Dear Friends, Neighbors and Members of St. Cyprian's,
Below you'll find my sermon from last Sunday.
Luke 13:31-35
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Are you a fox or are you a hen? Most of us have probably heard the expression, "there's a fox in the henhouse." Meaning there is a predator among the prey. In today's gospel Jesus calls Herod, the powerful Roman ruler who beheads John the Baptist a fox. And Jesus says that he longs to be like a Hen gathering her chicks under her wings to protect them from the fox --- but the people of Jerusalem are not willing, they don't want that kind of protection or care or don't realize that Jesus the mother hen can defend them. Instead perhaps those chicks are freaking out, they are running away, they are fearful of the powerful and violent Herod --- I imagine the people, and their various groups like chicks in the barnyard running off in all directions as Jesus the mother hen stands there with wings out stretched squawking at the fox and vulnerable herself to attack.
Jesus as mother hen is not fearful or if he is, he's not showing it. He's confident in his capacity to cast out demons and heal people, to bring transformation. Jesus identifies himself as part of a long chain of prophets. People who are understood to have had a special vocation to advocate and communicate, protect and remind folks that God was and is a God of freedom and hope, of love, deep, aching, passionate love. Prophets often came bringing words of encouragement but also challenge --- encouraging ancient Israel to remember who they are and what God has done for them & urging the people to remain faithful and connected to themselves, each other and to the God that loves them. Prophets were particularly condemning of hypocrisy and greed which we know Jesus was constantly confronting as well. Of course, as Jesus points out, prophets were often persecuted, stoned, and killed in Jerusalem --- Jesus knows his time is short.
I love the image of a mother hen --- for it suggests that the people being protected themselves are chicks who if given the opportunity, space, time, food and safety will grow up into hens themselves. They will grow up and be courageous bearers of love, compassion, care, and protection.
Prophets in ancient Israel often had communities of followers around them that would seek to continue the spirit of the prophet's teachings extending their legacy and importance beyond the prophets own lifetime. Jesus in describing himself as a mother hen, and the people as chicks is perhaps suggesting that while he may be killed, hopefully the prophetic teachings, sayings and practices he shared will live on among the chicks so that the good news of God's compassionate love, forgiveness and desire to see us flourish will be known and shared.
I think there's hens and foxes in all of us.
Jesus defines Herod as a fox. A predator who is out to get his prey --- the prey though are the people not just the mother hen. Herod beheaded Jesus' cousin, the prophet John the Baptist and Herod represented the greed, wealth, power and allure of the Empire --- perhaps of all Empires. Is there not a fox in all of us? Is there not a crafty, hungry, perhaps violent side of us that wants to grab and take, possess and conquer? If we did a poll on the street and you asked folks to choose whether they would prefer to be a chick or a fox which do you think most would choose? Being a fox sounds like a lot more fun than being a chick waiting to become a hen.
I think our contemporary world is full of the allure of becoming foxes. To be people that are out for ourselves alone, who are willing to do just about anything to take what we want. Empires of the past and present are especially good at convincing people to work for them, with promises of wealth, status, and adventure --- when ultimately they discover they've been sold a bill of goods, they aren't going to be foxes they are going to be dinner. Consider the sad state of so many veterans back from Iraq or Afghanistan who must deal upon their return with PTSD, unemployment, addictions --- 18% more troops died from suicide last year than combat. This is tragic. But perhaps not unlike the allure of gangs or corporate cultures that feed on our human yearning to belong to a powerful, rich, and popular scene - there's a pervasive culture in our country that seeks to turn us into constant buyers and sellers of not only goods and services, but also of ourselves. Even though we may behave like foxes, we are still chicks and if we don't wake up and get behind the mother hen we're going to get eaten alive.
So how do we nurture our hen like behaviors rather than fox like ones?
By practicing, by becoming more intentional and mindful about our choices, more aware and present to what's going on in the barnyard of our lives and communities. What are some practices that help you find the mother hen inside you?
Perhaps meditation? Or offering hospitality? Perhaps a long walk by the ocean?
One author defines practices in this way, "shared activities that address fundamental human needs and that, woven together, form a way of life." Here's a few examples of practices they name:
Keeping Sabbath
Giving Testimony
Forgiveness
Discernment
What are practices that help you become fearless and courageous like a mother hen protecting her children? What activities help you see the foxes within and without? How are we as a congregation like a Hen (imagine our church building here on Turk & Lyon, it kind of looks a bit like a hen with her her beak in the air) and how at times are we like a fox? What would make us more hen-like? What are activities or things that we may want to let go of that are more fox-like?
The other night I came to a free dinner here at St. Cyprian's --- I was very anxious about how the event would turn out, I wasn't sure if we had let a fox in or a hen. I think the hosts weren't sure whether we were foxes or hens either. But once I got here and saw the beautiful vegetarian dinner, and the tables set up and an array of friendly artists and musicians I realized that my anxiety was really unnecessary. That ultimately things were going to be okay. We were all hens together --- and at least for now the foxes were being kept at bay.
At the end of the evening I sent a message to the mother hen of Fridays free dinner saying thank you for bringing this to our building. And he replied, "thanks for giving us a chance."
How many in our world are yearning to be given a chance, a chance to do what they do best, to become who they are, to express their deepest longings.
St. Cyprian's has an opportunity to choose to be a community of hens, a nurturing place of love, hospitality, care and creative passion. We also could choose to be a cockpit --- fighting to our deaths pretending to be foxes. I hope we nurture our hen likeness --- as we seek to be faithful to the desire of Jesus, our mother hen. I hope we may help one another by affirming those qualities and desires that help us be that nurturing place of love, hospitality, care and creative passion --- and I hope we also call one another out when we are starting to behave like foxes or fighting roosters.
See you soon at Turk & Lyon!
Peace,
