December 14, 2025

Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus “Refusing to bow " Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch

December 14, 2025 Based on Daniel: 1-30

Biblical scholars often describe this story as something like satire. The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar builds an absurdly giant statue, ninety feet tall and only nine feet wide. As tall as a modern building and impossibly thin. It is made of more gold than probably existed in the entire Babylonian empire. Already the scene strains believability.

Then Nebuchadnezzar calls together every official in the empire, from the most powerful to the least important, and demands that whenever any musician plays, and the text names every type of instrument, everyone must bow down to the idol. The writer of Daniel carefully lists every title of every official who must kneel. It all reads like someone rolling their eyes while writing it. The pageantry is so over the top that you almost have to laugh.

A king desperate to look powerful is always a little ridiculous, even when he is dangerous. The text is saying, in its own ancient way, this is not a god. This is insecurity covered in gold. Fear dressed up as faith.

Into this moment step Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Exiles. Outsiders. Like the other stories we have read this Advent, this one is rooted in displacement. These three have been taken from home. Their temple is gone. Their land is behind them. Even their Hebrew names have been replaced. They live under a ruler who claims absolute power.

And yet, when the music plays and everyone else bows low before the king’s absurd statue, these three remain standing. They refuse to worship the empire’s idol. They refuse to give their allegiance to a false god of domination.

They are hauled before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar thunders, bow or burn. Their reply is one of the most courageous lines in scripture. Our God is able to save us. But even if God does not, we will not serve your gods.

They believe God can save them, but their loyalty is not based on guarantees. Their courage is not confidence that everything will turn out fine. Courage is faithfulness even when the outcome is uncertain.

This is often lifted up as one of the earliest stories of civil disobedience on record. Three people who say no when the world demands yes. Three who resist empire without violence. Three who refuse to be swallowed by fear. They stand in a long line of saints, prophets, reformers, martyrs, truth tellers, and ordinary people who refuse to bow to idols of power.

And that is a powerful witness. But it can also feel intimidating. Because if faithfulness only looks like walking calmly into a furnace, many of us might wonder whether we would pass that test. I will be honest with you. I probably would have bowed. I would have justified it. I would have told myself survival mattered. I would have hoped God understood.

Which raises an important question. What does faithfulness look like when the pressure is real, but martyrdom is not the only faithful response?

Martin Luther King Jr. reflected on this story while sitting in a Birmingham jail cell. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, he wrote about unjust laws, about conscience, about the need to resist systems that crush dignity and life. He was responding to fellow Christians who quoted Paul, saying we must obey the governing authorities. King answered by pointing to stories like this one. Civil disobedience is in the Bible itself.

King argued that when laws violate love, when power demands allegiance that contradicts God’s call for justice, obedience is not righteousness. Resistance is. He wrote that he had a higher loyalty. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he stepped toward the furnace, knowing suffering might come, trusting God would be with him whatever happened.

But here is the important part. King’s way of resisting was his calling. It was not the only faithful path. Scripture itself gives us more than one way to resist empire.

This story is also satire. It pokes fun at power. It exposes a king acting like a god who must force people to worship him. It reveals the absurdity of someone who believes devotion can be commanded through threats and coercion.

That reminds me of Mel Brooks and his Broadway play The Producers. In the show, two men try to create the worst musical imaginable so it will fail and they can steal the investment money. Their solution is a deliberately outrageous musical called “Springtime for Hitler,” meant to glorify him so badly that it collapses under its own absurdity.

Producers told Brooks it should never be staged. You cannot depict Hitler like that. Brooks responded by saying, listen, if you get on a soapbox to argue against Hitler, you will lose. He was a great orator. But if you make people laugh at him, you win. Comedy was the only weapon Brooks had. If you can make a tyrant look ridiculous, you take away his power.

That too is resistance.

Not everyone is called to go to jail. Not everyone is called to stand publicly at great personal cost. Some resist by refusing to participate. Some resist by protecting the vulnerable. Some resist through organizing. Some resist through art. Some resist through humor that punctures pomposity and refuses to let fear have the final word.

Faithfulness is not a single posture. It is discernment. It is knowing where your line is. It is asking, when the music plays, how will I refuse to bow?

