How interesting is it that a tragedy where our children are slaughtered happens so closely to the time we read about in the Christmas story how Herod slaughtered an entire generation of baby boys in a vain attempt to eliminate the. Christ. We have here 20 babies who were slaughtered as a result of our culture's attempt to eliminate the Christ. And yet, we dont mourn the children we sacrifice to our own fears and selfish desires. So, what does this loss reveal to us? Is this really an occasion for us to sacrifice more of our freedom and money to a government so that it will "protect" us by taking weapons from bad and crazy people? Or by taking more money from us so the crazy people can be medicated, counseled, and locked away to keep us sane people safe? Are we really sane? We see our selves as mini gods. Masters of our own fates, immune to visions and knowledge and experiences of blood, violence, and gore. Expecting that we can make choices to pursue our own happiness, selfishly expecting that our actions will have no consequences in our families, communities, and broad society. We talk blithely about how we are all connected and how we gotta look out for each other, but then divorce our spouses and expect that they won't experience consequences of depression and suicide. We glorify love, yet demean self-sacrifice. We expect our children to roll with the punches and not suffer from the rifts we create in our families. We create a culture where we glorify stories of violence, gore, and selfishness instead of glorifying a God of life, peaceable and quiet lives.
I propose that instead of calling out to our big brother and our nanny to solve our problems, we, especially those of us who have been called to live our lives loving and Glorifying God and our neighbor, humble our selves. Plead forgiveness from God for disregarding his rules, forgiveness from our families and communities for any harms we have caused. I propose we protect our fragile minds and souls and the fragile minds, souls, and lives of the innocent from needless blood-letting and violence. Is there not enough pain and senseless violence in our world?
Why don't we consider why we send our children out to be indoctrinated in schools where the administrations have taken away any means of protecting them?
Let us take a moment of silent introspection and acknowledge the injustices that we ourselves have perpetrated and ask for forgiveness and absolution from that higher power we all give lip service to. Let us then move forward with confidence in that forgiveness and humbly strive to live in such a way as to be quiet, peaceable, seeking the best for our families and communities, not ourselves. Don't seek salvation from wrongdoing and injustice from a government comprised of faulty humans such as ourselves. Salvation only comes from sacrifice. That Christ we are attempting to eliminate became human, limiting himself so that he could sacrifice himself for our well-being. Freedom from guilt and selfish hearts is a low-hanging fruit waiting for us to humble ourselves, look up, and grasp.
Christmas is about the gift of a child who, in turn, gave himself for our freedom and salvation from ourselves and our selfishness. The consequences will always be present because evil is always present, but we have been given power to see those consequences as a means to learn to forgive, to love, and to grow.
Let the death of these innocents point us to consider the death of The Innocent and the freedom that death offers.
Take heart my friends, let not these deaths be in vain. Consider your own heart and how you may prevent future tragedies by living selflessly and with the aid of our Incarnate Saviour.
