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From the Pastor
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”—Matthew 2:16-18
It’s a harsh wake-up, the first Sunday of Christmas. We have just begun observing the birth of Jesus when we’re hit with the Slaughter of Holy Innocents. As theologian Stanley Hauerwas writes, "Jesus is born into a world in which children are killed, and continue to be killed, to protect the power of tyrants."
Really, Lectionary Committee? Can't you just let us have this party in peace?
Although Jesus is born, we also live in the not yet understanding that not everything has been healed and made whole. Injustices and conflict still dot our world, it’s true. But God is on the move. A newspaper article today reports that Christians in the West Bank have quietly begun celebrating Christmas again after a several-year hiatus driven by the war in Gaza. To me that would have been unthinkable a year ago.
We do and we will celebrate the birth of Christ over the 12 days of Christmas and beyond (remembering the season of Epiphany, or “God showing forth”). A tiny baby, born on a road trip, changes everything in our world. Through his inglorious birth; his ministry of healing and forgiveness; his suffering, death, and resurrection, he shows ordinary human life to be redeemed and sacred. Love means we will never be the same. All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Merry Christmas and a blessed Epiphany,
Pastor Connie
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