This evening is the first Sunday in Advent
Advent starts on the 4th Sunday before Christmas Day. The stories from the Gospels about the birth of Jesus, the Special One, are full of signs, full of unusual events, full of whispers.
Can you hear the whispers? Do you need to turn something down in order to hear the whisper? Do you need to lean in, concentrate,….
Jesus is calling….calling YOU.
Bible reading –
It so happened that as Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear. But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.
“He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb.
He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God
Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”
But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”
There is a lot of whispering going on at this time of year. There are hushed conversations between people in other rooms. People walk out of the room with a phone clutched to their ear so they cannot be overheard. Plans are being made, plans are afoot. Some of us might think we are being talked about, wise people know not to ask too many questions for fear of a secret being revealed due to untold questioning.
When someone whispers what do you do?
I know I concentrate harder, I watch a person’s lips. I also lean into them, I get closer to them. I might ask them to repeat what they have said.
What do you do when someone whispers?
Ask any teenager what they might find hardest and I reckon it would be silence, in fact for many I suspect they cannot remember when they last heard silence. You might be the same?
As far as I am aware during our 40 days of prayer and fasting no one has fasted from speaking. No one has fasted from making a noise. I wonder why that is?
So what?
What does this have to do with me today?
Zechariah was involved in a once in a life time task. It was his turn. He was the special one, the chosen one; He was the focus of people’s attention. He was standing at the front leading the community in worship of God. As he went into the Temple everyone else outside was praying. This is a very special event for Zechariah, but it was an ordinary every day event for the community.
This was the top of the religious tree, as far as he could get, without being the Chief Priest.
He is going about his business when there is a dramatic change in the usual pattern of events. This is the only account we have of this regular event. This is a very special event for Zechariah, and it was about to become extra-ordinary event for the community.
This is no whisper! This is a full size Angel, in all of his magnificence. The trouble is this is almost outside of Zechariah’s imaginings. This is too big for him to take in. Maybe the incense was getting to him. Anyway we read he is afraid and alarmed, this is not what usually happens, this is outside of the ordinary.
He listens and the Angel announces that Zechariah’s heart desires are to be fulfilled; he will have a Son after many years of waiting.
This is where the passage gets slightly comical for me. He wants to know how this will happen. Only a man could ask that question!
The version in The Message says “Do you expect me to believe this?”
The GNB has “how shall I know if this is so?”
Surely he has talked about how this happens since he was a hormone ridden teenager, he knows the mechanics and after about 3 months you can see the results. But you see Zechariah only knows this in theory, not in practice. It makes you wonder doesn’t it? This pious, upright religious man who does all the right things…..but…..it makes you wonder about his relationship with God. You see he has lost hope, he no longer believes it is possible for him and Elizabeth to have a child.
It is this disbelief that brings about his silence. The silence is the method used by God to get his attention
Because you have not believed, you will be unable to speak, and you will remain silent…” In other words “Shut up!”
And then … Zechariah would have spent at least the next 9 months playing charades. 9 months of Christmas afternoons playing charades with the family!
The first events of Christmas were too loud, too much to take in, too big, too outside of reality…for Zechariah……
Sound familiar? I was listening to the radio the other day and the parents being interviewed had been shopping since May and would spend about £500 per child.
Of 1848 Christmas cards that were checked in Asda only 18 had illustrations about the Christmas story
A Mince pie has been made and it is worth over £3000. It is on show in a London shopping centre until 19th December.
Shut Up!
Listen to the whisper
Zechariah’s silence was enforced, because of a lack of belief.
When God speaks people are supposed to listen. The silence is a method used by God to get his attention. It changed his focus; it grabbed his attention more than an Angel did, more than the promise of his own son. It helped him to listen. He had to lean in, to listen harder, to pay attention, to watch God’s lips speaking,
When God speaks people are supposed to listen, Shut Up!
Listen to the whisper.
THE CALL
In the whirlwind
of the crush hour conflict
when movement is measured in millions
and arrival
is the only goal,
God calls to us.
In the night that settles
like snow over the city,
a blanket to smother the day,
while under the silence
those for whom sleep is no shelter
struggle to settle their souls,
God calls to us.
In the darting eyes of children
born to the ghetto of an aching need,
born to ask why longing
must always outweigh satisfaction,
God calls to us.
And when we walk
a crowded city street,
touching more people
than the human mind can count,
yet are as alone
as hermits,
when we think we go
unnoticed,
God calls to us,
”I love you.”
Taken from “Spoken Worship” by Gerard kelly. ZONDERVAN – ISBN- 10:0-310-27550-4