 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Wednesday, November 17, 2021 Christ the King, part 3 Resisting the false “kings” and “kingdoms”  Stories of ResistanceWhile the holocaust is not the only example of state-sponsored religious persecution in recent years, it is the most well-known. And it parallels the persecution I mentioned yesterday, to which Daniel’s vision was a hopeful response. We will soon come to the Jewish feast of Hanukkah, on November 28, also the first Sunday of Advent. (Hanukkah celebrates Jewish resistance to the horrors of that persecution, the cleansing of the Temple, and the victory of the Maccabees. It’s a great story – and a good illustration of one form of resistance.) But here are some more contemporary ones. In early 1945, the home of the Nazi Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, was taken over by the allies. In March, US Army chaplain, Manuel Poliakoff, assisted by PFC Arnold Reich, and Corporal Martin Willen celebrated Purim (late – because they were fighting in Feb., the actual date of Purim) with Jewish GIs.(another great biblical freedom-from-persecution story; the story of Esther and the foiled scheme to murder all Jews in the Persian empire) The Nazi trappings had not even been taken down yet. This is a real photo that appeared in Yank magazine in 1945.And it happened again three weeks later as Jewish soldiers packed the house to celebrate Passover (which commemorates Moses leading the people out of slavery; the escape from Egyptian slavery) We can resist the pressure to adapt and conform to powers and principalities that do not have the authority they claim, by refusing to give them the loyalty they demand, and by celebrating and practicing the opposite reality. Worship IS a form of resistance. And it can be costly. It announces an altogether different realm, with an altogether different Authority. “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe “Every authoritarian ruler knows that – which is why they try either to stamp out that resistance, or to co-opt it to their own purposes.  Another way of resisting a false kingship is by practicing the opposite behavior in the face of brutality. There are many similar stories- but here is one -A Jew, Yankel, owned a bakery in Crown Heights, NY. Someone asked how he had survived the holocaust. He recounted the story of being in a boxcar on a train to Auschwitz in winter time. It was deathly cold. He was next to an old man from his town, whom he loved. The old man was shivering so much that the teenager, wrapped his arms around him and began rubbing him to warm him up – “All night long I kept the man warm in this way. I was tired, I was freezing cold myself, my fingers were numb, but I didn’t stop…finally morning came and the sun began to shine, There was some warmth, and then I looked around to see some of the other Jews in the car To my horror, all I could see were frozen bodies… nobody else in that car made it thought the night. Only two people survived, the old man and me…the old man survived because someone kept him warm; I survived because I was warming somebody else.” Love is an act of resistance.  And we resist by continuing to hold on to hope even in desperately hopeless situations. This small pendant was created by Gershon Henoch as a token of love for his wife Frania in the Piotrkow ghetto where they were imprisoned with their three year old daughter, Sara. When the ghetto was liquidated, Gershon was separated from his family and sent to Buchenwald. His wife and daughter were sent to Ravensbruck. This tiny treasure survived, even though Frania died just a few weeks after the camp was liberated. Gershon and his daughter, Sara, were reunited after the war. Creating beauty is an act of resistance to ugliness and brutality.  What about Christian resistance? Well, there are literally millions of stories we could recount. I have told you many over the last couple of years! The stories of the saints are rich with instances of resistance; In fact, that’s exactly what they all are. The deacon in Jerusalem, St. Stephen, whose story is told in the book of Acts, was first. Our own St Alban, the first named martyr of Great Britain, resisted the imperial demand to renounce his new faith, and died for it. You may remember the story of the popular camp song, “I have decided to follow Jesus..no turning back, no turning back. “The lyrics are based on the final words of a man, Nokseng, in Garo, Assam, India about 150 years ago. He had been converted to faith in Jesus, along with his wife and two sons. His faith proved contagious, and many others joined him. When the tribal leader summoned him to renounce his faith, he refused – “I have decided to follow Jesus. “”Though none go with me still I will follow. “After killing them, the leader himself became a follower of Jesus, and the whole village was converted. (The words were put into sing able form by Simon Marak, of Jorhat, Assam) Saints are all part of the Resistance One might actually say that every single saint – whether officially recognized or not, is recognized as holy precisely because he or she visibly resisted the “kingdoms of this world” and the values of those kingdoms in their lives. We do not say they were faultless. We say they heroically resisted the “Caesars” of their day, all the way to their deaths, because they remained attached to an alternative King and an alternative Kingdom. The English children’s hymn for All Saints Day says, “I sing a song of the saints of God, patient and brave and true, who toiled and fought and lived and died for the Lord they loved and knew. And one was a doctor and one was a queen, and one was a shepherdess on the green; they were all of them saints of God and I mean, God helping, to be one too” That’s a worthy ambition. And some of them actually were kings and queens – who resisted the demand to claim more for their kingship than was right for a servant of the real King. Yesterday was the feast day of Margaret, Queen of Scotland (1045-1093) who was well-known for her practical care for the poor. this included making sure the beggars who surrounded her when she went out were given money; she famously even washed their feet; and never sat down herself to eat without first providing food for both orphans and poor adults. And you probably know the story of princess Elizabeth of Hungary, whose feast day is today (1207-1231.) When her husband, King Louis IV died, she renounced her wealth, and built a hospice for the poor and sick to whose service she devoted the rest of her life. Do you remember King Louis IX of France? 1214-1270) He “kept before his mind the glory of God and the well-being of his subjects” – Louis sought peace; he reformed the courts, reformed the system of taxation, personally heard cases where the poor were being mistreated by the rich, and introduced the presumption of innocence in criminal procedure. He introduced trial by jury. And for sure you know about “Good King Wenceslas,” Wenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia (907-935) who was murdered by his own brother who was unsatisfied with Wenceslas’ plan to give him half of the kingdom. He wanted it all. The English and the Bohemians immediately began to venerate him, remember his faith and his acts of mercy towards the poor. A 12th century preacher wrote: “His deeds I think you know better than I could tell you…rising every night, he went around to God’s churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted with every difficulty.” Hence: “Good king Wenceslas looked out, on the feast of Stephen (December 26)When the snow was round about, deep and crisp and even, Brightly shone the moon that night though the frost was cruel When a poor man came in sight gathering winter fuel.” The song goes on – as the duke and his page went out into the night to relieve the poor man; and the page is warmed by stepping into the footprints of Wenceslas. “In his master’s steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted, Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed, Therefore Christian men be sure, wealth or rank possessing, Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.” Are the details of these stories true? Maybe, or maybe not. Contemporaries said they were. But the stories prove that in European imagination as well as in the Hebrew, “ideal” sovereigns ruled consciously under the authority of God – and were identified by their care for the poor and needy, for justice and for peace. |
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