Clap your hands!
I preached at High Mass on Advent Sunday. For me it's the second highlight of the church year (the first is the first Mass of Christmas!), but it was special for me in more ways than just the date this year.
Part way through my sermon, as i spoke against the fear-mongers in the anti-gay brigade, my somewhat elderly, English, mainly straight congregation spontanaeously clapped!!!
They even cheered!!! In the middle of a high anglican mass!!!! It was awesome. I LOVE THEM! Just when you think the Kingdom will never come you find it's right here among us......and there's nothing *they* can do about it.
Some have asked to read the sermon - which is sweet, especially as you were gonna get it anyway! ;-) I've marked in bold the point where my congregation cheered and applauded.
Deo Gratias!
As Chicken-licken was going one day to the wood, whack! An acorn fell from a tree on to his head."Gracious goodness me!" said Chicken-licken, "the sky must have fallen; I must go and tell the King."So Chicken-licken turned back, and met Henny-penny."Well, Henny-penny, where are you going?" said he."I'm going to the wood," said she."Oh, Henny-penny, don't go!" said he, "for as I was going the sky fell on to my head, and I'm going to tell the King."So Henny-penny turned back with Chicken-licken, and met Turkey-lurkey. "I'm going to the wood," said he.Then Henny-penny said: "Oh, Turkey-lurkey, don't go, for I was going, and I met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on to his head, and we are going to tell the King."So Turkey-lurkey turned back, and they met Ducky-lucky….
And the story continues,
as we all know,
with Goose-loosey, and Drakey-lakeyand all the gang.
Of course, chicken licken had a point.
After all, he had the evidence.
The sky was falling,
and Goosey Loosey and Henny Penny and friends
joined the panicand ran……
Chicken Licken is a story about scaremongers,
folk who don’t dare to question their assumptions,
and who drum up panic.
“The sky is falling!”
And it’s a story about people who allow these scaremongersto make decisions for them.
People who don’t ask questions about what they’re being told.
No-one even asks Chicken Licken
what evidence he has that it was the sky
they manage to hide the ridiculous nature of his tale
because they accept the call to panic and run…
“The sky is falling!”
The Church has its share of Chicken Lickens,
those doomsday geniuses,
who are sure we face the end of the world,
and who state that what they claim is obviousand expect the rest of us to panic and run.
And often we do.
They notice that global tension is rising,
that disease is spreading,
they even notice tornados.
The sky is falling they tell us,
and fill the falling sky with their own assumptions and fears.
But they never dare to question what they think is obvious.
They never dare to ask if what they say is actually true.
One of these doomsday characters in the United States
is Pat Robertson,
who has the ear of President George Bush Junior.
This man warned the city of Orlando Florida
that if it continued to fill its streets with gay pride flags
it would be struck by a tornado.
This was based on the obvious truth
that God had punished New Orleans for its gay pride march
with horrendous flooding and tornado.
See – the sky is falling down!
But one woman dared to question Robertson’s assumption.
She questioned his obvious evidence.
Janis Walworth investigated the claims
of this Chicken Licken.
She studied the correlation between the occurrence of tornadoes
and the gay population in those places.
She found that higher proportions of gay people lived in areas
with very few tornadoes.
So she went on to ask the question,
where do the tornados occur?
Walworth discovered
that the most tornados actually occurred
in areas with the highest population
of fundamentalist Christians!
Like Pat Robertson and his ilk!
So she cheekily pointed out
that maybe God was angry with them!
But such facts rarely stop the Chicken Lickens
or those who run with them.
They don’t stop to ask questions.
They ignore the words of Jesus that
“you do not know on what day your Lord is coming”.
They sidestep Jesus showing us
that the coming of God’s reign
is not a threat to frighten us into faith,
but an inspiration to liberate us to live faith.
But often they will quote some words from Jesus,
just to give their unquestioned claims
a touch of divine authority,
just in case you were thinking of daring to question them.
Words like:‘There will be …distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world…. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads.’
The Chicken Lickens act as if these words prove their point.
And when combined with their prejudice and assumptions…
and money
and books
and TV programmes
and magazines
and newspaper editorials
they make a frightening cocktail.
“The sky is falling down!”
