On the news one day a short while ago --some of you may remember this—we heard that eight young high school boys viciously attacked and gang raped an 8 year old girl, a special needs child. One by one, they took turns raping her and beating her until at last she died. The town was shocked. These were their star varsity players…their A students...their church acolytes...their beloved sons. How could this happen?
It's called “peer pressure.”
A similar thing happened in the case of a young college freshman, who was pressured and goaded into drinking seven bottles of vodka. You heard that right: 7 bottles of vodka. He died of alcohol poisoning that night in the campus bathroom. At least 30 other students were there, but no one stopped the ordeal.
It’s called “peer pressure.”
Some call it peer pressure coupled by a “gang mentality.” When everyone is doing it, others just “go along with the flow.” If they don’t, they can be ostracized, ridiculed, or made a victim themselves.
When most of us think of peer pressure, we think of maybe the urge to have the most stylish clothes like the other kids at school, or perhaps for us adults, to have the latest car, or as expensive a house as a friend, as good a job as a brother, as fancy a yard as a neighbor. To one extent or another, none of us are spared this kind of everyday pressure to compare, compete, conform.
But when it becomes obsessive, it can become dangerous –or deadly.
In Herod’s case, it had to do with a number of things. First and foremost, the honor of his word given to Herodias’ daughter in front of his very important, chic, high-powered guests (most of them no doubt non-Jewish). Then there was the pressure of the women in his life (he wouldn’t want to look wimpy, would he, or a coward?). Then there was the flow of the evening, and the goading of the guests themselves, who may have urged him on, drunk on wine and the dancing of his daughter. He had protected John from his wife up until this time. He knew John was a holy man. And Herod was Jewish.
But with his guests, his wife, his daughter, his fellow politicians looking on, what could he do? Herod bears the responsibility of giving the order that took John’s life.
Peer pressure today is not just found in school, or on the playground, or even in the workplace. It’s found also in our culture.
How many of us dare call ourselves a Jesus follower when Christians are being mocked at the water cooler? How many declare Jesus in the public square? Today, it’s not “cool” to be Christian, not “hip” to be heaven-bound. How many of us were surprised at how many “Catholics” suddenly appeared when the Pope visited the US? Where we they before the Pope visited the US?
It was peer pressure that allowed Herod to fell John. It was peer pressure that allowed for Jesus to be crucified. It was peer pressure that caused Peter “The Rock” to wimp out and betray Jesus three times. It was peer pressure that allowed for many of the atrocities in human history.
It’s peer pressure in our societies today that urges us NOT to follow Jesus, not to believe in the living Christ. It’s peer pressure that urges us to doubt the resurrection, to falter in our faith in Jesus’ healing power, to “crucify” him again in our towns and in our hearts.
And yet Jesus will always be resurrected. Jesus will always have a church. The question is, will it be this one? Will it be ours?
Who are the Herodias’s in your life? In your church? Who are the people who tell you, it’s not really cool to believe in God? That it’s a waste of time to go to church, because there are so many other things you could do with that extra hour? That you don’t need to go to Bible Study, or to prayer, or to communion, or help with that ministry, because, there are enough other people to do it, and it doesn’t do any good anyway? Who are the people in your life and in your church who –perhaps without even realizing it—have become your “peers” instead of your “sisters and brothers?”
What would have happened if Herod had gotten the chance to talk it over first with his Jewish companions? What if he had stood up to that secular crowd? What if he had heeded John’s words to begin with and hadn’t married his brother’s wife? What would have happened???
We have a lot of “what if’s” in our lives. But it’s time for us instead to make “so what’s!”
While we live within the world, we don’t live “of” the world. Being a Christian today is perhaps harder than it’s been in many years in our society. And while we remain part of our world, we need to find more and more ways to stand tall and find our identity in Jesus.
The more we refuse to let our identity be forged and fudged by the world, and instead allow Jesus to form his identity in and through us, the more we will be able to stand up to the Herodias’s of this world, and to go the difficult path, the narrow path.
Jesus told us, following him would not be easy. It requires us to pick up a cross and carry it through streets filled with those who mock, and jeer, and laugh, and doubt.
