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John 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.?2?He was in the beginning with God.?3?All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being?4?in him was life,?and the life was the light of all people.?5?The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.14?And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a firstborn child,?full of grace and truth.?Matthew 2In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi?from the East came to Jerusalem,?2?asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising,?and have come to pay him homage.”?3?When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;?4?and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah?was to be born.Then Herod secretly called for the wise men?and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.?8?Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”?9?When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,?until it stopped over the place where the child was.?10?When they saw that the star had stopped,?they were overwhelmed with joy.?12?And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.13?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.”?14?Then Joseph?got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt,?15?and remained there until the death of Herod. 16?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.?17?Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: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.”When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said,?20?“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.”In the Love of TruthLike many of you, I spent Wednesday glued to my TV and my phone. The pain and trauma of what we witnessed together is something much greater than can be unpacked in one worship service. We all bring our varied responses to these events together, and we hold each of them in this communal sacred space. At our vigil on Thursday, I heard a number of you describe your response as “outraged” or “angry.” These are words I would use as well. The truth is, I have been angry for many years.While many of us were glued to our screens in shock and horror, some of us – including myself – were scanning the crowds praying desperately we wouldn’t recognize someone committing this violence. Family, friends, classmates, former pastors. For us, the people who did this are not “those people.” We know them very well. And For those who have been targeted by or who have escaped from the white Christo-fascist cult that laid siege to the capitol this week – these events have not been remotely surprising.While I didn’t recognize any individuals that I saw, there were certainly many images that were familiar to me. The Christian flag being waved alongside the American one, as the mob charged forward – staking their claim over their supposed “Christian” nation. The Jesus Saves posters next to ones declaring victory for Donald Trump, their true messiah. Crosses being erected in one video, a hangman’s noose in another – a juxtaposition Black Americans have known far too well, as James Cone wrote about in his book “The Cross and the Lynching Tree.” No the events of Wednesday were not surprising for many. There was another juxtaposition that stuck me on Wednesday. Last Sunday we honored the Christian tradition of epiphany, which celebrates the magi discovering the infant Jesus, full of grace and truth, after a long and difficult journey. What often goes un-preached in many churches are the events that follow this unveiling of the truth — the backlash. On their quest to find Jesus, the magi come to Herod, the political leader in Jerusalem, to ask if he knows where they could find the newborn. Herod hears news of this threat to his political power, and is terrified. He comes up with a number of plans to keep his throne, something he had been doing for years, removing all who spoke against him, surrounding himself with yes men, etc. His response to this new threat was no different. He tries to trick the magi into leading him to the helpless child. The gospel of Matthew tells us what he does when Plan A doesn’t work: he lashes out, and mass violence ensues. Matthew quotes the prophet Jeremiah to describe the horrors of what Herod does: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.”In the world in which I grew up, worship of our idealized America was part of our liturgy. Every morning for the first ten years of my education I pledged allegiance to the American flag, followed by the Christian flag, and finally the Bible. I was taught that God had ordained the founding of the United States. That we were a chosen nation, but the enemy was trying to destroy us from within. It was our job as Christians to stand firm against the growing tides of tolerance, pluralism, liberalism, and so on. The enemy was winning some battles, but God would win the war, and would restore the U.S. to it’s former glory. He would make America Christian again. What happened on Wednesday was the logical extension of the broad range of Christian nationalism that exists in America. We were told our way of life was under attack. On Wednesday, the fear of the loss of power led to the loss of life as it did in the epiphany story.Herod can rear his head in all of us when we’re asked to give up something we think we’re entitled to.Throughout the history of the white liberal Christian tradition there has been a tendency to erase the cross instead of reckoning with it.In Matthew’s telling of Herod’s atrocity, he quotes the Hebrew prophet, Jeremiah who witnessed the catastrophic destruction of Jerusalem and heard the wailing and loud lamentation of Rachel (a stand in for the nation of Israel as a whole). Earlier in his account Jeremiah speaks of the religious leaders who downplayed the problem until it was too late, saying “They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 8:11)Sometimes Herod grasping for power looks like ignoring truth in order to hold on to comfort.The reason so many were surprised by the events on Wednesday is because it has benefited generations of white Americans to pass on an idealized version of who we are in order to maintain the status quo. Most of us aren’t like “those people” therefore there must not be a problem – we can keep our version of religious nationalism that worships America as a shining city on a hill. Peace, peace. But there is no peace. We will never be free of the cycle of violence we saw this week if we aren’t willing to get uncomfortable. We will never have peace, unity, or healing if we do not first fully and with humility commit to the work of justice.The truth is – this is who we have been, and it is who we still are – but it is not who we always have to be. A new world is possible, and it is coming into being even now. Even in weeks like this one. We’re not there yet. But we can get there. If we welcome the truth. And if we heed the words of the apostle Paul: “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.?So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.” (Galatians 6:9-10) May it be so. ................
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