Listen

As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, though you are the least significant of Judah’s forces, one who is to be a ruler in Israel on my behalf will come out from you. His origin is from remote times, from ancient days.

Therefore, he will give them up until the time when she who is in labor gives birth. The rest of his kin will return to the people of Israel.

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. They will dwell secure, because he will surely become great throughout the earth; he will become one of peace.

Micah 5:2-5a

Think

Whether it’s witnessing systemic injustice, facing disconnection in our relationships, or dealing with the critical noise in our own heads, we are surrounded by reasons to despair. When life casts long shadows of stress, pain, or boredom, hope can feel far away.

Though we are separated by culture and time, today’s text shows God’s people engaged in this same struggle for hope: the Israelites’ anticipation was for the coming Messiah; ours is for the Spirit to complete God’s work in bringing justice and mercy to a broken world. In both cases, the object of hope comes to us inside an innkeeper’s stable in a backwater town called Bethlehem.

And just as Israel had prophets like Micah to remind them of their hope, so we have each other. May you be blessed to know people who can hold hope for you when your despair is too heavy; and may you be that blessing to others when your own hope burns bright.

Holle Tubbs

Pray

God, meet me where I am when hope is too hard to hold.

Remind me of times when light has chased away the shadows, and reconnect me to people who hope for me when I can’t.

Give me eyes to see those who feel hopeless, so that I can do the same for them.

Amen.

Go

Lord, purge our eyes to see
Within the seed a tree,
Within the glowing egg a bird,
Within the shroud a butterfly:

Till taught by such, we see
Beyond all creatures Thee,
And hearken for Thy tender word,
And hear it, “Fear not: it is I.”

Christina Rossetti in “Judge not according to the appearance” (1892)