus offers to dwell within us. Jesus is way, and truth, and life, and Jesus offers to dwell within us.

Way, truth, life, love, peace, resurrection: those all sound pretty good, a far cry from the various demons we often invite in. So, rather than give an altar call and ask people to come here and commit to keeping Jesus’ word and ways, let me offer this. Make the altar call every morning. Every day we decide to trust Jesus enough to follow his ways. Every day we chose Jesus’ way, truth, and life. Every day we choose Jesus’ love, peace, and resurrection. 

Every day we do well; every day we mess up; and every day we return again to that altar call and invite Jesus in, committing to keep his word as best we are able. Some days we’ll be more able than others, and Jesus will reward our efforts by making his home with us. 

Some days, we may kick Jesus out, and even then, Jesus will be outside, ready to come back in when we’re ready to unlock the doors and welcome him back in. So, “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says, “and do not let them be afraid.” “Peace I leave with you; my peace own I give to you.” For, “those who love me,” Jesus says, “will keep my word, and I will come and make my home with them.”

Divided Houses, A Particularly Human Stupidity, and God’s Antidote

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Lord of the Streets

June 9, 2024

Proper 5, Year B

Genesis 8:3-15

Psalm 130

Mark 3:20-35

When Adam and Eve were in the Garden, they heard God walking toward them in the cool of the evening breeze. That should have been a wonderful sound. Birds chirping, the rustling of leaves, God’s feet on the grass, the soft shifting of soil. Rather than a beautiful sound of the beloved in a beloved place, however, the sound of God walking toward them was an unwelcome and frightening sound, because they had just betrayed God. 

They had decided that they wanted to be more like God, that they wanted God’s power. They wanted to dominate creation as it’s rulers and masters, rather than be a part of creation, accepting that it was God’s, not theirs. This was a house divided against itself, Adam and Eve divided against themselves. They were one with God. So, when they decided they wanted to take God’s place and move God, a little to the side, they were also moving parts of themselves out of the way. Their war was not just with God but with themselves, and the house divided against itself fell.

So, when the scribes said Jesus had a demon and was casting out demons by the ruler of demons, Jesus pointed out that obviously that couldn’t be true because Satan wouldn’t be stupid enough to divide his house against itself. 

No, that stupidity of working against ourselves and casting down our own houses seems to be a particularly human kind of stupidity. 

Here’s a great idea, let’s betray one another. Let’s decide we want stuff and be willing to kill one another in order to get that stuff. Let’s decide that a desire for sex is worth assaulting another human and just using their body; who cares about the person? When we’re really frustrated, angry, and scared, let’s decide that it’ll be a really good idea to get a gun and shoot some people, rather than accepting the fact that things aren’t always going to go our way. 

Let’s also decide that since we want to make sure to keep the power and money we have, it’ll be a good idea to oppress others, keep wages down, lie, cheat, and steal, and pass laws to make what we do legal. 

In order to make sure the world continues to work in ways that make us comfortable, let’s make sure that people we find objectionable don’t have the same rights as we do. 

Because our religion is so messed up that we’ve taken the truth that God has redeemed us and that nothing can separate us from God, and we’ve replaced that truth with, if you don’t believe in Jesus in just the right way, God’s gonna torture you forever; since our religion is so messed up that fear of eternal torture by the God who is love has become the foundational understanding of our faith, let’s make sure to stir up enmity and strife and subjugate others to our will to make sure the angry torture-god-thing doesn’t get too torture happy with us.

Let’s blame this group for the world’s troubles and then expect someone else to fix it, and then blame that group for things not getting better. That sounds like a good idea. 

In all of these and so many other ways, we decide over and over that turning against one another sounds like a pretty neat idea. We decide over and over again that we’re going to further divide the house against itself and then rage against others when the house falls. 

Yup, as Jesus points out, that’s a particularly human kind of stupidity. Satan ain’t near dumb enough for that. Only we are. 

So again, when the scribes, heard about Jesus casting out demons, they decided to use that as an opportunity for division. Rather than join together in joy and peace because demons were being cast out and people were being healed, uniting the house of God, they decided it would be a good idea to divide the house of God, claiming that healing and love were coming from a place of evil.

They wanted not to lose their power. They wanted not to lose their understanding of how God worked within their religion. So, when they heard God walking toward them in the cool of the evening breeze, it was a threatening sound, rather than a beloved sound of the beloved coming near.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty typical of humanity, that kind of human stupidity, but fortunately, God knows about our particularly human stupidity. Jesus knows precisely about how we divide against one another, and Jesus still thought it was a pretty neat idea to join with us in every aspect of our lives so that not even our house dividing dummy-headedness can separate us from God. 

So, what did Jesus do? Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell among us and within us so that as much as we may work to divide ourselves against ourselves, the Holy Spirit is striving with us and inviting us to be united and live together as one. That’s the invitation and the way of the Church.

As the church, our invitation is to stand for each other. We strive for peace among one another, and we each do everything in our power to keep that peace. Then, realizing we don’t have enough power to keep peace among ourselves, we constantly seek God’s help to unify us and restore peace when our reactions would divide us and break peace.

So, when we’re bothered by someone, we work not to react, and we ask for God’s help. When we do react, and they react back, we let others help calm the situation, and we ask for God’s help. Rather than shouting, we quiet down and allow peace to reign. 

When we’ve broken the peace, we recognize that we may have to step back and be away from a community or be away from some people for a little while, and we ask for God’s help. We choose to be ok with stepping away for a time, letting things cool down, rather than insisting on our own way and turning the house against itself. 

As Jesus’ church, healed and seeking to make peace among one another, we also seek to soothe the sufferings of the world around us, with one another as members of the church. When we see problems in the world, it’s easy to rage against and blame others, and sometimes we’re even right. Rather than rage against the ones we blame for the problem, however, as the church we ask what we can do to help. 

When people brought folks to Jesus who were possessed by demons, Jesus didn’t start a preaching campaign against Satan for putting demons in people. He didn’t start blaming people for allowing the demon in. Jesus cast out the demons. When confronted with things as terrible as demons, Jesus didn’t stir up hatred and strife. Jesus healed people. Rather than divide the house even further, Jesus united the house. 

We are the church, called and empowered by God to be a house united. 

There are so many problems and divisions in the world, and we’re not going to fix all of them. We can’t end that particularly human stupidity of being divided against ourselves, meaning we’re not going to end all human division. As the Talmud states, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”

We cannot end all human division. We can, however, seek God’s help to remain united as a church, here among each other, united in this time and in this place. We can then take that unity with us into the world, and, with God’s help, we can bring some of that unity and healing to others as we go. That is who we are as God’s church. Then, when we hear the sound of God walking towards us in the cool of the evening breeze, we can welcome it as a beloved sound of the beloved coming near.