Demons in the Church

January 31, 2021 Mark 1:21-28 Demons in the Church 4th Sunday of Epiphany Year B Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Open our hearts and spirits this day to hear the great good news of your power and presence with all your people. Fill our hearts with rejoicing as the words are proclaimed in song and story. Enliven us and remind us that you are with us, through the pillar of fire, through the magnificent words of the prophets, through the ministry and love of Jesus Christ. AMEN Stewardship Moment Offertory Prayer God of power and wisdom, we give you our eternal thanks for the gift of your Son, who came not only to save but to teach us about your kingdom and how we might live, readying ourselves for that kingdom. He taught with authority, and if we listen, we will live a life of generosity, mercy, and compassion. Bless what we give this day and help us be faithful in the use of all our resources, that we might live like those anticipating your kingdom. In Christ, we pray. Amen. (Mark 1:21-28) Scripture Mark 1:21-28 21 Jesus and his followers went into Capernaum. Immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching. 22 The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts. 23 Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a person with an evil spirit screamed, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.” 25 “Silence!” Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. “Come out of him!” 26 The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out. 27 Everyone was shaken and questioned among themselves, “What’s this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands unclean spirits and they obey him!” 28 Right away the news about him spread throughout the entire region of Galilee. Sermon : Demons in the church A friend of mine took on the task of organizing her father’s album collection yesterday. She would post her best find on Facebook. One of the albums that she posted was of the 70’s comedian Flip Wilson. Flip Wilson had a famous routine where he would always say the devil made him do it. Of course we would laugh at the routine because we don’t believe in demons controlling our behavior anymore. But in Jesus’ day it was common to blame your bad behavior on demons. It was believed that they were everywhere, and they affected all aspects of life. There was even a book called the Testament of Solomon, which outlined the behavior of demons, named them and told you how to get rid of them. I always enjoy preaching on the book of Mark. Mark is the only gospel writer who is not afraid to openly talk about demons. It seems the New Testament was unique in the way it talked about demons. Most literature of the day talked of a demon attacking a person. Whereas in the gospels, when Jesus speaks of demons- he speaks of them possessing the person. In the scripture story for today – Jesus calmly recognizes the demon. He does not attack of get mad – he just quietly asks for the demon to come out. When it comes out, the man seems to go back to normal. As I say, life has changed, now we don’t believe in demons possessing people. We have a little more control over life now. But have you noticed that in spite of our unbelief, evil still persist in the world? Demons in Our Modern World I was just as naive as I was sincere when I wrote a letter to a missionary in Papua, New Guinea. I was a 19-year-old college student trying to make sense out of the Bible. I was reading the gospels with an ardent desire to believe what I was reading but I kept getting hung up on these stories about demon exorcisms. If the gospels were true then there were real demons in the world and yet I didn’t see anyone but quacks and nut cases doing demon exorcisms on TV. Someone in my college campus ministry suggested to me that we no longer saw demons in the civilized world but that missionaries in remote parts of the world did. I knew the name of a missionary in the terribly primitive region of Papua, New Guinea so I wrote to him. I wanted him to validate the Biblical stories about demons by telling me that he had heard them speak, that he had witnesses an exorcism. I hope he could tell me some really hair-raising stories. It took him several weeks to answer my letter and it took me a few years to understand his response. He avoided my request for a description of face-to-face encounters with the demonic. He didn’t say anything about hearing them speak or of exorcisms. He did, however, say that there were demons in Papua, New Guinea and that he was shocked that I had not seen anywhere I lived in Memphis, Tennessee. "Do you not see the demons at work in pornography, prostitution, in racial hatred and in poverty?" he asked me. At first it seemed to me that he just didn’t understand my question...later it became obvious to me that I had not understood his answer. Racism, poverty and the whole abuse of women in the sex industry were certainly obviously present in the city where I lived and I accepted that these things were evil but they were everyday things.... things that were always there and always would be there. I wanted to hear about something more biblical...about a demon speaking to a missionary or some vision of demon possession.... he just wanted to write to me about everyday stuff. Roger Ray, Mr. Demon in His Pew I am reminded of a quote that I read in morning devotions this week – Evil does not have the power to do bad on its own, it needs the hands and feet of people to do damage. Evil needs to posses our feelings, our thoughts, our actions to do its work. Demons inside