Courage to Speak

Melodrama by Torin Eikler
Esther

Narrator: 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 passed and edict:

King Ahasuerus: “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. And let all the beautiful young virgins be brought to the royal harem and be put under the custody of Hegai, who is in charge of the women. And let the girl who pleases the king become queen instead of Vashti.

Narrator: Now, there was a Jew in the royal city whose name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish. Mordecai had raised Esther, for when her father and mother died, he adopted her as his own daughter. Esther was beautiful. So when the king’s edict was proclaimed, Esther was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women.
Esther was admired by all who saw her, and when she was taken to King Ahasuerus, the king loved Esther more than all the others, and he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen. Then the king gave a great banquet, and granted a holiday to the provinces, and gave many gifts.

In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, two of the king’s servants, Bigthan and Teresh, conspired to assassinate the king. But the Mordecai overheard their plan, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. When the affair was investigated and found to be so, both the men were hanged on the gallows. It was recorded in the book of records in the presence of the king.

A little while later, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha to be his closest advisor and gave him the king’s ring. And all the king’s servants bowed down when Haman went by, for that was what the king had commanded. But Mordecai did not bow down. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down to him, Haman was infuriated. So, having been told who Mordecai’s people were, Haman plotted to destroy all the Jews throughout the whole kingdom.
When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry. Then Esther sent a messenger to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. The messenger did as Esther wished, and Mordecai told him …
Mordecai: Tell Esther that Haman is trying to destroy all the Jews and to wipe them off the face of the earth just because I refused to bow down to anyone other than the Lord our God. The queen must go before the king and beg for her people to be spared, for she, too, is a Jew.

Narrator: The messenger told all of this to Esther, and Esther sent him back with a reply.

Esther: Everyone knows that if any man or woman goes before the king without being called, they are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called by the king for thirty days.

Mordecai: Esther, 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, deliverance will come from someone else, 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: Go, gather all the Jews to be found in the city, and hold a fast on my behalf. Don’t eat or drink for three days and three nights. I and my maids will also fast as you do, and after that I will go to the king, though it is against the law. If I perish, I perish.”

Narrator: Esther then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the court opposite the king’s throne. As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he held out the golden scepter that was in his hand, and Esther went and touched the top of the scepter.

King Ahasuerus: What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Whatever you want, even half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.

Esther: If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to a banquet that I have prepared for the king.

King Ahasuerus: Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther desires.

Narrator: So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared, and the king said to Esther….

King Ahasuerus: What is your request? Whatever you want, even half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.

Esther: This is my request … If I have won the king’s favor, and if it pleases the king to grant fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and then I will do as the king has said.

Narrator: Haman went out that day happy and in good spirits, but when he saw Modercai in the king’s gate, he got angry. He went home and sent for his friends and his wife.

Haman: (To the congregation) Look at me. How great a man am I?! I have been made the advisor of the king. I am filthy rich with thousands and thousands of talents in the bank. And I have many strong, smart, and obedient children to make me proud. Even Queen Esther let no one but myself come with the king to the banquet that she prepared. Tomorrow also I am invited by her, together with the king. Yet all this does me no good so long as I see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.

Narrator: Then his wife and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits.” This advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
On that night King Ahasuerus could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of records. They were read to the king, and he remembered how Mordecai had told him about the two men who had conspired to assassinate him.

King Ahasuerus: What reward has been given to Mordecai to honor his service?

Narrator: The servant who attended him said …

Attendant: Nothing has been done for him.

King Ahasuerus: Who is in the court?

Attendant: Haman is there, standing in the court.

King Ahasuerus: Let him come in.

Narrator: So Haman came in.

King Ahasuerus: What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?

Haman: (to him/herself) Whom would the king wish to honor more than me?
(to the king) Let the king’s own royal robes be brought and one of the king’s horses with a royal crown on its head. Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let him put the robes on the man whom the king wishes to honor, and lead that man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘This is how the king shows his gratitude.’