But we know as Christians (little Christs) that when we get to the end of that road, our lives won’t be haunted by the wrong paths we took, but blessed by the One we chose to follow.
I shall never forget the first day of the North Carolina Annual Conference a few years back. In celebrating new church plants, certain people from these new starts were asked to come to the mic and tell some stories about what God was doing in their midst. One of the first to get up was a guy with tattoos all over his body. Everyone could tell he was totally uncomfortable standing in front of the crowd. He began: “My name is Bones. I was a biker. I still am a biker. But I am a new biker. My name comes from all the “Skull and Crossbones” all over my body. But in the Book of Ezekiel, there is a question: ‘Can these bones live?’ I’m here to tell you, ‘Yes, they can!’”
Yes, these bones can live. Your bones can live. Our bones can live. The peer pressure of the “skull and crossbones” culture can be broken. In fact, at the place of the Skull, the serpent’s skull was crushed and the curse was broken. We are free from the pressure of the crowd and our peers.
Today, as we celebrate World Communion Sunday together, let us join hands and hearts together in Christian love. May our resolve, our faith, our love never be broken, and may our bones live in the majesty of the Master.
Let’s sing together now….”Bind us together ---in love.”
*Photo used can be found with permission in Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching by Leonard Sweet. (public domain)
- Numbers 7:13
- Congreve, “The Mourning Bride”, Act III, Scene VIII, 1697).
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
Matthew’s Witness to the Death of John the Baptist (14:1-13)
Mark’s Witness to the Death of John the Baptist (6:14-32)
Luke’s Witness to Herod’s Thought that Jesus was the risen John the Baptist (9:7-9)
Minor Text
The Story of Cain’s Murder of Abel (Genesis 4)
David kills Bathsheba’s husband and is confronted by Nathan (2 Samuel 11 and 12)
Joseph’s Brothers throw him into a pit for dead and later regret their deed (Genesis 37)
Psalm 102
The Conversion of Saul, Persecutor of Christians (Acts 9)
Matthew’s Witness to the Death of John the Baptist
At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”
The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother.
His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
Mark’s Witness to the Death of John the Baptist
King Herod heard of [the things Jesus was doing, including healing and casting out demons], for Jesus name had become known. Some were saying, “John the Baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”
But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her.
For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.
When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”
She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.”
Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.
Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.
Luke’s Witness to Herod’s Guilty Fear that John the Baptist had Returned
Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.
Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.
Image Exegesis: The Death of John the Baptist
Note: John’s story is told only because Jesus is being identified with him in the eyes of Herod and others, who are trying to figure out who Jesus is, and why he can do the things he is doing.
(The following image exegesis is taken from the preaching textbook, Giving Blood.)
It’s the month of Halloween, and the stores are filling with costumes, candy, and all sorts of ghoulish props. It’s the season when readings of Edgar Allen Poe abound. One particular story called The Telltale Heart, tells us a story in which a man, having killed, imagines he hears the victim’s heartbeat, until plagued and beaten by his own guilt, he confesses to the crime.
Herod is plagued by a similar guilt. Hearing of the healing power of Jesus, Herod becomes convinced (as rumors circulate) that the man he has killed (John the Baptist) has arisen from the dead in the man Jesus. Perhaps he believes, John will come for him to revenge his death. Perhaps, being Jewish, he feels, he has shamed his people. Perhaps, Herod believes that he will be haunted by the prophet, his soul doomed.
What happened to make Herod go against his own heritage, kill a man he believed to be a Jewish prophet, and whom he admired and respected? What would drive him to the guilt he suffers when he hears about Jesus?
Let’s look at an image exegesis of the Death of John the Baptist.