of us Kathleen Norris – a spiritual writer says “when I think of demons that I need to exorcise, I have to look inward to my heart and soul. The demon inside of her was her anger. Her husband pointed out that she could be very mean at times. She realized that her anger was destroying her marriage. First she needed to recognize it, then acknowledge the damage it was doing and make a commitment to change. Another friend – a pastor. Talked about getting a divorce, and experiencing all sorts of negative emotions – anger, shame, jealousy, and pain. He didn’t have to strength to preach, but he needed to be in the church. He needed to be in the presence of God, in the presence of the Word, the worship, in the presence of Jesus. Most of us think of ourselves as good Christian people, and yet all of us have those sources of anxiety, anger, fear, and other negative emotions. Daniel Amen, an expert on brain health encourages us to get to know and name the dragons inside of us that affect our behavior. I am absolutely fascinated by this story in Mark. This the beginning of Jesus ministry. What better place to get encouragement for your calling but the synagogue. As soon as Jesus gets up to teach, a demon possessed man starts to speak. The synogue, like the church is a sacred place. What a strange place for a demon to appear. That is why we ring the church bells before church, not only to call the people to come into the church for worship, but also to call the evil spirits out and to tell them to stay away. (evil spirits don’t like loud noises). It was thought that evil spirits like to hang out in dark lonely places – so why would one be bold enough to come to church? Well when we bring our hopes, praise, and joy to church, we also bring our fears, our anger, our biases, our unresolved feelings with us. The church is the place of open doors, open minds, open hearts. The church is the place we come looking for acceptance and love. Jesus wants the demons to come to church – that is the place were they can encounter the healing word from God. At it’s best, the local church functions as an arena in which conflict and hurts among participants who choose to stay can open up possibilities for spiritual progress. Where else will people still accept me after I stand up in a church meeting and harshly criticize something? Ah that’s just Dave, they say. They know me, I learn about the Christian virtues of acceptance and graciousness even as I am not accepting and gracious. By not taking my toys and playing elsewhere – this is finding a church that connects with my spiritual journey – I move forward in my spiritual journey. I give up control. I forfeit my options, in an environment of choices. Dadiv Goetz, Suburban Spirituality, Christianity Today, July 2003, pp34-35. When we come to church we experience God in spite of ourselves. A pastor speaks of entering a program to become a spiritual director. He got overwhelmed and had to drop out of the program, but he got insight into his own demons and was able to experience true transformation. Mark is not afraid to speak of demons because he was anxious to help us to understand the healing power of Jesus’ teaching. As Mark tells of the transforming power of Jesus, each time he calls Jesus the teacher. The teacher heals, the teacher calms to storm, the teacher provides. It is interesting, in this story the leaders in church on that day, don’t seem to be impressed with the demon in church and Jesus calling the demon out. They are flabbergasted at Jesus’ teachings. Who gave the authority to speak like that they ask. You speak as if you know what you are talking about – who gave you authority to do that? This is a new teaching – even the demons listen to you and obey. All Jesus did was show the man love and compassion. He teaches with love and compassion. It was his love and compassion that had the power to transform the situation. There are several stories in the gospels about Jesus removing demons from people. In each story there is always more than one. The collective word for demons is mazzikin, which means one Mazzikin means one that does harm. In this story the demons ask – have you come here to destroy us. Yes. What things in your life that harm us? What things in community harm us? What things in the church that are harming us and keeping us from moving forward? Because it looks like after the demon left the church, everything returned back to normal and they just went on with their service. The Church Dare Not Have an Influence In his penetrating book The First Circle, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famous Russian author who defected to America, makes an interesting observation about how the Russian authorities handle the church. He writes: "No one stops them from ringing their bells; they can break communion bread anyway they please. They can have their processions with the cross. But they will in no way allow them to have any connection with social or civic affairs." The church was allowed to go through the motions; it could have a presence, but it dare not have an influence. What bothered the scribes was not that Jesus prayed and preached. It was the fact that his prayers and his sermons were moving the people to action. I wonder if the church still has that concept of authority. So often our problem is not that we do not have authority, it is that we do not use the authority that we have. It is time that we quit defining the problems of the world and start applying the power of the church to the problems. We have been given authority by God, through Jesus