Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men's report of the star's first appearance. 

...

"A cry was heard in Ramah - weeping and great mourning.

Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead."

Matthew 2:16-18 NLT

This is the heartbreaking part of the Christmas story, a version of which seems to happening this year in Israel and Gaza. 

Children paying with their lives for the choices of those with power. 

It must've seemed that day, that week, that month, that year, that life for those whose babies had been killed by the forces of Empire, that evil had won. 

It must've felt like God had abandoned them, forsaken them, turned his back on them. 

In the midst of this horror story, hope is right there. 

So small and tucked away that it's easy to miss, easy to lose sight of.

And that's why we need one another when the hurts and harm and tragedies of life threaten to overwhelm us or the people we care about. We need one another to stand together against evil, against the actions of those with power.

We need one another to carry those seeds of hope, to nurture them again and again and again, & to hold the hope that Love has entered the story in a new way.

#christmas2023

#hopeishere