I just turned 56 this week, and my kids asked me if being in my late 50’s is different from being in my late 40’s.  Right away I said, “Yes!”  I am at the age now where sudden changes in my physical abilities have become normal.  The other day I woke up and my right shoulder was hurting.  It did not hurt the day before.  How could I be struck with a shoulder injury in the night?  This morning, I was sitting in Christina’s chair in the church office for a few minutes, and when I got up, my right knee was stiff.  I don’t normally sit in her chair, and apparently something about it didn’t sit right with me.  This kind of thing happens all the time to me now!  Thankfully nothing serious, and so far anyway, nothing permanent.  But sudden changes in how my body feels and what it can do are no longer unusual.  I can imagine some of you are laughing and thinking, “Just wait!  Your late 50’s are nothing compared to your late 60’s, 70’s and 80’s!”

But no matter how much experience you have along these lines, I think all of us would be really shocked to be suddenly struck mute like Zechariah.  It’s an amazing story, how the angel Gabriel visited Zechariah with the good news that his prayers had been heard, that he and his wife Elizabeth would be having a baby.  This baby, John, was not only to be the answer to Zechariah and Elizabeth’s prayers, but would also be the start to the answer of the prayer the whole world was praying, prayers for things like hope, peace, joy, love, and salvation.  It turns out our popular greeting, “Merry Christmas” is just another way of saying, “Your prayers have been heard.”

It’s such a shocking thing, though, to find out that your prayers have been heard.  Zechariah was understandably confused and unsure about what the angel Gabriel was saying.  First, there was the surprising idea that Elizabeth would conceive in her old age.  And second, there was the perhaps even more surprising idea that their child was not to be any ordinary child.  Gabriel said he would be great in the sight of the Lord, and many would rejoice at his birth.  He would be a man in the spirit of Elijah, a prophet, who would play a special role in Israel’s history.  Zechariah was a priest, he was used to playing a special role in the life of the Hebrew people.  But as a priest, he was one of thousands of priests in Jerusalem.  His son, however, would be truly unique.  He would make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

So we can understand why Zechariah asked Gabriel, how can I be sure?  This is such shocking news, how will I know this is so?  I can imagine we would all be wondering the same thing!  But instead of welcoming Zechariah’s questions, Gabriel takes authority, and makes yet another shocking pronouncement:  “But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak until these events occur.”

It’s one thing to wake up with a mysterious pain you didn’t have the day before.  It’s one thing to feel stiff after sitting in an unfamiliar chair.  Live long enough, and we get used to our bodies deciding to suddenly feel and move differently.  But being suddenly unable to speak?  After having seen an angel?  And having been given the most important message of your life?  Even if you’re not normally a chatty person, I think this would be very frustrating!  To have a once in a lifetime experience, actually even less than that because most people don’t ever get visited by the angel Gabriel—to have a once in a hundred  thousand lifetimes experience, and not be able to talk about it?

The irony to me here is that Gabriel told Zechariah to name the son, “John”, which means, “God is gracious.”  If God is so gracious, why did God make Zechariah unable to tell about the most amazing day of his life?  Being struck mute seems like a punishment to us.  But what if nine months of silence, was in its own way, a gracious gift?  Without the ability to use his vocal chords, Zechariah would be forced to rely on other means to communicate.  Maybe silence allowed Zechariah to express his love in actions, instead of words.  Maybe silence allowed Zechariah the chance to hear God’s voice instead of his own.  Maybe silence created a highway upon which the Spirit of God could travel into Zechariah’s heart, and help him change and grow.

Of all the gifts the Advent season has to offer, we don’t often pay much attention to silence. We much prefer singing Christmas carols in December over sitting in silent meditation!  But silence is a beautiful way to connect with God.  Just pausing to be still for a few seconds can help us recenter ourselves in God.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God!  I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”  Singing hymns and shouting our praises are wonderful, but when we get quiet, we can hear that God is being praised. Just by the sun shining and the wind blowing and the birds flying, God is exalted.  The world does not need us in order to keep spinning on its axis.

What a relief, right?  Silence, in its own way, is a gracious gift.  When I take a minute to get quiet, the trust flows.  I feel myself relax.  I return to my rightful place in the universe.  I remember that I am only responsible for my little corner of the world, and that God is on the job, tending to all of creation.  I begin to feel my feet on the path of peace Zechariah eventually sang about.