Christ, to heal, to proclaim, to change, to bring redemption, and to expel. We are under an imperative from God and we need not fear either principalities or death for Christ has been given all authority over heaven and earth. Now we need to start applying that authority. Now the ball is in our courts. For if the claims of Jesus' authority are true, then that will require a response from you and me. In Shakespeare play King Lear, the Earl of Kent offers his services to the King. He wants, he says, to "serve him truly that will put me in trust, to love him that is honest; to converse with him who is wise, to fear judgment." Let us pray….. Prayer What have we done, Lord? We want to praise you, so we splash your words on screens on a wall, with brightly colored and powerful images. We shout your praises, with hands held on high. We teach and preach your word. But we don’t listen carefully for you. We are so busy trying to shout above the noise of the day, that we don’t take time to really listen and know you. The voices of the prophets spoke to people long ago who were too busy and anxious to hear. Their words streamed in the winds of time and have come to us. We need to pay attention to your message offered through them. You are our God, the God of all creation, the God of power and love, whose mercy is offered to us. In Jesus’ time, he proclaimed the good news through words and actions, reaching out to those who were troubled, alienated, cast aside. He offered healing and hope to those others turned away. Help us to learn that you alone can heal us and fix those areas in our lives that are wounded and twisted. Help us to understand that you alone can offer to us a new way of life through Jesus Christ. Remind us again that as we have spoken the names of people and situations that concern us, praying for your healing touch, that the same touch is offered to us in Jesus’ name. Lord, we need to let go of our control issues and place our trust wholly in you. Now and forever. AMEN. Lord’s Prayer Song for Reflection: Help us Accept Each Other UMH 560 Announcements Benediction Jesus comes to us, offering healing and hope, speaking and acting with authority. Listen to him. Go into this world, confident in God’s love and healing power. Go in peace and may God’s love and peace always be with you. AMEN. Children’s Time Object: a rolled up newspaper (Have someone in the congregation throw a rolled up newspaper to you as you begin to talk.) Good morning, boys and girls. Let's see what's in the news today. (Pretend to read the front page. Read in the style of a newscaster.) Here's what the headline says: Jesus Quiets Person In Church! Jesus and his friends were in the city of Capernaum and they went to church. While Jesus was teaching a class at the church a sick person came up to him and screamed in pain. Jesus calmly told the person to be quiet. The person instantly was quiet and the people watching were amazed at what they saw. (Show them the front of the newspaper.) Now would we really find this kind of news in our paper? (Let them respond.) No, of course we wouldn't. But our lesson today tells us that "the news of Jesus spread quickly everywhere in the province of Galilee." Galilee was one of the names of the places where Jesus was. How do you think the news spread about Jesus? (Let them respond.) They didn't have radio and television or magazines like we do. It probably spread fast just by people talking to each other. They went to the market place every day and they talked about Jesus there. They talked about Jesus when they gathered to eat. They walked with different people and talked to them when they went from place to place. But it's still pretty amazing at how fast the news spread. If Jesus had lived today, how would the people have spread the news? (Let them respond.) People would send reporters to interview the person who became quiet when Jesus spoke. The reporters would have interviewed everyone who was around what happened. They probably would have interviewed Jesus or at least one of Jesus' close friends. Then all those reports would be in the newspapers, on the radio and the television news programs. With all the computers it would be around the world in minutes. But even though our news spreads much faster than it did in Jesus' day, we still need to tell others about Jesus with our mouths just like the people did in Jesus' day. That is still a good way to tell people about Jesus - one person to another person. CSS Publishing Co., , by CSS Additional Illustrations Unsanctified - Mark 1:21-28 Ever have one of those days when you just feel miserable, awful, ornery, grouchy? Maybe something has happened to make you feel like you have the grumpies. Or maybe nothing in particular happened at all. We call that “getting up on the wrong side of the bed.” Some days, our spirits sag, and some days, our spirits soar. Even the steadiest, most stable and secure people have days when they just feel “off.” But there is a difference between feeling down in the dumps or even grouchy and feeling nasty, vicious, hateful, or revengeful. Unfortunately, some people have an ongoing case of the “nasties,” and nothing and no-one seems to make them happy. These are people who seem to harbor no empathy, feel no compassion, act upon compulsion, and house a frighteningly aggressive and sometimes even murderous spirit. Often, these are people, who have turned away from God. Cause let’s face it. When you are feeling close to God, you just don’t have the nasties! God is the ultimate “anti-nasty” pill. Someone with a “nasty” spirit