[Magdalen] Fwd: [unfoldinglight] -- Legion: a cry on Juneteenth

[Grace Cangialosi]

From a daily reading. I thought this was especially timely. Juneteenth is celebrated in many places now. I’ve attended in Richmond and Charlottesville; the one in Richmond included a torchlit night walk along the old slave trail.

Begin forwarded message:
>> Dearly Beloved,
>> 
>> Grace and Peace to you.
>>          
>> — Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery, June19th, 1865 —
>> 
>>          Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” 
>>          He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 
>>          They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 
>>          Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; 
>>          and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. 
>>          So he gave them permission. 
>>          Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, 
>>          and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
>>                   —Luke 8.30-33
>> 
>> The demon is “Legion,” a division of the Roman army,
>> tool of domination, demon of oppression possessing us.
>> The system's plague infects the individual.
>> Our demon is white supremacy, the plague of whiteness. 
>> It chains people, excludes them, wounds them. 
>> It's not our fault. It's no one thing, but a Legion.
>> When racism gets called out we're frightened. 
>> We who profit from it object. It's the voice of the demons.
>> 
>> Jesus sends the demons into a large herd of swine, 
>> —kept, surely, to supply the Roman army—
>> sends them hurtling down, down, down into the sea, 
>> the cosmic abyss, the darkness and void,
>> the waters where the Spirit of God broods,
>> where only the voice of God calls forth light.
>> He subjects the instruments of Empire, 
>> the tools of subjugation, to the creating power of God. 
>> This is Jesus' work: to exorcize demonic systems,
>> to subject dominance to God's new creation.
>> Every black body freed is a victory of God. 
>> 
>> But we are still possessed by Legion.
>> We're not free of the demon yet.
>> At the edge of our town a tormented voice cries out.
>> We stagger reluctantly toward Jesus.
>> 
>> 
>> Deep Blessings,
>> Pastor Steve
>> 
>> __________________ 
>> Steve Garnaas-Holmes
>> Unfolding Light
>> www.unfoldinglight.net