Matthew 2: 13-15

"When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’"

If you go to Egypt and ask around among our Coptic Christian brothers and sisters, they can point out to you sites where their tradition says that Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus found refuge from the murderous intentions of King Herod I. Since then, the need for refuge for the poor and the persecuted has only continued and increased as a by-product of empire. But even if your spiritual walk is only a pilgrimage in place, and even if your society gives you nothing to fear, there is a way in which we all live out the refugee pilgrimage of Jesus and his family. To find out how, check out the message delivered at Emmanuel Mennonite Church on Sunday, December 30, at Download flight_to_egypt.doc

A blessed, joyous and peaceful 2008 to you.

Mathew Swora, pastor