Holy Innocents

Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family now and forever.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod.

Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims, and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Amen.

Rachel is weeping for her children.

She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.

Thus says the Lord.

Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, says the Lord.

They shall come back from the land of the enemy.

There is hope for your future, says the Lord.

Your children shall come back to their own country.

The word of the Lord.

Blessed be the Lord.

We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Reading from the book of Revelation.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and for the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, See, the home of God is among mortals, he will dwell with them as their God.

They will be his peoples, and God himself will be them with them.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.

And the one who was seated on the throne said, See, I am making all things new.

Also he said, Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.

Then he said to me, It is done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

The word of the Lord.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When the Magi 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.

And 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 to the prophet, out of Egypt I have called my son.

When Herod saw that he'd been tricked by the Magi, 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 Magi.

Then was fulfilled what had been spoken to the prophet Jeremiah.

A voice was heard in Rama, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children.

She refused to be consoled because they are no more.

The gospel of the Lord.

Please be seated.

It is not usually one that we connect with the Bible, and quite honestly, it might feel like a pretty heavy gift to receive today.

Growing up as a child in the evangelical tradition, we didn't have Holy Innocence Sunday.

We knew this story very well, but we didn't connect it with Christmas.

So I'm going to try, because quite honestly, we don't have to read it.

And if we do, we read it every seven years.

So again, it's possible you haven't encountered it in the Bible before.

The first thing I want to suggest that is troubling about the story is that it quite possibly could be true.

What we know about Herod the Great, and we have to call him Herod the Great, that's what he named himself, mainly because he named all of his boys Herod.

He was sort of like George Foreman, naming all of his sons either George and his daughters Georgina.

So there were like seven Herods.

Herod the Great's father was converted to Judaism by the sword a generation earlier.

That was become Jewish or perish.

And Herod came out to be a pretty cruel and calculating guy.

Maybe you know from history that Herod actually, after the death of Julius Caesar, fought in the rebellion on the side of Mark Anthony against Octavian.

Of course, they lost.

Octavian became Augustus, and Herod stood before the new emperor, the new Caesar, trembling, and said, Consider the loyalty I showed your enemies, and I will give that loyalty to you.

Somehow that convinced Augustus to make Herod king of the region of Judea.

And as a king, Herod was pretty much given full reign as long as he paid his taxes.

He's called the Great because of the buildings that he erected, buildings we still go to see.

So consider that the time Herod received Jerusalem, it was the size of a basketball court, the temple.

By the death of Herod, the Temple Mount was the size of two and a half football fields.

By the time King Herod received the Jerusalem Temple, it was smaller than our sanctuary.

By the end of his life, it was the eighth wonder of the ancient world.

This is true.

Herod built arguably the most technologically and architecturally sophisticated port in the ancient world called Caesarea Maritima, complete with a breakwater, pioneering underwater cement.

He did this by levying more than burdensome taxes on people.

He was prone to fits of paranoia.

So he killed at least three of his own children.

He killed three Herods for fear that they were going to overthrow him.

He probably loved one woman, Mary Omni, who he also killed and then was haunted by because he thought she was going to kill him.

Caesar Augustus said he would prefer to be Herod's pig than one of Herod's family members, because even though Herod's faith did not prevent him from violence, he didn't eat pork.

This is the man we hear about, and so it is possible that Herod engaged in this atrocity just a few days after Christmas.

Matthew undoubtedly is trying to cast this as resonance with the story under Pharaoh.

If you know your Exodus story, right?

There were too many Hebrews.

Pharaoh became concerned.

Pharaoh told the soldiers to throw the boys into the Nile.

Moses' mother wouldn't do that.

That's why the people ended up being liberated.

And of course, you can read a story with a little bit of irony.

If Pharaoh had been compassionate to his subjects, then they probably would not have wanted to run away.

The scriptures hold that possibility.

Here is Jesus resonating with Moses with all of Hebrew tradition.

Notice we get the quote from Jeremiah today.

Rachel is weeping for her children.

If you know your story in Genesis, Rachel does not predecease any of her children.

This is Jeremiah using figurative language for the mother of the nation, seeing her people brought into exile.

And Jeremiah tells people look, God's going to bring restoration.

Jesus is meant to resonate with that story of exile.

And it's really interesting to think in this story we're offered today that not everybody was really excited about the gift of a newborn king.

Even though Herod was clearly too old for Jesus to be a threat to his earthly kingdom, he was afraid.

And he resulted in tactics that now we might call something like collateral damage.

And his effort to find one he was willing to tolerate false positives.

These children are called the holy innocents.

And depending on which tradition you belong to, they number from 40 to 144 to 144,000.

Again, whether you're Coptic or Orthodox or Roman Catholic, the number is is uh theologically different.

What we know historically is that Bethlehem was a really small village, and so the number before you 40 would be a high number.

Um but again, the scariest part of this story is that it's possible that this happened.

And what does that have to do with Christmas?

Well, um it's a stretch maybe, but on Christmas, I think we are considered, we return every year to the story about a baby being born that is God with us.

And you know, over um centuries and millennia, our brains have evolved to the point that we are hardwired to take care of our young.

