Matthew 2:16-18

Matthew 2:16-18 
English Standard Version (ESV)

  Feels appropriate, doesn't it?  The world is angry at what God promises, and so it lashes out in violence.  Too many children lately are being taken from us.  I don't know the statistic for how many school shootings there have been, but it's too many, and each time the nation laments.  We weep for our children, and we refuse to be comforted, because they are no more.
  I know what the Bible promises us.  It tells us that on the other side of violence stands a deliverer, who does not remain aloof, but rather enters into our mourning with us.  When Pharaoh was killing the children, Moses was saved, and through his life, God delivered his people.  When Herod killed the children, Jesus was saved, and through his life and death, God delivered the people again, once and finally.  We know that, on the other side of the gulf, there is life in God.
  But that knowledge doesn't always make the valley in between any easier.  God has promised to abide with us in the darkest chapters of our lives, but the darkness is still dark, closing in around us, threatening to smother us.  I believe and I hope and I cling to the light, but we still weep for our children, we still lament, and we look for ways the Spirit is leading us out into the world to proclaim a message of life and a message of hope and to work for peace, both in our communities and to push for peace in the world.