Herod sent and killed all the children in Bethlehem
who were two years old or under….
Then was heard “Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
—Matthew 23.16, 18
A vulnerable God will upset insecure people.
Tyrants and bullies who fear how fragile we are
will lash out against whoever reminds them.
And the weak and poor, the vulnerable,
and the children, especially the children, will pay.
Rachel weeps for her little ones in a thousand Bethlehems.
In the notes of our carols, hear her wail,
beneath our jingle bells, her devastated silence.
Round yon virgin is dust; in her lap a blanket
with blood and the smell of a baby’s hair.
This is no intrusion on the Christmas story.
It is the story. God comes, fragile among the fragile,
poor and powerless among the poor.
And this child will die young among them.
Pray for those who mourn these days,
and for those who exercise power.
Sharpen the blades of your hope on the stone of grief;
temper your joy with thirst for healing.
Sit with Rachel. Trust that sometimes
the best way to “keep Christ in Christmas”
is to weep.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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