Innocent Ones, Christmas 1, Jan. 1, 2017

First Sunday of Christmas (Year A)

Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017

Theme:  Innocent Ones

Reflection: While the slaughter of the innocents may not be historically accurate, this story makes the nativity truer than the happily-ever-after fairy-tale quality that a purely happy Christmas offers. Jesus enters a real world, like ours, where children are poor, malnourished, enslaved, and poisoned by greed's numbing exploitations. Taking the Nativity story out of the grim contexts in order to make it pretty, defeats the purpose of the Incarnation.

 – Suzanne Guthrie, Edge of Enclosure

"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members -- the last, the least, the littlest."

 – Cardinal Roger Mahony, from a 1998 letter, Creating a Culture of Life

When I read a text that seems unbelievable, like Joseph taking his family to Egypt to escape Herod’s plot to murder the infant Jesus, I try to imagine it occurring in the world today. And sometimes it pales against the horrors of the evening news.

Imagine the fate of the Holy Family today in this world. Joseph and Mary and their newborn … fleeing for their lives from Aleppo. Or the West Bank. Or Central America. Or perhaps next door.

The picture of the Syrian refugee child washing up on a beach caused a media backlash – were the images too graphic to print? Or was the startling sight of a child’s death something the world needed to respond urgently to the refugee crisis? (A link to the graphic photos and story: http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/03/437132793/photo-of-dead-3-year-old-syrian-refugee-breaks-hearts-around-the-world). Would the family be in harm’s way today in Syria?

Commonplace are the reports of violence in Israel. But in the West Bank, which includes Bethlehem, Palestinian Muslim and Christian families fear for their lives 24/7 (http://www.globalresearch.ca/living-in-fear-one-palestinian-familys-struggle-to-survive-in-the-occupied-west-bank/5555137). Israel continues to undermine and destroy Palestinian settlements in the occupied territory, while officially and unofficially supporting illegal Israeli settlements. Would Joseph, Mary and Jesus be safe here?

Another day, the media reports a 9-year-old girl fled her Honduran home, traveling unaccompanied nearly 2,000 miles to seek asylum in the United States (http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/dina-mutate-honduras-307063261.html.) Teenage Joseph and Mary and their infant would blend into the flood of minors crossing the U.S. border from points south, fearing violence in communities increasingly overrun by gang and drug violence.

Here in our own country, coverage of our homeless and economically struggling population grows. These three might live in a family shelter, if one is available, or perhaps in their car. They may survive on social services and the kindness of faith communities. How would we respond to teenage parents and an infant in need of shelter, food and other basic needs? Would we extend hospitality to these strangers in our midst?

No one wants to flee their homes. But each day, people wake wondering if they will survive this day. A constant reality for millions in this world. Innocent bystanders, caught in violence, power games, political posturing and ignorance.

So Rachel weeps for her children today, still inconsolable. Thousands of children and defenseless adults each day are no more.

It’s a life unimaginable for us in our peaceful neighborhoods and secure homes. This world’s misery overwhelms us. We block out the news, shy away from political discussions. We doubt we could impact this scale of devastation, so we don’t even try.

Start somewhere. Anywhere. Help the person closest to you. Collect food, paper goods and toiletries for a shelter. Volunteer to serve at a community meal. Hire a recovering addict or a person released from prison and change his or her life. Work together to resettle a refugee or homeless family, or a victim of human trafficking. Consciously end discussions that divide – since we hold people’s lives in the balance with our words and our actions, or conversely, with our silence and our indifference.

Faith App:  In the words of Mother Teresa – Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love. Do one small thing this week that lifts up someone who needs your help.

HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS

O Holy Night (Not a hymn for congregational singing. But if you are fortunate to have a soloist, or a choral arrangement of the hymn, the lyrics of the third verse are a perfect fit.)

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

O Little Town of Bethlehem, ELW 279

Love Has Come, ELW 292

Joy to the World, ELW 267

All Earth Is Hopeful, ELW 266

What Feast of Love, ELW 487

Holy Child within the Manger (Carol at the Manger), WOV 638

Jesus Entered Egypt, Adam M.L. Tice (from Glory to God, Presbyterian Hymnal http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/GG2013/154)

Jesus entered Egypt, fleeing Herod's hand,

Living as an alien in a foreign land.

Far from home and country with his family,

Was there room and welcome for this refugee?

Jesus was a migrant living as a guest

With the friends and strangers who could offer rest.

Do we hold wealth lightly so that we can share

Shelter with the homeless, and abundant care?

Jesus crosses borders with the wandering poor,

Searching for a refuge, for an open door.

Do our words and actions answer Jesus' plea:

"Give the lowly welcome, and you welcome me"?

Manger Throne, Third Day

A New Hope for the World, Life Wide Open

Give This Christmas Away, Matthew West/Amy West

Night of Hope, Phillips, Craig & Dean

Another sunset falls, yet nothing’s really changed.

Eden’s promises feel like a million miles away.

The endless span from God to man grows wider every day;

A price too great for mortal man to pay.

Yet in the darkness see Messiah’s guiding light.