When we look at the text in Mark for stand-out images that cry out for exegesis, we find images of Word or words (telling, listened, swore, oaths) and body (danced, head). We also find a metaphor of righteous and holy (which brings up related images or metaphors of covenant, promise, Word, kingdom, lawful, Jewish, God) as opposed to secular kingdom and law metaphors (courtiers, officers, guests, soldier, guard, king, orders, oaths, kingdom, leaders, Galilee, birthday, banquet, platter). Additionally, we have bodily metaphors (head, dance, body, beheaded) as opposed to mind/Jewish/Word metaphors (head, telling, righteous, holy, lawful, baptizer –which brings up issues of repentance, message, turning). The physicality of turning in dance –here a sensual and seductive act-- is set against the spirituality of ‘turning back or around toward God,’ an act of repentance and discipline. We also see the act of protection (what is hidden or non-appearance, imprisoned) being pitted against the act of regard (here meaning appearances) and what is displayed (dance, banquet, platter).
We have Herod (male) in contrast to John (male) and women (Herodias and daughter). What does John represent for Herod? Jewishness, heavenly kingdom, and spirituality –God’s sovereignty and the prophetic voice. The women represent his carnal desires (of all the appetites), power, worldly kingdom, the sovereignty of the king, his oaths and their requests, and the importance of his appearances. Likewise, the warmth, mercy, and love of God symbolized in the call for spiritual metanoia (turning and changing one’s heart) and in the covenantal relationship between God and the imago dei is pitted against the grudge (the immovable, vengeful, cold, oath-demanding, controlling) act of “ravenous revenge,” which begins with a physically violent act and concludes with an equally appalling display of carnal violence to the body, decked out as a hideous abomination of humanness and creation (distorted image of the Creator).
Of the images and metaphors within the passage, the head and platter stand out as central to the story. The beheading of John and the placing of the head onto the platter (in addition to the dance) clearly stand out as the most prominent of the visual images. Just check the history of Christian art if you don’t believe me (Masaccio, Donatello, Carvaggio, Bellini, Botacelli). The acts of dancing, beheading, and displaying, convey the most active of verbal imagery. Therefore, in order to exegete the images, we need to know more about the metaphors of the head, the severing of the head, the dance, the platter (called a charger), and how these both interrelate and relate to other sub-metaphors. Let’s probe deeper:
Echoes of Jesus
Herodias’ influence over this whole scene is inferred by the daughter’s rush to her to find out what she should request. Herodias states succinctly what she wants: “the head of John the baptizer.” The dancing daughter outdoes her mother with a flair for the theatrical. With a kind of teenage slasher-movie delight in the gruesome and grisly, the young girl demands John’s head be brought to her “on a platter.”
Herod’s response is to be “deeply grieved” (“perilypos”). This term is used only one other time by Mark, when it is used to describe Jesus’ own spiritual state as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (14:34). It is truly a wrenching sorrow, a personal agony, which Herod experiences. Yet the weight of Herod’s social status among the elites gathered as witnesses, and the self-importance of his royal oath, are heavier than his heart. Despite all of Herodias’ plots and ploys, it is Herod himself who ultimately gives the order for John’s beheading. The parallel to Pilate’s bowing to the shouts of the crowd to crucify Jesus is evident. Likewise, not unlike crucifixion, beheading was a form of execution designed to dishonor and belittle the reputation of the one being executed. Finally, even as Jesus’ body was claimed by Joseph of Arimethea, John’s disciples claim his corpse and “lay it in a tomb.”
Head and Beheading
The head is the part of the body which houses the mind (and in the Jewish/Hebrew tradition, this is also the seat of the heart or spirit). From the head comes the voice. In John’s case, the prophetic voice and voice of God’s authority is the disembodied “voice calling from the wilderness” with the message to “repent” and turn to God. His voice is the Jewish voice, and clearly influences Herod, who as a leader, felt often pulled toward Jewish law. The head is the eyes of God as well, and the witness to unlawfulness. They are the testimony to what is and isn’t a “righteous” image of God. The head symbolizes the thoughts and sovereignty of Jewish law and Jewish identity, and John’s control over Herod. The beheading then is the cutting off of that control, identity, dilemma, indecision, and loyalty to the Jewish law and God. It is the severing of relational ties between Herod and Jewishness, Jewish law, and Yahweh’s authority and sovereignty.
