The Beloved: Created for God’s Glory

Meditation on Isaiah 43:1-7

January 10, 2016

Merritt Island Presbyterian Church

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’, and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’”

***

It’s great to be back leading worship and preaching again after being gone for 2 Sundays! I missed you! We stayed home for most of my vacation--enjoying walks, movies, eating in local restaurants and going to the beach on New Year’s Day! Staying home, it seemed like a “Melvyn the cat vacation” because when we are home, he is always close by! He prefers to be in our laps or standing right in the middle of a book we are trying to read or a board game we want to play. He has been known to try to close Jim’s laptop while he is working or push it right out of his lap if he wants Jim’s attention.

   Melvyn helped us decorate our Christmas tree this year. He did a great job of making sure there was cat hair on the red blanket under the tree. Melvyn’s favorite pastime, though, if he isn’t sitting in our laps or eating 4 times a day, is sleeping. Sometimes he lounges in a sliver of sunlight on the carpet, but usually, he sleeps on our bed. We always know when he is sleeping because he snores.

     Life has changed for Melvyn--and Melvyn has changed, too-- since we met him 2 and a half years ago. I was walking out the door of my Minnesota church and there he was in the parking lot. He approached me at a gallop, meowing and sticking his tail in the air. He was dirty. Skinny. Missing some hair. Some scars on his face. I reached down to pet him and he practically jumped into my arms.  He purred loudly, certain that something wonderful was about to happen. Cats living outside in rural Minnesota have a rough existence. Especially in winter!

   But it was summer, and I put some food for him on the back steps of our house next door to the church. He ate like he hadn’t eaten in a long time. He purred as he ate and paused now and then to rub his face on my leg, as if saying, “Thank you.”

   I didn’t bring him inside right away because we had 2 dogs and worried he might have fleas or worse. He cried all night on the back steps. It was raining. In the morning, when Jim was walking the dogs, I opened the back door. Jim hollered from the yard, “Don’t let that thing inside!” He had never had a cat for a pet. He said cats were evil.

   Melvyn came inside, and I fed him. He’s been with us ever since. He won Jim over during the first week.

   It hasn’t always been a picnic with Melvyn. Although he learned to use the litter, he often made a huge mess with it. Sometimes, he still does. And he used to get upset whenever Jim and I left the house. We would hear his panicked yowling. He was terrified we wouldn’t come back! He would immediately start scrounging for food, even if we fed him right before we left. He would jump up on the counters and kitchen table and on top of the fridge. He didn’t care if the food was in a bag or a box. He ate right through plastic and cardboard.

    One time we came home on a Saturday night and found that he had stolen a loaf of French bread that we had planned to use for Communion the next day. He had dragged it across the kitchen floor and ate the end off. I was mad! And he did other naughty things--marking his territory in the basement and tipping the dog food container over one day while we were out. All 3 pets had stomach- aches that night.

    As the months passed, he began to settle down and be more civilized. He could always win us over, if he were naughty, by being cute and cuddly. He has this habit of curling up on our chests and putting his face right against our faces and going to sleep. Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night and find him staring at me--just a few inches from my face-- big dark eyes--willing me to wake up. Or he’s plotting to kill me. It’s hard to tell, Jim says, with cats. Now he barely opens an eye when we leave the house. He trusts us! We always come back! We always take care of him! Being loved and KNOWING he is loved and precious to us has changed this formally uncouth, utterly selfish creature into, well, a pussycat.

***

   Melvyn’s transformation demonstrates only the power of human love. In God’s Word today, we learn of the power of God’s love for His beloved children--us, though we are, if not utterly selfish and uncouth like Melvyn, still unfaithful to the Lord. But we, even in our imperfect state, are loved, blessed, cared for and guided by the Spirit to live for God’s glory--for that is our purpose in life. This is why our Creator created us, as we learn in Isaiah 43:7, “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

   And yet we cannot fully understand or accept God’s love. Some of us find it hard to believe that we are God’s beloved. If so, why do we suffer in this life? Also, we only know human love, which is flawed and conditional. And we don’t feel loveable, so we imagine that others--even God who loves perfectly and unconditionally--don’t really love us, when they do! I think the key to transformation of hearts and minds begins with an understanding and acceptance of God’s astounding love, revealed to us, over and over again--in the Old Testament and New. When we accept we are God’s beloved children because of God’s Beloved Son, we are released from the burden of our sins that weigh us down. The past doesn’t have to repeat itself! We are people of hope!! We are free to be the amazing people God wants us to be--fully trusting in God’s promises to us!

