Marketplace Monastics

“I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you.”

King Hezekiah lay on his deathbed, sentence passed against his longer life through the message of God’s servant, the prophet Isaiah.

This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.”  (Isaiah 38:1, Berean Study Bible)

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, weeping bitter tears, and in his grief, he cried out to God.

We are talking in this season about tears, tears that might yet pour down on behalf of those in deep misery, suffering great loss, those shamed, men, women, and children in pain or mourning or fear.  We are together for the sake of a more heartfelt compassion, willing to weep, willing to wail if our tears might move the heart of God, if simply, it is time they were shed.  It is a delicate subject; we are not endeavoring to manufacture anything except a deeper caring, and we know that nothing we would run off of an emotional conveyor belt would be valid.

Even so, what can we do?  What is to be done?  Are we as fully invested as we might be in prayer and intercession?  Have we prayed our best prayers, those from the most empathetic recesses of our hearts?  Are we holding back?  Have our pleas touched the heart of God?

Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes.  Immediately they received their sight and followed Him.  (Matthew 20:32-34, NET)

Jesus’ compassions were kindled, and when they were, He moved with compassion to help and to heal.  Almost without doubt, there have been times when the words we have spoken out of desperation or deepest concern for others have moved the soul of God, but in this season, with so much at stake for ourselves, our families, our churches, our neighbors, and our nations, we ask the question, “Could we care more deeply?  Could our compassions be kindled, and could ours kindle Yours, O Lord?”  The Scripture says that His can be!

How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled. (Hosea 11:8, NASB)

In the Scripture above, God speaks in soliloquy regarding Israel.  There are many, many “How much more” considerations in the Word, and this is one of them.  How much more would God’s heart be moved if, rather complaining or berating or expressing our outrage and disappointment, we were to cry out to Him on behalf of those we know who are as backsliding, as unfaithful, as lost and reprobate as Israel was?  Individuals, families, and nations are at risk.

I didn’t shed any tears yesterday, did you?  I didn’t try to weep, but I did try to care, and I prayed throughout the day for someone beloved in my life, someone in terrible trouble, someone for whom I’ve prayed, indeed, but I prayed harder.  On purpose.  Again and again throughout the day.  Before the day was done, it was not a matter of trying to remembering to pray, but of having that one’s tears dropping upon my soul almost every moment. No wonder we hold back!

It wasn’t comfortable, but it was comforting.  It took a little bit of time, not very much, but living in the reality of all my friend is suffering, my own day was more streamlined, more resolute and focused, as stands to reason.

Let’s mingle our prayers and our tears, if we shall shed them. Choose one or two matters each day, and pray until You know You have kindled the compassions of Christ, because He has set yours aflame, anew.

By permission, German Bundesarchiv on Wikipedia

1945, (“An aged german woman, overcome by the worry of trying to find a home, breaks down and cries, head in hand. In her other hand she weeps on the wooden bench, she holds the shifts of a small hand-barrow containing her few scant belongings.”)

… that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“The land of Zeb’ulun and the land of Naph’tali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles–

the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:14-16)

Lord Jesus, as our Christmas trees sparkle to life this Christmas morning, we will rejoice, not for Christmastide alone, but that we may celebrate it in the truth of Your birth and in the sober majesty of your Passion and Resurrection.

This Child, this birth, this purpose, this life, His Sonship, our salvation, the Father’s forgiveness … now it begins.

Again today, as our Christmas joys come to their climax, as families gather, we take these moments to remember those in darkness.  We celebrate, we rejoice, but we do not leave others behind.  You are the Light of Life, gracious God. In Your light, may they see light, as once we did.

We celebrate, and they stand outside. We have invited them in, and they didn’t come. We went out to them and they ran away, but Your light reaches around every corner. Their darkness has not been able to extinguish the gleam of love for them that shines in our hearts.

They will come, because they cannot believe without You, and You cannot forget our prayers for them. Some of us never celebrate without a lonely, wounded place where someone loved ought to be, but celebrate we do.  Our Advent candles have been lighted, and our hope is just as bright.

They are not our Christmas … You are, Lord God, and we are going to rejoice in every moment of this joyous time. You have taken us for Your own and filled us with Your Good Spirit, and goodness knows how to rejoice, how to enjoy all You have accomplished and how to trust all that You have promised. In You, we celebrate and mourn all at once, for You reign in light. No matter how dark the world or how dark one life may be, our mourning will be turned to joy, and that is real, and that is glorious, for that’s Your Word to us, and Your Son has dawned in our hearts.