But silence can be hard to achieve in real life.  So this week, I would like to share a prayer technique with you call the breath prayer.  It’s an ancient prayer practice dating back to the Desert Fathers and Mothers, contemplative Christians that lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries.  All you have to do is think and breathe at the same time!  For instance, you might breathe in and think or say silently to yourself, “Lord Jesus Christ,”  And then as you breathe out, think or say silently to yourself, “Have mercy on me.”  You can repeat that as many times as you like, until you feel your feet on the path of peace Zechariah eventually sang about.

You can use all kinds of scripture for this.  Inhale:  Be still and know.  Exhale:  That I am God.  Or, inhale:  Lord, create in me.  Exhale:  A clean heart.  We included in our printed bulletin this week a special Advent breath prayer.  Inhale:  Lord, prepare in me.  Exhale:  A straight path.  I really like this one, because preparing a straight path for Jesus to travel into our hearts is what this season of Advent is all about.  Inhale, Lord prepare in me; exhale, a straight path.  That’s what the silence did for Zechariah.  It prepared a straight path for the Spirit of God to travel into his heart.  Using the breath prayer technique can help us experience how silence can, in its own way, be a gracious gift.

Zechariah’s nine months of silence was broken when their baby was 8 days old.  It is Jewish tradition that, at 8 days of age, baby boys are circumcised and officially given their names.  Everyone expected this baby to be named after his father, Zechariah.  But instead, the baby was named after his heavenly Father.  He was given the name “John”, which means, “God is gracious”.  As soon as Elizabeth made this clear to everyone, Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he was able to tell the story he had been waiting nine months to tell, a story that was all about praising God.  Zechariah was so filled with the Holy Spirit, he began to sing a song of prophecy, praising God because God was in action, redeeming God’s people.

Zechariah understood his wife’s pregnancy and the birth of their son to be proof that, not only had God heard their prayers for a child, God had heard the prayers of the nation of Israel for a Savior.  This baby, John, was proof that God is merciful and faithful, and that God would continue to work in remarkable ways to bring about shalom, peace, goodwill, and wholeness.

The son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, whom we call John the Baptist, had a unique role in history.  He alone was the chosen messenger to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry and is integral to many of the scriptures we read during the Advent season.  There is no other figure in the Bible whose life was entirely focused on preparing the soil so Jesus’ message could take root and produce fruit.

But looked at another way, aren’t we all a little bit John the Baptist?  All baptized Christians are charged with carrying on the ministry John the Baptist begun.  We are to be people who work in remarkable ways to bring about shalom, peace, goodwill, and wholeness.  Thankfully we don’t have to carry on John’s lifestyle of wearing camel hair and eating wild locusts and honey!  But we too are called to be people who proclaim the good news that God is at work in the world.  And in order to proclaim that message well, we may need a time of preparation.  A time of silence.  A time to take in for ourselves all that God’s grace means, so we can better share it with the world.

My challenge to you in the coming weeks is to continue to find ways to incorporate more prayer into this season of Advent.  And while no prayer is bad prayer, consider the possibility that God might like you to be quiet for a bit, so God can pray to you.  Consider the possibility that God would like us to stop talking about what we already know—or what we think we know—and receive a fresh word, a new truth, a greater revelation—so Christ can be more fully incarnated in us.  Consider the idea that silence may, in its own way, be a gracious gift.

If we will engage in the practice of silence, we might just find that our bodies and spirits are feeling some new things.  Probably not suddenly, like we are apt to have happen with new aches and pains.  But seriously, and hopefully permanently, new abilities to offer mercy, work for justice, persevere during times of hardship, and rejoice in God’s goodness.

This advent season, may our feet be guided on the path of peace.  Amen.

 

 

Benediction:   this is a prayer written by Rev. Jan Richardson, a United Methodist minister and author from Florida.

 

May the path

that Christ walks

to bring justice upon the earth,

to bring light to those who sit in darkness,

to bring out those who live in bondage,

to bring new things to all creation:

 

may this path

run through our life.

May we be

the road Christ takes.

 

Lord, prepare in me

A straight path.  Amen.