Today at worship we meditated on Mark 5:1-20.  An interesting Bible story that I had never heard before.  Probably because it is a bit scary.  What with a herd of possessed pigs and all…  Seriously, read it.  It is an important story for the simple fact that it illustrates God’s intense love for us. 

The truth is, in one way or another and at one time or another we are all possessed…  We’re possessed by our circumstances, our mistakes, our heartache.  We’re kept hostage in our own bodies by anger and pain and sometimes our own sheer stupidity.  We’re captive by sin.  And so we flail.  We yell.  We cry.  We beat ourselves up.  Our own worst enemies. 

But if we’d only let go…

Sin in my life has almost been like a hideous article of clothing that wears me more than I wear it, if that makes sense.  Like some crazy tight and bright spandex contraption that for whatever reason I decided to try on and though I realize after the fact how incredibly ridiculous I appear, try as I might, I cannot take it off.  I can’t wiggle out of it.  Shake it off.  Nothing.  So instead, I add layers of clothing over it to cover it up.  And layers and layers and layers.  Instead of reaching out and asking someone to kindly cut me out of the sinful spandex bodysuit, I wrap myself up tighter until it has such a hold of my heart.

So today’s story from Mark was a powerful reminder for me.  The times where I feel most ashamed, sad, confused, upset, rebellious, lost, broken…  The times in my life when every fiber in my body is telling me to cast myself away…  Those are the very times when I need to let go.  And those are the very times where I need to lean into my faith a little deeper and trust in God’s grace, mercy, and radical love.