     I truly believe that knowledge and acceptance of God’s love shown through God’s Beloved Son would completely transform our world. But God’s love is as unfathomable today as it was when the author of Isaiah 43 lived-- some time between 550 BCE and 515 BCE. God’s people had been living in exile since Babylonian armies attacked and conquered Judah in 586 BCE, destroying the Temple and the Holy City. The captives and exiles dwelling along the banks of the Euphrates River were surrounded by people who worshiped false gods and idols; they were feeling beaten, ashamed, and entirely unlovable. And the prophets speaking during the exile years were saying that God allowed this cruel defeat and their suffering because of their unfaithfulness to Him.

    Even Isaiah tells them how unlovable they are in the chapter that precedes today’s reading. You cannot grasp the astonishing message of God’s grace in today’s passage, 43:1-7, unless you know what comes before it.  In 42:18-25, Isaiah calls them blind and deaf to God’s presence. He speaks of Israel's relationship with God in terms of wrath and destruction. “The Lord was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness, to magnify his teaching and make it glorious. But this is a people robbed and plundered, all of them are trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey with no one to rescue, a spoil with no one to say, ‘Restore!’ Who among you will give heed to this, who will attend and listen for the time to come? Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey? So he poured upon him the heat of his anger and the fury of war.” 

    Isaiah 43 is a soothing balm, beginning with an emphatic disjunctive, “But now…” Whatever follows these words will be in sharp contrast to what came before. And yet the two passages are not contradictory. The God of Isaiah 42 is the same just and righteous God in Isaiah 43, the same God the Lord has always been and will always be. The One who created us for His glory had a plan from the foundation of the world because God knew that human beings would be unfaithful to Him! God’s love for the world led Him to sacrifice His Beloved Son.

      The words that follow, “But now” in Isaiah 43 break the silence of exile and despair. They renew the ancient covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They would be reminded of the days of suffering and slavery, when God heard their cry and sent Moses to lead them out of captivity. And finally, with the imagery of God gathering his people from around the globe, we are reminded of Communion, when we experience a glimmer of the heavenly banquet-- gathered at the table with Christ in the Kingdom of God.

   Friends, God continues to speak to us through Isaiah today! For all of you who struggle to love yourselves and accept God’s astonishing love for you. For all of you who are suffering and wondering if God has abandoned you, like the exiles so long ago. Open your hearts to hear from your Beloved, whose face we will someday see.

   “But now, thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. …You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you… Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up’, and to the south, ‘Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.’”

Let us pray. Holy One of Israel, thank you for sending your Beloved Son to take our place at the cross--and suffer and die to take our sins away. Thank you for calling us your Beloved and forgiving us, though we are still unfaithful. Help us understand and accept your love for us and to offer that same unconditional love to our neighbors around the world. Lead us to live in obedience to Your Word and to the Glory of your name! In Christ we pray. Amen.

Just do it!

Meditation on Luke 3:7-18

Third Sunday in Advent

Merritt Island Presbyterian Church

***

     John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’ And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

***

         My husband, Jim, and I went out to see “Spotlight” on Friday. The movie is named for the small, investigative reporting team working for the Boston Globe in 2002 that discovers a massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese. The film brings out how difficult it is for the reporters and editors to pursue the story, as people are afraid to criticize the Church, which has considerable power, especially in Boston. It is more important for the Church to protect its reputation than to protect the most vulnerable members of the kingdom of God--the children, many of whom came from broken homes or lived in poverty. The Church settled multiple cases of child abuse through private mediation with victims’ families, forcing them to sign confidentiality agreements, so no one would find out what the priests had done. Some of the children were abused repeatedly, over a number of years. Many did not recover psychologically from the abuse.

    One frightened victim, interviewed as a young adult, said he didn’t fight back or tell anyone about the abuse as a child because in his family, the priests were God! Adult victims portrayed in the movie wanted nothing to do with any church anymore.

