Jesus, Enter this Dark World again

December 31, 2025December 26, 2025 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Massacre of the Innocents, Giotto, via Wikimedia Commons

Dear Jesus,

It’s a good thing you were born at night.

This world sure seems dark.

I have a good eye for silver linings.

But they seem dimmer lately.

These killings, Lord.

These children, Lord.

Innocence violated.

Raw evil demonstrated.

The whole world seems on edge.

Trigger-happy. Ticked off.

We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs.

Are we one button-push away from annihilation?

Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas.

But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night.

The shepherds were nightshift workers.

The Wise Men followed a star.

Your first cries were heard in the shadows.

To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame.

It was dark.

Dark with Herod’s jealousy.

Dark with Roman oppression.

Dark with poverty.

Dark with violence.

Herod went on a rampage, killing babies.

Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt.

You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.

Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day.

Won’t you enter ours?

We are weary of bloodshed.

We, like the wise men, are looking for a star.

We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger.

This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us.

Hopefully,
Your Children

Max Lucado, 1955-, Texas pastor and author, written after the Sandy Hook shootings, 2012
source: Christian Post

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Matthew 2:16-18

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious,
and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
who were two years old and under,

in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

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Where is a dark place in your world where Jesus needs to enter anew?

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Defend the cradle of my mind

December 30, 2025December 26, 2025 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

The Three Wise Men, by Henry Ossawa Tanner, via Wikimedia Commons

Come closer to me, closer still, O Power of the Holy Trinity.
Enter into my consciousness more deeply

than thoughts and emblems of the world can.
In the same way as a wise mother, when she conceives,
prepares and embellishes a cradle for her child,
so prepare and embellish my mind for that which will be begotten from You,
O Beauty and Purity.

Many evil thoughts lurk like serpents around the cradle of Your Son.
And many wicked desires emerge from my heart and seek the cradle of Your Prince,
to poison Him with their arrows.

Defend the cradle of my mind,
and teach my soul how to give birth and care for an infant.

Shroud in deep darkness

the journey of all malevolent visitors coming to see my newborn son.
And raise aloft a most radiant star

over the way of the Wise Men from the East,
men who are truly wise,

because they are coming to visit my most precious child with three gifts—
faith, hope, and love.

Come closer to me, still closer, my majestic Lord.

Nikolai Velimirovich 1881-1956 Serbian Orthodox monastic
Prayers by the Lake, source, edited
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Matthew 2:9-12

After they had heard the king, they went on their way,

and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them

until it stopped over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary,

and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasures

and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod,

they returned to their country by another route.

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How is your mind vulnerable to harmful thought patterns?
How can reflecting on the personhood of Jesus help protect your thought life?

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we celebrate the coming of our Saviour

January 6, 2025 / Eric Mathews / 1 Comment

Adoration of the Magi, via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0

Blessed are you, O Christ, our God;
you were before time began,
and came to the world to save us.
Blessed are you, Sun of righteousness;
you shine with the Father’s love
and illumine the whole universe.
Blessed are you, Son of Mary;
born a child
you shared our humanity.
Blessed are you, son of David;
born to rule,
you received gifts from the wise men.
Blessed are you, Son of Man;
baptised by John,
you saved us from ourselves.
Blessed are you, heavenly King;
teaching and preaching, healing and comforting,
you proclaimed the kingdom.
With all the voices of heaven
we celebrate the coming of our Saviour.
Let heaven and earth shout their praise.
With all the creatures on earth
we sing and dance at your birth.
Praise and glory to you, O Lord Jesus Christ.

David Beswick, 1933 – , Australian Minister and Professor

source

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Matthew 2:10-11

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

On coming to the house,

they saw the child with his mother Mary,

and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasures

and presented him with gifts

of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Continue reading →

to become people of your light

January 5, 2024June 14, 2025 / Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Adorazione dei Magi by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo via Wikimedia Commons

On Epiphany day,
we are still the people walking.
We are still people in the dark,
and the darkness looms large around us,
beset as we are by fear,
anxiety,
brutality,
violence,
loss —
a dozen alienations that we cannot manage.

We are — we could be — people of your light.
So we pray for the light of your glorious presence
as we wait for your appearing;
we pray for the light of your wondrous grace
as we exhaust our coping capacity;
we pray for your gift of newness that
will override our weariness;
we pray that we may see and know and hear and trust
in your good rule.

That we may have energy, courage, and freedom to enact
your rule through the demands of this day.
We submit our day to you and to your rule,

with deep joy and high hope.

Walter Brueggemann, 1933 – 2025, American Protestant Old Testament theologian
Prayers for a Privileged People

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Matthew 2:9-11

After this interview the wise men went their way.

And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem.

It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!

They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary,

and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasure chests