CHRIST CANDLE
Jesus said ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’. (John 8:12) May this candle remind us of Christ’s presence and promise. Light Candle.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
We gather on the land of the Dharawal people. It was never ceded or sold or given away, it was taken without the thought that they ever owned it, without the awareness that their very identity and life is entwined in this land that we too now call home. We acknowledge their elders past and present and pledge ourselves to work together in peace, in solidarity and in justice making.
WELCOME
Eternal Creator God, God with us in Christ, God in Spirit our Helper. You welcome us to this place where your name is acknowledged and honoured and where your love is celebrated. Each one of you is known to God. All that is you is acknowledged. All you have been, all that you are today and all that you may be tomorrow. So, come, welcome, you are all made in God’s image.
CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 24:1-6
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it
the world, and all who live in it;
For he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart
who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.
They will receive blessing from the Lord
and vindication from God their Saviour.
Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob.
HYMN TIS 181 vs 1, 2 & 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTYOglt9ab0
Come, O God of all the earth
Come to us, O Righteous One
Come, and bring our love to birth
In the glory of your Son.
Sing out, earth and skies!
Sing to the God who loves you
Raise your joyful cries
Dance to the life around you.
Come, O God of wind and flame
Fill the earth with righteousness
Teach us all to sing your name
May our lives your love confess.
Sing out, earth and skies!
Sing to the God who loves you
Raise your joyful cries
Dance to the life around you.
Come, O Justice, come, O Peace
Come and shape our hearts anew
Come and make oppression cease
Bring us all to life in you.
Sing out, earth and skies!
Sing to the God who loves you
Raise your joyful cries
Dance to the life around you.
Marty Haugen 1950 - Words and music by permission GIA Publications Inc Chicago, Illinois.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION based on Psalm 24
Holy God, as we come into your presence
we are overwhelmed by our many shortcomings.
Our hands are not always clean; our actions don’t always glorify you;
Our hearts are not always pure; our accomplishments do not always give you credit;
Our words are not always true; and our allegiance to you can be skin deep.
By your mercy and grace, O God, may all that will be our lives from this moment
reflect your love and mercy, your prayer and hope in and for each of us and your whole creation.
In God our Creator, in Christ our Saviour, our world finds healing and renewal. Praise be to God!
HYMN TIS 230 vs 1 & 3
It passes knowledge, that dear love of thine
My Saviour Jesus; yet this soul of mine
Would of thy love, in all its breadth and length
Its height and depth and everlasting strength
Know more and more.
It passes praises, that dear love of thine
My Saviour Jesus; yet this heart of mine
Would sing that love, so full, so rich, so free
Which brings a rebel sinner, such as me
Nigh unto God. Mary Shekleton 1827 – 1883 Public Domain
GOSPEL READING
Mark 6: 12 – 29 The disciples went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” Others said, “He is Elijah.”
And still others claimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.”
But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!”
For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.” She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” “The head of John the Baptist,” she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, & brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.
MESSAGE
‘Power’ feasts in abundance – which one will you attend?’
Some background on this King Herod: The Herod who imprisons and later kills John the Baptist and who later interrogates Jesus, is not the Herod of Jesus’ birth. He is Herod Antipas, one of Herod the Great’s sons who ruled as Tetrarch of Galilee & Perea, with the approval of Rome, from 4BC – 39AD. His marriage to Herodias the wife of his brother Philip, led to a rebellion by his ex-Father in law. Flowing from that disastrous war, the Roman Emperor became involved and in 39AD Caligula banished Herod and his new wife to exile in Spain. They were never heard of again. Let us pray…
Two weeks ago we heard of the juxtaposition of two woman. The first, ostracised to the margins of society for 12 years who when Jesus healed her welcomed her into a new community with ‘daughter your faith has made you well’. The second, a young girl of 12 the daughter of Jairus the leader of the local synagogue to whom Jesus said ‘talitha cum’ ‘little one rise up’. In this story Jesus raises to new life two women as a sign of his ministry of radical inclusion & healing.
