Category: Bethlehem

Silence: Absence of Mention

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.  Job 2:11-13 NIV
 


Silence. No words. No explanations. No answers. Just troubles multiplied upon troubles. Nothing to be said. Nothing to be heard. For seven days and seven nights. For four hundred years. For nine months. Joy comes in the mourning.

Sometimes the journey takes a twist. Irony enters the story. The liturgy of this week invites us to rejoice. To rejoice with Elizabeth and Zechariah who went from barrenness to fruitfulness. To remember Mary’s Magnificat. To hear the angels bring glad tidings of great joy.

Really? Now? Rejoice?

I need definition and meaning. The dictionary offers delight as a meaning for joy. It falls hollow. Further down under antonyms, rejoice juxtaposes with lament.

Lament feels better. Feels like the right word. First, Jeremiah comes to mind as the great lamenter. He expressed his grief through prophetic and poetic language. And then I think of Job, whose name is one letter short of joy. And whose life joys were destroyed by death.

Yet, joy surfaces in the language of lament. Strange.

As we journey closer to Bethlehem, I plan to take a side trip to the land of Uz, to better understand how joy can even be mentioned in the midst of devastation. Dare you join me?

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Peace: To Become Quiet

Advent{ures}: Let’s Go to Bethlehem

For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song.
(Zephaniah 3:17 NLT)
 
 
 
 

Anxiety attacks. Worries weary. Stress increases.

Pause for peace. Peace embraces. Peace calms. Peace blesses.

This peace makes no human sense.

Peace be with you. Jesus promises. Immanuel comforts. Mercy refreshes.

When Jesus enters the room, the disquieting thoughts flee. Heads turn. Do you see Him in the face of a newborn? Or hear Him in the chortle of a toddler? Or notice him in the momentary sparkle of a teenager’s eyes?

Will you pass Him as you hurry from store to store? Will you smile or scowl? Will you see Him sitting at the window of a nursing home, lost in memory? Will emotion overwhelm you when that loved one enters your mind?

When will peace appear? In our moments of quiet doubt? In our moments of loud fears shouting, “Why bother?” Or in the deep joy of knowing everything matters?

Peace will come, always showing up, when we least expect. Peace dispels all fear. It only takes a moment to light a candle in the dark. To sing a happy song.

When Peace enters the room, our eyes meet. All is well once again.
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Peace of Mind

Advent{ures}: Let’s Go to Bethlehem

 

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
whose thoughts are fixed on you!
(Isaiah 26:3 NLT)

The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.” (1 Peter 1: 10-16 The Message)

 
 
Did you ever notice that most of Yahweh’s prophets led strange and difficult lives? Their lives were distinctive, set apart from others. Holiness marked their lives, and at times their lives were literal object lessons.

Think of Hosea who is asked to take a harlot for a wife, in order to reveal to the Israelites how prone they were to straying from God and chasing after other gods. Or Elijah, Elisha and Ezekiel who lived as wandering prophets, confronting kings and wayward people who either scoffed, derided or attacked them. Or weeping Jeremiah.

And after four hundred years of silence, there’s John, the cousin of Jesus, who lived in the wilderness eating honey and locust. So as to literally be the “voice of one calling from the wilderness.”

Yahweh’s prophets spoke some of the most beautiful and convicting poetic oracles known to man. Isaiah comes to mind. Even though the first 39 chapters are full of impending judgment, points of light break through the darkness.

Here are some verses to ponder:
 

Come, O house of Jacob,
Let us walk in the light of the LORD.
(Isaiah 2:5 NIV)

 
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light ;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
(Isaiah 9:2 NIV)

The sun will no more be your light by day,

nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
for the LORD will be your everlasting light ,
and your God will be your glory.

Your sun will never set again,
and your moon will wane no more;
the LORD will be your everlasting light ,
and your days of sorrow will end.
(Isaiah 60:19-20 NIV)

{See also Isaiah 10:17, 45:7, 50:10, 53:11, 58:8, 60:1}

 
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Ready: Prepared for Action

Advent{ures}: Let’s Go to Bethlehem

 

Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit, like servants who are waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast. When he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him at once.  How happy are those servants whose master finds them awake and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his coat, have them sit down, and will wait on them. How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later!  And you can be sure that if the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, he would not let the thief break into his house. And you, too, must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him. (Luke 12:35-40 Good News Translation)
 
Preparing for Christmas is easy. Just do what I do every year; rely on traditions and expectations of the family and culture around me. Readying myself for Christ’s return is difficult. To be honest, most days, I’m not aware that His coming is imminent. My life is consumed by the present. I must confess the whole idea of being ready causes me to panic. Will I be ready?

I feel like Jesus is saying, “Ready or not, here I come.” Will His return be like hide and seek? Will Jesus find me hiding from Him or hiding in Him?


Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
(Psalm 32:6-7 NIV)
 
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Prepare: To Get Ready

Advent{ures}: Let’s Go to Bethlehem

 

In the multitude of my anxieties within me,
Your comforts delight my soul.
(Psalm 94:19 NKJV)

 

 
 


Fifteen days ‘til Christmas. Does this fact cause elation or anxiety? Will I be ready for the celebrating, the family gatherings and the gift giving?

How does preparing cultivate peace? What comfort can I find in the practice of getting ready? And my mind turns to the invitation to take a spiritual journey to Bethlehem. Do I have the right provisions? What should I take with me? What mental action should I take to prepare myself for the arrival of yet another Christmas remembrance? Why am I observing these days? What if, I didn’t? Would peace mark my days or would I be full of flurry and activity and subsequent worry?

So many questions invade my Monday musings. I am reminded in the quiet of the morning that carving out stillness matters. It offers me moments of silence that nourish a greater need. More than the need for getting the perfect gift or to create a peaceful atmosphere, I need time with the Righteous One. He alone is the one who answers my quest, who creates a hunger and thirst in me that only He can quench.

I recall from the writings of Isaiah that a voice calls out, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” This use of prepare has a nuance of turning, a facing towards. Underneath the words is a cry for repentance. Turn towards the way of the Lord. A resounding chorus of my ways are not your ways, or my thoughts your thoughts.

Turn your thoughts to Me. I have prepared a place of rest for you. I came as a babe, I am here in the Spirit and I am coming again. Soon. So get ready. Prepare a meal for us to share. Prepare for battle because the days ahead are treacherous. Prepare to meet your Maker. Prepare to be jolted out of complacency and into action.

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

 

 
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