    Particularly moving in the film is its portrayal of how the reporters were affected by these revelations--and by the obstacles the Church thrust in their path as they grew closer to the full truth. Journalists on the Spotlight team had been raised in the Catholic Church. Most described themselves as “lapsed” Catholics. Sacha, played by Rachel McAdams, sometimes accompanied her “Nana” to church. But after learning of the abuse and cover up, she couldn’t go anymore without thinking about the victims--and the offenders--and how the Church had allowed the abuse to go on. In one touching scene, Mike, played by Mark Ruffalo, is standing at the back of a church, watching and listening to a children’s choir sweetly sing, “Silent Night.” Tears stream down his face. Later he tells his colleagues, his voice breaking with emotion, that though he was a “lapsed” Catholic, he always thought that, someday, he would go back.

***

     Sin and corruption amongst the people of God are nothing new. Thousands of years ago, the Spirit led John the Baptist to preach repentance to a sinful generation, seeking to prepare the hearts and minds of those who had turned away from the one True God for the coming Messiah--John’s younger cousin, Jesus Christ.

   Now John the Baptist is bold. His tone is sarcastic. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?!”

    I looked up “brood of vipers” and I learned that “brood” isn’t just a family group; it’s specifically the offspring! He’s saying, in today’s language, “Your mama’s a snake!” Vipers are found in most parts of the world today, including Florida! They are nocturnal; they ambush their prey--in the dark. They strike quickly. Their venom causes paralysis. Death may result from asphyxiation. I can’t think of anything worse than calling someone a snake--or a child of a snake!

    Why would John use such harsh language? Bible scholars (such as Joel B. Green) say that John chooses words that “deliberately contrast with” their own self-identity. They see themselves as God’s chosen, the children of Abraham. They are comfortable with who they are, without seeing themselves as they truly are--sinful people who allow injustice, abuse, and oppression in their society to continue. They aren’t rich people, but they have more than enough and allow others to go without basic necessities, such as food and clothing. They are people, some of them, who are dishonest on their jobs and in their day-to-day lives, such as the tax collectors and soldiers who come to be baptized.

       “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ John says sternly. “For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children of Abraham.”

      The crowd listens to John, though his words are harsh and abrasive. They must know, deep down, that he is right and that he is warning them for their own good. And after all, they are afraid, “fleeing” from the judgment, “God’s wrath” to come. “What then should we do?” they ask.

    It’s interesting about John’s baptism and teaching--how the people have to leave their normal lives and go into the wilderness to partake in his ministry, but he doesn’t urge them to join him in his ascetic life, living apart from the world, wearing camel’s skin, eating only locusts and honey, and forsaking alcohol, which was quite unusual in those days. John’s baptism to repentance is to empower people to return to their former lives with changed hearts and minds--so that they may behave appropriately as the children of Abraham. The first step toward this change and right living is seeing oneself as one truly is--being convicted of one’s sins.

     John teaches that true repentance is shown through acts of mercy and generosity. Live your life, he says, in a way that reveals your love for God and neighbor.

    “Whoever has two shirts must share with anyone who has none. And whoever has food must do likewise.” He tells the tax collectors to collect no more than the amount they are supposed to. He tells the soldiers to stop extorting money from the people with threats and false accusations. “Be satisfied with your wages.”

He says, do this:  be honest, be generous, be merciful, be content with your material wealth.

     Just do it!

    The turning point of this passage is verse 15, “As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah.”  Their hearts are changing! They have gone from fear of God’s wrath and the judgment to joyful “expectation” of the Messiah and wondering if he could already be there. Was he John?

    Not me, says John. Just wait!

    “I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals,” he says. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

***

     As the movie “Spotlight,” nears its conclusion, we learn the most startling revelation of all--that the editor of the investigative team, “Robby” played by Michael Keaton--had been one of those who had by his own silence had covered up the abuses and allowed them to continue. An attorney representing the Church had sent Robby, when he was working as a metro reporter in the early 1990s, information on 20 clergy sexual offenders. Robby wrote one article, buried on the inside pages, but then dropped the story-- failed to do any follow up on the victims, the offenders, or the Church.

     Robby, who attended a Catholic school across the street from the Globe, had known about the allegations for years, and he hadn’t done a thing. He doesn’t remember writing the story at all until Sacha finds his article in the files-- and gives him the clipping.

    There’s a close up of Robby’s face as realization dawns, then sorrow and shame. He is determined not to fail again to do the right thing. He’s just going to do it--no matter what it costs him personally. Not even if it means losing longtime friends by pursuing the truth. The whole truth!