King Ahasuerus: Quickly, take the robes and the horse, and do exactly as you have said to Mordecai.

Narrator: So Haman took the robes and the horse, dressed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming,

Haman: This is how the king shows his gratitude.

Narrator: Then Esther returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, with his head covered in shame and anger. When Haman told his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him, they said to him, “If Mordecai is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him.”

While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the banquet that Esther had prepared. So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther on the second day, and the king again said to Esther,

King Ahasuerus: What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Whatever you want, even half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.

Esther: If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life and the lives of my people be spared—that is my request. For we have been condemned to be wiped out. If we had been sold merely as slaves, I would have held my peace, but no one can make up for this with mere money.”

King Ahasuerus: Who has done this horrible thing?

Esther: There he is – it is Haman!

Narrator: The king rose from the feast in anger and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther. When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was grasping the feet of the queen, and the king said

King Ahasuerus: Will he even assault the queen in my own house?!

Narrator: Then one of the servants in attendance on the king, said,

Servant: Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.

King Ahasuerus: Take him there and dispose of him.

Narrator: So Haman went to the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king took the ring he had given to Haman and gave it instead to Mordecai and set him in the place that had been Haman’s. And Esther spoke again to the king ….

Esther: If it pleases the king and if it seems right, let an order be written to stop the destruction of the Jews across the kingdom. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?

King Ahasuerus: (to Mordecai) See, I have put you in the place that was Haman’s because he plotted to destroy the Jews. You may write as you please in the king’s name and seal the order with the king’s ring.

Narrator: In every province and in every city, the king’s command came, and there was gladness and joy among the Jews and they proclaimed a festival and a holiday.


Sermon by Torin Eikler
Esther Matthew 15:21-28

Purim is an interesting religious festival, and if you ever get an invitation to join in the celebrations, I strongly suggest you accept. In the United States, it is something like a New Year’s party crossed with a costume ball. There is lots of noise and children especially play dress up as characters from the story.

In Israel, it’s a good deal more rowdy – more like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. People take sweet breads and other treats to neighbors and friends. There are parades and street parties with blasting music. The entire story of Esther (which is about twice as long as we heard today) is read two times – once at sundown and once at sunup – and committed celebrators stay up until the second reading is completed. Each time Mordecai or Esther are mentioned there is a cheer. Each time Haman speaks, everyone starts making noise; yelling, blowing horns or whistles, swinging rattles, and beating on drums in an effort to drown out the words of the “enemy of the Jews.” And, … there is even a scriptural injunction to imbibe a good deal of alcohol. Tradition says one should be so drunk by morning that one can no longer tell the difference between Mordecai and Haman. (If you do attend a celebration, you might want to hold off on that part.)


I was introduced to the festival of Purim while Carrie and I were in seminary. A few of the Jewish students on Earlham College’s campus worked for us at the Co-op, and they invited us to join them one year. Being a school sponsored group celebrating on campus with under-aged students, there was no alcohol, and being late twenty/early thirty-somethings, Carrie and I did not stay for the morning reading. But we did have a lot of fun, and I remember wondering why Christians (at least in the traditions I have experienced) don’t tend to let loose during religious celebrations in the same way.

Some people do have quite a lot of fun at Christmas or at Easter, and there are festivals on Saint’s days in some other countries, but in the Western world, there is no Christian holiday that we all mark with such a celebration. Even our communion celebrations are muted with just small sip of wine received in a muted atmosphere and not even that in many churches. Most often, it seems, we are sober-faced as well as sober. Where is the joy? Where is the grateful abandon of a community rejoicing in salvation and the richness of life renewed? Largely, it seems, forgotten or locked away for fear of impropriety.

Maybe things would be different if we had been brought back from the brink of annihilation. Maybe if Constantine had order that all Christians – man, woman, and child – be put to the sword before making Christianity the state religion. Maybe then we would dress up and dance in the streets to mark the day that we were saved from oblivion.

