Homilies
The Cost of Ministry
"Holy Spirit, take my words and speak to each of us according to our need."
The scripture reading today, is a difficult one and not easy to read. Such a casual approach to ending a life by beheading someone at the request of another! But, there are many things that can be learned from this which should be relevant in all our lives.
I’d like to think today about the cost of ministry, the courage required to what is right over what is popular and the need to learn to pause and respond rather than react.
John was born with a purpose; to go ahead of Jesus and prepare people for his coming. He spoke the truth, even when it was dangerous and ultimately it cost him his life. In our little corner of the world, we don’t often consider that being a Christian may be dangerous, but there are still many places where Christians are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and martyred for their faith. Of course death is an extreme example of a cost of ministry but we are all called to be disciples and share our faith with others, so what might those costs look like for us?
Today is the first time many of you have met me, so you won’t know much about me, I’m sure. Let me tell you a little bit about how I came to be here. Back in 2002 I was living in the Forest of Dean and I was a teacher. It wasn’t even on the horizon that I was might one day be a vicar. I used to travel over to this area and do single days cover teaching in the local schools and I loved it. When I did begin to listen my calling, after 30+ years of running away from it, I was living on the Isle of Wight. I had been married for 12 years, together with my husband for 23 years and we had 4 amazing children. Unfortunately myself and my husband grew apart, we were still friends but we wanted different things and eventually we divorced. Everything was amicable, we taught in the same school, we shared an office together, our children attended that school and we made everything work smoothly sharing our parenting equally. Then it became clear that I didn’t fit the church on the Island and I wouldn’t be able to be authentic in my ministry there, for a number of reasons. If I wanted to be able to continue my calling and ministry to those I was called to, I had to move. And here I am! 100% confident that I am in the place that I am meant to be, where I can flourish, where I can help minister and where I fit, but my children won’t move, my parents can’t move, my ex-husband has had to take on more parenting responsibility and it is hard. It is hard as a mother to feel torn between a calling on your life and a calling to be a mother. There is guilt, there are tears, there are questions everyday about how it will affect everyone involved. But they are head based concerns, still based on the world we live in here and now. In my heart, I know that God has it all under control, His timing is perfect and despite the heartache, there are oh so many overflowing blessings that are to come from this situation for everyone.
So how does this affect us here and now? How does this fit with our Gospel reading? Well Herod, if you remember, acted rashly in promising anything to Herodias’ daughter and once his promise was made he couldn’t go back on it. He would lose face in front of his subjects at the feast. It would call his authority and rulership into question. He was facing today’s equivalent of peer pressure. Whereas John had spoken the truth and paid for it ultimately with his life, Herod was cowardly in acting against his conscience. He took the easy way out to save face rather than stand up for what is right. We may not have our lives on the line but how many of us would honestly be willing to stand up for a lone voice in need over the keeping of our popularity?
We will often face pressure and challenges in our lives. It might be standing up for our beliefs, making a tough decision where there really is no better or worse but is instead bad or worse. And we will often feel the weight of others’ expectations, judgements or misunderstandings. We also, don’t always know what another person is going through especially when they may only present themselves as being ok and happy on the outside.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned over the last 2 years and particularly over the last 3 months is that the way someone treats you is more often than not a reflection of something that is going on within their lives and is not about you at all. Just as in our Gospel reading, Herodias was bitter, Herod had inner conflict and Salome used her wiles as manipulation; none of those things were about John the Baptist at all, they were all acting out of their own situation, yet John was the one who paid for it with his life.
When we encounter such situations, we have a choice. We can either react with anger or frustration and lash out or we can step back, pause and respond out of kindness and understanding. Personally, for me, I have already met some people who don’t appreciate my being an ordained woman, but that is ok. That is their opinion, it’s valid. It isn’t the same as mine but that’s ok too. If we respond kindly to each other, we can both hold our views amicably. As Graham Kendrick sang in his song The Servant King “each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we’re serving.”
When writing this I was reminded of a story about a boy who wanted to start going to church. He lived in the middle of nowhere and asked his dad to give him a lift. His dad refused saying that church wasn’t something their family did and if he wanted to go then he would have to find his own way there. So he did. Every Sunday he got up early and walked 5 miles to his nearest church and then walked home again after the service. Every week, once at home again, he would set about washing his dad’s car. One day, after this had been going on for a few weeks, a friend asked him why he would wash his dad’s car after his dad refused to give him a lift to church. The boy replied, I may be the only Jesus that my dad gets to see in his life.
So next time, when we've just got in after a busy, draining day dashing all over the place doing errands for others and the phone rings, pause. If the grumble or complaint on the other end seems insignificant, consider we might be the only person they’ve spoken to today and how important this conversation is for them. Step back and respond with love. We too might be the only Jesus they get to see that day as well.