Especially the holy innocents
The Feast of the Holy Innocents, January 2, 2022
Jeremiah 31:15-17 • Revelation 21:1-7 • Matthew 2:13-18
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents – to whom, of course this church is dedicated. A day indeed that laments a cruel act by a vicious and insecure king, but also a feast remembering and celebrating the preciousness and the gift of children, all the time urging our awareness of their vulnerability and the need for care and protection.
We remember the children who must have been a significant presence in the new congregation back in 1890 when this church was built. No white-haired saint for us, but instead, a crowd of small saints: and we can so easily imagine them here. We even have one name: Walter Chase. Walter who served as ‘Priest’s Crucifer’ and sadly died, aged 12, as the inscription on our font commemorates.
When I first came to Holy Innocents back in 2013, I was very struck by your beautiful church banner that hangs on the wall behind the piano. Created around 2002, it is filled with baby photos from the congregation! A feast of the Holy Innocents indeed!
The welcome and celebration of families with children is such a big part of what Holy Innocents is. Pre- pandemic, the nine o’clock liturgy on Sunday mornings, was such a delight. The first part of the service, with the liturgy of the word saw a full church, half adults, half children sitting in the pews. Then the flow up around the altar for the liturgy of the table and the Eucharist itself. I know that a number of you here haven’t yet experienced this. The energy and slight messiness may not be to everyone’s taste, and you may prefer to stay with the somewhat quieter eleven o’clock. I know that I love both services, but the nine would regularly take my breath away with its joy and energy.
As this pandemic eases, I so look forward to the children returning. It will happen. I did have a number of sleepless nights worrying about whether anyone would show up for our outdoor Christmas Pageant last week – what with the Omicron surge and the unsupportive weather forecast, things were not looking good. But, it turned out delightfully! I so appreciate everyone who showed up and made it work – and cleaned up afterwards. There were about 45 of us, and the YouTube is accessible on our website.
Isn’t it interesting that God chose to reveal Godself as a baby, born to a young mother away from her family and friends, and in a what has to be somewhat squalid surroundings. God didn’t choose to appear as an all-powerful, threatening, “for once and for all, now will you get it?” kind of presence, but instead as a helpless, vulnerable, holy innocent.
It’s not easy being a child. One’s well-being depends so greatly on one’s environment. A child needs both loving care-giving and a supportive environment to thrive. And we know only too well: this is not always the case.
A child can be physical and mentally abused by others. A child’s body is more susceptible to toxic elements in the environment: the lead paint in the walls, the chemicals in the water and the air to mention a few. And then there is the chaos of war, migrations, fires, floods, earthquakes, droughts, tornados, hurricanes. All hard enough for adults, but potentially catastrophic if not deadly for children without strength, agency, or resources.
In 2021, it is estimated that 68 million people, around the world, have fled their homes as a result of conflict, unrest, or disaster, and that at least half of these are children.
As of last June, it is estimated that Covid-19 has caused one in 500 children in the US to be orphaned or have lost a grandparent who had been the primary care-giver.
Pre-pandemic in this country, it was estimated that 10 million children went to bed hungry. Now, it’s more like 12 million.
What is the incarnation saying to these children? Where is this loving God in all this pain and suffering?
We have to go back to that baby in Bethlehem. God is reaching out to us from that manger, arms open wide, yearning for us to enter into the mystery. That mystery that tells us again and again that sin and death will not win. That mystery that tells us that God does not inflict pain, but instead seeks to gather us into the new Jerusalem, the Beloved Community, the Kin-dom of God, where there will be no more weeping.
We are called to be with Mary and Joseph, protecting the Christ children among us. By taking our place within this mystery, we are transformed, and the glory of God to all people is revealed to the whole world. We don’t need to understand it. We can’t understand it. All that is asked of us is that we show up, with open hearts and minds, willing to stand with all God’s creatures – most especially the holy innocents.