As a vessel of prophecy, John’s severed head is made into a “vessel” for the womens’ revenge, and a communal “gift” in service to the women and their own agenda of “moral” or in this case “immoral” code. A beheading is not just an annihilation of physicality, but a severing of the thoughts and influence of a life that represents an opposing force in the life of Herod and in the eyes of Herodias and her daughter (a dancing puppet, but a lethal one). The head becomes a trophy to the womens’ authority and their “turning” of Herod to their own attentions and to the “law” of his own secular kingdom. In the beheading as well, John’s holiness is defiled and he who was so unconcerned with appearances is made to be the center of all superficiality and the image of ridicule. In a farce of Yahweh’s “cutting of the covenant,” Herod literally severs off “half of his kingdom” (his Jewish spiritual kingdom) in favor of his physical kingdom. In his oath to the women (witnessed by his guests), the cutting off of John’s head mimics the cutting of the covenant in a way that separates/severs Herod from the covenant with God in the ultimate sin of bloodspilling (note Cain). And in this, God’s Word is nullified and held in contempt. The beheading exercises dominion and exerts status. In sum, placed upon the “platter” becomes a hideous communion.
Platter
The platter represents everything carnal, displayed, opulent, and manipulative. The platter is as violent a metaphor as the sword that severs John’s head. It is the “image” of sin deliberately and haughtily displayed. The guests are bade to “feast” their eyes upon the “enemy” of the court who would challenge the secular order and the manipulative and incestuous agendas of those in “power.” The platter represents the Oath and Promise, the loyalty to the secular kingdom and all it represents, as opposed to the chalice of the communion bowl or the tablets of the law. The king’s banquet is a lavish affair, and the attention is all on carnal and sensual desires –food, drink, women, bravado. It is a world of appearances and “image,” a mirror for narcissism. The women demand that all eyes be upon them. The head on the platter demands that all eyes see the reduction of Jewish law and John’s prophetic voice to silenced absurdity. The head on the platter is treated as decorative and trivialized as decor (like a fruit garnish or a dressed pig). In doing so, John’s prophesy is rendered useless, absurd, mere bauble. And his prophetic voice is silenced, mummified, severed. Additionally, Jewish law itself is ravaged, made fun of, trivialized, and the “eyes” of witness frozen and non-accusing.
The name of this kind of platter was called sometimes a “charger” in prior translations. It was a very large ornamental serving platter, used often for decor in the center of a large banquet table. Similar chargers or platters were used by the heads of the tribes of Israel for services of the tabernacle.224 Such plates were also used frequently in displaying of the “spoils” of war. Or used as “offerings” to display gifts. Herod’s party then becomes a victory banquet and John’s head (Jewish authority) the spoils. The platter and its opulent authority attests to the ruler of Galilee, he who is “above the law”. It attests also to the status of the women and unfortunately the superficiality of this kingdom. William Congreve wrote: “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned / Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.”225
What is “holy” has been defiled. What is carnal has been made an idol. The golden or silver platter is the “golden calf” of the banquet.
In a sense, the violence committed is done just as much to Herod, as to John. In the act of beheading and public display of the head-on-the-platter, Herod’s authority serves that of the women’s carnal demands –he becomes subservient to the women, and he serves up their request by “cutting off” his own covenantal life from God. Herod essentially “severs” his spiritual self (head) from his carnal and bodily desires. Herod himself is essentially “devoured” by the lusts of these women and overtaken by his own weakness. In a sense, to bear the weighty platter as a gift is a heavy burden. And in choosing his sovereignty, Herod has essentially lost it. The message of John questioning whether Herod had the spiritual authority to be “king of the Jews” becomes a question of whether he can be a king of anything.
The Dance
In a strange irony, Herod ends up “dancing” to the tune of Herodias and her daughter in this twisted tale. He succumbs to peer pressure in which his head (and John’s) is sublimated to the body. Spirit trodden under by the carnal desires of the dancing body of Herodias’ daughter (who is attributed historically the name Salome, although her name doesn’t appear here in the gospel text). The attention given to the dancing girl, the seductive twists and turns of sin take precedence over the “turning to God” proclaimed by John in the story. The dance of the story is the story itself: the dance of death vs the dance of life. The interactions of the characters display a macabre dance itself, as the story plays out to its surreal end.
