New things.
So here I am, 6 weeks from the end of my internship at Salem. I'm sad. That's the main feeling right now. I'm sad to be leaving such a terrific congregation, such terrific people, and a wonderful supervisor. I'm comfortable in my duties, enjoy the challenges, and love Minneapolis. It's going to be sad to begin to say goodbye, and to move back to philly for my last year.
I guess this is a learning as well, how to gracefully and greatfully leave a place that you have so much invested in. *sigh*
I think it would be great to do ministry in the cities again one day. We'll see what happens. :)
In other news, I got a new tattoo on saturday, and I love it. I've been planning out tattoos for three years now, practically the minute after I got my last one, so it was definitely time. I'm pleased with the colors and the design, and can't wait for the next, hopefully it won't be in three years. :)
Blessings and Peace!
Labels: internship, life, new, tattoo
Losing heads to peer pressure.
Sermon for Pentecost 6B
Mark 6:14-29 – The beheading of John the Baptist.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you ever done something that you didn’t really want to do, in order to impress some friends, of even to get the attention of that pretty girl or good looking guy?
For many people this has happened more then once, we have come up against peer pressure, and peer pressure has won.
A friend of mine told me once this great anecdote from his life, about peer pressure. His name is Paul. He grew up in the country, on a dairy farm. As Paul and his friends became teenagers, they began to look for things to do as a group during Friday evenings. So this particular Friday evening, they could think of nothing to do, so one of his friends suggested they tip a cow. Paul wasn’t really keen on the idea, since he knew that they could get in trouble, and also that cows get pretty darn angry if you wake them up, and can charge. So they pestered him for a while, so finally he gave in, and said that he would do it, as long as they tipped on of his cows, this way at least he knew the cow they were tipping. They snuck onto his farm after the sun went down, and Paul directed them to this old cow. He figured she was the lightest, and most likely the slowest, so she would be easy to tip, and wouldn’t catch up with them too quickly.
The group of young men, quietly creeped up beside her, pushed with all their might, and knocked her right over. As they ran away, Paul glanced back to see that the cow hadn’t gotten back up, that she wasn’t even trying to stand again. He watched for a minute or two, and realized something was wrong. He went back to her, and realized that they had given this poor old cow a heart attack, and she was now dead.
Now of course they had to cover their tracks. So they decided to take the tractor, push her body off the bank, into the river that ran along the local farm properties, and play it off as if they had never been there.
Two days later, Paul's dad sat him down for a talk, he wanted to discuss becoming responsible, and owning his own cow. His dad told him he would give him a cow for a fraction of the cost, only a couple hundred of dollars, and that Paul could start the beginning of his own dairy farm. Paul was excited that his dad seemed to trust him and jumped at the opportunity. His dad took his money, and told Paul that he could buy the old cow that he had killed earlier this week. Turns out that the neighbors had called to say that her body had washed up on their property. Paul's dad instructed him to go pick up his new cow.
Paul was mindful of ever lying to his father, or tipping cows again.
My friend Paul, caught himself up in peer pressure, and had to deal with the consequences of guilt and of course his father’s punishment.
Herod’s story takes this peer pressure to the next level. Herod wanted to make himself look real good in front of his friends. He needed them to know that he was true to his word, but also that he was a powerful man. He hosted this party in honor of himself. And he intended to make sure it was impressive. I can picture the banquet hall full of luxuries, exotic foods, beautiful music, and a dance that was so moving, the king offered even half his kingdom as a gift to his step-daughter, the dancer.
Now here is where we need some background information. As the Gospel recalls, Herod wasn’t quite sure how he felt about John. He saw that he was a man of God, and was fascinated at the things he had to say and the ministry that he cultivated, but he was also threatened by him. Herod couldn’t allow John to continue to spread the message that his marriage was unacceptable to God, but he also didn’t want to go to the extreme that his new wife wished he would. Whereas Herodias wanted John dead from the beginning, Herod was willing to keep him imprisoned, so that he did not harm this man of God, but so that his reputation wasn’t challenged either.
As we look back at the banquet. Herod offers his step daughter whatever she wants, he does so out of joy for her dancing talent. She being the teenager that she is, she doesn’t really know what to ask for, so she goes to her mom for ideas.
Instead of telling her daughter to ask for something that could help her in the long run, such as a piece of land, or power over an area of the kingdom, Herodias can only think about her own anger. Herodias is so consumed with her anger for John that she can’t even think about the welfare of her child, who has no legitimate claim to the kingdom of Herod.
