"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."
It
has been a trying month. Our Christmas
preparations were shattered by the realization that peace on earth is not a
reality – not yet. This gospel lesson
that we heard today, the gospel lesson for Holy Innocents is more that the
fulfillment of prophecy. It is a
statement of the depravity to which the lust for power and wealth can drive
human beings and the reality that our world is far from the Dream of God and of
the pain and suffering that depravity causes.
From
Colunbine to Sandy Hook we have come face to face with the loss of
innocence. A USA TODAY
examination found mass killings, shootings of 4 or more people, target
Americans once every two weeks on average, in attacks that range from robberies
to horrific public shooting sprees like the massacre in Newtown, Conn.,
One
Saturday afternoon in 1979 I was working at St Dominic’s hospital in Jackson MS. My code beeper went off and I headed to the
ER. There I saw a 5 year old little boy
named Peter, paralyzed from a bullet that had severed his spinal cord at C3. His 8 year old brother had reached under the
seat of the car and found a handgun owned by the husband of their nanny. In one horrific moment the brother swung
around, inches from Peter’s neck and say “bam” as he pulled the trigger. I have often watched as folks have died, and
there is always a sadness about it, but there is nothing more heart-wrenching than
when tragedy strikes a child.
That
we have a huge problem in America is pretty obvious. In December here in our small part of the
world it has been devastating. I mean
this part of the country has the most restrictive gun laws in America with the
possible exception of California. We have
the best educated populace in America.
We have the most expansive system of healthcare, hospice care, mental
health care for those who can pay and for those who cannot pay. By most accounts we should be living in the
safest place in America. And yet
Haverhill made the headlines as the town where the week after the horror of Sandy
Hook, someone chose to fire a BB gun into a schoolbus. What on earth were they thinking? Well they were not thinking at all! I mean how ignorant can you get?
And there are other forms of violence against
innocents… According to UNICEF, 22,000
children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the
poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of
the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more
invisible in death. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.
It is enough to cripple even the most optimistic
person…. But here we are in the midst of
the Christmas season, longing for Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All. I am in awe of the teachers in Sandy Hook
whose preparation for emergency had taught them to lock the doors from the
inside and hide the children and I am humbled by the sacrifice of the women who
lost their lives trying to stop the violence.
At Christmas we always get that soaring reading from
the first chapter of the Gospel of John – “In the beginning was the Word”. The lectionary moves us out of the stable to
consider the Christmas miracle of God with us on a much more expansive scale. God separated the sky from the earth and the
land from the seas - and before it all was the Word. The Word that would become flesh and dwell
among us. Kind of knocks your socks off
when you think about it. I am in awe of the
Creator incarnated, the infinite confined in human form just as I am, the
invincible made vulnerable in order to live the hurts, to share the pains.
Madeline L’Engle writes:
The Creator demonstrated that behind the majesty,
there’s the power of love, that driving force behind the willingness to stoop,
to be made vulnerable, to be stripped naked, be born a babe. Utterly unfathomable. At one point in human history, God entered and lived among all of this horror – miracle enough!! But that is not the end of the miracle of
Christmas, because God dwells in us too.
In each one of us is the kernel of goodness of our Creator waiting for us
to open our hearts to be the bearers of God’s truth in the world. That is perhaps the most profound miracle of
Christmas – that God dwells in each one of us with the potential to be agents
of the Dream of God…. We are both the
vessels and the beacons of God’s love in this world.
More than
anything else this Christmas I have felt a call to listen God’s word as a
clarion call to do something about the violence that seems so pervasive in our
society and so today I want to begin a conversation that I hope will ground
every single meeting and gathering we have here at Trinity in the coming year. We have an opportunity to think
about and to prepare for the ways we can become more resilient ourselves and
better able to help others confront violence.
Each Sunday we welcome our children with the words Shalom my friends,
Shalom. God’s Shalom implies liberation, salvation and the ability
to thrive in life. It is the consequence
of justice and righteousness, not of violence and bloodshed. It is the end of
coercion and fragmentation. Whereas violence begets more violence, Shalom is a
time 'when all God's creation eases up on hostility and destruction and finds
another way of relating.' (paraphrased from Walter Brueggemann)
A new way of relating might include the words we use
in worship, the shape of our prayer, the decisions we make about what
programming we have, what community celebrations we observe and how, the
hospitality and commitment we show to community groups working on violence
related issues. Individually it might
mean choosing to read a book or article that educates on the political issues
around violence. We may not all reach
the same conclusions but we can all be a better informed electorate. What this is really about is turning away
from indifference and turning instead to compassion and love.
So I want to invite you to consider a couple of
things.
First consider signing a pledge at Annual
meeting.
As
an Episcopalian committed in baptism to seeking justice and peace and promoting
the dignity of every human being, I commit to being part of the solution to the
violence in our culture that claimed the lives of 26 people at Sandy Hook
Elementary School and that claims the lives of 2000 innocent children through
gun crimes each year. I commit to the pursuit of laws that keep guns out of the
hands of criminals, prioritize the needs of at-risk children, provide care for
mental illness, and address the many ways in which our culture both celebrates
and trivializes violence. I commit to holding my lawmakers, my community, and
my own household accountable. I commit to accomplishing these things in 2013. I
commit to being the change we need
Secondly, take the time to learn about the issues
being considered by lawmakers. Changing
the cycle of violence will involve substantial creativity and commitment in our
communities, the commitment of our congregation to stay the course, and a
commitment to examining our own behaviors. How about signing up to attend Team
Haverhill’s Possible Dreams meeting on January 27. It will take three hours of your time, but
will provide an opportunity for you to talk with others about your hopes and
dreams for our city – perhaps even God’s hopes and dreams for us.
Lastly, I ask that you not let despair or anger poison
your hope for you and for your children.
Christ’s Peace that we offer each time we share the Eucharist is about
freedom from the fear, hatred, and oppression that limits our love and our
life. God’s shalom is bigger than
that. God’s Shalom opens the way for all
to be free to love and to live. It opens
the way for Peace on Earth and goodwill for all. Include in your prayer each and every day a
petition that God will give you the strength and courage to persist.
Our
Presiding Bishop closed her Christmas message with this:
“Alleluia alleluia let us Go and
look – and discover the love of God poured into our world in human form. Hope
reigns abroad, in the cosmos and in human hearts. And rejoice, for a child of
the light is born in our midst!”
Let the church say…… Amen