    Brothers and sisters, I don’t want you to leave worship today talking about the horrible abuses in the Catholic church--and the cover up by Church leaders. Go out into the world determined to be the Church that God wants us to be--to hear the words of John the Baptist, and obey. Go in joyful expectation that the Messiah is coming! He’s coming soon! Now is the time to live the way God wants us to live.

     Repent! Turn back to the Lord. Be honest. Be merciful. Be compassionate. Be content with your material wealth. Be generous. Share with your neighbors in need.

      Just do it!

      Don’t stumble into sin by judging others. Protestant churches, like Catholic, are not always places of health, healing, comfort and refuge, though they should be. Many of those who are hurt in a church end up not going to church at all--like the Boston Globe journalists. Do you know someone who was hurt by the church? What can you do to reach out to them?  What can we do? Let’s do it.

    I can’t stop seeing Mike, standing at the back of a church as children sweetly sing, “Silent Night.” Tears are streaming down his face. He is a lapsed Catholic, he later tells his colleagues, his voice choking with emotion.

    But he always thought that he would go back.

Let us pray.

Holy One, forgive us for being comfortable with our lives and not working very hard to correct the injustices in our society, in our world. Forgive us for not praying enough for our neighbors in need and not sharing what we have, though we certainly have more than we need.  Thank you for your generosity and mercy for us--just sinners, too often taking for granted your wonderful grace, that covers all our sins! Turn our hearts toward you in joyful expectation of our Messiah’s coming! Give us wisdom and compassion to reach out to people who have been hurt by churches, hurt by Christians, and no longer go to any church, anymore. Stir us to true repentance for our sins, demonstrating our change of heart through our words and acts of kindness, generosity, mercy, and love. Help us to do whatever it takes to draw others nearer to You, to bring stray sheep back into your fold. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Yellow for Alice

Dec. 6, 2015 

Meditation on Luke 1:68-79

Second Sunday in Advent

Merritt Island Presbyterian Church

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. 72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. 78 By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

***

I watched and listened in horror with the world on Wednesday as the latest act of terrorism was reported on CNN. A husband and wife opened fire on a social service center in San Bernardino, California, killing 14 people. The act of terror in California came on the heels of a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last week, which followed the terrorist attacks on Paris Nov. 13, when 130 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

On Wednesday, as CNN cameras rolled and Jim and I watched the horrible events unfold, my silent prayer was, “Come, Lord Jesus, Come.”

If you need any evidence, my friends, that we are living in a world that walks in darkness, a world in desperate need of a Savior, you only have to turn on the TV or read the newspaper.

Sometimes, it feels like the bad people are winning, doesn’t it? But it’s only an illusion. Christ has already defeated sin and death! We are the children of the new covenant, people of hope as Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13 reminds a frightened church of the first century, “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” We trust not in the things of this world but in the grace of God. By faith we can see our Emmanuel, our God with us, in the hearts of our brothers and sisters in Christ– and when we see their gentle acts of mercy and grace. People like my friend, Alice.

Alice was one of the first members of my last congregation that I met. As we pulled up in the driveway of the parish house to move in, she was there, holding a container of still warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies. She was one of many “Barnabases” the Lord has sent to encourage me and remind me of God’s love. And I am only one of many people that she encourages. When someone in the community is in need–sick, lonely or grieving– she is there with kind words, smiles, hugs, small gifts, cards and “thinking of you” phone calls.

Alice often wears yellow, especially in winter–when the world outside her in rural Minnesota is mostly white or brown. Yellow reminds her of summer, her favorite season. Yellow reminds me of peace, promised to us in today’s gospel reading–as we pursue it, led by the Spirit. “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

I received a card from Alice a few days ago. It was yellow, with two lit candles, an open Bible and Psalm 92:1, “it is good to give thanks to the Lord.” What particularly touched my heart was her sprawling handwriting assuring me of her prayers for us and how she and her husband will always miss us because we are so dear to them. She reminded me about the small gift I gave to her as we said goodbye. “The little lamb,” she wrote, “rides in the car, and we think of you.”

