Last night, just before I went to bed,
a friend posted a story entitled, “Six Nights of Hanukkah, Seven
Anti-Semitic Incidents in New York City.”
This morning as I checked my news feed,
I saw the news that five people were stabbed Saturday night in a
Rabbi's home at a Hanukkah celebration.
The irony (not sure if that's the right
word, but it's the one I'm using) – the irony of yesterday's attack
is that it happened on the 4th Day of Christmas – the
day on the Christian calendar when we commemorate the Feast of the
Holy Innocents. That is the day we remember ordering the killing of
all the children in and around Bethlehem after the Wise Men left.
These people attacked in NYC were and are Holy Innocents.
These attacks in NYC and elsewhere upon
Jews, people of color, women, as well as LGBT people, and others who
are simply “different,” have no place in our society –p a
society that supposedly claims all people are created equal.
In the face of hate, we must proclaim
love. In the face of violence, we must proclaim peace.
If we believe God is love, if we
believe Jesus Christ came for the salvation of all, then we must
proclaim that. In the face of all that is dark, hateful, fearful,
and evil, we must proclaim another way.
As we will sing here in a minute or so,
“Of the Father's love . . . evermore and evermore.”
We must call out, speak against, and
stand up to evil. We must proclaim the way of love.
If we don't, then our silence will be
deafening. If we don't, then our silence will be complicity. If we
don't, then we will be literally killing “those other people”
with our silence.
Christmas came in the heart of
darkness. The light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not
over come it.
In today's world, we must be that
light.
Amen.
2 comments:
Marvelous sermon; you always make excellent points. I read them every week, but don't always comment.
Thanks. If I can get people to think, I've done my job.
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