Cacophony of Chaos
June 22, 2025 Second Sunday after Pentecost
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
1 Kings 19:4-13 Luke 8:26-39
“Cacophony of Chaos”
Melissa K. Smith
During this past year of youth ministry, the word “busy” was said many times by students and parents alike. I find myself wishing our students had 26 hours in the day so they could find more time to sleep. I also recently had a conversation with one of our retired members who reflected, “I am so busy in retirement I don’t know how I ever had time to work!”
“Busy” is not a foreign concept in this church family. Confirmands would come to class late not because they did not care but because they were coming from the family carpool of dropping off another sibling at a different event or they were coming from their own practice or activity. Volunteers for children’s ministry are hard to come by because everyone feels overwhelmed with the busyness of their lives. I personally have experienced being wrapped up in busyness that I find myself trying to navigate which balls I am juggling I can safely drop – and I don’t always get it right.
Being busy is not inherently bad – it is something we all navigate. Our society encourages us to be busy under the guise of productivity. But I ask you: are we too busy for God?
We exist in a cacophony of chaos. Our phones are ringing, our notifications are piling up, our calendars are full. It’s a lot.
Our scripture reading this morning feels like chaos to me. I have always considered it a “loud” passage – as I read it, I can feel my anxiety rise, my heartbeat grows louder, and my breaths quicker. I find that I get wrapped up in questions like “who is Legion?” “Why is Legion?” “Where is Legion?” I let the cacophony of chaos distract me from the point of the story itself. My focus should not necessarily be “who is Legion?” but rather, I should focus on who Jesus is – Legion says, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” Jesus is the Son of the Most High God. Legion knows who Christ is – more clearly than the disciples, maybe more clearly than some of us.
Who is this Jesus that can cast fear into many demons? It is Jesus Christ the Son of the Most High God.
Many scholars and theologians have spent time writing and researching to use this passage to prove or disprove the power of evil and the work of demonic spirits in this world. That is not the route we are going in this sermon. For too long I have been wary of this passage because I have been caught up in what I don’t know and overwhelmed by the possibility of what can stand against Christ. But Legion doesn’t stand against Christ – their conversation with Jesus shows that Jesus has the power to do away with Legion: Legion says, “I beg you, do not torment me”…They begged him not to send them back into the abyss…they begged him to go into the swine… Legion knows that Christ is superior. Legion does not stand against Christ because they are less than Christ. Jesus is the Son of the Most High God.
Legion was tormenting this man – the man was isolated from society, isolated from Christ, isolated from who he is. A cacophony of chaos can swirl us out of rhythm with God, and we can quickly find ourselves focused on things that draw our attention from Christ. It is far too easy for other influences and priorities to come before God himself…
When work becomes too busy and worship seems like one more thing on your calendar…
When social schedules and the importance of community pulls us from community with Christ…
When watching church from the comfort of home is more convenient than reintegrating into community if it is physically possible…
It is a daily struggle in the bedlam of busyness that has the potential to pull us away from Christ himself. Yes, I am suggesting that Legion in our lives looks like anything and everything that pulls us away from Christ himself.
If we stand before Christ and ask him Legion’s question, “What have you to do with me?” Is it argumentative? Is it combative - not wanting Christ to change your life but wanting him adjacent to the life you’ve created? Or is it genuine? What do you have to do with me, oh God?
But the story does not end with the man being healed and sitting at the feet of Jesus. No, it continues with the reaction of the crowds, with the reaction of his neighbors. Their reaction is fear. The people asked Jesus to leave they were so afraid.
Sometimes the devil you know is less terrifying than change. When society tells you that busyness equals productivity, how do you reorder your priorities in a way that creates time and space to worship Christ on Sundays – and perhaps even create time to pray and serve God during the week? When family and friends and the importance of community pulls you away from Christ – if it pulls you away from Christ – how do you wrestle with the conflicting expectations? When your worship and faith experience is content with remaining isolated, are you open to Christ’s call into the Body of Christ and out of what has become comfortable and convenient?
As we see in the Gospel story – sometimes it is easier to live with the reality you know than to make space to let God enter into our lives and create change – because change is terrifying, especially if you don’t see how it can happen.
Grace read a familiar passage from First Kings – the story of God speaking to Elijah in the still, small voice. God was not in the great wind, God was not in the earthquake, God was not in the fire. God was but a whisper in the midst of the sheer silence.
How can we expect to hear the voice of Christ calling us to follow him if our lives are too busy and the cacophony of chaos is too loud? We need to integrate change, to reorder our priorities, and break through the distractions so that we can foster a relationship with God where we are not only speaking at him with requests, but so we too can hear what God has to say to us.
Change is hard, silence can be uncomfortable, and life can be more comfortable with the devil we know than the possibility of peace that can only come with realized change through Christ.
But what if. What if we took a step out of the cacophony of chaos and met God in the sheer silence? What if we took the next faithful step to prioritize Christ in the midst of our full, busy, and overwhelming lives?
How many times will we allow the things we prioritize over Christ stand in our way of Christ? Will we allow the voices, the influences, the pressures, and the expectations of society keep us from God himself?
Or will we step into the silence, the peace, the calm, and strive to experience God’s own voice – a voice that invites us into peace and invites us to seek him first?
Do you have time for God…or will you continue to be busy, putting all other expectations and responsibilities before Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High God?