may just be someone, whose spirit has been somehow corrupted, overtaken by anger, or destroyed by abuse. Or in cases we know exist, it may be somehow who appears to be downright soul-empty. Whatever the reason, whether we call that person disturbed, angry, or evil, we know those people exist. They exist in our culture. And they can even exist in our churches.... The Authority of Jesus The church in the world is a lot like the story that E. Stanley Jones tells of the missionary in the jungle. He got lost with nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He finally found a small village and asked one of the natives if he could lead him out of the jungle. The native said he could. "All right," the missionary said, "Show me the way." They walked for hours through dense brush hacking their way through unmarked jungle. The missionary began to worry and said, "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?" The native said. "Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path." Our path out of the jungle of this world is God in Christ. We may have some Rabbis, Masters, Father's, Teachers, and Reverends but we are all like the missionary. We rely not upon men but Christ who is our path. Brett Blair, www.Sermons.com Help in Facing Our Fears Leslie Weatherhead once told a parable of a little boy who fled from a witch who had turned herself into a cat. As the boy ran, he kept glancing fearfully over his shoulder. The first time he looked back, the cat was the size of a calf. The next time he looked, it had grown to the dimensions of an elephant. Then the boy fell, and was unable to go farther. Resolutely he got up and faced the pursuing horror. It stopped. So he took a step toward it. It backed away. As he continued to advance toward it, it began to shrink in size as it retreated from him. Finally it changed into a mouse and ran under the door of the witch's cottage to be seen no more. The moral is clear: it pays to face up to your fears. But sometimes that is hard to do. That is when we need to turn to Christ. He can help us stand up to our fears and conquer them. He can cast out demons. Adapted from Leslie Weatherhead. A New Kind of Authority In Mark's gospel Jesus himself is the content of the teaching. The authority is not in particular speeches, but in this particular life. Jesus lived as one who had authority, an authority radically different from that of tradition. Different from what had been expected. To understand this authority we must not only listen, we must also look. Barbara Lundblad, Lutheran Speaker: The Protestant Hour A Rabbi Talks with Jesus Jacob Neusner is one of the world’s preeminent scholars on first-century Judaism. He has written more than 500 books on the subject. And one of them is a little book entitled, A Rabbi Talks with Jesus. Jacob Neusner calls this book “an inter-millennial interfaith exchange.” In it he engages the Jesus he finds in the Gospels in a conversation about matters of Jewish faith and practice. And while there is much about Jesus that he says that he respects and admires, he says that the point of his personal separation from Jesus would come at the point of Jesus’ separation from tradition. He understands that Jesus spoke “on his own say-so, and not out of the teachings of the Torah.” He understands that Jesus saw himself “as Moses, or as more than Moses”. He understands that Jesus taught as one having authority, and not as one deriving His authority from another. And for Jacob Neusner that crosses a critical line. It’s blasphemous. When Jesus speaks on His own authority He is putting Himself on the level with God. Unknown Jesus Christ Marked Down 50% Chuck Swindoll tells about a commercial product put out by one of the largest department stores in our nation. It proved to be disastrously unsuccessful. It was a doll in the form of the baby Jesus. It was advertised as being unbreakable, washable and cuddly. It was packaged in straw with a satin ribbon and plastic surroundings, and appropriate biblical texts added here and there to make the scene complete. It did not sell. The manager of one of the stores in the department chain panicked. He carried out a last ditch promotion to get rid of those dolls. He brandished a huge sign outside his store that read: “JESUS CHRIST – MARKED DOWN 50% - GET HIM WHILE YOU CAN.” And that is the constant danger – that we will remake Christ into a meek, harmless figure – discounted 50% to attract the masses. Brent Porterfield, www.Sermons.com How are we to understand this? Apparently, the Gospels and New Testament are unique in Jewish literature in the way they talk about spirits not as attacking people from time to time, causing odd or evil things, but as possessing people – coming to dwell within them, to reside in the heart, and over time, to give a certain shape and direction to a person’s life, become part and parcel of who they are, how they act, and how they are known by others in the world. Become their persona – their image or reputation, you might say. Does it make sense to say that in our lives we all accumulate a particular cluster of personal habits, practices, defences, priorities, values, assumptions and expectations of life and of others and even of God, that become our persona, our spirit? A spirit that at best is aligned with the way God desires we live. But that almost always, at some point also gets in the way and starts restricting, limiting, opposing and undermining our freedom to live in the way God intends, and in the way that God’s kingdom, if we are to be part of its coming, calls us to live.

