Covenant Church
an ecumenical liberal baptist congregation
  • Home
    • Blog
    • Contact Us!
    • Press
    • Celebrating 50 Years
  • About our Church
    • This Coming Sunday
    • Covenant Staff/Leadership >
      • Staff Opportunities
      • Committees
      • Deacons
    • Worship & Church Mission >
      • Liturgical Year
      • Easter at Covenant
    • Covenant's History
    • Missions >
      • Blood Drives
      • Community Garden
      • Nursing Home Support
      • Montrose Grace Place
      • Refugee Resettlement Project
    • Adult Education >
      • Adult Education Recordings
      • Theology Book Group
      • Lending Library
    • Sacred Space >
      • The Labyrinth
      • Covenant's Color Garden
    • Space for Rent
    • All Church Retreat
    • Becoming a Member
  • Sermons, Music, Media
    • Proclamations
    • Live-Stream Worship Services
    • Online Worship Services
    • Books & Resources
    • Worship Orders
    • Music
    • Photos
  • Children & Youth
    • Education & Programs >
      • Nursery (0-2)
    • Summer Camps!
    • Youth Mentoring
  • Calendar
  • Member Area
  • Giving
  • A Call to Action
  • In Memoriam
  • Blue Tiger Project

Our church body.

10/30/2018

0 Comments

 
Our church body.

The scripture lesson for this Sunday, October 28, was 1 Corinthians 12. The meditations were offered by a representative from each committee. They shared a specific expanding vision for our expanded space.

#TheseAreOurSacredStories
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

We are a congregation.

10/24/2018

0 Comments

 
We are a congregation.

The scripture reading from this Sunday, October 21, was Mark 10:32-45. Rev. Laura Mayo gave the proclamation.

#TheseAreOurSacredStories


​
Picture
0 Comments

Turning the world upside down.

10/17/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Turning the world upside down.

The scripture lesson for Sunday, October 14 was Mark 10:17-31. Rev. Laura Mayo gave the proclamation.

#TheseAreOurSacredStories
0 Comments

The postal worker

10/9/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Postal Worker

The scripture lesson for this Sunday, October 7 was from John 13. Linda Day was our guest proclaimer.

#TheseAreOurSacredStories
0 Comments

We need to hear them.

10/3/2018

1 Comment

 
This is the full text version of Laura Mayo's scripture reading and sermon from Sunday, September 30; diving into the larger biblical story of Queen Esther and Vashti. A story of sexual exploitation and silence.

Scripture Reading:
Our lectionary reading this morning is Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22 but I am not going to read that passage. The lection tells of Esther giving a second party for the king and the king’s second in command, Haman. Esther reveals not only that she is a Jew but also that Haman has ordered all the Jews murdered. The king is outraged with Haman and decides he should be put to death on the gallows Haman had built for his enemy, and Esther’s cousin, Mordecai. To ensure that we know this is a happy ending, the lection concludes with Mordecai sending letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of the king telling them to make it a holiday to be celebrated each year with feasting and gladness and sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.
 
The problem is not with this passage, it is the fact this is the only reading in the entire lectionary from the book of Esther. In a three-year cycle with at least 4 readings for each day of each year, the only passage from Esther comes from chapters 7 and 9. This morning, we will read from chapters 1 and 2:
 
      This happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the same Ahasuerus who ruled over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia. 2In those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were present, 4while he displayed the great wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and pomp of his majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all.
      When these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present . . . a banquet lasting for seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. Drinks were served in golden goblets, goblets of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished in accordance with the bounty of the king. Drinking was by flagons, without restraint; for the king had given orders to all the officials of his palace to do as each one desired. Furthermore, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women in the palace of King Ahasuerus.
On the seventh day, when the king was merry with wine, he commanded . . . seven eunuchs who attended him, to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing the royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the officials her beauty; for she was fair to behold. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him.
      Then the king consulted the sages who knew the laws . . . ‘According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus conveyed by the eunuchs?’ Then his advisor said, ‘Not only has Queen Vashti done wrong to the king, but also to all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt on their husbands, since they will say, “King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.” This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will rebel against the king’s officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath! If it pleases the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be altered, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So, when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.’
      This advice pleased the king and the officials, and the king did as proposed; he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, declaring that every man should be master in his own house.
      After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king’s servants who attended him said, ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. And let the king appoint commissioners in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa; let their cosmetic treatments be given them. And let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.’ This pleased the king, and he did so.
      Now there was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite. Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away. Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and Esther did not reveal her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. Every day Mordecai would walk around in front of the court of the harem, to learn how Esther was and how she fared.
       The turn came for each girl to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their cosmetic treatment, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics for women. When the girl went in to the king she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. In the evening she went in; then in the morning she came back to the second harem; she did not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.
      When the turn came for Esther, to go in to the king, she . . .  was admired by all who saw her. When Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus . . . the king loved Esther more than all the other women; of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet to all his officials and ministers—‘Esther’s banquet.’ He also granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality.
 