Take Aways
How does your faith pan out when your head is on the platter? What does this story say about Herod? About your life as well? If Herod had not listened to Salome (and Herodias), perhaps his head would have been “on the chopping block.” As it is, John’s appeared on the platter.
We all experience peer pressure to perform, to show bravado, parade pride, and to look good in front of our peers, especially when we are in positions of power or status. But the question of who is really in “charge” is answered by the one carrying the “charge.”
A “charge” to keep may be the oath that defines your life. What defines your life? Who is in charge of your life? What is on your “charge” reveals who you are in the eyes of God and in the eyes of others. Your platter is your own face, your offering to God of the way you will live your life, and to whom you will pledge your charge. Will you sacrifice another to save “face” with the world? Or will you risk your own neck and “save” yourself for God? Will you place your own life at risk --stick your own neck out– for the sake of the gospel, and show the face of grace and mercy to the world?
A “charge” or platter is a decorative centerpiece. It holds decor, fruit, and other finger foods. The fruit is a gift to the guests, just as the offering plate or sacrificial plate was the gift upon the altar to God. What do you bring to the altar to please God? Or do you please your peers instead? What fruit will you bear as a witness to your face, your image? Is it the fruit of God’s image? Or the fruit of sin and selfishness? By his decision, Herod took what was holy in the sight of God and created of it a twisted and vile image of an idol. The prophet who was his spiritual idol –and Herod’s relationship with him– now lay severed for all to see. The dance of meaningful life becomes a dance of macabre death, for Herod, the king who has lost face with God and the Jewish people. Herod had a choice: to face the music with Herodias and turn his life around in a different direction; or dance to her tune. Herodias knew it would not take much–the threat of not bringing him to her bed--to bring Herod to his knees. This is a story about power, pressure, temptations, and loyalties. It is a story about manipulation and appearances, sacrifice and choices.
What does your platter reveal about you? Whom do you “serve”? Do your gifts please God or others? Does your fruit nourish or horrify? When you “serve up” the fruits of evil, it is a twisted and grotesque, inedible abomination of God’s beautiful creation. When you serve the Lord, it may be without silver platter. There may be no “worldly” success, applause, or the praise. But when you keep your head in the right place, you will dance the periochoresis (circle dance) with God in beauty that is unmatched and peerlessly exquisite. What does it mean that God’s majesty is peerless?
Application
Now that you have exegeted your images, how will you build your sermon? What primary storylines and metaphors will you focus on? What will be your chosen narraphors that you want to build upon? What experience or application to the congregation’s lives do you want them to take with them when they leave? How can they experience Christ within this story? How can you help people relate it to their own experiences and bring this story and theirs into a transductive participatory event with Jesus? What stories or metaphors in their own lives can help them connect with this narraphoric event? And how? How can your apps help you do that? What will your organic architecture look like? Will it pass the test of MRI? Will your style pass the test of fMri? What kinds of apps can pump up your semiotic sermon so that it connects with people on multiple levels and in a variety of ways and in surround sound? Can you hear the voice of Jesus within it?
Once you can answer these questions, you can move on to look at what might make your sermon a EPIC experience that people can tap into, connect with, participate in, see the image of Jesus within. Let’s take a look at some ways you might do that.
Pumping Up The Sermon With Apps
Once you have exegeted your text and have built your organic architecture, and decided upon your style, you can choose apps that will further bring out the images and metaphors in your narraphor. Below are some of the types of apps (among many others) that you might consider to epicize your semiotic sermon:
Music
Drama/Theatre
Poetry
Visuals
Storytelling
Liturgical Dance
Posters
Puppets
Twitter Feed
Placards
Drawings
Quizzos/Questions
Visuals on a screen, on a bulletin, or used as placards or inserts can lend additional color to your images and metaphors. The image on the far left is the Salome recoit la tet de Saint Jean-Baptiste by Luini Bernardino (1480). The image on the right is Salome Carrying the Head of John the Baptist on a Platter by Gustave Moreau (1876). In addition to these images, you can also tell the story of John the Baptist through images on a screen or use images of the dance.
