Jesus was born to be a threat — and born to be crucified.

I’m in a group that meets daily to pray for our country. Yesterday, the leader said she woke up thinking about the crucifixion and couldn’t shake the need to read scripture about that painful day, even though Christmas is a little more than a week away.

Photo by Jerry D Clement; used with permission

Today, I read Kyle Chastain’s article, in which he pointed out:

The secret message of the Christmas story is…