I’ve believed for some time now exorcisms need to be revived as the newest spiritual discipline and I am persisting in that belief (I’m just about ready to make pamphlets). I’m not talking about some new age craze to make money off of nor the newest fad that will die out in a year or two -­‐ I’m being genuine: I think we need exorcisms.

You’re probably thinking slap a hand on the forehead knock the demons out of someone else type exorcisms. And, while I think that vision is kind of amusing (can I decide if YOU have demons?? because I think I might know a few people who need to be exorcised), that’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m thinking of a ritual, a tradition, something to do when you simply can no longer live with your demons. Not the red-­‐suited demons with horns and pitchforks, but the demons of memory or vice. The demons of bad habits or stuckness. Whatever it is that plagues you and keeps you from moving forward -­‐ whatever it is that halts you and throws a wall up in your path. Whatever it is that burdens you and weighs you down, making it hard to stand up straight.

We all have those kinds of demons at certain times. And what do you do with them? Even if you can name them, how do you move forward? What ritual do you find to pass the time while you wait them out? What do you do if you wait and nothing happens? Perhaps it works sometimes to rationalize them away, but I think sometimes thinking about them only makes it worse. So what do we do? How do we find ways to move forward?

I think we need something in the church, in life, we can do to help ourselves let go and move on -­‐ to knock the demons out so we can keep going with a lighter load -­‐ to knock the demons out so we might have room for the good that will come along in due time. It’s not a matter of forgetting or pretending it never happened, it’s just a matter of making room and putting it back in perspective -­‐ holy perspective.