Wednesday 28 December

The Holy Innocents
1 John 1: 5 – 2:2, Ps. 124, Matthew 2: 13-18

Mary weeps with Bethlehem’s women

Wail, women of Bethlehem
louder than Rachel’s your lament.
Wail the lives your children lived not.
Potentialities wasted and spent.
Weep, Mary, weary wayfarer.
Weep for babes’ slaughter that yours might live.
No greater gift has mankind to offer
than that the boys of Bethlehem give.
Cry, cry, still warring nations.
Cry that destruction stalks your streets.
The Saviour has come, died and arisen.
Yet do children early death meet.
Bethlehem, not least is your glory
birthplace of the bringer of peace.
Hear his message – only forgiveness
can build a future where warring will cease.

Do we bring peace by readiness to forgive
those with whom we deal?