...and not look away

Star-Child, earth-Child, go-between of God,
love Child, Christ Child, heaven's lightning rod,
this year, this year, let the day arrive
when Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive!

Street child, beat child, no place left to go,
hurt child, used child, no one wants to know,
this year, this year, let the day arrive
when Christmas comes for everyone, everyone alive!
---Shirley Erena Murray, 1994

The images are arresting, wrenching. They take my breath away. Stories of kids, babies really, who never had a chance. Their families failed them, the schools failed them, our society failed them. They are hungry, aimless, abused, bitter, out of hope.  We let them down, then we shake our collective heads at what they become. I look away, because I read in their eyes the reflection of the guilt I bear for my part in the way I live my life alongside the least of these. And then I thank God for 31 Days of ABC Family Christmas movies, and click the remote control. Because really, who can handle the news?

But no remote  can control the message of love and justice ushered in with the birth of another Child, ages ago and for all time. The God of the universe set aside power and might, and entered time and culture powerless and voiceless. Great God became small human, dignifying the human struggle and sanctifying the lowliest life.

I cannot celebrate Christ's birth and look away from the suffering of God's children. I will not.