Merry Christmas, Lord Jesus, and thank You for it.

 Fyodor Bruni, 1858

public domain

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 

When evildoers assail me, uttering slanders against me, my adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall. 

Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.   ( Psalms 27:1-4 )

Today’s reading takes us from the Person and Truth of God, through our fears and oppressions, all the way to triumph and then … into the Presence of the Lord. In four verses!   I’ve often thought that if you could memorize only one passage of Scripture with which to prevail in life, this would be a great one.

When we dwell in the house of the Lord, which is Christ, we abide in light and in salvation. Can we begin to imagine what our homes would be like if everyone who came though the door stepped into this tabernacle?  Oh, Lord Jesus!  Be Light to us this Christmas!

The next verse, verse 5, says this:

For in time of trouble he will hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle He will hide me, and set me up upon a rock.

David is speaking of being in Christ, all those centuries before the birth of his Lord and Savior! Here we are, in the 21^st century, reading about it. We are thoroughly modern, of course, and we can have light, we can flood our homes with manufactured radiance, with the flick of a switch, but oh! … to illumine our hearts and our hearths with Light and Salvation, personified! . . . think of it!  We can do that, too!

That is our Advent wish, our desire, and our prayer. I love that Jesus said, in John 15:7, “Ask what you wish, and it will be done for you.” We speak of Christmas wishes, and now is the time to have them answered. The precursor was, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you …” and that statement is universally grand! We get the Presence and the Promise, the Promise and the Presence! – that’s Christmas, dear ones! We may wish and will to abide in Christ, with all the beauties and eternal blessing to be found there.

So light your Advent candles today, my friends … and make a wish . . . and don’t forget to believe!  That will ever be the spark to the kindling.

Young Man with a Candle

Michael Gobin, public domain

… and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit;

she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us).

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,

but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)

I was standing in line at an office supply store two days ago, and I overheard (everybody there overheard it) a boisterous conversation about hating Christmas.  It wasn’t political or religious, both parties agreed that Christmas is a great holiday, but … after the preliminaries, the back and forth about the expense, the parties, the expectations, the decorating, the disappointments, there did not seem to be much left in which to rejoice.

One voice was a little louder and a lot more insistent than the other, and no doubt was left to us concerning the sentiments expressed.  Christmas, a bother.  Christmas, a dud. Christmas, more trouble than it is worth.  It was rather forthright and derogatory.

Did it make all of us inside want to go home and take down the tree and the stockings? I doubt it, but Debbie Downer was holding sway, and it was unpleasant, to say the least.  Maybe she has sorrows, and maybe there are wounds in her heart. Maybe she just likes attention and went home and had some closet eggnog!  I am pretty sure she had no idea how extravagant she was toward no extravagance!  So, a word today about holy indulgence.  There is something about the extravagance of Christmas that I love, something that has nothing to do with anything I expect to receive, something I could wish for Debbie D., for it would have to be better than what she’s got!

I do hate the commercialization of this holy, holy hour. I do hate my own busy-ness when it threatens to turn me into a worse version of myself than I am most of the rest of the year.  I hate when I spend or think I should spend more money than has been set aside for our celebration …

But, I love that we rejoice to spend and do and decorate and sing and sparkle and give and visit and feast and laugh and worship and gather and restore and renew and all the other precious things that seem heightened, along with the stress, at Christmastime.

It’s as if Christendom is on watch, and definitely not just for the presents. That’s such a small part of it all.  At a certain age, the presents only say, “This is our celebration, and we share its joys. Today, we say I love you with a gift.”

It’s the watching that we like best, I think. The anticipation. That’s the secret joy and the crux of Advent.  My theory is, watching and waiting ought to be the secret joy of life itself!

What kind of watchfulness did it require that Joseph could be visited by an angel in a dream and take every word to heart?  How pure must have been his soul that he could be defiled according to the law in order that the Christ might have a father on earth!  As when David ate the shew bread, as when priests work on the Sabbath in the temple, Joseph knew the Eternal God, the Father of His Lord.  He knew Him, trusted Him, obeyed Him, blessed Him, and knew that he hadn’t offended Him!  There is no extravagance on earth with which to compare this singleness of heart.  Talk about bother!  Talk about disappointment!  Joseph’s life and aspirations were turned upside down and shaken out into the dust, but what is a crown of faithfulness worth to any one of us!

