Gospel: Luke 10,17-20
The Return of the Seventy
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18 He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Sermon: “To Train or Fight Dragons. “
Welcome to Harvest service as we with gratitude give thanks for the abundance of blessings given to us through nature and resources, through hard work and dedication, through love and commitment.
Once again congratulations with the baptism of your beautiful little child – yet another gracious gift given to you to care for and provide for as the most precious little flower.
And then: Let me start with a disclaimer first.
Dragons are not real creatures: dragons never really lived on the surface of the earth. Dinosaurs did millions of years ago, but dragons did not.
Dragons are creatures of our imagination and fantasy. They live in fairy tales and stories. In myths and sagas. In games and movies. And in the bible as well.
Dragons are not real creatures, but that does not mean that stories of dragons cannot teach us something about our lives, our battles and fights, and struggles.
Throughout history and human storytelling dragons are these magical, mystical, powerful creatures symbolizing everything we humans fight against dangers, despair, threats, violence, and more.
When you came to the church this morning, you walked past the Rune Stone.
It is a 3-sided runestone: 1 side with Harald Bluetooth bragging runes about how mighty and great a King he was to manage to unite and rule over Denmark and Norway.
2 side is the oldest known Nordic depiction of Christ: the glorious king of king and Lord of all, that won over the Norse gods like Odin, Thor, and Freja.
3 side depicts a vulture animal, a lion, surrounded by a snake or a dragon.
When you look at the colorful Bulletin of today you see a dramatic illustration of the story from Revelation: the last Scripture in our Bible. St. Michael and the archangels bravely fight against the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the fallen angel, the Devil, or Satan.
And in the gospel of Luke Jesus talks about the fallen angel, Satan, the dragon, the serpent, and all the snakes and scorpions that the disciples are sent to tread on and concur.
It sounds like Harry Potter or the Game of Thrones, doesn’t it? Like Dungeons and Dragons.
What or in God's name do these dragons have to do with this Sunday, this Harvest Celebration, The Baptism, and this joyful Sunday in church? That is one of the effects that a Lectionary sometimes throws at the pastor who must write the sermon on the designated texts and the congregation who must listen.
Well, even we on this Sunday in September 2024, may have our dragons and demons to slay and conquer to…. Or to train.
Do you know that wonderful DreamWorks animation movie: “How to train a dragon?” There are 3 movies, but the first one truly was a marvel, and it one of my all-time favorite animation movies. It was released in 2010 and became a great hit and won an Oscar. The story takes place in a mythical fantasy Viking world where a young Viking teenager named Hiccup aspires to follow his tribe's tradition of becoming a dragon slayer. But after finally capturing his first dragon, he finds that he does want to kill it, but he wants to befriend it and train it. So, eventually, the dragons become friends and friendly creatures through training and understanding, and not feared creatures that should be killed. It is a great movie, and as a Dane, you love the depiction of the Vikings in this far away fairy tale land. But even more the movie tells a story that we can relate to that quite possibly there may be more ways to conquer dragons, demons, problems, enemies, fears, despair, depression, and struggles than to kill, better to befriend, learn, understand and train. It tells us a beautiful tale about facing your fears, knowing your fears and enemies, and trying to train or tame the wild in the world or in yourself.
When the lectionary through the poor pastor text about dragons, deadly fights and dark images, I tried something yesterday. Instead of consulting my commentaries, my usual resources - and asked AI.
AI generated story
Ah, a classic tale! While the idea of battling dragons and demons might seem fantastical, the core message of overcoming fear and despair is very real and resonates with us all.
1.Here's how to tackle and Conquer Your Inner Demons and Dragons:
1. Face Your Fears and Identify them.
2. Acknowledge their power. Challenge your fears.
3. Take small steps: Acknowledge your bravery and reinforce your confidence.
2. The Weapons of a Warrior:
1. Courage: Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting despite fear. *
2. Resilience: Setbacks are inevitable. Learn from them, adapt, and keep moving forward. 3. Hope: Even when things are difficult, keep faith that things can get better.
4. Perseverance: Do not give up. Keep fighting, keep learning, and keep growing. Remember: This is an ongoing journey.
Well, AI sound more like a Motivanional Peptalk, but it did get the essence of how to fight or train your dragons and fears.
With Hope, Resilience, Perseverance, courage and faith. All the ingredients that we as parents hope and try to instill in our children as the grow up.
All the ingredients that we wish to plant in our children, in ourselves, in our society so we might be best equipped to fight or train our dragons and demons.
Because it matters what we plant. It matters if we nourish and shower our children with faith, hope and love and instilling seeds of resilience, courage, perseverance in them.
Lord let my heart be good soil, we sing at the end of the service.
Lord, let my heart be good soil,
open to the seed of your word.
Lord, let my heart be good soil,
where love can grow, and peace is understood.
When my heart is hard, break the stone away.
When my heart is cold, warm it with the day.
When my heart is lost, lead me on your way.
Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart be good soil.
This is what we celebrate today: the many seeds that are sown, planted and harvested in the abundance of nature: the good soil given to us, rain and sun, farmers, workers and technology to secure a good harvest for us to enjoy.
That is what we celebrate today: the many good seeds of faith, hope and love that is planted in us by God Gracious Words and Blessing.
That is what we celebrate today: the many good seeds sown and planted in us to break the stone away, warm our hearts and lead us when we are lost.
Always remember that if you have your dragons and demons to fight, trust that God is with you in your fight and despair. Believe that the seeds of goodness, hope, courage and resilience is planted in you.
Always remember that if you have your dragons to train, your strangers to meet, your fears to overcome, your prejudices to conquer, that God is with you.
We might not always mange to fight the dragons or train them, but even then, God is with us when we need second chances, shelter and forgiveness.
Remember as the Gospel ends today:
“Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Amen