Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, 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 magi. 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 2.16-18
The dark side of our story we avoid.
Ferguson, Selma, Wounded Knee, Bhopal
My Lai, Dresden, Auschwitz, Hiroshima
Salem, the Trail of Tears, every war, every war.
Our fears march armed
into the innocent darkness
unquestioned, and return
to the agreed upon silence.
Sometimes only anger is love,
sometimes only sorrow.
Sometimes only broken hearts
are strong enough.
We cannot pray for peace,
we cannot stand with courage for justice,
we cannot love ourselves
until first we raise a voice in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation.
The guttural heave,
the dark, unbidden cry,
innards displaced, guts
stabbed from the inside,
our own hands.
Until we can weep
we can’t breathe,
we can’t breathe,
we can’t breathe,
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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