Drama or Theatre is another way of creating an experience of the event of this narraphor. For example, Oscar Wilde wrote a one-act tragedy in 1863 in French called “Salome” which dramatized the story, adding its own twist to the ending. You could act out a play such as the one Wilde wrote, or you could write your own dramatic rendering of the story. You could also choose to have congregants play participating roles in acting out or reading the various character roles in the drama. Puppets are another way to either dramatize or narrate an event. Puppets can also be used simply to dialogue about an event or to ask and answer questions about the dilemmas that the event brings up. Props may be used as worship display or in drama or simply as items to show when telling or narrating the story. These may include anything from candles to a platter to rope to a sword. Having a prop, such as the platter, even as a display will lend a real-life feel to the story, and people will be able to identity and ‘touch’ the story in real and palpable ways. You could invite some of your people to bring their favorite platters to church and put them on display.
From opera to hip-hop, music can lend a magnificent effect in bringing your narraphors to living color and surround sound. Although some composers have actually created songs about the story itself, music can also be used as sound effects or songs chosen that relate to the feelings evoked, such as mourning, violence, seduction, fanfare, and so forth. Music can assist with drama too in elevating the emotional experience. In worship, music can bring out the theological underpinnings of the story too. Hymn choices or psalms can frequently complement narraphoric stories. For example, a song of lament, such as “God Weeps” (TFWS 2048) can serve as a powerful emotional response to John’s death. Whereas a song such as a Hebrew dance such as “Clap Your Hands” with tambourine and lyre might be used for Salome’s dance. Hymns such as “By Water and Spirit” can underpin the baptismal theology. Additionally, sound effects and mood music may contribute to the dramatic rendering of the narrative.
YouTube can be a powerful way to show small clips either of the narrative, of music, of dialogue, or of dancing. YouTubes are easy to create (at least for your kids) and easy to put up on the screen. They are accessible, and can be rendered as real-life or cartoon/animation. Additionally, other types of animations, cartoons, drawn figures, or avatars may be used to depict characters in the event.
Liturgical Dance is another way of rendering the narrative –either part of it or all of it. Creative participants may be willing and able to join in with dances as well as simply watching them.
Mime and motion is another way to experience the event without full-blown dance choreography. The following is a dance depicting the “Dance of the Seven Veils” thought to have been the one that Salome danced for Herod.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1qHsZBqg8w&feature=related
Poetry and creative Liturgy can be additional ways to express the story and metaphors of the John the Baptist story. They can be read aloud or with special effects in addition. Or you could have congregants write their own. Sometimes it can be a powerful story (either in words or music) to create the story yourself or to recreate the story in terms of your own life. For example:
My Life and My Faith
In my life, I have been baptized by ________ at __________.
Two images of my baptism are __________ and ____________.
Sometimes, in my life, I have been tempted by ______________ , and have turned away from God’s voice. Etc.
Liturgies can also be used in participative ways in order to affirm faith or to confess sin. They can be used additionally as powerful statements of repentance or redemption. Or they can be narratives themselves of the ‘voices’ of the story. Creative liturgies can be put to music, used in youtubes or put on placards. They can be dramatized or characterized. They can be call and response.
Poetry and liturgy can be in many forms and used in many ways –even in images alone. And you can invite people to put those poems and liturgy to music, using instruments or voices.
Additionally, you can use poems from well-known authors as supplements to the text. Thomas Merton wrote two well-known poems about the Death of John the Baptist. Kahlil Gibran wrote a poem about John the Baptist speaking from his prison cell.
Twitter Feeds can invite responses or ask questions about the story and about the stories of others. Other types of feeds as well can open the congregation to participation in commenting on the story or in creating the story in other ways and relating it to contemporary issues and lives. Well thought out questions or drawings to use for interpretation, games or quizzes can add thought-provoking extras to the experiential event.
These are only a sampling of apps you can use to enhance your semiotic sermon. What other types of apps would you use? You are only as limited as your creativity and the creativity of your participants. Who knows what apps will be available in the next five years?