God Is in Thee
The Lord thy God is in thee,
the mighty one shall save thee:
he shall bring joy upon thee,
and shall refresh thee with his love,
and he shall rejoice over thee with delight
as in a day of feasting. Zephaniah 3:17 LXX
As the day of the Incarnation
approaches us each and all,
hearing the prophet’s voice
piercing our heart so tenderly
so personally.
We find ourselves dissatisfied
by packaged messages.
The ancient story
to which we attach our souls
becomes not a familiar refrain
securing predictable holiday solace.
Rather, it shakes our hearts with wonder,
with awe inexplicably personally directed
at me – residing in me.
He who is past understanding
comprehends my hidden inner needs
saying, “I will enter in and stay,
not for a moment conditionally,
with assumptions,
or for a time if you are good,
for what is Good is my presence.”
All else is nothing save Him.
We are used to the material world.
The things of substance – unmovable mountains,
vast oceans, warmth of sun, wafting breezes,
pleasure in a sustaining meal,
the gentle touch of one we love.
It is here we live the details
of our daily life – expressing our being.
Yet we all sense that these many shoots
find their seeds, anchoring roots
in a far greater substance,
which is coming to us today!
Mary knew this to be true, saying yes
to the mystery of God taking on
human substance in her womb,
in the desire of her heart.
In her, He who is past our substance,
who is expansive beyond all space,
found room in her, becoming human.
He strengthens her while her being Lk 1:80
grows into the spaciousness
of His eternity.
She protects and nurtures Him, while
He increases her life
to include all that is His.
Mary’s was a unique life,
which no one again will repeat,
but she becomes a door for all of us.
A shared passageway to the inexpressible joy,
the wonder of finding our life,
full of the life of God.
In a world where all else is external to us,
God has come to be internal
to every part of our thought and being.
Such a change in orientation is unknowable
in our normal sense of understanding.
For who can take a whole ocean inside
and still exist, still being himself?
God is oceans upon oceans, more immeasurable
while being so small and hidden
that we can miss him.
We find the material world
in many parts past our comprehending.
Paradoxically, God – inscrutable past immensity –
is knowable, at his desire
in the chamber of our human heart.
This is the joy of which the prophet speaks.
The glorious intimate life,
in which we find our being,
is the good news the angels proclaim to shepherds. Lk 2:14
The highest glory of God is known and proclaimed
in our hidden humble heart.
He has come
and can be known by “all people.” Lk 2:10
How is such a life possible for me?
I am impossibly messed up and inattentive
to my own needs. How can I act
upon a call higher, more beautiful and satisfying?
I am too big a problem to go through
the eye of God’s needle of love.
But can a grain of sand resist
a whole ocean of God’s good intent?
This is the heavenly world not far away,
but living growing within me
just as Christ grew in Mary’s womb.
If such an idea and reality seem strange
it is because we have become estranged
from the world in its depth.
For our heart within is given capacity –
to expand into eternity.
It is a place where there is always time
now and forever.
Where senses expand beyond their limits
showing eyes within our eyes
a deep heart within our beating heart.
Here with help, I am accepting struggle
without struggling.
Always working at giving in.
Giving in to always working.
Knowing at each moment God is present.
Being present when I do not know He is here.
Caring deeply about every endeavor
yet endeavoring in everything not to care.
For I am changeable, unsteady.
I am beyond all value as He says,
yet small, a worm, and seldom a man. Ps 21:6
“I am become as a beast before thee,
and I am ever with thee.” Ps 72:22 LXX
And You with me.
Though I fail and fall back,
you change not, always a rock
of tender mercy, calling me back
to my heart, where I am known
and you remain the breath
beyond my breath.
The life beyond
the life-sustaining beat.
Living such a life is not a fairy tale.
At times it seems
too great and marvelous for us. Ps 130:2 LXX
It seems we cannot attain onto it. Ps 138:5
Yet its life is rooted in our next breath.
In our next thought inspired by Him.
In the impossibility of living with the pain
and suffering we see all around us.
In the sorrow we know lodged in us.
In the grief of so much unfulfilled,
the left-undone the never-to-be-redone.
All of this pain you know, O God –
you yourself experienced it living
our human life.
This darkness, the shadow of death,
is the stuff
from which we become remade.
Awakening when we come to our end
at this moment
and at our last breath.
“For darkness is not darkness with Thee
and night shall be bright as day.” Ps 138:11 LXX
We know our own darkness
when we see that this is where
we have lived without you.
Turning towards you our dimness fades.
In time the darkness is turned into light,
but it is not our making
though it comes with our asking
and our strong desire.
Day by day we ask and seek.
He is there or seems to come to us.
Again the prophet says,
“But the righteous Lord is in her midst
and he does no wrong,
morning by morning he brings forth
his judgment to light,
and it is not hidden.” Zeph. 3:5 LXX
And we know for another day
what is our hope.
How wondrously are we made in his image.
When his image in us is restored,
then we know from experience that,
“Those who sit in darkness have seen
a great light” and from the “shadow
of death the light has dawned” in us. Matt 4:16
Christ is born!
Let us live in His light.