These are our sacred stories.
Thanks be to God.
 
Sermon:
This week in most churches neither Vashti nor Esther will get to tell their stories. The lectionary left their abuse and exploitation, not for another Sunday, not for a weekday, but out all-together. As a person who grew up in churches that did not use the lectionary, let me assure you, that in my experiences, Vashti and Esther don’t get a full hearing in those churches either.
 
These stories matter. How we read them matters. That we hear them matters. The man in the highest position of power, as full of himself as he was of wine, wanted to show off what he saw as his prized possession, his wife, Vashti. He summons her and requires that she wear her crown, the implication being only her crown. It does not take seven eunuchs to summon someone unless there is a reason to expect she will not want to go. Vashti refuses to be sexually exploited. She says no.
 
When Vashti refuses to come, King Ahasuerus calls together his advisors to ask what ought to be done. Not only has Vashti defied the king, she has set an example for other women. The king’s advisors say, “This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will rebel against the king’s officials, and there will be no end of contempt and wrath!” And so, the men, denied the opportunity to objectify Queen Vashti, decide to make Vashti an object lesson. They are denied their chance to see her stripped body and so they strip her of her crown and her voice. Vashti is silenced and the men shout: this is what will happen if you stand up for your dignity, for your body, for your choices.  
 
Vashti refused to be objectified and she is silenced and replaced. This is true not only in the biblical story but also in the church. The church has silenced Vashti’s “no.” We’ve closed our ears and our mouths. Vashti says no to a man in power. Maybe her story has been left out of the common discourse of the church because church leadership has not wanted us to consider a world where women, boys, men, and girls say no when power demands they be exploited and abused; no when power tries to take; no!
 
Dr. Anna Carter Florence writes, “I wonder what would happen if we put the story of Vashti back into circulation. Would our children have a role model for saying no to adults who try to molest or harm them? Would our daughters muster a little more courage for saying no to a boyfriend who keeps pressuring them to have sex when they don't want to? Would it give you and me a place to begin talking about the hundreds of awkward, troubling moments in our lives when we feel like we are being asked to do something that puts our integrity at risk?”
 
We can hear Vashti’s story because, while the church may have tried to ignore it, it lives on in the Bible, it is one of our sacred stories (thanks be to God). What the men in power meant for silence, what the church has often ignored, lives in the sacred scriptures, ready in each generation to be heard. Vashti cannot be erased. There are echoes of her “no” to abusive power, her “no” to sexual exploitation reverberating throughout the Bible especially in the stories of the women who are taken, who are abused, who are neglected, who have neither voice nor opportunity to say their own no.
 
Esther is such a woman.  
 
Vashti is no longer queen. The king wants a new queen: ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. And let the king appoint commissioners in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa; let their cosmetic treatments be given them. And let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.’  So, when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace.
 
Like countless others, these young women were trafficked across borders away from their homes and then they were in turn assaulted; they were raped. “The turn came for each girl to go in to King Ahasuerus . . .4In the evening she went in; then in the morning she came back to the second harem; she did not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.”
 
It matters how we interpret and explain stories of faith. Stories from our Biblical text are woven into the fabric of our lives and often inform our thoughts about worth, value - about love.  Have you ever heard this part of Esther’s story?
 
I imagine that if we know anything about Esther, if we’ve heard any part of her story in church, we’ve heard, not Esther’s voice but Mordecai's: “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”
 
Esther. But that’s not even her name, that’s her Persian name, the name they gave her so the teacher could pronounce it. Her name, her Hebrew name, is Hadassah. Power and privilege name her Esther and refuse her her Hebrew name even in the Hebrew Bible where her book is called Esther. Her name is Hadassah. Hadassah has been sexually exploited; she hides her identity as a Jew, and then when all the Jews are threatened, her cousin entreats her to break her silence.
 
