3 Wandering in Egypt

Holidays are not easy times for those who have experienced loss, especially if it is a loss involving a family member. The images on TV, the cards, the symbols and the greetings are usually filled with the mythology of many traditions, mostly of Consumerism and European Paganism, mingled with a few Christian rites.

December 28 is called "Feast of the Holy Innocents" and remembers the first martyrs of Christendom, the 50-100 babies under the age of two that Herod killed trying to eliminate the new "king" he'd heard about. Even Herod's own relatives weren't safe from his evil nature--he killed many of them. Martin Luther said "better to be Herod's sow than his sons."

The New Testament story in Matthew 2 refers us back to Jeremiah 31:15-17, "This is what the Lord says: 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.' " Mary and Joseph did what good parents everywhere do--they heeded the warnings and did what was necessary to protect their baby. The irony is they fled to Egypt, from which Moses, the most famous adopted child in history, had led his people to freedom centuries before this baby's birth and where Pharaoh had also killed innocent babies.

When our oldest children died in the early 1960s, I didn't know about this beautiful passage from Jeremiah; but when our two teen-agers in the 1980s left us and went their own ways I was a Christian. I posted this wonderful story on my refrigerator door for two years. I certainly wasn't patient while they wandered around "in Egypt" ignoring our love, teachings and traditions, but the rest of Jeremiah promises, "They will return from the land of the enemy. . . Your children will return to their own land." And they did.

If the holidays are hard because you've had a miscarriage, or placed a child for adoption, or lost a custody battle, or your adult child is wandering in Egypt, tuck Jeremiah 31:15-17 in your wallet, purse or heart; stick it on the bulletin board, refrigerator or your computer screen. Relax and wait on the promise.

(Based on a sermon by Paul Ulring, preached many years ago)