Christmastide

December 29, 2019

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:13-23

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, 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 wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
‘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

I cannot imagine feeling so desperate to save my children’s lives that I would flee my homeland in search of the promise of a better, more welcoming place. Some have told me I should not be so concerned about the children being held at the border between Mexico and the USA because they are being feed and have a place to stay. It is better than what they left. Since even that is questionable, I have lost my glorified image of American as the place of “Give me your tired, your poor,/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”* written on the Statue of Liberty. We seem to live in a world where our leaders will do whatever it takes to keep their stranglehold on power and money without regard to who might get hurt in the process.

How did we get to this point? Did the events of 9/11 frighten us so much we trust no one? Or are we so afraid of not being the dominant skin tone, we try to control who comes and goes by the hue of their skin? Were not all people created in the image of God? Why do humans seem to have a need to establish hierarchies of worth among the world’s people?

There are no borders in the kingdom of God. God loves and calls good God’s entire creation. Our assignment is to nurture and protect it. We are not to misuse and abuse it to our selfish ends.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we misuse and abuse the earth an all its inhabitants. Show us your better way. Amen.

*From The New Colossus poem by Emma Lazarus see at https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm

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.