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church
1 Kings 19:4-13 Luke 8:26-39
“Cacophony of Chaos”
Melissa K. Smith
During this past year of youth ministry, the word “busy” was said many times by students and parents alike. I find myself wishing our students had 26 hours in the day so they could find more time to sleep. I also recently had a conversation with one of our retired members who reflected, “I am so busy in retirement I don’t know how I ever had time to work!”
“Busy” is not a foreign concept in this church family. Confirmands would come to class late not because they did not care but because they were coming from the family carpool of dropping off another sibling at a different event or they were coming from their own practice or activity. Volunteers for children’s ministry are hard to come by because everyone feels overwhelmed with the busyness of their lives. I personally have experienced being wrapped up in busyness that I find myself trying to navigate which balls I am juggling I can safely drop – and I don’t always get it right.
Being busy is not inherently bad – it is something we all navigate. Our society encourages us to be busy under the guise of productivity. But I ask you: are we too busy for God?
We exist in a cacophony of chaos. Our phones are ringing, our notifications are piling up, our calendars are full. It’s a lot.
Our scripture reading this morning feels like chaos to me. I have always considered it a “loud” passage – as I read it, I can feel my anxiety rise, my heartbeat grows louder, and my breaths quicker. I find that I get wrapped up in questions like “who is Legion?” “Why is Legion?” “Where is Legion?” I let the cacophony of chaos distract me from the point of the story itself. My focus should not necessarily be “who is Legion?” but rather, I should focus on who Jesus is – Legion says, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” Jesus is the Son of the Most High God. Legion knows who Christ is – more clearly than the disciples, maybe more clearly than some of us.
Who is this Jesus that can cast fear into many demons? It is Jesus Christ the Son of the Most High God.
Many scholars and theologians have spent time writing and researching to use this passage to prove or disprove the power of evil and the work of demonic spirits in this world. That is not the route we are going in this sermon. For too long I have been wary of this passage because I have been caught up in what I don’t know and overwhelmed by the possibility of what can stand against Christ. But Legion doesn’t stand against Christ – their conversation with Jesus shows that Jesus has the power to do away with Legion: Legion says, “I beg you, do not torment me”…They begged him not to send them back into the abyss…they begged him to go into the swine… Legion knows that Christ is superior. Legion does not stand against Christ because they are less than Christ. Jesus is the Son of the Most High God.
Legion was tormenting this man – the man was isolated from society, isolated from Christ, isolated from who he is. A cacophony of chaos can swirl us out of rhythm with God, and we can quickly find ourselves focused on things that draw our attention from Christ. It is far too easy for other influences and priorities to come before God himself…
When work becomes too busy and worship seems like one more thing on your calendar…
When social schedules and the importance of community pulls us from community with Christ…
When watching church from the comfort of home is more convenient than reintegrating into community if it is physically possible…
It is a daily struggle in the bedlam of busyness that has the potential to pull us away from Christ himself. Yes, I am suggesting that Legion in our lives looks like anything and everything that pulls us away from Christ himself.
If we stand before Christ and ask him Legion’s question, “What have you to do with me?” Is it argumentative? Is it combative - not wanting Christ to change your life but wanting him adjacent to the life you’ve created? Or is it genuine? What do you have to do with me, oh God?
But the story does not end with the man being healed and sitting at the feet of Jesus. No, it continues with the reaction of the crowds, with the reaction of his neighbors. Their reaction is fear. The people asked Jesus to leave they were so afraid.
Sometimes the devil you know is less terrifying than change. When society tells you that busyness equals productivity, how do you reorder your priorities in a way that creates time and space to worship Christ on Sundays – and perhaps even create time to pray and serve God during the week? When family and friends and the importance of community pulls you away from Christ – if it pulls you away from Christ – how do you wrestle with the conflicting expectations? When your worship and faith experience is content with remaining isolated, are you open to Christ’s call into the Body of Christ and out of what has become comfortable and convenient?
As we see in the Gospel story – sometimes it is easier to live with the reality you know than to make space to let God enter into our lives and create change – because change is terrifying, especially if you don’t see how it can happen.
Grace read a familiar passage from First Kings – the story of God speaking to Elijah in the still, small voice. God was not in the great wind, God was not in the earthquake, God was not in the fire. God was but a whisper in the midst of the sheer silence.
How can we expect to hear the voice of Christ calling us to follow him if our lives are too busy and the cacophony of chaos is too loud? We need to integrate change, to reorder our priorities, and break through the distractions so that we can foster a relationship with God where we are not only speaking at him with requests, but so we too can hear what God has to say to us.
Change is hard, silence can be uncomfortable, and life can be more comfortable with the devil we know than the possibility of peace that can only come with realized change through Christ.
But what if. What if we took a step out of the cacophony of chaos and met God in the sheer silence? What if we took the next faithful step to prioritize Christ in the midst of our full, busy, and overwhelming lives?
How many times will we allow the things we prioritize over Christ stand in our way of Christ? Will we allow the voices, the influences, the pressures, and the expectations of society keep us from God himself?
Or will we step into the silence, the peace, the calm, and strive to experience God’s own voice – a voice that invites us into peace and invites us to seek him first?
Do you have time for God…or will you continue to be busy, putting all other expectations and responsibilities before Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High God?
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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