Teenage Exorcists - BBC3

There is a certain type of programme that I find myself attracted to whilst repulsed by it.  Tonight's BBC3 programme 'Teenage Exorcists' is one of them. 3 young American girls in Buffy style attacks on the work of Satan encouraged by the father of one of them who has a long history of work in this area.

Their approach to exorcism is to provoke a response, insist demons name themselves and how they got there, generational rights etc and it seems it requires a lot of shouting and the waving around of silver crosses or Bibles. All this in the highly staged and hyped expectation of action.

Now I am not going to get into the seeing demons under every stone but there is a pastoral issue,

There was story of the young woman convinced she is under a curse, and that conviction being dismissed by her local church she had watched clips of these folk on youtube and saw them as the only answer - but when she met them for a private session was disappointed to find that the threats to the demons caused no response in her. Nor did she react at the public meeting later, despite being assured that if the words were spoken then curse had been broken, the lack of what she considered the proper response in her made her go away convinced it had not worked.

Then the former chaplain whose ME type symptoms she saw as a spiritual attack -  she 'manifested' in the meeting and had the full casting out treatment.  She left convinced that she had been exorcised of her demon, and went into the future with a new confidence, and restful sleep. The reporter referred to catharsis.

How would I or my churches respond had either of them come to us for help?

When I began as a minster before any baptism or even a funeral I was asked to help someone who was anxious and disturbed by a sense of a presence in their home. Calling on a colleague we visited, listened and prayed through the house followed by communion.

No hype, but no dismissal of a person's concerns either.  I am open to the possibility of spirits interfering in our world, but believe in a God who is bigger and doesn't need a stage show or silver crosses to make a difference.  But for the other 99.999999% of the time I want to take someone seriously, hear the anxiety and pray it through whatever the cause.

Is it spiritual healing, therapy at being acknowledged and taken seriously or the placebo effect? I believe during my years of being a minister there will be cases of all 3 or any mixture between them.

And then there are times when someone should be referred to medical support - how do we help someone to accept that suggestion without dismissing what for them is real nor colluding with their interpretation when it needs to be challenged?

How do we care for the agitated soul?