SEASONAL FEATURE
Sunday, January 3, 2010First Sunday after ChristmasMatthew 2: 13-15, 19-23 Good morning. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I am so glad to see so many of you here on this cold day. I don’t know about you, but this had to be one of the most unusual Christmases ever—what with storms and blizzards that made travel, gatherings and even Christmas church services difficult or even impossible. So, I’m glad to be here today. Today’s gospel lesson is actually from the lectionary for the “Feast of the Holy Innocents”, which is celebrated (I use that term loosely) on Dec. 28th. It is probably one of the least preached passages in the Bible—and—one can see why. In fact, it is so unpopular, that the scholars who decide on the lectionary passages, decided to leave out a chunk of Matthew’s gospel. They left out verses 16-18. Passages 16-18 are: 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 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 were no more.” Here we are in the midst of the 12 days of Christmas, celebrating the joyous birth of the Christ child, and yet we are surrounded by brutality and hatred and horrifying violence. No sooner have the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds to their flocks, and Joseph and Mary are about to return home from Bethlehem, when an angel warns Joseph to take mother and child and flee to Egypt. And hard on Joseph’s heels come Herod’s soldiers, killing every male child two years and under. How about that for an addition to your nativity scenes. Soldiers with swords drawn looking for innocent babies. So, why does Matthew—and only Matthew, Luke doesn’t include this story in his birth narrative—tell this story. Biblical scholars point out that Matthew’s gospel is written primarily for a Jewish audience. So, Matthew is concerned most of all with proving that Jesus fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah. The birth story Matthew tells closely resembles the OT stories about Moses, Pharoah and the Exodus. Moses is also a helpless infant, like Jesus. Pharoah is a paranoid ruler, like Herod-and they both order the slaughter of innocent children when they hear of the birth of a child who is foretold to be a danger to their reign. Now—there is no extra Biblical corroboration that this particular slaughter of children took place. Many scholars think Matthew made it up. But, we do have plenty of evidence that Herod was precisely the kind of person to do something like this. However, whether it happened or not, it is important that Matthew show his audience how Jesus is repeating the history of Israel, that Jesus is in fact a greater Moses, who survived the same kind of political slaughter that Moses did, who comes out of Egypt just as Moses did, leading his people to a new kingdom. Okay-but does any of this have any meaning for us today. Well, I think it does. It is the way of the world. The good news always has enemies and it seems that whenever a particular “good” enters the world, evil becomes more apparent and rises up in a very ugly fashion. Every religion deals with good and evil—there is always a battle for balance going on. I show you joy, says the Buddha, and I show you sorrow. Yin and Yang.. So, this story reminds us that there is evil in the world and we need to know about it. Evil can be seen in bigotry, greed, deceit, violence or even in just being indifferent to the needs of others. Evil can get a hold of us at any time and we may not—probably don’t-even realize it. The gift of life we humans receive comes with a price, we are given free will. Sounds like a good deal, doesn’t it. But, we have the awesome responsibility to choose between good and evil, and most of us have a strong conscience that hurts when we make a bad choice. We recently had a blizzard here, which reminded me of farmers and ranchers in this area and what they do during blinding storms. They would often tie a strong rope from their barns to their houses, so they would have a guide, something to hang onto during a blizzard, so they wouldn’t get lost in their own yards. I think of evil as a bad blizzard, that we can easily get lost in and lose our spiritual way and moorings. The church can be like that rope. It can be our guide or tether in a spiritually tumultuous and stormy world. The church is far from perfect of course. It is, after all, made up of people. But when we gather in community, we have a tendency to look outside of ourselves a little—we pray for the world and others, we remember the good news, we focus on the missions of justice and peace, we come face to face with our own sorrow and begin to heal through the love and forgiveness of each other and of Jesus Christ. The church is God’s field hospital, if you will. A place to go for spiritual healing, for inoculation against the evil of the world, and for shelter from the storm. I’ve been thinking a lot about St Martin’s as I prepare for the new year. I realize that we have had many struggles here, and that we will continue to face new challenges. But, as Fr. Phil says, at least we aren’t just treading water anymore—we are all in the boat together now. All we need now are some oars—and then of course, we have to learn how to row together, which may be our biggest challenge yet. So-stay warm—stay safe---stay together—and many blessings for a great new year! Amen
Fr. Phil’s Thoughts(The first in maybe not regular writings)(:o)12/20/2009
Passing the Peace: Concerns about this tradition were brought to St. Martin’s Vestry Meeting last week. There are some who may worry about this part of the worship due to its free-for-all nature. Some simply feel uncomfortable with it because of a fear of being hugged or mugged. And, with the current health concerns about flu and viruses, some are leery about even shaking hands. These are valid concerns that are not unique to St. Martin’s. They are shared by many others in the Episcopal Church, as well as in many other denominations where this ritual is practiced. So what do we do?? It has been suggested we have Holy Conversation. Since this is a community issue, community conversation seems like an excellent idea. Before we do this, let’s take a look at the origin and purpose of this tradition. This is one of the most basic traditions of holy worship practiced by Christians down through the ages. It is rooted in several passages in the New Testament that refer to giving one another a “holy kiss”. In Romans 16:16, Paul tells members of the congregation to “greet one another with a holy kiss”; The First Letter of Peter ends, “Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ” (1 Peter 5:14).(The Episcopal Handbook). While we usually refrain from “holy kissing”, we do customarily pass the peace just before coming to the Lord’s Table. Let’s plan on having holy conversation about this at our January 10th Annual Meeting, in hopes of determining a process that satisfies concerns and supports the intent of this holy tradition. In the meantime, let us be as sensitive as we can about our parish family member’s individual concerns.
Millennium Development Goals
The MDGs represent a global partnership that has grown from the
commitments and targets established at the world summits of the 1990s. Responding to the world's
main development challenges and to the calls of civil society, the MDGs promote poverty reduction,
education, maternal health, gender equality, and aim at combating child mortality,
AIDS and other diseases.
