There is HOPE in the real story of Christmas that you'll never find under a tree. There are examples of people who have been clinging to the world's shame and condemnation accepting - if somewhat dubiously at first - that God can and does love and care for them for who and what they are. And that if that is true, which it IS, then the opinions being heaped on them by their family, their culture, and their world, do not matter one donkey dropping in the deepest desert.

This is the Advent story we all need to know.