But when Jesus tells us about the coming reign of God,
he did not drum up panic,
or mindlessly shout “The sky is falling down!”,
Jesus wanted his followers
to greet the world
not with panic and confusion and chaos,
but with confidence that God
was working out God's purposes for peace, joy, and justice.
Jesus is saying,
when it looks like the sky is falling down,
or others claim that it is,
don’t panic,
don’t run around shouting,
don’t get others to join your crusade of fear and hate,
insteadremember God is a God of justice and joy,of wholeness and hope,
and keep on loving and living lives of peace,
because God’s rule is bigger and beyond all this chaos.
The followers of Jesussee the bigger picture.
They look to the skywhen others are shouting that it is falling down,
and they instead focus on
the power and glory and hope of God.
Which way are we looking?
At the chaos in panic?
Or at the glory of our God of justice and hope
and the promise of God’s reign?
Which voices are we listening to?
The ones which say how bad the world is,
which claim to have all the answers,
and know whom to blame,
and shout that the sky is falling down?
Or the voice of Jesus,which calls us to stand up and raise our heads?
Are we listening to
the voices which call us to panic and point fingers,
or the one which calls us to live lives of radical love and peace?
Remember what happens to Chicken Licken
and those who follow him without question…
So Turkey-lurkey turned back and walked with Goosey-loosey, Drakey-lakey, Duckey-lucky, Henny-penny and Chicken-licken. And as they were going along, they met Foxy-loxy. And Foxy-loxy said: "Where are you going?"And they said: "Chicken-licken went to the wood, and the sky fell on to his head, and we are going to tell the King."And Foxy-loxy said: "Come along with me, and I will show you the way."But Foxy-loxy took them into the fox's hole and he and his young ones soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Henny-penny, Duckey-lucky, Drakey-lakey, Goosey-loosey, and Turkey-lurkey.........................and they never saw the King.
Part way through my sermon, as i spoke against the fear-mongers in the anti-gay brigade, my somewhat elderly, English, mainly straight congregation spontanaeously clapped!!!
They even cheered!!! In the middle of a high anglican mass!!!! It was awesome. I LOVE THEM! Just when you think the Kingdom will never come you find it's right here among us......and there's nothing *they* can do about it.
Some have asked to read the sermon - which is sweet, especially as you were gonna get it anyway! ;-) I've marked in bold the point where my congregation cheered and applauded.
Deo Gratias!
As Chicken-licken was going one day to the wood, whack! An acorn fell from a tree on to his head."Gracious goodness me!" said Chicken-licken, "the sky must have fallen; I must go and tell the King."So Chicken-licken turned back, and met Henny-penny."Well, Henny-penny, where are you going?" said he."I'm going to the wood," said she."Oh, Henny-penny, don't go!" said he, "for as I was going the sky fell on to my head, and I'm going to tell the King."So Henny-penny turned back with Chicken-licken, and met Turkey-lurkey. "I'm going to the wood," said he.Then Henny-penny said: "Oh, Turkey-lurkey, don't go, for I was going, and I met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on to his head, and we are going to tell the King."So Turkey-lurkey turned back, and they met Ducky-lucky….
And the story continues,
as we all know,
with Goose-loosey, and Drakey-lakeyand all the gang.
Of course, chicken licken had a point.
After all, he had the evidence.
The sky was falling,
and Goosey Loosey and Henny Penny and friends
joined the panicand ran……
Chicken Licken is a story about scaremongers,
folk who don’t dare to question their assumptions,
and who drum up panic.
“The sky is falling!”
And it’s a story about people who allow these scaremongersto make decisions for them.
People who don’t ask questions about what they’re being told.
No-one even asks Chicken Licken
what evidence he has that it was the sky
they manage to hide the ridiculous nature of his tale
because they accept the call to panic and run…
“The sky is falling!”
The Church has its share of Chicken Lickens,
those doomsday geniuses,
who are sure we face the end of the world,
and who state that what they claim is obviousand expect the rest of us to panic and run.
And often we do.
They notice that global tension is rising,
that disease is spreading,
they even notice tornados.
The sky is falling they tell us,
and fill the falling sky with their own assumptions and fears.
But they never dare to question what they think is obvious.