What happens when women break their silences? We know what happened to Vashti. We know what happened to the women who came to the tomb that Sunday morning long ago - the women who were the first to experience resurrection: “When they came back from the tomb, the women told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. . . But they did not believe the women” (Luke 24:9-10).
 
The resurrection story is met with men who reject the testimony of the women. Nevertheless, the women - courageous women, willing to bear witness to their experience regardless of the consequences or the social scripts that would render them silent - the women persisted.
 
Persia is no longer the largest empire. The time of Jesus and the disciples has come and gone and yet here and now women are demeaned and devalued: our words and our bodies - our stories are dismissed and disregarded.
 
This week “we have watched as survivors have been re-victimized for their decision to speak truth to power, and those same old demonic scripts keep trying to seize the story. Women should remain silent. Boys will be boys. She probably deserved it. We were just messing around. She never said no. This could ruin his life.”
 
Your stories are yours and yours alone to share (or not share) in your time, on your terms. But know this day that you are not alone. 1 in 3 women have experienced sexual assault, as well as 1 in 6 men. A large percentage of these victims remain silent and this week has provided far too much evidence for why silence seems the lesser of two evils for so many survivors.
 
Your story is your story and whatever it is, it is not your fault, not your shame, not your mistake. If you want to share your story, you are safe here. I hear you. I believe you. I am on your side.
 
Stories harness power. When we teach our children and our youth to identify harmful systems of abuse in our Biblical texts, we help them recognize and call out injustices in their current realities. Erika Hewitt in “The Dynamics of Silence,” proclaims, “We're unraveling silence because we have determined that our power with one another is greater than the power someone once had over us.” There is power in solidarity - power with one another - hearing and believing.

The church must do better to unravel silence. We will do better. We start by hearing and believing the women of the Bible. We start by calling out places of oppression when we see them. We start by talking about misogyny, sexual exploitation and abuse. We start by having conversations about harmful views of what it means to be a boy or a man in the world. We start by discussing harmful views of what it means to be a girl or a woman in our world.
 
I thought we were going to talk about Hadassah Esther as an immigrant. I thought we were going to talk about her willingness to go to the king even though it might mean her death and plead for the lives of her people. I thought we were going to ask ourselves what risks we need to take. And all that’s here: Hadassah’s story is an immigrant story. But it is also a survivor’s story. It is a story, along with Vashti’s, that we need to tell and we need to hear.
 
The church has for so long now been part of the silencing, part of systemic exploitation. For too long we have been responsible for perpetuating generations of abuse, patriarchy, and the mistreatment of women. How we tell and interpret our sacred stories influences how we perceive God and how we treat one another.
 
For too long, if the church has told the story of Hadassah Esther at all it has told it only in part - it has exploited her all over again by bringing her out and parading her around in her crown - Vashti refused such treatment by the King but the church has done this to Esther for centuries. We place Esther on the felt board and tell our girls to be brave like Esther - and God knows she was brave - but we don’t tell those girls what actually happened to Esther. We don’t tell those boys either. We exploit Esther’s story without fully telling it. Hadassah Esther is a victim’s account, a survivor’s account of human sex trafficking and rape.
 
It is time to hear the stories and to believe them. It is past time. Now is the time, for people of faith to call out injustices and structures of exploitation and abuse. To call them out in our sacred stories and to call them out in the world.
 
Change is possible. I still believe love wins. Arundhati Roy says: “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” Amen.

by Rev. Laura Mayo
1 Comment

We need to hear them.

10/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
We need to hear them.

The scripture reading for Sunday, September 30 was from chapters 1 and 2 of Esther. Laura Mayo gave the proclamation.