We get to restart every year with, hey, babies are easy to take care of because our brains want to do that.

And here's a story about a guy who leaves his mammalian brain behind.

As mammals, we care for our children, and he goes to the lizard brain, the one that sees threats and either attacks them or flees from them.

And in so doing, there's collateral damage.

In some ways, I think Herod offers us a response that we have to pick from as we see Christ being born anew into our lives and to ones we love and to people in the news who we're afraid of.

Will we go to the mammalian response of taking care of God's presence in one another, or do we revert to fight, flight, and fear?

And are we willing to say that the means justify the ends?

Are we willing to accept collateral damage?

We call these children wholly innocent with an H.

We don't call them wholly innocent with a W.

Wholly innocent with a W means they never did anything wrong at all.

And I want to put before you that we call them wholly innocent with an H for a different reason.

And um, to me, the spirit of the story guides us into a whole lot of potential gifts.

And this is why I think it's important to talk about it during Christmas tide.

About four years ago, I was working with a family, and to be honest with you, it was really difficult to work with them.

They needed help financially, they wanted help financially, but they didn't do with the help what I thought they should do.

They weren't particularly strategic, they didn't come across as grateful.

I was working with another parishioner to try and be helpful here.

Again, these people were hard for me to help.

And I said, you know, sometimes I'm not even sure if everybody deserves this help.

And Vicky looked at me and said, but their child doesn't deserve what'll happen without the help.

That was an amazing moment for me about holy innocence.

And it got me thinking, we read this book this summer as a parish called Bridges Out of Poverty.

I was raised by college-educated parents.

I was raised by two workaholics.

I was raised to write a thank you note before the gift giver left your house.

That's the way I was formed.

And not everybody was formed that way.

And for me to insist that they immediately adopt the formation that was imprinted on me over my young adult life, over 20 plus years, it's more than a little unfair.

I think we have this opportunity to think about the holy innocence.

Parents, nations, communities that make decisions that are poor decisions, and the holy innocent don't deserve to suffer for the decisions that were made with their worst interests in mind.

I think this is a time to think about, of course, we heard it in the opening callet about tyranny and what collateral damage we're willing to accept on behalf of power.

To be sure, this is the day in which Jesus becomes an immigrant and not a wealthy one, somebody who's fleeing for their life to a foreign pagan country looking for asylum.

That seems important to remember in the Christmas story.

God showed up as a gift and then needed the gift of hospitality, of refuge, an asylum.

And it got me thinking that, hey, gifts aren't really just things that we're meant to receive and possess.

Gifts are really best given when they're shared.

And maybe this is part of the reminder on Holy Innocence Day is that God has chosen to come as a gift, a gift that is to be shared and not just long ago, but a gift that we're invited to continue to live into.

I don't always know how it is we challenge tyrants, and we all know the names of many of them.

Joseph Stalin is an easy one, Adolf Hitler is another easy one.

It's really easy to call out people in Iran and North Korea, and then I think we also have to remember are there policies that are creating collateral damage among holy innocents in our own country and in our own neighborhood, and quite honestly in our own families.

Obviously, the physical lives are most important, but I think it's really helpful to remember too that we also accept collateral damage by holy innocents in our own lives.

I remember the tender parts of me often being coached out by my wrestling coaches, by some of my teachers, because that collateral damage was what it took in order to form me into somebody who was going to be able to compete and win and triumph over.

And those are pieces I think that are worth reclaiming on ourselves, those pieces of innocence that we've accepted the loss of as collateral damage.

So this is a big, this is a big day to think about.

Quite honestly, this is probably the most social justice Sunday I can think of.

And it's a day in which I think we get this invitation really to think about the way God chooses to give and the ways we're invited to share.

And it is a little bit of a downer on Christmas III.

Except the story's not over.

And this, I think, is the best part about this reading from Revelation.

You've heard me say this before.

The best-selling fiction series of all time is not Harry Potter.

It's left behind.

And if you've read those books, the books say something completely different from our reading from Revelation today.

They say if you pray the right prayer when you die or even earlier, you'll get to leave earth.

And Revelation says the New Jerusalem is not up there, it's here.

God is in the process of sort of changing our clothes.

And this is what gifting is all about.

Are we going to join God in changing clothes?

So that we can find God in our midst, so we can share gifts that we've been given, which is really what gifts are for, to be not possessed, but to be enjoyed.

If we can do that, we don't have to wait till we die to enter the new Jerusalem.

In fact, we can help pave the way for the new Jerusalem to become more and more visible among us.

Now you all know sometimes we get gifts that come with responsibilities.

I think I might have got a new vacuum one time.

I was happy to have it, you know, because it was going to be more effective in my work.

But come on, it's not really something you play with.

Maybe today is one of those.

So I don't know that I can wish you a happy feast of the holy innocence, but I sure can wish you a holy one.

A holy one in which some of our gifts come with responsibilities that result and joy for the world.

In the heavenly Jerusalem appearing in our midst.

And if we do our work well enough, not just the recognition of the holy innocence in ourselves, but the resurrection of some holy innocence in ourselves.

