I have always felt Christmas celebrations had ugly endings. Four weeks of celebration comes to a thudding stop. Boxes and paper scattered over the floor around the tree which stands counting the mere hours before someone, really needing to get over Christmas, throws it onto street side. It seems that for many, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” which we commonly say should be how life is lived the entire 365 days, can’t end soon enough. But today I would encourage us all to linger longer by the manger, allowing the message of Jesus’ birth maximum impact upon our lives.
The real Twelve Days of Christmas, ending on Jan. 6, gave Christians a way of reflecting on what the Incarnation really means in their lives. This time encompassed three feasts, among which, was the Feast of Innocents on December 28th. This feast commemorated the children murdered by Herod after the birth of Jesus according to Matthew 2:16. Not martyrs like Stephen, these simply suffered unjust deaths without choice or chance in life. In them we see the suffering of all the innocent for whom Christ died. We mourn their loss due to war, because of drunken drivers, or abortion. We also see them in the faces of those gunned down in an Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut or in a village in the south of Sudan.
On this day, we remember those who have suffered as victims and Christ who died and rose Victorious. Our faith brings us hope in what many times seem to be hopeless situations. On this day we remember and confess that like those who have been murdered in innocence we are saved only by the sheer mercy of Jesus Christ.
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