In All Their Distress God Was Distressed
Dec 28, 2025 • Arnie Voigt
Christmas does not begin in a perfect world.
It begins in a broken one.
In this short Christmas reflection, Rev. Arnie Voigt draws on Isaiah 63:9, the reality of Jesus’ birth under empire, and a deeply personal story from Bethlehem to remind us of a central truth of our faith: God does not watch suffering from a distance—God enters it.
From the violence surrounding Jesus’ birth, to modern-day Bethlehem under military occupation, to the quiet resilience of a child who dreamed of angels instead of tanks, this reflection proclaims hope that refuses to be extinguished.
Isaiah declares, “In all their distress, God too was distressed.”
This is the promise of Christmas:
God enters chaos
God carries the suffering
God’s compassion has the final word