A star of mercy shining like a diamond, pure and bright.

And every beam that falls to earth helps declare this noble birth.

Healing comes and Mary’s baby cries.

This is a night of hope. It's a night of joy.

This is a night of peace wrapped in a baby boy.

This holy child of promise has come to let us know,

That we can sing and dream again.

This is a night of hope

LESSONS

Isaiah 63:7-9 God, in love and mercy, came to save the people of Israel.

Psalm 148 Let everything in the heavens and on the earth praise the Lord.

Hebrews 2:10-18 Jesus became like his brothers and sisters who suffer.

Matthew 2:13-23 The Holy Family flees to Egypt to protect their son’s life.

Summary of the Lessons: On this New Year’s Day, we can’t help but read today’s lessons and hold in our hearts the vulnerable people, especially children, who are caught in the crossfire of this world’s powers. We wonder how God’s love and mercy applies to them. God may not be able to prevent this world’s suffering, but is close to those in distress and the broken-hearted, as God became flesh and experienced this world’s pain.

OPENING LITANY  based on Psalm 148

L:  Let everything in creation praise the Lord!

C:  Hallelujah! Shout for joy to the Maker of all!

L:  Climb the tallest mountain to shout your praises!

C:  Praise the Lord, angels and all the heavenly host!

L:  Blazing stars, spinning planets, magnificent galaxies –

C :  Everything in the skies -- dance and sparkle in praise!

L:  The Almighty spoke the word and worlds appeared –

C:  Commanded the waters, and filled them with life;

L:  Sculpted the valleys and ridges, deserts and plains

C:  Stirred the wind and rain, heat waves and blizzards.

L:  Cover the earth with life of all kinds, said the Lord –       

C:  Wild animals and tame ones, trees and flowers,

L:  Animals that creep, swim and fly, and people too!

C:  All that God breathed into being – Praise the Lord!

CONFESSION

L:  Lord, we delight in telling the story of your birth –

C:  Warm and fuzzy – the angels and the swaddling clothes;

L:  Shepherd visitors and a star that led royals from the East,

C:  How serene we remember our Christmas story to be.

L:  Lord, we skim over the story’s distressing parts –

C:  A city with no welcome for a young family,

L:  A leader whose power required innocents to die.

C:  Let’s not go there now – keep this story rated ‘G.’

L:  Lord, how different things would be if you arrived today –

C:  Of course we’d welcome a homeless couple with a child on the way;

L:  No way we’d let a leader allow innocent people to die.

C:  Please forgive us, Lord, when we hear words but do not see.

(Silent reflection)

L:  In our confession, we pray together,

C:  Most Merciful God … you did not create us to live apart from the suffering of this world. Just like Jesus, our brother, we have been born into a world of distress and death, where innocent bystanders and vulnerable people still fear and flee for their lives. Rachel STILL weeps for her children. Forgive us, Lord, for our complicity in this world’s evil, by what we’ve done and by what we’ve left undone.

Here is Good News: Our Lord is gracious and abundant in love, so ready to forgive us. In this holy birth at Christmas, we see the beginning of a story that ends in life everlasting. Jesus’ story is our story and our hope. You are forgiven and freed from your sins.

In the name of…

Amen.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

L:  We pray together, 

C: God of Compassion … we pray for all the vulnerable ones hurt and killed in the crossfire of violence and evil, and in the void of injustice and neglect. Give us your eyes that we might see and protect the children and the elderly, the physically and mentally ill, the forgotten and forsaken – everyone who is innocent and voiceless in our world.  Amen.

COMMUNION BLESSING

L:  We pray together,

C:  We give thanks, most gracious God, for your mercy in this bread, your healing in this cup.  Give us the wisdom, strength and courage to act on behalf of the innocent and defenseless, standing always on the side of love. Amen. 

SENDING

L:  In Jesus, we see every defenseless child –

C:  Those who flee in terror, afraid for their lives;

L:  Through Christ, we see the helpless anew,

C:  Reminded that we have love’s power to act.

L:  Go now, courageous and strong, to love and to serve the Lord.

C:  Thanks be to God!

First Reading Isaiah 63:7-9 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: This passage is a communal lament following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonians’ profane use of the temple in 586 B.C. Even as the Israelites began building the new temple, they remembered this time.

I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD,

    the praiseworthy acts of the LORD,

because of all that the LORD has done for us,

    and the great favor to the house of Israel

that he has shown them according to his mercy,

    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

For he said, “Surely they are my people,

    children who will not deal falsely”;

and he became their savior

   in all their distress.

It was no messenger or angel

    but his presence that saved them;

in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Second Reading Hebrews 2:10-18 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Hebrews is written to a congregation persecuted due to its persistent belief in Christ within a culture hostile to the Way. This passage that lifts up the suffering of Christ is intended to bolster the community’s faith.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,

    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”

And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

Gospel Matthew 2:13-23 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Herod’s reputation for brutality was well-known, by his wives and his children, prompting the Holy Family’s temporary flight to Egypt for the Messiah’s life. The escape also is reminiscent of the flight of the Israelites from Pharoah to Egypt.

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 fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

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.”

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”