Sermon

 ” A Dance of Desire & Death.”

How Music & Words can move us.

 

When we visited Lisbon, the beautiful Capital of Portugal this summer, we were asked to meet our AIRBB host at the FADO Museum just at the entrance to the old historic cobblestone district of Alfama.  We met at the pink Museum building as no cars could take us up the narrow streets for our apartment. While none of us really knew what the Fado Museum was a museum for, we quickly were told and later experienced FADO.

 

The Fado Museum pays tribute to a specific performing art, born in Lisbon’s historic neighborhoods. Uber drivers, waiters, Wikipedia called Fado music the Soul of Portugal.

Fado music is a deeply emotional form of music that reflects the country's history and culture. Fado music is often played in small places like cafes and bars, or in the Streets, where the smell of grilled sardine and basil is quite intense in June while they celebrate St Anthony’s day.

Street food stalls appear on every corner. Stages have been set in the small squares of Lisbon’s oldest quarters, and paper garlands that hang between buildings create a Carnival-style atmosphere. And pop music blended with FADO.

The word "fado" comes from the Latin word "fatum," which means fate or destiny. Fado music was initially associated with the working-class neighborhoods of Lisbon, where it was often performed in taverns and brothels. It was a way for the poor to express their sadness and struggles. So, it is soulful, mournful and sad music. Music to move you and mourn the losses and the struggles.

 

Music has a power to move us. Make us move and dance. Move us to tears or laughter. Move us in time and place. Music speaks to us in a profound and deep way. The Fado Music in the streets of Lisbon. The melody of an old beloved hymn. A Rhapsody in Blue played under the stars in Hollywood Bowl last Thursday Eve.  

“Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.”

The late, great singer Aretha Franklin

 

Now let us move from Aretha Franklin, Hollywood Bowl or Fado music with Sardine Smell in the streets or Lisbon, back some 3000 years to some religious music that made an ancient faith community dance.

 In ancient Jerusalem the mighty King David lead a celebrity parade with some thirty thousand men” dancing mightily” accompanied by harps, lyres, cymbals and tambourines.

The reason for this raucous celebration was the Ark of the Covenant. A precious symbol of God’s presence. The Ark, containing two stone tablets bearing the inscription of the 10 commandments, were brought to a honored place in Jerusalem having been with the Israelites through the wandering years in the desert and in exile. So there was dancing in the streets!

 

Todays Gospel describes yet another dance and movement by music. But not joyous and jubilant, but dangerous and deadly.

The dance of Herod’s stepdaughter Salome was seductive, salacious, and evil, commissioned by Herod’s drunken oath, costing John the Baptist his head….

 It was A dance of desire and death.

It is indeed a violent story in the line of the stories about the Prophets and their callings, that could be costly and dangerous. Amos. Elijah and others.

 The story follows directly after Jesus called and sent his disciples out two by two into a world where they were invited to dance, to dine and share the good news, but also to fear and risk your life.

The prophet Amos demanded the fair distribution of the resources and advocated for the poor. He condemned the rule of the King upholding an unjust system. The king does not retaliate directly but uses the power of his religious office to target Amos.

John the Baptist, also a religious leader and a forceful prophet. He too was in opposition to the mighty king of his time, Herod. His humble lifestyle itself was a direct critique of the opulent house of Herod. John advocated for those on whose backs Herod built his wealth, its trappings and his power. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus noted that John became a political prisoner and was executed for criticizing the King and the Roman Empire.

In the end, John’s head ends up on a platter at Herod’s birthday banquet, precisely because John critized Herod’s power that made such lavish banquets possible.

We also know that Herod metaphorically lost his head and senses, when he was seduced by the music, the moves, the dance of the young Salome.

Herod was a troubled man. He was guilt ridden and later haunted by the words of John after he killed him – by a nervous suspicion that Jesus is John returned from the dead.

Herod was a troubled man. Pacing the floors of his lavish palace, in fear and anxiety. The human stories are never black and white: Herod was a complex man who had lost himself to his temptation, he was a coward, weak and corrupt – and thus he listened to the words of repentance of John. The prophets’ words did hit him. He knew the truth in Johns call for repentance.

 

Just like music can move us, make us dance and make us remember, - so can words of truth.

We need the voice of truth in our personal lives as the one who will always speak truth to us – even if it hurts, but it might heal our brokenness.

We need the voice of truth in the public life that may speak change, hope and courage into our time instead of mistrust, fear and cowardice.

Especially in the wake of the horrific assassination attempt on former President Trump yesterday, where violence in the political debate should have no place.

 

The story of John the Baptist and of the many prophets of the Bible, are stories of faith, hope, courage to stand up for the truth.

Let us always be on that side: let the words of truth make us move, make us dance, make us rejoice to be God’s instruments in the world.

As Frans of Assis said in his prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

 

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

 

Amen.