Holy Innocents

When the wise men had departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

"A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more." Matthew 2:13-18

God Must Cry

When cruelty and anger
become our way of life
when we lose patience
giving into violence
when fear is our motivation
and love has lost again
God must cry.


Weep you heavens rain down
tears of sorrow endless and deep
the sky is bending down in grief
the trees bent in mourning
we are broken by the loss
never to be whole again.


When little children silenced
the aged elders set aside
the homeless neglected
and the ill left for dead
when selfishness and ignorance win
then God must cry.

Weep you heavens rain down
tears of sorrow endless and deep
the sky is bending down in grief
the trees bent in mourning
we are broken by the loss
never to be whole again.

And God must cry when school children
bundles loving in the morning
do not return home ever again
when sickness become violence
and we stand by frightened
and do nothing.


Weep you heavens rain down
tears of sorrow endless and deep
the sky is bending down in grief
the trees bent in mourning
we are broken by the loss
never to be whole again.

Oh may we run at night to Egypt
take a dangerous route to save
small innocents and broken hearts
may we be willing to be foreigners
living on the edge to spare the little ones
and may we never be the cause again
for why God must cry.


Weep you heavens rain down
tears of sorrow endless and deep
the sky is bending down in grief
the trees bent in mourning
we are broken by the loss
never to be whole again.







The Collect

We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.