Reaching Out For Human Contact

by Jan Hansen

I was at the Interfaith Grand River booth at the Multicultural Festival when we had a pair of women come to us. One of them said that she was working in another booth when the second one had approached her looking for help. She introduced the second woman saying, “This is So-and-so [she used an actual name, but I will not include it here] and she is looking for help in dealing with the demon that she says is tormenting her.”

Now, I have never been asked to wrestle with a demon, and from the reaction of the others there, I don’t believe that I am the only one. The person described intrusive thoughts that she was trying to fight. She framed her experiences in terms of demons.

We asked her what she needed. At her request, one of us placed her hands on the person and we prayed the Lord’s Prayer aloud. She then shook and wrestled aloud with her thoughts. When she paused for breath, I said, “You must be having a rough day.” She looked at me and said, “No,” and then it was done. We had a little small talk, she checked out the booth, picked up her things and left.

Now I can’t comment at all about demons, but what I can say happened is that someone reached out for help, and what she got was human contact and a sense that there were people who cared about her. What I experienced was in one way completely new (I’ve never before been asked to help with a demon), and in another way incredibly ordinary (I have many times had people reach out for human contact and a sense that they were cared for).

The wonder of it all is the diversity of people who showed their caring in that moment. The woman from the other booth is a Roman Catholic Christian, I am a Lutheran Christian, we also had a Jew and a Buddhist. The thing that united us was caring for another human being, and that was beautiful.