Collect
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: graft in our hearts the love of your name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of your great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
or
Generous God, you give us gifts and make them grow: though our faith is small as mustard seed, make it grow to your glory and the flourishing of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Post Communion
Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life, ever giving himself that the world may live: may we so receive within ourselves the power of his death and passion that, in his saving cup, we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love; for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Readings
Old Testament – 2 Samuel 6.1–5, 12b–19
David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
It was told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.’ So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.
As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.
They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt-offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. When David had finished offering the burnt-offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.
Psalm 24
1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it, ♦
the compass of the world and all who dwell therein.
2 For he has founded it upon the seas ♦
and set it firm upon the rivers of the deep.
3 ‘Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, ♦
or who can rise up in his holy place?’
4 ‘Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, ♦
who have not lifted up their soul to an idol, nor sworn an oath to a lie;
5 ‘They shall receive a blessing from the Lord, ♦
a just reward from the God of their salvation.’
6 Such is the company of those who seek him, ♦
of those who seek your face, O God of Jacob.
7 Lift up your heads, O gates; be lifted up, you everlasting doors; ♦
and the King of glory shall come in.
8 ‘Who is the King of glory?’ ♦
‘The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord who is mighty in battle.’
9 Lift up your heads, O gates; be lifted up, you everlasting doors; ♦
and the King of glory shall come in.
10 ‘Who is this King of glory?’ ♦
‘The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.’
Epistle – Ephesians 1.3–14
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.
Gospel – Mark 6.14–29
King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’
For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’ Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
Sermon on Trinity 7
From the beginning of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church there have been many ways of understanding scripture.The story from the gospel this morning has many layers and interpretations – much like “the dance of the seven veils” which is derived from it.
Let’s think about the layers of this story a little this morning. – First there is the literal meaning. A mother allows her daughter to dance for her father and guests at his birthday celebration. He is so full of joy that he promises her anything in his power, even half of his kingdom as a reward for her performance, if she wants it. What is the girl to request? She asks her mother for an appropriate reward. Mother harbours resentment against John the Baptist because he had denounced her marriage to Herod, so you know what she is going to ask. I am sure the general line of thought is that she could use this extremely generous offer of reward for her own ends, that she could get rid of the very present thorn of conscience which John represents in her life. So she directs the daughter to ask for John’s head. Herod is horrified by the request and terrified if he fails to grant it.
But there is more to this story, isn’t there? We can see there is so much to Herod’s character. He is just as complex as each of us.
Herod is a fearful man, like so many of us. He is scared of what the crowd will say about him is he doesn’t do what he promised that child – “whatever she wanted, even up to half of his kingdom”. That was too much to promise, but his word is his bond, as they say. Now the crowd can judge him. We all know how the crowd behaves, and we, like Herod, fear that assessment by faceless others in life.
Don’t we all fear what others might think about us? Just like Herod we don’t want to lose face in front of our peers. When we were younger this was certainly the case – well, it was if you didn’t feel as if you were already an outcast, or that your parents did not understand you. That fear is very real all through our lives, isn’t it? We want to fit into the world around us, that world made up of family and friends, where strangers have their place. Don’t we give way on what we think is right and good many times just to merge into that mass of humanity?
Fear does take over. Didn’t Shakespeare say something similar? “Conscience makes cowards of us all.” Sometimes conscience is driven by the crowd, that crowd which governs our everyday activity, that crowd which, perhaps inevitably, takes over the role of conscience all too often.
These are just two of the veils we have picked off the story of Herod and the demise of John. The literal story, how this incident came about, Herod’s weakness in the eyes of his wife and the world, his fear of his wife and the crowd. I would say that this is a very good interpretation of this story, but we can go further.
We have found two veils – two ways of hiding what lies behind the story of Herod and John the Baptist. There is a third that I would like to look at – Herod’s admiration of John. I think this reveals Herod’s conscience and how delicate it is.
Conscience asks us to consider the ethical choice: conscience demands that we separate ourselves from the everyday world to stand alone in the strange land of moral choice, a territory which like on the old maps is a region “full of dragons” – truly a place of fear, where it is not the crowd but our ownmost possibility we encounter.
One of those dragons we need to confront is our self-knowledge.
Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
Herod knows about John, is impressed by John, protects John and yet is “greatly perplexed” by John. Don’t we all know what is going on here? We have all been attracted by someone or something, which is “righteous and holy”, half attending to it, and half ignoring it, in our lives. We are just like Herod, aren’t we? Although we recognise what is righteous and holy, we don’t fully commit to it. Rather we skirt around it and continue in the manner of “the world” – the map of our ordinary, everyday lives. Just like Herod, we like to listen to what is righteous and holy but we don’t consider it an option at the core of our lives, even if there is some sort of harmony struck in the hidden depths of our souls, where righteousness and holiness are recognised. We are paralysed when we are asked to choose, just like Herod, and we do nothing. As that saying goes, “For evil to flourish, good people need do nothing.”
That is what Herod confronted in his life, the dysfunction of ethics, how little the moral compass guides us in that land of dragons in the map of our lives. This map is just another veil hiding the true story of Herod and John, that map revealing where we all will travel at some time.
We all must enter a space where we are alone, where the crowd will no longer support us, or cajole us, or force us to act in a certain way. The decisions we make in that unknown territory will be our own alone. Our ownmost selves must press onward to its own decisions for our own lives. We will begin to live life in all its fullness there in that alien place.
I would liken that place to the moment Kierkegaard exposes in the life of humanity, when we all must make the choice for life. He calls it standing at the abyss, that emptiness confronting us, the terra incognita of the ancients, where nothing is known at all.
There are no more veils that I wish to lift this morning. We have moved from the first literal explanation of the story of Herod’s murder of John the Baptist to an exploration of an individual’s fear in the face of his loved ones and the faceless crowd, a fear that reveals an anxiety in the face of moral choice. Then we have revealed the abyss which faces each one of us in our ownmost possibility.
You may find other veils to be pealed away from the story of Herod and John. I have looked at a very particular psychological aspect of the story, the role fear plays in our lives. You may see how love blinds Herod, with yet another psychological motivation.
Let us keep studying this story like we analyse the whole of our lives. Each of us needs to find the interpretation of the story that fits our circumstances at the different times and places we find ourselves in life, when we confront our ownmost possibility.