In the end, God does not pull the three out of the fire. God steps into the fire with them. The miracle is not escape. The miracle is presence. The danger is real. The heat is real. Yet they are not alone. A fourth figure stands among them, and their clothes do not even smell like smoke.

Which means courage is not the absence of fear. It is faithfulness in the midst of fear. It is trusting that God stands with us in whatever fire we face.

We may never face a golden statue or a literal furnace. But we know what it feels like to live in a world that asks us to bow. Bow to greed. Bow to hatred. Bow to cynicism. Bow to partisan loyalty over human dignity. Bow to despair.

Advent is a season for people who refuse to bow. We light a candle, small and stubborn, in a dark world. A flame of faithful courage. A reminder that we belong to God, not empire. That there is a higher loyalty. That love is stronger than fear.

This week we hold that flame. May it burn in us when we feel daunted by the empire in which we live. When fear creeps in and we feel powerless. May we remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. May we remember King writing from his cell. May we remember Mel Brooks reminding us that sometimes laughter is holy resistance.

Sometimes defiance looks like saying no when no one else will. Sometimes it looks like standing tall. Sometimes it looks like surviving. Sometimes it looks like humor that disarms false gods.

May we be people who keep the flame. Who stand when needed. Who resist in the ways God calls us. Who trust that God is with us in any fire.

Because empire does not have the final word. God does. And even a small flame can hold back the darkness.

Amen.

WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE

PRELUDE                                                                   “My Lord, What a Morning”                                                     arr. P.F. Tillen

INTROIT                                        “Freedom is Coming”                                South-African Freedom Song

WELCOME                                                                   

One: This is the day that the Lord has made

All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

*CANDLE LIGHTING                                                                         Jeremy & Sydney Carroll

*HYMN 107                       “Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn”                  REJOICE, REJOICE 

*PRAYER OF CONFESSION                                                                                                                                     Robin Murray

God of courage and fire, we confess that we have bowed to idols we did not intend to worship. We have accepted injustice as normal, chosen comfort over compassion, and allowed fear to quiet our witness. Forgive us when we forget who we belong to. Stand with us in the flames, so that we may stand with others who suffer. Renew our spirits with faithful courage, and kindle in us a flame that will not burn out. In Christ we pray, Amen.

*ASSURANCE OF PARDON

*RESPONSE OF PARDON 90            “Wait for the Lord” (2x)                         WAIT FOR THE LORD

*PASSING OF THE PEACE                                       

     One:   The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,

     All:      And also with you.

WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD

ANTHEM                                        “Carol of the Stranger”                        Abbie Betinis

Godly play

    Congregation: May God be with you there  

    Children: May God be with you here.               

Children’s Recessional 175      “Seek Ye First” vs. 1                                                                                                                                                                   

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

SCRIPTURE   Daniel 3:1-6,  8-30   The Voice

SERMON                                                                                                  Rev. Trip Porch

WE RESPOND TO GODS WORD

*HYMN 352                                “My Lord! What a Morning”                     MY LORD,  WHAT A MORNING

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE  followed by the Lord’s Prayer

TIME OF OFFERING   online giving is available at  www. indianolapres.org/give

On Sundays where uncredited African American Spirituals are sung, any loose offering will go to support the Columbus Cultural Orchestra, whose mission is to advance a collective of multi-generational musicians of color by performing high-quality jazz, classical, and hip-hop music.

OFFERTORY                           “Expectans” from Christmas Oratorio                             Camille Saint-Saëns                                                                                                                         Kya Angle, soloist                                 

*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 79        “Light Dawns on a Weary World” verse 2              TEMPLE OF CHRIST

*PRAYER OF DEDICATION 

Holy One, you are with us in the fire and in the quiet.

Accept the gifts we offer, and shape them into acts of justice, mercy, and love.

Use our time, our resources, and our lives for your work in this world.

May our offering be a sign of faith that stands tall,

and a light of courageous hope for those in darkness.

Through Christ, who walks with us always, Amen.

*HYMN 87                               “Comfort, Comfort Now My People”   GENEVAN 42

TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING

CHARGE & BENEDICTION

CHORAL RESPONSE                        “Amen”                               African American Traditional

POSTLUDE                         “Chantons je vous prie”                                           Nicolas Séjan

 Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452