God of gold, we seek your glory:
The richness that transforms
Our drabness into color and brightness
Our dullness with vibrant light;
Your wonder and joy at the heart of all life.
God of incense, we offer you our prayer;
Our spoken and unspeakable longings,
Our questioning of truth,
Our searching for your mystery deep within.
God of myrrh, we cry out to you in our suffering:
The pain of all our rejections and bereavements,
Our baffled despair at undeserved suffering,
Our rage at continuing injustice;
And we embrace you, God-with-us,
In our wealth, in our yearning, in our anger and loss.
Amen.
Jan Berry
Matthew 2:16-18
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was
furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had
learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah
was fulfilled.
A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning
Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more
Matthew 2:12
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod,
they returned to their country by another route.
“For A Responsible Heart”
Several months ago, a Texas high school went into Lock Down mode
when report of a gun man on campus came over the PA system.
Following security procedures teachers locked their classroom doors,
pulled down the shades, hid their students in the corner, quietly took
role, and waited. For four hours, fear of harm, anger over loss of
safety, and anxiety over the unknown filled each soul. For one
teacher this overwhelming negativity stirred up the waters of
conscience and challenged the burden of responsibility. It happened
when she took roll call and one of the students didn’t answer: here.
That’s when the moral arm wrestling around the --- Do not open
the classroom door to anyone --- rule began. Questions
flooded into the deadly silence. Where is she? Did I give her a
bathroom pass? How can I best keep her from harm? What shall I
do if she bangs on the door? How will I know if she is the terrorist?
Do I violate safety rules and open it? Do I deny her access for the
best protection of the 28 others? The momentary crisis of immediate
decision making ended with a deep sigh of relief when a tiny voice
came from under a desk: “I’m over here.” But the muddy waters of
conflict about the best way to respond continued to shape her
thinking. Mercifully, by the time the ordeal was over, she knew what
she would do if Lock Down occurred again. Like the Wise Men who
had been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, she returned to
her country of moral conscience formation, by another route.
The Texas terrorist scare ended with no one hurt and everyone losing
their illusion of safety and sense of security. The innocents in the
town of Bethlehem, however, were not so fortunate. When the
enraged and fearful king Herod entered their homes, he slaughtered
thousands of two year old boys. Under the heel of his armed might,
loving mothers and fathers, and a responsible Jewish community of
faith were unable to protect their infants from death. Leveled by
grief and suffering with guilt, they cried out to God with the heart of
the prophet Jeremiah.
A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning
Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more. Mt. 2:18
If grief or anger arises, says Buddhist Wisdom let there be grief or
anger. This is the Enlightened One in all forms. It is the universe
offering all things to awaken and open our heart (Jack Kornfield, adapted).
In the wake of terrorist attack and death, Israel’s prayer awakened
responsible souls to their human predicament. It gave them eyes to
see their creaturely limitations. It opened heart’s door of compassion
to relieve loving souls gifted with a responsible sense of self, from
suffering with inappropriate guilt. It helped them to let go and let
God.
When the Wise Men visited Jesus, they gave him gifts for wading
through the murky waters of moral choice. They gave him gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. Since that time, the church has given
symbolic meaning to them.
Gold represented the gifts of substance,
that the Child should never want for anything
Frankincense, a rare fragrance,
represented the peace of inner thoughts.
Myrrh, a rare herb of great price used in Egyptian embalming,
symbolized the idea that the Child would rise above
bitter disappointment to be in full agreement with God
(from O Holy Night, p. 128).
In our spiritual journey back home to the heart of God, not a day
goes by that we don’t make decisions about doing no harm . . . either
to others or to ourselves. The 14th Dalai Lama, a wise man from the
East, offers this gift of wisdom to help us out in our time of choice.
It is the motivation behind an act that determines whether it is violent
or non- violent. Non-violent behavior is a physical act or speech
motivated by the wish to be useful or helpful. And Brian Wren offers
this beautiful prayer for the light of God to fill our soul (ACE p. 199).
Toddler Christ,
Before whom wise men knelt,
after they had foolishly aided a tyrant
who wanted to destroy you;
Make us, in the face of dangerous power,
As crafty as snakes, and as harmless as doves,
So that we know when to be silent, when and how to speak,
And when to take another road, in your name. Amen.