St Augustine called Bethlehem ‘the holiest spot on earth’. It was on this spot, that just like all babies do at their birth, God first cried.
But in this cry was also the cry of the Son of God who in unfathomable humility became a man so we would hear the cry of the Father’s heart more clearly: “I love you and I want to save you from your sins and give you eternal hope.”
He continues to cry out to us even today, we need to stop and find the time to pray and listen to what His Spirit is telling us.
In this Christmas and New Year may we once again personally hear the cry of the Lord in the deep recesses of our heart as ‘deep cries out to deep’ (Psalm 42:7).
And may we reach out to a world which is ‘crying out’ for meaning, truth, healing and real love so that their cry may meet the cry of the Lord who ‘sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save it through Him’ (John 3:17).