A Story of Shame
A sermon from Beth Powell on shame and the hurt caused by not speaking out in the face of homophobic and transphobic comments, from the Sunday service at our sister church St Michael in the City, 11th July 2021. The gospel reading was Mark 6.14-29.
This is my first time preaching, and I was kind of disappointed when I found out what I would be preaching on - the gospel reading is not about something that Jesus did and at first glance it seems like a strange insert that we cannot learn too much from. It is sandwiched between two stories that seem much more interesting, Jesus sending out the twelve and feeding the five thousand, so I have often just skimmed over it.
At first glance this story is horrible, almost everything about it is wrong. John the Baptist stood up to Herod and told him that it was wrong to marry his brother’s wife. For this, Herod’s wife wanted John dead. Herod promised his wife’s daughter, with an oath, that he would give her anything she wanted. Herod’s wife used her daughter to get Herod to kill John and when she asked him to kill a man that he knew was righteous and holy, he did it, rather than deal with the shame of breaking his oath.
Herod must have known that there was something in this Jesus lark. He mistakenly thought that Jesus was John raised from the dead, he believed that somewhere in all this there was the power to raise somebody from the dead, and he knew that John was a righteous and holy man. However, when his wife’s daughter asked Herod to kill John, he did it because he had already told her that he would give her anything she wanted, and he did not want to deal with the shame of breaking an oath in front of his guests. Shame made him rather kill a man, who he had protected and knew to be holy, than break an oath.
Shame is a difficult thing, society, friends and family can make us feel ashamed for things we ought not to. The shame of being the person who said, ‘I’m not sure I agree with you there, I think what you said might be a bit racist, or homophobic, or transphobic or misogynistic or ableist’, or worse, the shame of not joining in with a joke that has gone a little too far, is how problematic ideas spread and will inevitably do harm, and sometimes more Immediately than you might think.
I was once on a coach in Iceland with my old Explorer Scout unit. I was a leader by this point, so I got to sit near the front of the coach, with the more senior leaders sitting right at the front, behind the driver. The driver started being very homophobic and transphobic. Two of the older leaders had previously been very supportive of me and another leader who was queer. They had even defended us when one of our Scouts’ parents shouted homophobic slurs at us on parade. This time unfortunately they did not defend queer folk and they did worse than just smile and nod. Instead, they both pretended to agree with him. Myself and one of the other leaders just looked at each other and hoped than none of the kids heard it. I stopped going to that Explorer unit not long after we got back.
Like Herod in the reading, shame led them to carry on doing something that they knew was wrong. Shame led them to knowingly say homophobic and transphobic things in front of a at least two queer folk, and a large group of kids.
Shame can be so powerful that it can make us join in with conversations, even ultimately hurt ourselves, never mind other people. There is a line in the Tom Robinson song ‘Glad To Be Gay’ that goes “Lie to your workmates, lie to your folks, put down the queens, tell anti queer jokes, Gay lib’s ridiculous, join in their laughter”. This song was written over 40 years ago, but it perfectly shows the harm that shame generated by an unwelcoming society can do. Shame that can be so powerful that it can lead us to ‘hurt ourselves in our own confusion’, to quote a Pokémon meme.
Our world is full of leaders who would rather do something harmful than deal with shame. We have all seen it a thousand times, this ancient story of power, corruption and oppression still happens today, only today’s leaders do not normally serve the heads of people they have executed on a platter.
There is some good news though, Deuteronomy 31: 6 says “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you”. God can give us the strength and courage to overcome shame, whether given to us directly, or more often by people who God works through. So gradually, one person can reduce another person’s shame so that person can reduce another person’s shame and so on. So slowly more and more of us will be able to stand up and say, ‘I’m not sure I agree with you there, buddy’.
Every movement in history has had someone that facilitated the work of the people who started the movement. For Jesus, this was John the Baptist. He came before Christ and prepared the way for him. After Jesus was crucified, the apostles continued the movement he started, a movement that has been passed on to each new generation and is still being passed on today.
Most of you here today will remember people who were members of this church before you who have passed it on to you, and you are passing it on to your children, grandchildren, neighbours and friends, and, in time, we hope that they will pass it on to their children, grandchildren, neighbours and friends.
John 4:37 says ‘one sows, and another reaps’. We reap the benefits of the work of the people that have come before us, and in return we do the work for the people that will come after. This applies to the present day beautifully, both within and outside the church. As a queer person I reap the harvest of people like Marsha P Johnson, Harvey Milk, Sylvia Rivera and Mark Ashton. And in return, I do whatever I can to further the rights of queer folk that will come after me.
God calls us all to be part of this, to end oppression and to make our world a welcoming and safe place for everyone. We are all called to do a little bit of God’s work until the next generation does a bit more and the next generation and so on. So gradually our world will get a little bit better, one small and careful step at a time. Evan though it all started about 2000 years ago when John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ, it continues with us. We are God’s children, messengers and even stewards of their work. Peaceful and calm as we walk the journey spreading the message of love.