With Bells On

December 30, 2018 Colossians 3:12-17 With Bells on 1st Sunday of Christmas Year C Children’s time Lesson: So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Object: A kite, balloon, flower, candle Good morning, boys and girls. Isn't this a wonderful day? Do you all know what special festival we are celebrating today? (Let them answer.) That's right. Today is Easter Sunday -- the day that Jesus rose from the dead. We are especially happy today as Christians because of this wonderful thing that God allowed to happen. Today all of us are supposed to remember that we are special to God, too. We are all going to rise from the dead, like Jesus did, so we should keep our minds on heaven. Paul tells us today that we should always be looking at the things that are above -- the things of heaven. To help us do that I brought some things along that have something in common. (Pick up the kite.) What can kites do, boys and girls? (Let them answer.) Kites can fly high above the ground, can't they? When we fly a kite, where do we keep our eyes? (Let them answer.) That's right. We keep our eyes on the kite, up in the sky, because kites usually want to keep going up and up. (Pick up the balloon.) Here is a balloon. Balloons have something in common with kites, don't they, boys and girls? What do they have in common? (Let them respond.) Balloons like to fly above the ground, too. They help us to keep our eyes on heaven, too. (Pick up flower pot.) Here we have a flower. How did this flower get started, does anyone know? (Let them answer.) Probably this one got started from a little seed that got buried in the dirt. Pretty soon that little seed began to sprout, and it grew up and up until it reached the air. Then it just kept growing up toward the sky until it looked like it does now. So kites and balloons and flowers all like to reach for the heavens, don't they, boys and girls? (Let them respond. Light the candle.) Finally, here is a candle. I want all of you to watch the flame. Which way is the flame reaching? (Let them answer.) That's right. The flame is reaching up toward the sky, also. It is sending its little light right up toward the heavens. All of these things today remind us of Jesus' Resurrection, of his coming out of the tomb and reaching up to his heavenly Father. He wants us to remember that we belong up there, too, with himself and with his Father. That's why I want you to think a lot about heaven this week by remembering this kite, this balloon, this flower, and this candle. In fact, you can probably find a lot of other things that keep reaching toward the heavens, toward God. Let's all try to keep our eyes opened for those kinds of things this week -- and then praise God for this wonderful day of Jesus' rising from the dead. Will you do that, boys and girls? Good. God bless you all. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, WE ARE THE CHURCH, by Wesley T. Runk Colossians 8-17 8 But now set aside these things, such as anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene language.9 Don’t lie to each other. Take off the old human nature with its practices 10 and put on the new nature, which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created it. 11 In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all things and in all people. 12 Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint against anyone, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. 14 And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 The peace of Christ must control your hearts—a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people. 16 The word of Christ must live in you richly. Teach and warn each other with all wisdom by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Bells are a big part of our celebrations this time of the year. We have all heard the songs about sleigh bells. And we have images of the sleigh going over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house. But have you ever wondered why the sleigh would need bells? If you are travelling alone, with no stop lights, who is it that actually hears the bells. Unlike the horns on our modern sleigh’s, bells actually have a deeper purpose. Other people can hear the bells coming. But there is a deeper meaning behind the bells. spirits don’t like noise. The bells are a warning not to people, but to all of the elves and fairies living in the woods, to tell them to get out of the way, so that the sleigh can travel safely to its destination. It is a common understanding across many cultures – that spirits don’t like noise. And noise is used in many if not most cultures to keep the spirits away. In Africa, the drum is used to keep the beat and to keep the spirits away. Asian cultures tend to use gongs, or something that makes an off key noise. I have here a native American noise maker. You use this to cleanse a space of spirits. The spirits, will disappear in order to avoid the noise. European cultures tended to favor a more harmonious sound, so