Today we have the story of Herod’s feast of power, wealth and entertainment in his palace on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee; this story is then followed by Jesus’ feast of the feeding of the 5,000 on whom he ‘looked with compassion for they were like sheep without a shepherd’. Mk 6:34
If we think of settings of power, wealth and entertainment then we might think of the 2020 enquiry into Crown Resorts and their fitness to hold a gaming licence at Barangaroo in Sydney.
It was alleged that few if any checks and balances were put in place in the pursuit of what were called ‘junket trips’ where mega wealthy individuals would come & spend millions on gambling. All the appropriate open doors were in place to facilitate attracting these people to Australia with appropriate visas, the allowing of smoking & no ceiling limits on actual $$ spent. No AUSTRAC $10K+
It was also alleged that these ‘junkets’ facilitated money laundering. The regulator decided late last year that Crown Resorts should not be granted a Gaming Licence until certain structural changes were made involving Crown’s Board, its governance and one of its shareholder. And let’s not forget the special NSW exemptions which were required 15 years earlier to even enable Barangaroo to be built!
Back in the early 30’s AD you could imagine the sorts of people who were attracted to power and wealth & to the feasts that Herod held in his capital Tiberias. We know they were people of influence because we are told that Herod did not want to lose face in front of them.
Today’s story is well known. Herodias, Herod’s new wife didn’t take kindly to being condemned by John the Baptist for the un-seemly haste in which she divorced her 1st husband and in her ultimatum to Herod that he quickly divorce his 1st wife the daughter of King Aretas, the ruler of Nabataea.
And yet amidst all this power, there is overwhelming panic and fear, in Herod. For when he hears of Jesus’ ministry, never having as yet met him, he fears that not even John’s beheading has stopped John returning as a thorn in his side, to minister to the people of Galilee as this ‘Jesus of Nazareth’.
We see echoes here too of the comparison with Jesus whom 3 years later another ruler would kill, a ruler who believed, like Herod, that this person’s death would solve the dilemma he faced.
This is the politics of power & expediency, of the crushing dissent, of deep insecurity that often seems to be part of those who have, for a time, absolute power; who can’t stand being held to account.
HYMN In Halls of Wealth and Power Tune PASSION CHORALE (TIS 339)
In halls of wealth and power where shadowed deals are made
The heartless ones devour; the helpless are betrayed.
The ones who make decisions seem confident and strong
Yet sometimes blur divisions between the right and wrong.
When Herod chose to wander from living as he should
John preached with mighty thunder, "Repent and do the good!"
Then power danced with anger; revenge went dancing, too.
When they all join together, what evil they will do!
O God of love and justice, when we feel sure and strong
May power never tempt us to venture toward the wrong.
In all of our endeavours, give wisdom, Lord, we pray
That we may love our neighbours and seek your kingdom way.
In halls of wealth and power, in home and neighbourhood
May we reject the evil and turn to what is good.
May justice dance with mercy and service dance with grace;
May nations lift the lowly till peace and love embrace.
Text: Copyright © 2015 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. Email approval from Carolyn received.
HYMN TIS 561 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiSAjwtpFUc
Who would true valour see
let them come hither;
those here will constant be
come wind, come weather.
There's no discouragement
shall make them once relent
each from avowed intent
to be a pilgrim.
Those who beset them round
with dismal stories
cannot the brave confound:
their strength the more is.
No lion can them fright;
they’ll with a giant fight,
but each will have a right
to be a pilgrim.
Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
can daunt their spirit:
they know they at the end
shall life inherit.
Then fancies, fly away!
they’ll scorn what people say
and each work night and day
to be a pilgrim. John Bunyan 1628 – 1688 Public Domain
BENEDICTION All Together OK 412 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRGy2XNJDnQ
Sent by the Lord am I, my hands are ready now
To make the earth the place in which the kingdom comes.
Sent by the Lord am I, my hands are ready now
To make the earth the place in which the kingdom comes.
The angels cannot change a world of hurt and pain
into a world of love, of justice and of peace.
The task is mine to do, to set it really free
Help me to obey, help me to do your will.
Traditional Nicaraguan © Jorge Maldonodo, World Council of Churches.
Music arrangement © 1993 David Peacock Jubilate