Rev. Tessie Mandeville
December 30, 2007
Christ Covenant MCC
Decatur, GA 30030

The Motion Picture Association rates movies for us to help people decide what movies are appropriate for children, for adolescents, and for adults. For instance, if it’s rated G, then all ages are admitted. If it’s rated PG, parental guidance is suggested. If it’s rated PG 13, parents are strongly cautioned as the material may be inappropriate for children under 13 years old. If it’s rated R then children under 17 are not allowed unless an adult is with them. And if it’s rated NC 17, no one under 17 is allowed to watch it.

I feel like today’s gospel reading should come with some kind of rating system like this because the material is disturbing. But I also like my friend, Cheryl’s recommendation. She said, “This week’s lectionary scripture should be revised or skipped or something!” I guess we’re going to work on the “Or something” part this morning because even though the material is disturbing, I think we have a responsibility to face it.

Bethlehem was a dangerous place. Mary and Joseph thought Bethlehem was a destination but as it turns out, it became one stop along the way as they became refugees, fleeing their country.

People involuntarily leave their homes for different reasons. Some because of natural disasters. I was a refugee in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo came to Charleston, South Carolina. I was part of the huge exodus from Charleston that fled this hurricane. Ironically enough, the place I fled to was Atlanta because between here and Charleston, it was the only city that had vacant hotels left. I stayed here for several days and then went back home and beheld the devastation. I couldn’t go back to work at that time because there was no electricity. I ended up going to Ohio to stay with family members until I could go back to work weeks later.

People involuntarily leave their homes for different reasons. Some because of human and politically induced disasters. Mary and Joseph could tell you about that. They fled their country because of the fear of persecution and violence by the hands of King Herod. According to Matthew’s gospel, King Herod flew into a rage when he discovered that he had been tricked by the Wise Men. This trick allowed Joseph, Mary and Jesus just enough time to flee for their lives. King Herod, the man with absolute power, felt threatened that Jesus would one day take his throne so he had all the children two years old and younger killed. He committed infanticide, a form of genocide against toddlers and babies, so that he could keep his political throne and absolute power.

And the sounds of Rachel weeping for her children filled their ears and she could not be consoled.

On this first Sunday after Christmas we are confronted with uncontrollable weeping. With a brutal genocide. With images of refugees fleeing for their lives.

It’s not the G-rated image of Christmas that we like or want. Let’s face it, our world likes sweet and serene images of the baby Jesus in a manger at Christmas time and we don’t like these images that challenge that perception. We don’t like to think of Joseph, Mary and Jesus as refugees but I think that’s because if we see the Holy Family that way, we might actually have to think of other families in the same way: We might have to see other refugee families as holy. As people fleeing their countries against their will, involuntarily leaving their homes so they might survive another day.

Only today, there may not be as many Jewish refugees as there are refugees from Darfur, from Uganda, or from Iraq. And to bring this even closer to home, there are American refugees right here in Atlanta from another Hurricane called Katrina.1

The sounds of Rachel weeping for her children still echo in our world. And she cannot be consoled.

On this first Sunday after Christmas, with decorations still lingering in the sanctuary and our homes, with gifts all around us, we are confronted with uncontrollable weeping. With violence and brutality.

It’s not the PG image of Christmas that we like or want but it’s exactly the kind of world that Jesus was born into two thousand years ago. Let’s not sanitize Jesus or the world into which he was born. Let’s not sentimentalize Jesus and pretend that the violent world into which he was born was not the same world that later crucified him. God came to Bethlehem long ago and still comes today. God comes anywhere the need is deep and great. But here’s the rub: God doesn’t come waving a magic wand fixing the world’s problems. And generally speaking, that’s the kind of God we want most of the time. One of the most challenging teachings of liberation and feminist theology is this: God became flesh and that changed everything.

God took on human form, human frailties, human sin and brokenness, in the person of Jesus Christ. The moment that God became flesh, that God incarnated into the human world, was the moment salvation took on human flesh and form. It was the moment that we became responsible for this world.

Seems an atheist said to a Christian, “If your God is so all-powerful, ask him why he allows killings, starvation and homelessness in the world?” To which the Christian replied: “I would. But I’m afraid he might ask me the same question.”2

The Christ child revealed to us that salvation comes in human flesh and form. God is not going to wave a magic wand and fix everything. God is going to be revealed in our human flesh and form to bring about salvation.

Let me ask you this morning, What do you weep for? Who do you weep for?

The grown-up Jesus Christ revealed to us that whatever it is that makes us weep is what we’ll work to save.

Jesus wept. That’s the shortest and most powerful verse in the Bible. Jesus wept. Regularly. He let his heart be moved and touched. He let his heart stay tender in a world that seems bent on making men tough and untouchable. The more Jesus saw of the world into which he was born, the more he wept.

The sounds of Rachel weeping for her children still echo in our world. And we cannot be consoled. We cannot let ourselves be comforted and placated while there are still Herods in this world killing the innocents so they can stay in power.

December 28 is the day set aside in our churches to remember the Holy Innocents, the children that Herod was said to have killed in his search for Jesus. But they aren’t the only Holy Innocents.

Linda Grant, one of our members, wasn’t at church for Christmas Eve services because she was bringing Christmas to the children and families in her neighborhood. She and Rita have been working with 30 kids in their neighborhood. She said to me, “Everyday, Pastor, we hear gun shots and I’m trying to show them another way by giving them toys that are not guns, not even water pistols.” Linda hears the uncontrollable weeping of the mothers who’ve lost their sons and daughter to gun violence, and Linda has joined them in refusing to be consoled. What she’s doing is saving their lives.

So let us be women and men who refuse to be consoled. Who refuse to be pacified. Who refuse to act powerless because our consciences won’t allow it. Our love for the children won’t allow it. Because when we refuse to be consoled, we will keep drawing attention to the injustices.

We stand at the threshold of a new year my friends in a world that hasn’t changed very much. There are still Herods. There are still people in power willing to do whatever is necessary to keep their power.

But there are also people like us with a conscience who stand up against those Herods. Who say that there is another way.

We are called as Christians, as people on any spiritual path, to care for the suffering and the innocents.

In this New Year, let Christ Covenant MCC be a community of conscience and a community of consciousness.

My invitation for all of us is to pray about what we see and hear.

To pay attention to the world around us.

To open our hearts.

To be moved by all that is happening around us.

To weep over what we see because whatever it is that makes us weep is what we’ll work to save.

Salvation came two thousand years ago in the human flesh and form of Jesus Christ. Today it comes in our human flesh and form.

After a long journey, we’ve arrived in Bethlehem. We may have thought our Christmas journey was over but as the African-American theologian, Dr. Howard Thurman says:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among [each other]…."

The sounds of Rachel weeping for her children still echo in our world. And we cannot be consoled. Whatever it is that makes us weep is what we’ll work to save. Let the work of Christmas begin. Blessed be and amen.

1 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees collects the best data on displaced people around the world.

2 A quote borrowed from www.textweek.com/December

Copyright © 2007 by Rev. Tessie Mandeville. Permission granted for non- profit circulation with attribution of author and venue. Other rights reserved.