TURN THE PAGE!

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.

This story of John the Baptist… I have to say… it’s dark. It’s a story about a powerful man who, without much in the way of smartitude, unwittingly got himself steered down a dark, back alley in the middle of a moonless night only to find out much, much too late that this was a dead end road. This story is dark. As dark as it gets for a political family manipulating life or death things for their own twisted desires two thousand years ago. This story is dark. Dark like a depression you’ve been fighting for weeks and months that’s left your finger tips bloody from just trying to hold on to the edge of the pit for far too long. This story is dark. Dark like a windowless immigration bus driving your child away from you to a place you don’t know, by drivers who will soon forget your child’s name or where they dropped them off. This story is dark. Dark like the night the one you love is driven away under flashing lights. This story is dark. And what makes this story even harder… even darker… as if that was needed… is that we’ve all been told we must, we have to, we have no choice but to sit in the dark and DON’T TURN THE PAGE!

The story from Amos is dark too. It’s the sort of darkness that comes when the one who put the sun in the sky and breathed life into clay that became YOU… asks YOU to look at the world with honesty… with honesty, mind you… and tell that One if it’s still straight up and down like God made it. It’s the darkness that comes when the biopsy comes back as malignant. It’s the darkness that falls when the phone rings at 2 a.m. and you know a horror awaits you on the other end of the phone. It’s the darkness that comes when you deny God’s grace to yourself. It’s the darkness of letting go of the rope tied to someone you love. It’s the darkness of hitting rock bottom. It’s the darkness of a message unheard and a warning dismissed and a cliff approaching and being just out of reach. And what makes that darkness worse… as if it needed any help with that… is that the rule is: DON’T TURN THE PAGE!

In committees and synods and houses of primates.

Ideas for change make the nervous ones gyrate.

With Trolls and with ICE, and the GRU too,

Frightened white men mess with red, white and blue.

The POTUS and FLOTUS and SCOTUS as well,

Have something to say about what makes up hell.

In vast numbered lines of legislation galore.

In bills and amendments proposed on the floor.

In decades and eons of unbendable rules.

Followed religiously by scholars and fools.

In spread sheets with schedules all nailed to the wall.

With voices that speak like an unthinking doll.

In warnings from Presidents, Pundits and Sages

We’re constantly told: DON’T TURN THE PAGES!

But here’s the thing… what they don’t know and what they can’t ever seem to hear clearly, is what God has been whispering since the Wind of God swept over the waters in the very first sentence of the whole Bible… God’s been whispering to us through prophets and poets, to turn away from the dark and formless void that too often masquerades as the brains in charge of supposedly logical “thought” in this world. God is whispering for us to break the rules! Pick grain on the Sabbath, heal the sick, and raise the dead! And for God’s sake… God is whispering for us to absolutely, without delay… TURN THE PAGE! DO IT! DO…. IT!!!!! TURN THE PAGE!

Because what the rule following, all-change-is-bad world won’t tell you is that there’s Good News coming on that next page! On that page… the one after the horrors of John the Baptist’s beheading… the lost sheep find their shepherd! On that next page, five loaves and two fish multiply to feed five thousand! On that next page scarcity becomes abundance, the empty become full, the lost are found and in the end there was a left-over perfectly poetic pantry packed with panettone and perch!

And I’m here to tell you something that Ethyl (God love her), who has led the altar guild at St. Christina the Astonishing Church for the last 93 years won’t tell you. Something the accountants, synod lawyers and episcopal chancellors won’t tell you. Something the lectionary, liturgy and the library police won’t tell you either! I’m here to tell you something only poets, musicians and song writers will tell you. Only the bakers, barbecuers, fly fishers and fiddlers will tell you… something only the ones who color outside the lines with gleeful abandon will tell you! Something only the ones who put silly rhymes in the middle of sermons written on a desk with a solar powered waving pope will tell you… and THIS is what they’ll tell you:

TURN THE PAGE! Because when you turn the page from that darkness in Amos, God says “EXCEPT!” The sinful kingdom will be destroyed from the face of the earth… EXCEPT… not utterly destroyed. Things are bad… EXCEPT… the ruins will be rebuilt. The world is a mess and a mess of the people’s own making and there are consequences for that… EXCEPT... the day will come when food will grow so fast you’ll have to plow and harvest at the same time! The grapes will grow so thick that the mountains will drip with sweet wine. The day WILL COME, WILL COME, WILL… COME! Simply because the LORD WANTS IT TO COME, when what has been ruined will be rebuilt and everyone will have enough. Everyone… everyone… EVERY… SINGLE… ONE will have enough.

Now, out there, the world will continue to tell you in a strikingly, serious, series, of stories, and segments that the world is dark, deadly and desperate and we all must live in fear, frustration and forever foment! The people who have not taken time to address their demons, have not stopped running from the horrors of their past, have not dared to open their eyes to see the wonders that fall on them like rain and flow through them like breath… those folks will continue to tell you that whatever we do… we mustn’t… we shan’t… we positively, absolutely, unequivocally, it’s not in any way legal and we are a nation of laws for crying out loud so we CAN NOT under any circumstances EVER… TURN THE PAGE.

What I’m here to tell you… is that God says…

TURN IT!

Amen.