Finding Our Place at Home

Finding Our Place at Home

A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Randy Hammer, Sept. 8, 2019

Luke 8:26-39 GNT

Go back home and tell what God has done for you. ~Luke 8:39 GNT

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Rowan Oak, the home of southern writer William Faulkner, in Oxford, MS.  Now, I have to admit that Faulkner is one of those authors that often is beyond me; he is not one of the easiest writers to understand.  But I have read a few of Faulkner’s works that intrigue me, and since I was in Oxford anyway, I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn a bit more about this celebrated southern author.  Faulkner lived at Rowan Oak from 1930 until his death in 1962, and it was there that he wrote the bulk of his literary works.

Well, the visit was well worth my time.  I learned a number of things about Faulkner that I did not know.  One of the facts that I took note of was Faulkner’s view of Oxford, the place that he chose to call home.  In an interview four years before his death, Faulkner had this to say about his hometown: “I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it.”  In other words, Faulkner learned to appreciate the place he called home, and it was there at home where he found his place, and it was there that he would make his special contribution to the world.  Learning to find one’s place at home.

Since then, I discovered 18^th and 19^th-century naturalist writer John Burroughs.  Burroughs made his home in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York.  Unlike his contemporary naturalist acquaintance, John Muir, who loved adventure and traveling to faraway places, Burroughs preferred to stay close to his Catskill Mountains home, finding plenty to write about in his own backyard.  Burroughs wrote, “Nature comes home to one most when he is at home. . . The place to observe  nature is where you are.” Learning to find one’s place at home.

Well, learning to find one’s place at home is a theme we also see in today’s gospel reading.  Now, today’s story from Luke (which is also found in Matthew and Mark) is one of those many stories in the Bible that raises as many questions as it answers.  There are some points in the story that could be accounted for from a modern worldview perspective.  For instance, today we might think of the tormented man as being mentally ill.  And as we read the story, it helps to bear in mind the first-century worldview perspective and the gospel writer’s agenda in including this story.

This story is rich in symbolism.  For instance, Jesus venturing into Gentile territory, Jesus confronting an unclean spirit, a man living among the tombs, and the herd of pigs are all elements of extreme impurity.  And just before this story is the account of Jesus and his disciples crossing the lake when a violent storm came up.  In that story the lake is a symbol of chaos, which Jesus stilled.  In the present story, the pigs are driven by the evil spirits into the waters of chaos, the place where they belong.  [As a side note, this story has elements of humor in.  Just picture a great herd of crazy pigs running off a cliff into a lake.  It is almost something that you might expect to see on Saturday morning cartoons.] 

But seriously speaking, modern commentators agree that there are political overtones in this story as well; barbs aimed at the oppressive Roman Empire (the word “Legion,” as rendered by many Bible translations referring to the “mob” of demons, is a hint.  In the Roman Empire, “legion” referred to a division of soldiers.)  At any rate, Luke was wanting to get across the points that Jesus broke through purity barriers, he stood against oppressive political powers, and there was something special about him that enabled him to overcome forces of evil.  As I said, there is a lot of symbolism and veiled meaning going on in this unique story.  But it is a story, and sometimes I think we can gain a lot from such a story, even if we don’t understand or interpret literally every underlying detail.

However, the point that is significant for our purposes today has to do with the tormented man and how his life was transformed.  The gospel writers want us to see that this man—who in today’s world might be looked upon as a dirty, mentally ill, homeless man—this man was worthy of Jesus’ attention.  And this man recognized in Jesus something of the Holy.  And in some way this man’s life was totally transformed.  The man is described as being “clothed and in his right mind.” 

The man is so overjoyed at the change that has taken place in him, he begs Jesus to let him go with him.  Now, at first we would think that Jesus would have been happy to let him come along, to have another devoted follower to give his testimony.  But on the contrary, Jesus said to him, “Go home to your family and friends and tell them what God has done for you.”  Or as The Message contemporary version puts it, “Go home to your own people.  Tell them your story. . .”  In other words, this man becomes a home missionary, one of the first Gentile missionaries to the Greek cities of that region.  The bottom line is this once-tormented man does not return home and to life as usual.  He returns home with a new outlook, a new perspective, and a new passion to make a difference in the community where he lived.  He found his place at home.

How grand it is when we find our place in our home community.  There is a sense in which each of us can—and should—find our place of service in the neighborhood we call home.  Many of us probably grew up with a distorted view of the meaning of Christian service and mission.  Hearing the word “mission” might make us think of missionaries, those special, holy people who are sent to foreign countries to minister to and possibly convert the natives.  But a tiny fraction of one percent of the population ever goes to serve and minister in such a way. 

I think a more modern and mature view is the understanding that each one of us is “called” to some sort of mission or service in the world.  Each one of us has been given some kind of gift, talent, or passion that we can use to help make the world a better place.  Each one of us can “go home to our family and friends” and tell them our story of grace, as it were. 

For some, the form of service might be in the field of education, and for others it might be some field of medicine, or public service.  For others it might be in some service industry, or research, or perhaps social or mental health services. 

Regardless of how one might earn a living, there are numerous ways to find a place of service through volunteering in the local community, something a number of our members do every week.  There is the hospital, and nursing homes, and the ecumenical storehouse (that our congregation helped start), Habitat for Humanity, ADFAC, TORCH, and a host of other worthy organizations where one can volunteer so as to improve the lives of others.    Others may make their difference among family and friends through extraordinary kindness, mercy, or encouragement.  The question, I think, for each of us to ponder is, “What can I do in the community that I call home to be of a help and service to others and help make the world a better place?”

And finding contentment at home is one of the greatest blessings in life.  You may remember that in that great children’s classic, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy spent her days dreaming of faraway places.  She could think of nothing more than getting away from the Kansas farm where she lived with her aunt and uncle.  Then, when in a dramatic, coma-induced dream she was carried far away from Kansas, she could think of nothing more than getting back to the home she had so loathed before.  And near the end of her life-changing dream, we hear Dorothy say, “There’s no place like home.  There’s no place like home.”  And when she returned from her coma to her circle of family and friends, she did so with a new appreciation and realization that this was where she was meant to be.

Learning that there is no place like home to be of service was the way of the once-tormented man who lived among the tombs.  And so it was with southern writer, William Faulkner; and also with naturalist John Burroughs.   And might it also be so with us. “Go home to your family and friends . . . “ we hear Jesus say.

How great when we can find our place of service and mission in the community that we have chosen to call home.  May it be so.  Amen.