So the holy feast of the holy innocence to you.

Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed.

We believe in one God.

Maker of heaven and earth.

All that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only child of God, eternally beginning Father, God and God, light and light, true God and true God, begotten unmade, of one being with God, through whom all things are made.

For us and for our salvation, being our Holy Spirit, he gave me comment for the virgin marrying.

He was in.

For our sake, he was crucified and conscious by it.

He suffered them and was the grave.

On the third day he rose in the name, in accordance with the scriptures.

He ascended in heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living dead.

And his kingdom will happen in the end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son, she is virtually glorified.

She has spoken through the Christ.

We believe in one holy Catholic Maps of Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead and life for the world to come.

Amen.

Unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called the Prince of Peace.

The socially distanced peace of the Lord be always with you.

Good morning and peace on this third day of Christmas.

We have nine more to go.

I promise next week we'll be more cheerful as we're used to.

I just want to give a great uh great word of gratitude for the week we've had at St.

Thomas.

You know, sometimes it's tough to remember, hey, it's not like it used to be, and it is so much better than what we could choose to settle for.

So last week we burned our mortgage, and there was collateral damage because we that cup melted as well, but we burned our mortgage.

We were able to have a delightful time outside, mashed um with food in the band.

On Thursday, you know, I think Bob Ketchum is the one who said it to me.

You know, it's been like more than nine months since we've had music of that nature, and and really it's been a year since we've had special performance music like that on Christmas Eve and the opportunity to sing together.

Thank you.

Those are moments of of true holiness to share with one another, moments of beauty, and just really grateful for the week in celebration with you all.

Um, the only announcement to really uphold is that normally our fresh food contribution for January would be the first Saturday of the month, but the food bank is closed next week.

So we're going to make it the last Saturday of the month, that's January the 30th, and then it'll be again the following week on February the something.

So we'll have two back to back beginning on January the 30th, and it really is a great way to nurture and nourish some holy innocence in our community.

Walk in love, as Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

So come, you who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.

You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.

Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.

And he invites you to meet him here.

Now we did not get the greeting into the bulletin, so we'll try it by memory.

The Lord be with you.

Lift up your hearts.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

Oh, that's your line, not mine.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is truly right to glorify you, Father, and to give you thanks.

For you alone are God, living and true, dwelling in light and accessible from before time and forever.

Fountain of life and source of all goodness, you made all things and filled them with your blessing.

You created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance.

Countless throngs of angels stand before you to serve you night and day, and beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you unceasing praise.

Joining with them and giving voice to every creature into heaven, we acclaim you and glorify your name as we say, Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna and the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna and the highest.

We acclaim you, holy Lord, glorious and power.

Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.

You formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our care, so that in obedience to you, our Creator, we might shepherd and serve all your creatures.

When our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death.

In your mercy you came to our help so that in seeking you we might find you.

Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation.

Father, you love the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.

Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, he lived as one of us, yet without sin.

To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners freedom, to the sorrowful joy.

To fulfill your purpose, he gave himself up to death, and rising from the grave, destroyed death and made the whole creation new.

And that what we might live no longer for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose for us, God sent the Holy Spirit, God's own first gift to those who believe, to complete Jesus' work in the world and bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.

When the hour had come for him to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

At supper with them he took bread.

And when he given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat.

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins.

Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.

Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption, recalling Christ's death and his descent among the dead, proclaiming his resurrection and ascension to your right hand, awaiting his coming in glory and offering to you from the gifts you've given us, this bread and this cup.

We praise you and we bless you.

We praise you, we bless you, we give thanks to you, and we pray to you, Lord our God.

Lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your Holy Spirit may descend upon us and upon these gifts, sanctifying them and showing them to be holy gifts for your holy people, the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Grant that all who share this bread and this cup may become one body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your name.

Remember, Lord, your one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, redeemed by the love of your Christ.

Reveal its unity, guard its faith, and preserve it in peace.

Remember Michael, our presiding bishop, Andy, Jeff, Hector, and Kay, our bishops, and the diocesan cycle of prayer, St.

Philip the Evangelist Houston, Saint Stephen's Houston, and St.

Thomas's Houston, the priests in our community, Mike, Jim, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, and all who minister in your church.

Remember all your people and those who seek your truth, especially Chris, Jerry, Sean, Jerome, Susie, Joe, Nancy, the holy innocents of our own time, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time silently or aloud.

Remember all who've died in the peace of Christ, and those whose faith is known to you alone.

Bring them into the place of eternal joy and light.

And grant that we might find our inheritance with all the saints who have found favor with you in ages past.

We praise you in union with them and give you glory through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, all honor and glory are yours, Almighty God and Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.

Amen.

And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

These are the gifts of God for you, the family of God.

Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.

And I'm going to invite you to come and receive a bread or a blessing by coming to the aisle immediately to your right, coming down forward and then returning around the other side of your pew.

Eternal God, Heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the sacrament of his body and blood.

Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May God who sent the angels to proclaim the good news of the Savior's birth fill you with joy and make you heralds of the gospel, especially to the holy innocence.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, be among you this day and remain with you always.

Amen.

Thanks be to God.