Today is the 2nd Sunday of Christmas. Our civic and secular calendars have already moved on to the new year, resolutions, gym memberships...but we - the Church - the People of God - we're still celebrating the Feast of the Nativity! That's why there's 12 Days of Christmas...

Today's lesson is important to the advent and nativity of our Lord, yet, it feels very un-christmas. It's a lesson on power, politics, deception, manipulation, government sponsored infanticide, refugees, and suffering. While Christmas is a time of feasting and joy, the story we read today offsets our sentimental leanings. It highlights the darkness that Christ came into. That darkness was no metaphor. It was real darkness. And so is ours today.

I've grown up in church, and I admit, I've never heard this text preached on. It's always been skipped over. It doesn't fit in with the Most Wonderful Time of the Year motif.