I tell my soul, celebrate or don’t, but let everything you do be done in love, and as long as I will have Christmas, it will have the extravagance of friends and fun and fellowship and rejoicing, and since I can have sparkling lights and soul-stirring music, I’ll have that, too.  Let me be in my place, doing what I should be doing, and having a Christmas celebration with doors flung wide!

All His life, the Lord Jesus knew what His earthly father had done for him, so extravagantly.

Polidoro da Lanciano, Holy Family With Angel

public domain, death of the artist, 500 years, Wikipedia 

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

(2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

God shines in our hearts!  He shines and gives forth the knowledge of His glory in the face of Christ the LORD, whose face we are in the world, if we will bear His image.

Today’s reading is sobering, to my mind. We read that in some cases, the Gospel is veiled. To those who are perishing, blindness is lifestyle and debility.  The god of this world has blinded them. We often think of these as nations far away and far different from our own, but we know there are perishing ones among us, and we say this Advent season, Oh Lord God, “Let light shine out of darkness!”

We know, too, that the light in us did not originate with us, and so we have hope. Lord God, let the god of this world suffer a mighty defeat this month; let the light of the Coming of Christ Jesus into the world, Savior, King, Lord, Healer, Deliverer, Son of God, Son of Man, Messiah … shine in other hearts, in our neighbors’ hearts, in prisons, in nursing homes, in our towns and villages and churches, too!

I was born again on Christmas Eve. I believe in Christmas miracles. I was perishing. I didn’t believe. And then I did.  I say, “Shine, Jesus, shine! Shine in us and through us, and save those near and far. Flood the nations with grace and mercy. Send forth Your Word, Lord, and let there be light!”

 “To Visit the Imprisoned”

Gustave Dore, 1873

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” . . . 

Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

(Isaiah 40:1-11)

Today’s reading speaks of comfort, and we are asking today that the Shepherding of God may revive the souls of those we know, troubled and torn at Christmastime.

As The Day advances, presents under the tree, cookies in the jar, carols in the air, there are so many around us, bereft of comfort and out of touch with God, our Shepherd, ourselves among them when we get too busy, too stressed, too anxious, too overstimulated with all we think Christmas ought to be.  And not, of course, that such things are restricted to the Advent season!  Most of us can do that all year long!   We pause today to remember those who are stressed, who are anxious, some almost beyond endurance, some sick, some in prison, some poor, some forgotten.  Life is hard and tribulations are promised. We lift them up to You, beloved Lord, the souls of those in need of a good, an excellent, Shepherd today.  We lift to You our own souls, whether peaceful or agitated.

Christmas is hardly to blame, for at this time of the year there is a special outreach, a particular desire to seek and to find, to help and to bless, and we want to remember, to care, to take time; we want to pray, to invite, and yes, to comfort.  So today, we pause.

There are so many for whom Christmas is just another week, perhaps another difficulty through which to survive. With all the business and activity of Christmas, we remember them as You remember us, and we ask that we might be given to keep our hearts light, in this season and always.  All of us, always in your care, always watched over, always protected, shepherded, though storms do rage.

If we cannot speak tenderly to them in person, we speak tenderly of them to You, Lord God, Almighty King. Ours are the voices crying out, and we do cry out in prayer over them and in praise to the Lord, the Lover of their souls, “Behold your God! He comes with might, and He will feed you like a shepherd, and with His arm He will gather you and gently lead the nursing ewes!”  That is my prayer for you, too, dear reader, and for all of us as my candles are lighted today.

Oh, Merry Christmas, world! In the midst of all affliction, all confusion, all pain, all hard service, even oppression, He will lead us out, He will gently lead us, and where we are most vulnerable, He makes every special provision that we and our young will flourish in His care.

M. Disdero, by permission, Wikipedia

Shepherds at Midnight Mass

 “I have loved you with an everlasting love; with my unfailing love I have drawn you to myself …” Jeremiah 31:3

What Jesus came to do, to seek and to save that which was lost, we do, and we are beyond privileged to be included in the undertaking.  Now … how?

First, we make sure we know how GOD feels about them, what He has for them, and how greatly we are held responsible to join in His compassion and the powerful effects of Jesus’ resurrection.  This Advent season really lends itself to the sharing of the love of God, and not that we aren’t on point every day, but all that “Glory in the Highest” music playing in the background, works.

