{"id":1811,"date":"2018-07-16T10:01:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T10:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=1811"},"modified":"2018-07-16T10:13:59","modified_gmt":"2018-07-16T10:13:59","slug":"sermon-15th-july-2018-morning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-15th-july-2018-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 15th July 2018 – morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n

Seventh Sunday after Trinity – morning<\/h1>\n
\n

Sunday 15th July 2018<\/h3>\n

Proper 10 – 7th Sunday after Trinity – morning
\n
\nEphesians 1. 3-14
\nMark 6. 14 \u2013 29<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n

\n

\"MaureenLet\u2019s pause a moment and pray for powerful leaders of nations…<\/p>\n

They have had a hell of a week, haven\u2019t they? One way and another? <\/p>\n

Whatever one\u2019s politics, you have to have felt a bit sorry for Teresa May this week! First the football let her down \u2013 failed to produce the hoped for \u2018feel good\u2019 factor that would have helped everyone to welcome her plan for Brexit… That didn\u2019t go too well, with two major resignations from her Cabinet and people on both sides of the argument telling her that it just won\u2019t work. (I don\u2019t know whether it will or it won\u2019t to be honest \u2013 I\u2019m beginning to lose the will to live over the whole Brexit fiasco!)
\nAnd if that weren\u2019t enough, she then had to host Donald Trump of all people! That can\u2019t have been a very comfortable couple of days!<\/p>\n

But I think the Donald merits our prayers too. Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 I cannot stand the man or his policies, but he is the President of the most powerful nation on earth and the things he does, says and tweets can directly affect every citizen of this country \u2013 and the rest of Europe too come to that! So I think we should all pray that somehow he learns how one should behave when a guest in another country. How to be a statesman rather than a Demagogue. And that he learns a little humility and compassion…. Lord knows, he needs it!<\/p>\n

The possession of great power is a dangerous thing. Herod found that out \u2013 and so did John the Baptist.<\/p>\n

Herod was Tetrarch or ruler of Judea. Together with his brothers he had been allowed by the Romans to exercise control \u2013 and power \u2013 over a small portion of Palestine. Not only that, but he had married his brother\u2019s wife \u2013 who also happened to be his niece\u2026 Middle Eastern Royal dynasties were nothing if not incestuous!<\/p>\n

This had attracted public scandal and the attention of John the Baptiser \u2013 that rather wild and forbidding desert prophet. Charismatic certainly \u2013 but perhaps not the sort of house guest one could feel comfortable with? Especially if your name was Herod!<\/p>\n

Herod\u2019s wife was none too pleased \u2013 one can imagine the sort of names she was being called \u2013 and she had no affection for the Baptiser and his \u2018Repent or else\u2019 sort of preaching. <\/p>\n

And yet \u2013 Herod, we are told, was fascinated by John. He protected him \u2013 by keeping him in prison \u2013 and liked to go and listen to him. I wonder why? I doubt he heard much to comfort him. But perhaps he recognised something in John that he lacked \u2013 integrity. Total honesty before human beings and God. That was something all the power \u2013 all the riches in the world, could not give him. Integrity. And no doubt he enjoyed the sensation of having John in his power. At his beck and call. Integrity to command.<\/p>\n

But maybe Herod was trying to demonstrate his integrity? Maybe that was why he decided to be a man of his word? Only to find that his sort of integrity would catch him out and make him do the one thing he was trying to avoid. Was it integrity that painted him into a corner and led directly to the death of John?<\/p>\n

I often think that God must have a jolly good laugh at the way his creatures interpret the guidelines he gave us to live by. Either laugh or cry.<\/p>\n

And nothing divides human beings from each other like religion! Like the interpretation of \u2018rules\u2019. We kick against them and yet are fascinated by them at the same time. Just like Herod and John the Baptist. And when we find someone who seems to be better at keeping them than us \u2013 well we either put them on a pedestal \u2013 that makes them somehow super-human, or try to dismiss them.<\/p>\n

The death of John the Baptist must have weighed heavy on the mind of Herod. Although he had maintained his integrity \u2013 kept his promise \u2013 shown to all his guests that he was \u201cA man of his word\u201d, he had been partially tricked into having John executed. Made a fool of by a pretty young girl dancing before him \u2013 promised her anything she wanted \u2013 anything in practise that her mother wanted \u2013 little imagining it would involve him taking the life of John.<\/p>\n

So what is it with powerful people? Why do they so often get it wrong? Whether our political or religious leaders \u2013 whether we ourselves as the economically powerful in our world. Be careful when you start to use your integrity, your word, as a weapon rather than a gift. <\/p>\n

So often we fail to remember that it is God alone to whom belongs ultimate power. God alone who chooses to exercise his power through self-giving love \u2013 something we will celebrate shortly as we come to God\u2019s table and receive in bread and wine the tangible proof of that love.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t something that sits easy with most of the powerful people of this world. Power made perfect in weakness is not a concept that Presidents and Prime Ministers can readily embrace. Herod thought he was all powerful and wanted to show off to his friends and enemies alike. Yet today the only reason we remember him is because of two 1st Century Palestinian holy men who had no riches, no power \u2013 at least, no political power. John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah \u2013 our Saviour. Witnesses to the true power of God in the world. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sermons index Seventh Sunday after Trinity – morning Sunday 15th July 2018 Proper 10 – 7th Sunday after Trinity – morning Ephesians 1. 3-14 Mark 6. 14 \u2013 29 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs Let\u2019s pause a moment and pray for powerful leaders of nations… They have had a hell of a week, haven\u2019t they? One … <\/p>\n

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