Inside the card, Alice slipped a poem, “This is the Day,” by Patience Allison Hartbauer. “This is the day that the Lord has made–I will rejoice and be glad in it. I will start out this day with a song in my heart to face any trial and to win it…For I know that I walk with His hand in mine, He will guide every step of my way. If I fail or I fall, He will lift me up, the Lord is my strength every day. This is the day that I will be glad–I can smile, I can win and achieve. For I’ve given my heart to my God this day and I trust in His word–I believe.” And then this next line, she underlined. “I believe that He has a plan for me.” “That my life will be changed for the best. He has washed all my sins, He has made me whole. I’m at peace, I am calm–I am blessed. This is the day that I overcome all the burdens that weighed on my heart. My spirit will soar and I will succeed, for I’m given a fresh new start. I will walk with pride with my head held high, and fear cannot enter my sphere. For this is the day that the Lord has made–All is well, all is good…God is near…”

On Wednesday night, after watching the report of yet another terrorist attack, I began to crochet a scarf for my dear friend, one of many Barnabases in my life, to remind her that winter won’t last forever.

Yellow–for Alice.

Yellow–for peace.

***

The passage in Luke that I read today is actually a song written by a man named Zechariah. When you look at this passage in your Bible, you’ll see that it is indented like the stanzas in a poem or verses in a song–like the Psalms. It wasn’t written that way in the original Greek, but it is, indeed, a song or “canticle,” one of several woven into the narrative of Luke, much like the Magnificat, the song Mary sings in Luke 1:46-56, just before the account of the birth of John the Baptist begins in verse 57. John’s father, Zechariah, is so important to the telling of Christ’s story that Luke first mentions Zechariah and his wife in chapter 1, verse 5, immediately following Luke’s introduction, dedicated to Theophilus. Luke writes, “In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren and both were getting on in years.”

Their story has echoes of the Abraham and Sarah story, but also Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel, which we studied a few weeks ago. Zechariah is serving in the holy sanctuary of the Lord one day, offering incense on behalf of the people, while the people are praying outside, when an angel of the Lord appears to him. Zechariah is “terrified; and fear overwhelm(s) him.” (v. 12) Zechariah is alone because only the priests can enter into the holy sanctuary. The angel tells him not to be afraid– for his prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will “bear a son and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord… he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Unlike Hannah and Mary, Zechariah responds with disbelief. He asks, “How will I know this is so? For I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.” The angel replies, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.” I kind of feel sorry for Zechariah; I don’t think he was trying to be rude. He wants a son more than anything. The priesthood was, back then, only open to one ancestral line and the job was passed down from father to son. It wasn’t a position the general public could pursue by going to school; you had to be born into the tribe of Levi. And Zechariah, a name that means, “God remembered,” had waited so long for a child that, sadly, he had finally given up hope.

God punishes Zechariah for his unbelief, but then blesses him with a miracle–the longed-for son who would play an important role in God’s plan by preparing the way for Jesus Christ. And God, in his tender mercy, uses the “punishment” of becoming mute as a sign for the community–not of God’s wrath, but of His faithfulness to visit them with His grace; it was “proof” of Zechariah’s encounter with an angel.

The song that we read together today–Zechariah’s canticle– is the priest’s first utterance after the angel’s prophecy had come to pass; he has been mute for Elizabeth’s entire pregnancy! It isn’t until the baby’s circumcision, 8 days after his birth, when he is named “John,” that Zechariah regains his ability to speak. “John” is a name derived from a Hebrew word meaning, “God is gracious.” And while Zechariah’s overwhelming fear had turned to overflowing joy, “fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them, pondered them and said, ‘What, then, will this child become? For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.’”

Zechariah’s song answers that question — who, indeed, would this child become? He would be filled with the Holy Spirit. And turn the hearts of many of the people of Israel back to the Lord their God. And “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Let us pray.

Holy One, we thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, our mighty Savior and loving Lord who will guide our feet into the way of peace. Lord, we long to live in a world where there is no more evil–no more violence, sickness and sadness, no more loss, no more pain. Prepare our hearts so that we are truly ready for your return. Help us to be more faithful to your calling on our lives and less distracted by the things of this world. Forgive us for our anxieties and fears and for our failure to mend the broken relationships in our lives. Help us to love and forgive! We pray that your Spirit would grant us wisdom to know your will and courage to live in obedience to your Word–without fear and doubt. And we ask that you be with all who lost loved ones in the recent wave of terrorist attacks. Please bring them comfort and wholeness, despite their terrible loss. Empower us to be brave peacemakers, bearers of hope, Barnabases to all who need encouragement and reminders of God’s love, tender mercies, and grace. We pray in the name of our Emmanuel–God with us and coming again. Amen.