David Pertz
Nativity of Christ 2023
the mighty one shall save thee:
he shall bring joy upon thee,
and shall refresh thee with his love,
and he shall rejoice over thee with delight
as in a day of feasting. Zephaniah 3:17 LXX
As the day of the Incarnation
approaches us each and all,
hearing the prophet’s voice
piercing our heart so tenderly
so personally.
We find ourselves dissatisfied
by packaged messages.
The ancient story
to which we attach our souls
becomes not a familiar refrain
securing predictable holiday solace.
Rather, it shakes our hearts with wonder,
with awe inexplicably personally directed
at me – residing in me.
He who is past understanding
comprehends my hidden inner needs
saying, “I will enter in and stay,
not for a moment conditionally,
with assumptions,
or for a time if you are good,
for what is Good is my presence.”
All else is nothing save Him.
We are used to the material world.
The things of substance – unmovable mountains,
vast oceans, warmth of sun, wafting breezes,
pleasure in a sustaining meal,
the gentle touch of one we love.
It is here we live the details
of our daily life – expressing our being.
Yet we all sense that these many shoots
find their seeds, anchoring roots
in a far greater substance,
which is coming to us today!
Mary knew this to be true, saying yes
to the mystery of God taking on
human substance in her womb,
in the desire of her heart.
In her, He who is past our substance,
who is expansive beyond all space,
found room in her, becoming human.
He strengthens her while her being Lk 1:80
grows into the spaciousness
of His eternity.
She protects and nurtures Him, while
He increases her life
to include all that is His.
Mary’s was a unique life,
which no one again will repeat,
but she becomes a door for all of us.
A shared passageway to the inexpressible joy,
the wonder of finding our life,
full of the life of God.
In a world where all else is external to us,
God has come to be internal
to every part of our thought and being.
Such a change in orientation is unknowable
in our normal sense of understanding.
For who can take a whole ocean inside
and still exist, still being himself?
God is oceans upon oceans, more immeasurable
while being so small and hidden
that we can miss him.
We find the material world
in many parts past our comprehending.
Paradoxically, God – inscrutable past immensity –
is knowable, at his desire
in the chamber of our human heart.
This is the joy of which the prophet speaks.
The glorious intimate life,
in which we find our being,
is the good news the angels proclaim to shepherds. Lk 2:14
The highest glory of God is known and proclaimed
in our hidden humble heart.
He has come
and can be known by “all people.” Lk 2:10
How is such a life possible for me?
I am impossibly messed up and inattentive
to my own needs. How can I act
upon a call higher, more beautiful and satisfying?
I am too big a problem to go through
the eye of God’s needle of love.
But can a grain of sand resist
a whole ocean of God’s good intent?
This is the heavenly world not far away,
but living growing within me
just as Christ grew in Mary’s womb.
If such an idea and reality seem strange
it is because we have become estranged
from the world in its depth.
For our heart within is given capacity –
to expand into eternity.
It is a place where there is always time
now and forever.
Where senses expand beyond their limits
showing eyes within our eyes
a deep heart within our beating heart.
Here with help, I am accepting struggle
without struggling.
Always working at giving in.
Giving in to always working.
Knowing at each moment God is present.
Being present when I do not know He is here.
Caring deeply about every endeavor
yet endeavoring in everything not to care.
For I am changeable, unsteady.
I am beyond all value as He says,
yet small, a worm, and seldom a man. Ps 21:6
“I am become as a beast before thee,
and I am ever with thee.” Ps 72:22 LXX
And You with me.
Though I fail and fall back,
you change not, always a rock
of tender mercy, calling me back
to my heart, where I am known
and you remain the breath
beyond my breath.
The life beyond
the life-sustaining beat.
Living such a life is not a fairy tale.
At times it seems
too great and marvelous for us. Ps 130:2 LXX
It seems we cannot attain onto it. Ps 138:5
Yet its life is rooted in our next breath.
In our next thought inspired by Him.
In the impossibility of living with the pain
and suffering we see all around us.
In the sorrow we know lodged in us.
In the grief of so much unfulfilled,
the left-undone the never-to-be-redone.
All of this pain you know, O God –
you yourself experienced it living
our human life.
This darkness, the shadow of death,
is the stuff
from which we become remade.
Awakening when we come to our end
at this moment
and at our last breath.
“For darkness is not darkness with Thee
and night shall be bright as day.” Ps 138:11 LXX
We know our own darkness
when we see that this is where
we have lived without you.
Turning towards you our dimness fades.
In time the darkness is turned into light,
but it is not our making
though it comes with our asking
and our strong desire.
Day by day we ask and seek.
He is there or seems to come to us.
Again the prophet says,
“But the righteous Lord is in her midst
and he does no wrong,
morning by morning he brings forth
his judgment to light,
and it is not hidden.” Zeph. 3:5 LXX
And we know for another day
what is our hope.
How wondrously are we made in his image.
When his image in us is restored,
then we know from experience that,
“Those who sit in darkness have seen
a great light” and from the “shadow
of death the light has dawned” in us. Matt 4:16
Christ is born!
Let us live in His light.
David Pertz
Nativity of Christ 2023