But it didn’t happen that way. Rome embraced Christianity – at least to some extent – and we eventually became the power behind the throne of many countries. And, eventually, along with the imperial power and all its trappings, Christianity has adopted an imperial attitude toward those outside its control, ignoring them, conquering them, and even seeking to wipe them out when “necessary” – that is when we felt they threatened our domination or showed too little respect for our power and our station. Sound like anyone we know?


In the August 16th issue of Newsweek, Lisa Miller wrote about the current discussion concerning a mosque scheduled to be built a few blocks from the site of the World Trade Centers. Imbedded in the article were three telling photographs of protesters holding signs that read:
“Stop scapegoating all Muslims for 9/11,”
“Don’t glorify the murders of 3,000… No 9/11 Victory Mosque,”
and, simply, “Islam kills.”

These pictures are meant to characterize the two different approaches taken by the women interviewed in the article. Both women lost sons in the attack on the Trade Centers. One, Sally Regenhard, has responded to the proposed mosque with anger and disbelief. She feels that the idea of the Muslim religious center is not only insensitive but a downright provocation that stabs at the heart of all Americans, especially those who lost loved ones in the attack. Though she does not advocate violence or any kind of persecution against Muslims, her voice has become one of those quoted by others who do, and she feels that they have a right to the anger they are expressing if not the way they propose to express it.

The other, Adele Welty, has responded controversy over the mosque by becoming a voice for tolerance and moderation. In her articles and interviews, she has repeated sought to remind Americans that those who are building the mosque are not responsible for the 9/11 attack, and that many of them lost loved ones too. The language of fear and anger that is being used, she says, goads us into curtailing the freedoms of others and leads to violence that we only live to regret. And, if the recent verbal attacks and the attempts at physical assault on those who are at the heart of the building project are any indication, she may well be right.


In one way, it is not surprising that Americans – who are largely Christian – are responding to the mosque in this way. We have all been deeply wounded whether we were directly affected by the September 11th attacks or not, and as Kathleen Parker pointed out in the Dominion Post’s Op-Ed section on Thursday, it was not wise or considerate of the Muslim community in Manhattan to go ahead with their symbolically charged building project without considering the emotional affect on their neighbors. People who are hurt or badly scared often react with anger and violence when their wounds are poked – even years after the events that scarred them. Jesus, himself, responded to the Canaanite woman with a disdain that had been harbored by his culture for hundreds of years – a disdain that would have cost the life of her son if she had not refused to be silenced.

We enjoyed the drama played out before us this morning, and it is fun to boo the villain and cheer the hero. But, the story of Esther is anything but funny – genocide just barely prevented and a vengeful death. I wonder if part of your laughter, like mine, was a bit … uncomfortable … a bit nervous because something about the characters (the ones we don’t like) hit a little too close to home. Did you find Esther’s courage? Did you find the king’s anger? Haman’s pride? Mordecai’s sense of relish at the defeat of his enemy?

It seems to be in our nature – whether we like it or not – to seek vengeance against those we feel have wronged us or at least to stand aside when they are threatened so as to protect our own. Sometimes, when we do so out of pride or envy, we are more like Haman. Sadly Christian history is full of those stories; many of us continue to write them today. I’d like to think that most of us, here, are not those people. We are probably more like the Sally Regenhards. Acting out of our own pain and vulnerability, we act with rashness and speak with sharp tongues, but we don’t really mean the harm we cause. Or, perhaps we are like Mordecai, standing aside as we watch others get “their just desserts.”

But I think we could do better. I believe we are called to do better. I believe that we could become like Adele Welty, speaking the voice of calm and compassion and tolerance into situations ruled by violent, thoughtless passion, speaking out in defense of those who are persecuted. We might even find it within ourselves to follow the path of Esther and risk our own position, our own comfort, … our own safety in order to prevent the suffering of others.

