Modern Nativity: Herod

-Rev. Amy BeVille-

And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.
Matthew 2:6

So the Wise Men follow a star. King Herod learns from them about this child who has been born, a ruler to shepherd his people, but not of Herod’s lineage, not his son. Herod wants to stop this, put an end to it, and he cleverly speaks to the Wise Men about gifts for this infant king.

Fear was palpable. Fear kept the Wise Men from returning to the King. Fear led King Herod to kill infants in his search for that special baby. Fear caused the parents of baby Jesus to flee to Egypt where they were safe in another land; fear kept them there until Herod was dead. Fear set into motion a future that Jesus’ parents would never have imagined. Fear changed everything then, and now too.

There is a children’s story by Mary Hoffman, “The Three Wise Women,” that tells of women from three different parts of the world who meet on the road following a star.
One is a young Anglo woman who brings fresh baked bread, another is a grandmother from India bringing a story, and the third is an African mother with her own baby who simply brings their presence to the baby they find in a manger. They continue their journey together.

Sometimes we live in a fear-filled world, and yet in this story three women from three different places, with differently colored skin, languages and traditions come together to remind us that in any time, when anger and fear divide us, it is our common longing for life and light draws us closer than our differences can divide us.

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Creator God, you created each and everyone of us to be different and unique, and somehow we are made in your likeness. May we see our richness through our neighbors and may they draw us closer to each other and you. Amen

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Rev Amy BeVille, from Signal Mountain, Tennessee, is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); she currently serves as pastor of Community Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Fayetteville, Georgia. She has served churches from Kentucky to Texas and back to Georgia! She has been a popular speaker and the music resource at a number of women’s retreats. As a complement to her ministry, BeVille is a singer/songwriter and currently plays venues from Nashville to Chattanooga to Atlanta. She has several albums to her credit, with her latest, “Second Chances” available on CDBaby.com.  She also works as a music therapist focusing on work with seniors who have dementia or Alzheimers. In her free time, BeVille is found restoring her historic home in Acworth, GA.

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