Christmastide

December 28, 2019

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:13-23

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’ –Matthew 2:13-15

The story in this scripture is being used to highlight the current threats refugees all over the world are facing. It is appropriate as we watch on the news the many refugees being driven from their homelands to less hostile, but unwelcoming territories. Most of our world was settled by migrating people seeking a better life from their starting point. Cain may be the first refugee recorded in the Bible, which says that he went with God’s protection even though his reason for leaving was that he killed his brother. Abraham was a migrant from Ur. Joseph was sold into slavery into Egypt, and Jesus was taken to Egypt to save him from the Romans who had conquered Israel.

I track my ancestry through an online service that maps all the different places from which my ancestors came. All eight of the primary lines I track were here before the first census in 1790. Religious freedom was a primary motive for the earliest of my ancestors’ transatlantic treks. Lack of a means to support their families was the primary reason for others. Famines were not unusual in England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and France. These people all made positive contributions to the USA.

My ancestors were also all white, therein lies the rub in our immigration problems today and in our treatment of the indigenous people whose lands we claimed as a part of our perceived manifest destiny. Jim Wallis defines America’s original sin as racism. We imported slaves from Africa. Low-paid, poorly treated Asians were brought here to build our railroads, and people from our southern neighbor’s were needed to harvest our food. Lust for power and greed were the driving forces in all these instances and remain a great shame for us today.

As we prepare for a new year, let us dedicate ourselves to restoring wholeness to all of God’s children enabling us to become the people God created us to be.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for choosing not to see the racism that is all about us. Show us ways to remove discrimination from our society and create a world of mutual respect for all your children. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved. Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt into the promise land.