That’s the path Christ followed in the end. It’s the path he leads us down. And we could follow it if only we could find the courage …. If only we could find the courage.

Flying After Jesus

Sermon by Torin Eikler
Daniel 3 Luke 9:23-26

Have you ever been to the circus and watched trapeze artists in action? I remember the one time that I went to the circus as a child. It was a big one, and most of my memories are fuzzy with the over stimulation and adrenaline of over-sugared in the midst of 5,000 on-lookers. But I do remember watching the trapeze troupe swing back and forth and summersault through the air during the eternal moments between letting go and catching hold. And with absolute clarity, I remember the way that my stomach tensed up when one of them missed a catch and fell toward certain death only to be caught by the safety net that I hadn’t noticed before. Ever since that day, I have been fascinated by the men and women who continue the long tradition of astounding audiences by flying through the air.

As it turns out, I am not alone in this fascination. Henri Nouwen, the catholic priest and author that we mention every so often, was also a fan. In fact, he was so intrigued by trapeze artists that he befriended a troupe of trapezists called the Flying Rodleighs, and he was able to ask a question that I’ve always wondered about: how do “flyers,” as they’re called, manage to catch the hands of the other person on their swing. In his book, Servants, Misfits, and Martyrs: Saints and their Stories, James C. Howell recounts the response he received from the chief of the Flying Rodleighs.

The secret is that the flyer does nothing and the catcher does everything. When I fly to Joe, I have simply to stretch out my arms and hands and wait for him to catch me and pull me safely over the apron behind the catchbar…. The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. I’m not supposed to catch Joe. It’s Joe’s task to catch me…. A flyer must fly, and a catcher must catch, and the flyer must trust, with outstretched arms, that his catcher will be there for him.”

While the trapeze artist clearly meant this to be a simple explanation of his technique, I find it to quite an elegant description of the life of faith. As people of faith we are all flyers. It is our job to swing off the platform and let go of the bar, risking a fall. And we must trust, with outstretched arms, that God will catch us as we seek to follow our guide and savior.


Enter Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, three young men from ruling families of Israel taken to the court of King Nebuchadnezzar to serve as court wise men as well as “hostages” ensuring the cooperation of the newly subjugated nation. Over the course of three or four years, they lived with the wise men of the Babylonian court along with their friend Daniel, offering advice and interpreting signs at the king’s behest. Eventually, they were appointed as governors of one province of the empire as a reward for interpreting a particularly troubling dream. A short time later, the king passed an edict commanding all his subjects to bow down and worship a golden statue on pain of death, and the three young men found themselves swinging precariously over a long, long drop into the fire.

You all know the rest of the story. The three men refused to worship anyone or anything other than their own God, holding firm even as they were thrown into a furnace so hot that their executioners were died just getting close enough to them flying. And fly they did, trusting, with arms outstretched that God would be there to catch them.

That the men survived does not stop the story from qualifying them as martyrs. Martyrs are no more or less than people who hold to their faith even if it means that they will die. But martyr stories are more than just tales that we tell for inspiration and encouragement. They are also stories that are intended to promote action and embolden faith on the part of listeners. In other words, the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, according to commentator Frederick J. Murphy, is not just a show of faith but a call to active, non-violent resistance to worldly power and symbols of colonization, and that’s something that we should know more than a little bit about.

Anabaptists have been resisting the power of colonialism, whether it be found in secular or church bureaucracies, for 500 years or more. It is what we were born to do in as much as our spiritual ancestors acted in direct defiance of both government and church when they baptized one another, hurling themselves into persecution and death to follow the path of discipleship … flying, arms outstretched, toward Jesus on the strength of their faith.

