“We have a new credo,” hedge fund manager Douglas A. Kass recently told the New York Times, “carpe noctem – seize the night.” Kass was describing the necessity of rising at half-past two to see what Angela Merkel had been getting up to in the Euro Zone. The Tar Baby connectedness of the modern market has Wall Street types seared with trade, their sleepless eyes bleared and smeared with ceaseless toil.
“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”
Isaiah envisioned something different from the backlit glow of liquid crystal displays that stab the insomniac stares of free market slaves. A ruler would at last arise who would obliterate the benighted notion that getting and spending late and soon can beat back the dark of encroaching death. Instead this Wonderful Counselor would give to his beloved even in their sleep.
Matthew recorded the light that shone on Bethlehem’s babe and the dark that descended on Calvary’s cross, but in between he saw the subtle beam of an itinerate carpenter’s relocation to the seaside: “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet.” (Mat 4.14) Christmas comes to remind us that between the miracle of Christ’s birth and the promise of his return we rest in the homely glow of his daily care. God’s Son has seized the night, shaken it free of fear and made it shine like the noonday sun. We can power down in the presence of the Prince of Peace.
Good Night,
Doug
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