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WORSHIP THAT WORKS
SERMON NOTES

FEAST OF THE HOLY INNOCENTS, YEAR ABC

Jeremiah 31:15-17; Psalm 124; Revelation 21:1-7; Matthew 2:13-18

by the Rev. Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa

The Rev. Dr. Sheryl A. Kujawa is the program director, ministries with young people, at the Episcopal Church Center.

Sermon Notes

At the last General Convention (1994), resolution B017a was passed calling for "the Feast of the Holy Innocents or another appropriate date be observed as a time of prayer for children at risk and remembrance of those who have been victims of violence ..." Congregations interested in observing the feast have an opportunity during the Christmas season to pray for the urgent needs of children within the church and in the wider society. Along with the National Observance of Children's Sabbaths in October, sponsored through the Children's Defense Fund, and Anglican Youth Sunday in November, the Feast of the Holy Innocents is an opportunity for congregations to focus community worship on the needs and concerns of those under the age of eighteen.

Resolution B017a also urged congregations to commit financial resources to ministries with children. The offering for the day may be designated for a local ministry, or for the Thunder Child project of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief (x5153) or the Anglican Childcare Fund (x5224). During this season -- a time for some of conspicuous consumption - - an offering suggests one way congregation can assist the many children who constitute the majority of the world's poor.

Those interested in utilizing Children's Sabbath or Anglican Youth Sunday materials for planning worship for the Feast of the Holy Innocents can contact the Youth Ministries Office, 815 Second Avenue, New York, New York 10016; 800/334-7626, ext. 5217, 5176. A limited amount of those materials for 1996 are still available. Prayers and litanies suitable for use on the Feast of the Holy Innocents are also in Marian Wright Edelman's recent collection, entitled Guide My Feet: Prayers and Meditations on Loving and Working for Children, and available in many bookstores.

The story of the flight into Egypt that is a portion of the reading from the Gospel according to Matthew, has also been used to reflect on the plight of refugees and other displaced persons, most of whom are women and children. The United Nations has set aside 1997 as a year to focus on the needs of refugees and displaced persons. Congregations interested in study on these issues could look to the Feast of the Holy Innocents as a way to begin this emphasis through a common worship experience. For more information on Episcopal Refugee and Migration Ministries contact Richard Parkins at the Episcopal Church Center (x5216).

In the lectionary readings for the day, the prophet Jeremiah's account of Rachel weeping for her children has been borrowed for the bittersweet Feast of the Holy Innocents. For Christians, Rachel became a symbol of all Jewish women bewailing the death of their infants at the hands of Herod's soldiers. Ramah was a small town north of Jerusalem where the earliest traditions place Rachel's tomb. Here Rachel is crying out from her grave over the deaths of her "children." Rachel, the wife of Jacob, was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin and the grandmother of Ephraim and Manasseh. The affliction of the northern kingdom, symbolized in this instance by Rachel's mourning, is a frequent theme in Jeremiah.

In the reading from Revelation we have a vision of the new Jerusalem as predicted by the prophet Isaiah. In this vision all creation is renewed and freed from pain and sorrow by the glory of God.

The passage from the Gospel according to Matthew recounts the story of the flight into Egypt by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, as well as the massacre under Herod's order of all children in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The fact that Herod chose to kill all children under two years of age reminds us of the time that must have passed between Jesus' birth and the arrival of the magi in Matthew's scheme. Matthew's free way of quoting scripture shows in his version of Rachel's lament which follows neither the masoretic text nor the Septuagint.

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In reciting the Christmas story, we don’t usually hear about the Holy Innocents as the Church calls them. These are the children whose lives were unwittingly given to save the Christ Child.

The Bible tells us that when the wise men went to Jerusalem, they inquired about the child who had been born King of the Jews. When Herod heard about this, he summoned them and asked them about this child. He told them that when they found Him, to let him know so that he, too, could go and worship this child. However, when Herod realized that the wise men were not going to return with the news he sought, he plotted to kill Christ. He sent his troops to the town of Bethlehem with orders to murder every male child under the age of two. Herod did not want any competition and he saw the Christ Child as just that. So by having all these children slaughtered, he figured that surely this child would be among them and his problem would be solved. God knew Herod’s mind, however, and forewarned St. Joseph in a dream to take the child and His mother, Mary and escape to Egypt, which they did. Jesus was not among the children killed, but these children lost their lives because of Him, and for that reason, the Church honors them as martyrs.

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