They never dare to ask if what they say is actually true.
One of these doomsday characters in the United States
is Pat Robertson,
who has the ear of President George Bush Junior.
This man warned the city of Orlando Florida
that if it continued to fill its streets with gay pride flags
it would be struck by a tornado.
This was based on the obvious truth
that God had punished New Orleans for its gay pride march
with horrendous flooding and tornado.
See – the sky is falling down!
But one woman dared to question Robertson’s assumption.
She questioned his obvious evidence.
Janis Walworth investigated the claims
of this Chicken Licken.
She studied the correlation between the occurrence of tornadoes
and the gay population in those places.
She found that higher proportions of gay people lived in areas
with very few tornadoes.
So she went on to ask the question,
where do the tornados occur?
Walworth discovered
that the most tornados actually occurred
in areas with the highest population
of fundamentalist Christians!
Like Pat Robertson and his ilk!
So she cheekily pointed out
that maybe God was angry with them!
But such facts rarely stop the Chicken Lickens
or those who run with them.
They don’t stop to ask questions.
They ignore the words of Jesus that
“you do not know on what day your Lord is coming”.
They sidestep Jesus showing us
that the coming of God’s reign
is not a threat to frighten us into faith,
but an inspiration to liberate us to live faith.
But often they will quote some words from Jesus,
just to give their unquestioned claims
a touch of divine authority,
just in case you were thinking of daring to question them.
Words like:‘There will be …distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world…. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads.’
The Chicken Lickens act as if these words prove their point.
And when combined with their prejudice and assumptions…
and money
and books
and TV programmes
and magazines
and newspaper editorials
they make a frightening cocktail.
“The sky is falling down!”
But when Jesus tells us about the coming reign of God,
he did not drum up panic,
or mindlessly shout “The sky is falling down!”,
Jesus wanted his followers
to greet the world
not with panic and confusion and chaos,
but with confidence that God
was working out God's purposes for peace, joy, and justice.
Jesus is saying,
when it looks like the sky is falling down,
or others claim that it is,
don’t panic,
don’t run around shouting,
don’t get others to join your crusade of fear and hate,
insteadremember God is a God of justice and joy,of wholeness and hope,
and keep on loving and living lives of peace,
because God’s rule is bigger and beyond all this chaos.
The followers of Jesussee the bigger picture.
They look to the skywhen others are shouting that it is falling down,
and they instead focus on
the power and glory and hope of God.
Which way are we looking?
At the chaos in panic?
Or at the glory of our God of justice and hope
and the promise of God’s reign?
Which voices are we listening to?
The ones which say how bad the world is,
which claim to have all the answers,
and know whom to blame,
and shout that the sky is falling down?
Or the voice of Jesus,which calls us to stand up and raise our heads?
Are we listening to
the voices which call us to panic and point fingers,
or the one which calls us to live lives of radical love and peace?
Remember what happens to Chicken Licken
and those who follow him without question…
So Turkey-lurkey turned back and walked with Goosey-loosey, Drakey-lakey, Duckey-lucky, Henny-penny and Chicken-licken. And as they were going along, they met Foxy-loxy. And Foxy-loxy said: "Where are you going?"And they said: "Chicken-licken went to the wood, and the sky fell on to his head, and we are going to tell the King."And Foxy-loxy said: "Come along with me, and I will show you the way."But Foxy-loxy took them into the fox's hole and he and his young ones soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Henny-penny, Duckey-lucky, Drakey-lakey, Goosey-loosey, and Turkey-lurkey.........................and they never saw the King.
Labels: Advent, Chicken Licken, Gay
posted by Freedom Bound at
10:50 PM
3 Comments:
FB, had I been there, I would have clapped and cheered, too.
By
Grandmère Mimi, at 2:18 AM
Chicken-licken at high mass? LOL. That wss great. Thanks
( I thought the character was chicken-little, though that may be the american version.)
By
-frank, at 2:09 PM
Oh!
It is 12:30 on Sunday morning, the Sunday I'll go to church and hear the stories of the Feast of the Transfiguration. Months after your congregation clapped and cheered. As would I, except, you've left me breathless.
Thank you.
By
Kate, at 5:32 AM
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