Dear Jesus,

It’s a good thing you were born at night. 

This world sure seems dark. 

I have a good eye for silver linings. 

But they seem dimmer lately.

These killings, Lord. 

These children, Lord. 

Innocence violated. 

Raw evil demonstrated.

The whole world seems on edge. 

Trigger-happy. Ticked off. 

We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. 

Are we one button-push away from annihilation?

Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. 

But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. 

The shepherds were nightshift workers. 

The Wise Men followed a star. 

Your first cries were heard in the shadows. 

To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. 

It was dark. 

    Dark with Herod’s jealousy. 

    Dark with Roman oppression. 

    Dark with poverty. 

    Dark with violence.

Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. 

Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. 

You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.

Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. 

Won’t you enter ours? 

We are weary of bloodshed. 

We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. 

We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.

This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.

Hopefully,
Your Children

Max Lucado, 1955-, Texas pastor and author, written after the Sandy Hook shootings, 2012
source: Christian Post

 

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Matthew 2:16-18

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious,
    and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
    who were two years old and under, 

    in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

 
Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
  “A voice is heard in Ramah,
      weeping and great mourning,
  Rachel weeping for her children
      and refusing to be comforted,
      because they are no more.”

 

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Where is a dark place in your world where Jesus needs to enter anew?