FROM THE PASTOR
Who Do You Bring to Church with You?
In the Gospel for this coming Sunday we go to church with Jesus. “Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.”
Besides the usual group who assembled, with the scribes who were their teachers, there was also an unexpected guest who joined them for worship. “Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.” Today we would say that the man was afflicted with a mental illness.
This Sunday I am going to bring to church with me the story of Ken, a man suffering from depression with whom I had a long relationship during my pastoral ministry. Who are you bringing to church with you this coming Sunday? Is she bipolar? Is he fighting addiction? Does she suffer from dementia? Schizophrenia? Is it you on your difficult days? Are you a caregiver for someone with mental illness?
They, we, all belong in church, in the presence of Jesus, who one day rebuked the unclean spirit, saying “be silent and come out of him.”
Jesus became known as someone who cared and addressed mental illness. “He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.”
God offers hope and presence as we gather for worship this Sunday, bringing our friends and loved ones with us.
Pastor Stephen Paul Bouman
Epiphany 4, 2024
St. Lue’s, Park Ridge, Ill.
