Four days of anger, frustration, rants and hand ringing. I accept a certain amount of bullying exists whenever the wrong mix of teen girls come together. Teens and drama go hand in hand. What set me off this week were adult women bullying a teen girl.
The first day, I shook my head, but did little. The bullies not satisfied to have made a direct attack on the child started whipping others up in their little drama. I thought people would be horrified that grown women would treat a young defenseless teen in such a despicable manner. I was wrong. They allowed themselves to get sucked into the witch-hunt, repeating the gossip and picking up the stones to throw.
Tonight at a candle light service out by the creek, I stood with loving caring Christians singing Christmas Carols and listening to the story of the angels and the shepherds. As I listened a thought came to me.
The babe in the manger grew up to be the man who loved the tax collector, the women caught in adultery, the woman at the well who had been married multiple times. He gave extra time and attention to those who were broken and weak. He would tell them to go and sin no more, but he never treated them as if they were less than the most special people he had ever met.
But Jesus, love incarnate, had ugly words for those who bullied these helpless ones. As you read through the bible, the one group Jesus seems to have no patience for is the Pharisees. Those who proclaimed themselves the great religious leaders of their time but had no compassion for the sinner, for the broken, for those who could not defend themselves.
We claim the reason for the season is Jesus. We say we love Christ. I think the greatest gift a Christian could give Jesus on His birthday is to love and defend those who cannot defend themselves.
Fourth Day Adventures 