Collect: Proper 7

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

1 Kings 19:1-15

The fearful and despairing Elijah is sustained by an angel and after traveling forty days and nights, is met by the Lord, not in wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a sound of sheer silence.

Psalm 42

Lamenting an inability to come to the house of God, and thirsting for the presence of the Lord

Psalm 43

A plea by one who is persecuted and in distress, to be able to come and worship in the Lord’s temple.

Galatians 3:23-29

The era of domination by the law is passed.  Now, through faith all find themselves baptized into unity in Christ

Luke 8:26-39

Jesus sends many demons out of a man who calls himself Legion and who is then restored to his right mind.

A Sermon by Brian McLaren

“We’ve all had experiences where something disrupts the norm and somebody does something that is inappropriate,” says Brian, in his introduction to this week’s sermon.  This naked man running around a graveyard, for instance.  “Everyone knows about him and he’s kind of an embarrassment,” McLaren continues.  But Jesus confronts the evil that oppresses him, casts it out, “saves” him.  What would that kind of salvation look like in our own time–that beautiful freedom from oppression–and where do we begin?