Honestly, this week’s readings are disturbing to us. How did we move from Christmas and the celebration of the incarnation to the glorification of the death and killing of children?

	What is your initial response from both your head and heart to Matthew 2:13-23, sometimes called “The Escape to Egypt” or “The Slaughter of the Innocents”?

Matthew 2:13-23 moves from a plan to have Jesus killed to the killing of other children in his stead.  Ephesians 3:1-12 moves to the doctrine of atonement and presents Jesus, not as a revolutionary leader and hope for the nation to be freed from oppression, but as a priest/lamb to be sacrificed and killed.  It is such a strange contrast, that in the midst of these killings, the lectionary also presents us with two hymns of praise (Isaiah 63:7-9 and Psalm 148) for what God has done. Yet, how do we sing “Praise God!” as the psalmist does in the midst of all this death?

Dreams play a key role in the Matthew lesson.  Joseph is told in a dream to flee to Egypt (verse 13) and then in another dream to return with the family (verse 19).  In the middle of these dreams we hear of the slaughter of innocent children as Herod seeks to destroy the new ruler who has been born.

To where can LGBT and other oppressed people flee as plans arise to kill them?  Who protected LGBT people as the AIDS pandemic scorched the land?  Who is the modern day Rachel who weeps for her children uncontrollably, now that the face of AIDS has shifted from gay white men to poor Black women?  Who is refusing to be consoled?  Or have we shifted into the “Praise God” choruses of Psalm 148 and Isaiah 63, while death is still around us?  And what happened to the joy of Christmas?

What do we do with a portrayal of a God who warns some of coming disaster and not others?  And what do we do with a “Holy Family” who flees without telling their neighbors?  Is this the sign of those who can afford expensive medications and retroviral cocktails moving on and not caring about the healthcare of those who cannot afford medication.

	Have there been times when you chose to be silent about oppression and wish that you had spoken out?  How would you address the situation differently were it to reoccur?

In the midst of the Christmas joy when God appears to us in human form, we have to struggle to see how we stop the senseless dying and increase the uncontrollable weeping.  We have to shout at church actions – as the Windsor Report’s claims within the Anglican and Episcopal tradition – that do not affirm God’s holy work through LGBT people. We have to shout as the government shifts money away from prevention of AIDS/HIV to abstinence only policies. We have to increase efforts to strengthen LGBT youth who come out and are thrown out of their families – so depression and suicide do not become their modus operandi.  We have to advocate against local school board’s attempts to eliminate books on multidimensional families from curricula and libraries.  We must weep and shout against wars where the most vulnerable of God’s children – LGBT or not – are sacrificed for national interest.  We must become Rachel for our generation.

It is amazing that the male images in these readings (God protects his people in Isaiah 63:9 and Psalm 148:14; Joseph flees with the family in Matthew; and Christ dies in Hebrews 2:17-18) propose suffering as a way to life. The only role given to women in these passages is to praise along with the men (Psalm 148:12) and Rachel, who calls the community to consciousness around the horrors which are going on.  The option of fleeing to save one’s self does not lead to community.  It leads to senseless death.  The option of singing praises in the midst of community trials seems to be a religious option that gets one to hide from connecting with others in struggle.  The option of uncontrollable weeping, however, has the strands of resisting the oppression and calling the community to consciousness.

Our faith has to give us the strength to rise up against the Herods of our time and say, “You can’t have any more of our children for slaughter.”  Our churches must be in solidarity with all who are oppressed and give them the space to wail.  Together we must work to bring life where others plot death.  Our songs have to be songs of protest which inspire people to see our common struggle against oppression.  Those racial ethnic groups, siding with conservative groups to shut down LGBT and same-gender loving groups, have to check their own buying into racist stereotypes.  Women’s voices must come to the fore beyond weeping and wailing to give equal direction to the struggles. We all have to move beyond running to save ourselves and join together to save all.  

It is in these struggles for justice that we all find life, which keeps alive the hopes of Christmas.

	For what in the world do you weep or wish you could weep?  After reflecting on the lessons for today, what do you want to say to God?  What are you compelled to do?