They, too, are martyrs – those who were burned, hung, or drowned as well as those who survived, and their stories invite us to the same active resistance. They call us to another way of living – a way that seeks follows the teachings and example of Jesus. Their legacy is ensconced in the way Mennonites and Brethren continue to characterize themselves: as disciples of Christ who seek continue his work together, reject violence, and strive for lives of simplicity lived in harmony with the rest of humanity and all of creation. … And, there are many of us who claim that heritage … that identity with our lives as well as our voices.

Most of us resist the violence of the world even in difficult situations, and there are some sisters and brothers who go farther. They seek not just to resist but to transform situations of injustice and oppression by applying the same discipline and self-sacrifice that armies devote to war to non-violent peace-making. Together they have formed an organization called Christian Peacemaker Teams that supports members as they confront systems of domination.

Where communities are experiencing oppression and the concrete threat of violence and death, CPTers step into the midst of the conflict and try to promote relationship and compassion in the place of brokenness and hatred by their own example. There are stories of stepping in front of loaded guns, accompanying people through dangerous territory or check-points where soldiers push them to the ground and shoot into the air above their heads, and sitting together in prayer as the military shells the neighborhood. Often, the response from both sides is anger and confusion, and many CPTers have been arrested, held in jail, deported, or banned by the powers they confront. One man, Tom Fox, was even killed after three months of being held hostage by a militant group in Iraq.


Others take “safer” paths, though those ways require sacrifice as well. Some, like our friends in Church Communities International (which some of you will know as the Bruderhof) choose to give up personal ownership and a measure of independence in order to embrace the richness of community. Others give up family life in order to dedicate themselves to Christ and the work of the Church. Still others choose the way of extreme simplicity, living in a way that neither abuses the earth nor supports inequity in the workplace.

Cliff and Arlene Kindy live in a small house on a farm in Northern Indiana. In their commitment to following Jesus, they have decided to live under the poverty level. They do this, in part, to avoid paying taxes that support the military, but they are also trying to live in solidarity with people across the country and the world who do not have the same advantages they do.

Once, when Arlene was explaining some of this to me, she told me that she had repeated chosen not to accept jobs as a teacher though that is her training and background. When I asked her why, she said that it wasn’t that the income would put them above the poverty line or that she disagreed with the celebration of violence in the curriculum. It was because there were other people as qualified as she who make much, much less than she would have, and she didn’t want to support a system with that kind of inequity. She had offered several times to teach for what she felt was a more just level of pay, but no one would hire her. So, she continued to work in her organic vegetable garden until she could find a position that would meet her criteria.


“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” It’s a verse that we have all heard so many times that I wonder if we pay attention to it anymore. I wonder if we think about what it is really asking us to do.

If you’re anything like me, you get caught up in cross imagery that is so often the focus of sermons on this text. You begin thinking about self-sacrifice, about martyrdom, and about self-denial in the spiritual, eternal sense. But, when was the last time you heard … really heard the end of the sentence: “take up their cross daily and follow me?”

What does it mean to follow Jesus … daily? I suppose there is no way around the fact that it could mean risking death for our faith, but how often does that come into any of our lives. And if we ever were called to sacrifice in the way Tom Fox did, that would be a once in a lifetime moment … not an every day practice.

Following Jesus is not just about the extreme of martyrdom which I think we admire and abhor in just about equal measure. It is also about our everyday choices: about how they grow out of love and compassion for others … or not, about how they resist the inequities and abuses in our world … or not, about how they help others to experience the Kingdom promise of wholeness and new life … or not. That doesn’t necessarily mean that there is any less self-denial, any less sacrifice involved though.

As people of faith and as Anabaptists, we are all called to make our lives speak about what is important to us just as loudly as our voices. We each have things that we need to give up, and we are each called to particular acts of compassion and love. What that denial is, what those actions are grows out of our own particular background. We may not all make the choices like Arlene’s, but each of us has passions born of our faith and experience. Whatever your passions are, where ever your faith leads you, we are all called to take up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

We are all called to let go of the bar and fly toward Christ.