Her daughter does as her mother says, and even tries to please her mother more, by requesting John’s head upon a platter and presenting it to her mother. This gruesome tale then comes right back to Herod.
As he sits in front of friends and guests, he seems to have no choice. He is so caught up in his need to impress people, that he doesn’t want to tell his step daughter no. Also, not killing John, after the public knew that John was speaking against Herod and his marriage, would have made Herod look weak.
Herod allowed John to suffer, so that his company would not be disappointed and he would remain powerfully feared and honored. John suffered for a tyrant, a tyrant who exercised his ultimate power, the power to banish people to the grave.
Like there were for Herod, there are many powers that we struggle with in life. We struggle to remain true to ourselves, but then also to succeed in life by society standards, and to make impressions on friends, co-workers, and even strangers.
Pressure is on us from all areas of life. We are pressured to take care of family, to provide a safe place for them to live and to provide for their needs. We are pressured as a society to succeed financially, even in this struggling economy. We are pressured to look as if we handle tragedy and pain like it’s no big deal. There is pressure for us to go along with what society raises up as ‘cool’ or acceptable for people our age.
Don’t we often back our selves into corners, and do what is socially acceptable? Don’t we all walk past things in life sometimes? Walk past moments where we see blatant racism? Walk past situations where we suspect abuse? Walk away from things and people that if we get involved with it could become messy for us? Even though we know it’s wrong? Instead of reaching out to people who are seen as ‘undesirable’ by society standards, we move on, cutting them off from love, grace and compassion.
We deny people human rights all the time. Whether it gets attention in the media as the case of the two reporters that are imprisoned in North Korea or it is just known between the two people, such as when a child dismisses the feelings of another child in school because if they spoke to them or didn’t make fun of them, they wouldn’t be cool anymore.
The power of peers and society surrounds us like a tyrant, it threatens to remove us from power and prestige, if we don’t conform with it. So instead we cut other people out from the grace that is given to them. We choose to treat others poorly, so that we are not the ones that are treated like John the Baptist. Instead of sticking up for what we see is right, for living life as Jesus Christ has shown us through his life, we are scared to go against the pressures of society. We let the power of the tyrant rule our lives.
But there is good news in this story of John’s death. For the tyrant’s power has no hold over the power of resurrection!
When Herod heard of the teachings of Jesus, he automatically thought that John had risen from the dead. That death had no hold over this man of God. That must have terrified Herod, as well as comforted him.
He would be scared because it was possible for this man of God to come back and preach against him once again, but also Herod could be relieved as not having felt like he completely destroyed John. He seems to comfort himself with the idea of John being alive again, and that his actions in front of his friends, had no real consequences.
Herod is of course mistaken, and John was not the one responsible for the amazing acts that were being reported. However, there would be a resurrection. A resurrection that would strip power from the tyrants of the world. A resurrection that would strip power from death and the grave itself. A resurrection that would give life to people for all the ages past and all the ages in the future. A resurrection that was a promise of grace and love.
Jesus’ resurrection still has the power to transform the negative powers in our lives today. Jesus has triumphed over sin and death for us. His life, death and resurrection release us from the powers of society; they enable us to live within the grace of God, to be loved children of God, instead of tyrants to ourselves and others.
It was through another gruesome act that God’s love trumped all the abuses of power and reached out to embrace a suffering world. God reached out to you, through the pain of the cross to save you from the powers of the world, to show you that you and I are loved children of God.
We act out of that unconditional love, to break the tyrant like powers of the world that crush people’s hope and souls. We act out of God’s unconditional love when we take the time to care for the repressed people of society. We act out of that unconditional love when we participate in volunteer agencies and relief organizations, such as Lutheran World relief or the Heifer Project. When we volunteer our time at places such as “feed my starving children,” or even the summer VBS program here at Salem, we share that unconditional love, and help to change the lives of people through the transforming power of a resurrected Christ.
It is through that love and grace that we are invited to the banquet everyday. This is not the banquet of Herod which is full of self aggrandizement or where we will be offered half of a fractured kingdom, but instead, this is the banquet of Christ, were we are given life and love, and given the whole kingdom of God.
The message of the banquet of Christ cannot be stopped. The love of Christ will invade all parts of the world, all places full of tyrant’s power, and fills us with a life giving love, a power over the grave. Amen.
Labels: gospel, Jesus, John the baptist, peer pressure, ressurrection, tyrant