#TheseAreOurSacredStories
0 Comments

    Covenant

    an ecumenical liberal baptist congregation
    You can listen to Sunday mornings on our Podcast.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    1 Chronicles
    1 Corinthians
    1 John
    1 Kings
    1 Samuel
    1 Thessalonians
    2 Corinthians
    2 Samuel
    50th Anniversary
    Aaron Copeland
    Acts
    Advent
    African-American Spiritual
    Alfred Burt
    All Saints/All Souls
    Altar
    Amos
    Ancestors
    Anger
    Anita Hill
    Art
    Ascension
    Bach
    Baptism
    Baptism Sunday
    Baptist
    Bathsheba
    Bible As Weapon
    Birthday
    Breathe
    Buffy The Vampire Slayer
    Camp Allen
    Camp Community
    Carter Family
    Cello
    Children And Youth Sunday
    Children & Youth
    Choir
    Christian Nationalism
    Christmas
    Christmas Eve
    Christ The King
    Christ The King Sunday
    Church Retreat
    Colossians
    Comfort
    Committees
    Communion
    Community
    Compassion
    Congregation
    Corinthians
    Covenant House
    COVID
    Creation
    Daniel
    Darwin
    Deacon Ordination
    Death
    Denise Junious
    Deuteronomy
    Dickens
    Doubt
    Dry Bones
    Dvorak
    Earth Day
    Easter
    Eastertide
    Eastertide Booklet
    Ecclesiastes
    Emmaus
    Environment
    Ephesians
    Epiphany
    Esther
    Eve
    Evolution
    Evolution Sunday
    Exodus
    Ezekiel
    Faith
    Faith And Reason
    Family
    Feminism
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Fundamentalism
    Galatians
    Genesis
    Good Friday
    Gospels
    Graditude
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Guest
    Guest Proclaimer
    Guest Prolaimer
    Gun Laws
    Gun Violence
    Hagar
    Haggai
    Harriet Tubman
    Hebrews
    Herod
    Holy Week
    Homeless
    Hope
    Hope And Prayers
    Human Trafficking
    Hurricane
    Immigrants
    Immigration
    Individuation
    Injustice
    Integration
    Isaiah
    James
    James Cone
    Jeremiah
    Jesus
    Jesus Genealogy
    Job
    Joel
    John
    John Schuster
    Joseph
    Joshua
    July 4th
    Justice
    Kids
    Kingdom
    Labor Day
    Lament
    Language
    Lazarus
    LBGTQ
    Lent
    Letters
    Leviticus
    LGBT
    LGBTQ
    Lord's Prayer
    Love
    Love Your Enemies
    Luke
    Mark
    Martin Luther
    Martin Luther King
    Mary
    Matt
    Matthew
    Micah
    Miracles
    MLK
    Moses
    Mothers
    Music
    Names
    Offering
    Organist
    Palm/Passion Sunday
    Parables
    Patriotism
    Paul
    Peace
    Pentecost
    Philippians
    Piano
    Play
    Poetry
    Politics
    Poverty
    Prayer
    Prejudice
    Pride
    Pride Parade
    Proclamation
    Prosperity Gospel
    Proverbs
    Psalm
    Psalm 100
    Psalm 107
    Psalm 121
    Psalm 139
    Psalm 23
    Psalm 32
    Psalm 40
    Psalm 90
    Psalms
    Queen Esther
    Racism
    Radio Hour
    Rahab
    Reconciliation
    Reflections
    Reformation
    Reformation Sunday
    Refugees
    Religious Freedom
    Repentance
    Requiem
    Resurrection
    Revelation
    Ritual Waters
    Roe V Wade
    Romans
    Ruth
    Sabbath
    Sacrificial Attonement
    Salaam
    Satan
    Schubert
    Science
    Scientific Method
    Sermon On The Mount
    Sexual Exploitation
    Sexual Violence
    Silence
    Sodom And Gomorrah
    Spirit
    Star Wars
    Stewardship
    Stories
    Sunday School
    Tamar
    Tenebrae
    Thanksgiving
    Time
    Tim Okabayashi
    Toni Morrison
    Transfiguration
    Trinity Sunday
    Truth
    Vashti
    Volunteering
    Welcome
    White Supremecy
    Widow
    Wisdom
    Women
    Women In The Bible
    Women Of The Bible
    Wonder
    World Communion Sunday
    Worry
    Writing
    Youth
    Youth/Mentor
    Zacchaeus
    Zechariah
    Zephaniah

    Links to Member's Blogs:
    • Family at Your Fingertips
    • One Clever Mom
    • Relief: A Christian Literary Expression
    • Unclaimed Ancestors
    • Wisdom in Leaves

    Archives

    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    September 2013
    May 2013

Picture
Covenant Church
4949 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004
office@covenanthouston.org
713-668-8830
If you have any problems with this site please contact office@covenanthouston.org.
Proudly powered by Weebly