The way Christmas touches hearts is valid, even those several sizes too small, and the way broken hearts hurt worse at Christmas, all of these align in favor of the one who loves others, the one who can’t keep good news to himself.  What’s more, when our hearts are full of Noel, as long as we stay sensitive to those we meet, we are in our best witnessing place.  We do have tribulation, as do they, but we do have joy, too, and when it shows on the inside, it is nearly irresistible.

And … Christmas is such a terrific excuse for inviting little lost lambs to graze at our tables and find pasture in our friendship.

Jesus saw sheep scattered, and so do we when we look around. Some are gathered and returned, some must be sought and brought near to the love of God for the first time.

All have something written about them in the Word of the Lord, something the Lord has said relative to their isolation, their denigration, the infiltration of darkness into their lives, their souls.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; with my unfailing love I have drawn you to myself …” Jeremiah 31:3

Lord God, this is JUST how you feel toward those I love with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, the little lambs in my care. In your amazing un-failing-ness, both draw them and give them all grace to be brought near, to see You as You are, to hear Your Voice, to believe, to turn and be healed. In Jesus’ name … Yes, in Jesus’ Name! I ask it. Amen.

 Nevit Dilman, by permission, Wikipedia

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 

The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more.  On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.  The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. ( Zephaniah 3:14-17 )

This passage!  This is extravagant!  Our Warrior King, God in our midst … the Son of a Father who addresses us as “daughters” and “sons,” who casts out our enemies!

Look at His love! Look how He comforts us, and with strength!

This is our warfare, my beloved friends! Look at this Warrior – this rejoicing, singing, renewing God! To think that hell is powerless against His joy! If only we would enter into it! He has taken away the judgments against us! Our enemies are cast out!   That is our very victory!  With what will the Accuser taunt us?  How will he deter us?  He has no hold over us when we go forth as God’s own, and we have Him in our midst as we go! 

           Warrior King!   He stands … He sings … here and now, near and involved. Perhaps you have heard that the word “exult” in the last verse is such a powerful word that it cannot be contained with emotion alone … it is the word for dancing and twirling about ecstatically!

Oh, we are weak with love, as the Shullamite said in Song of Solomon, but our hands can bend a bow of bronze … it’s true! We can string a bow meant for the mightiest, because we are the mightiest, because we are in Christ, and He in us.  Who lied to say that we are squirming and defeated when we are oppressed or sad or uncertain of the next step?  We can FIRE arrows into the heart of the Lord’s enemies with every word of truth we speak, with every act of love we perform in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s do that together as we light our Advent candles tonight. Let’s let these realities flood up through our souls and out of our mouths … the tide turns on our praise! We are the mighty in the land, and as we go forth, He dances for joy!

photo courtesy of

Msgr. Charles Pope

Archdiocese of Washington

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know … (Acts 2:22, KJV)

All the perfections of manhood, all the physical intricacies and all the most holy ambitions, are not Christ.

The perfection of Christ was not His manhood but His Godhood.  He was a man, as we are told, not designed by God to attract our eyes or even our estimation.  Only imagine what He might have looked like had the Father pulled out all the genetic stops!

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2, NIV)

We do have eyes to behold beauty; we can see the loveliness in human face and form.  Most of us make some attempt to present the least objectionable aspects of our physical defects, and some go far beyond!  Cosmetics, stylists, personal trainers, and surgeons, too!

I do so want to be attested to by God!  Do you not?  Dorcas was remembered for her ministry to others.  She has an eternal memorial in Scripture.  Wow!    Abraham – God told everyone that Abraham was His friend!  I so desire that even signs and wonders might follow where I walk, because that would indicate that I am walking in the humility of Christ, Who did only what He saw the Father doing!  Nobody might ever see or notice except the person whose life changed … fine with me!!!

It has been awhile since I decided to consider with all carefulness the things God HAS spoken concerning me, concerning us.  That would keep us busy for a lifetime!  Then we would be like our Lord in all things, for Who was He besides all that had been attested of Him by the Father?  Before His birth!  Savior, Son, Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Prince of Peace …

Just as we may be all that has been attested to of God about us.  I would write, So be it!, but it has been done.

Oh, Lord God!  Oh, Father God!  We are not Your Son, but You gave Him that we might share His life … who can thank You, who can admire Your grace and kindness, sufficiently?  Only eternity … only eternity will afford us time enough!  Oh, that you will be able to attest to our faith, our hope, and our love for Your Son and for others.  Our hearty, Amen, Father, glorious God!

Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man

courtesy of Luc Viatour on Wikipedia, by permission