they use bells for that purpose. Another interesting addition in European spirituality, is that Europeans believed that not only could you cleanse space of spirits, but you could also cleanse time. If you ring the bell at the beginning of the church service, then any spirits that were hanging around hoping to get in church to cause trouble were scared away and you could worship in peace. If you rung the bell at the very beginning of a marriage, then any spirits hoping to get in the marriage and cause havoc would be scared away and not have a change to ever enter the marriage. And if you rang the bell at the very beginning of the new year, any spirits hoping to get in and wreak havoc in your year were scared away, and you had a good year all year. Not only do spirits, not like noise, but they also hate light. And they hate crowds of people. They really hate to be around crowds of people that are having fun, making a lot of noise, and celebrating. So now does the New Year’s Eve celebrations make sense. We gather together, have fun and celebrate, and at the stroke of midnight, fireworks go off, and we make a lot of noise, and sing. It is a way of bringing good luck into the year, and keeping evil and negativity at bay. So you thought I was just being annoying wearing bells on my shoes for Christmas. And all of the time, I was cleansing the space, and getting rid of the negativity. So I wanted to make sure that everyone got a bell, to ring in the new year, and keep the negative thoughts at bay. On the positive side, we can think of the bells as a reminder that this is a new year, and we can put the old year aside. Our scripture from Colossians actually encourages us to put the old year aside, and to start anew. That is what Christianity is all about – willingingly accepting a new way of life in Christ. I find it interesting that this understanding of the spiritual world stands up across all cultures. I actually learned that spirits don’t like noise in a Tibetan culture – as they were explaining why they got together to celebrate the new year, and have found that all cultures do the same. Have you noticed that we all have some type of celebration to mark the stages of life. Whenever there is a significant event in your life, what do you do – you have a party and invite your friends over to celebrate. You don’t celebrate alone, in the dark, in silence. – that would be inviting trouble. When we worship God, we don’t stay at home and do nothing. We gather together in worship, and we make a lot of noise and sing. Some cultures look forward to gathering and clapping and celebrating the light of life. The louder and the more boisterous the better. And when we leave, our spirits are in a much better place. Just like the bells in church have a dual purpose – of calling the people in and keeping the spirits out. I think that negativity can creep into our lives in many ways. Some of it is inside of us, and some of it may indeed be around us. But there is something sacred about gathering together. There is something even more sacred about gathering together in the spirit of Christ. The message of Colossians is perfect for the new year. It starts our by acknowledging all of the negative things that we as humans do to one anothers. But once you are a gathering in Christ. You take off the old and put on the new. In Christ, we are all one, and there are no divisions. Paul encourages us to be clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. These are all important qualities, because these are the attributes of God. These are things that only come from God. But these are things which make a difference in the world. These are the things which ensure good luck in our lives, because they are positive and they give positive vibes in the world. If we are forgiving, peaceful and loving – it makes a difference to everyone that we meet in the year. We are encouraged to worship – by listening to the word, singing, and showing gratitude. But the message for us is that what we do as we gather together – doesn’t make a difference unless we live it out there. We don’t just ring the bells on new years, but every Sunday. And we don’t just worship for one hour on Sunday, but every day, in all times and in all things. It is Christ who keeps the evils spirits at bay. But we have to power to bring Christ with us whereever he is needed. As we gather for worship, we will celebrate new years in many ways – some of us alone, some of us with loved ones, some of us in a crowd. Some of us will be sleep way before midnight, and others may be up late into the night. Some of us will watch tv, some of us prefer to sit in silence. Whereever we are, let us know that we are united in Christ. And that when we show compassion, kindness, forgiveness and patience – that we are cleansing the earth and keeping negativity at bay. Colossians reminds us that in Christ, we are chosen, we are holy and we are loved. Let us remember how important that is – this coming year. Let us pray. Amen.