Central Presbyterian Church,
Russellville, Arkansas
Sunday,
Nov. 30, 2008
"Zechariah’s Song– A Song
from the Desert" Lk 1:5-25
On this particular day it was the
turn of the elderly priest in Jerusalem to burn the incense
in the temple, and to offer prayers for God’s people before
the altar. But he had no song to sing.
He put on his priestly
vestments and walked out of the priest's quarters,
across the porch of the temple while all the people
stood in the courtyard praying.
Carrying a golden
container of incense, the aging priest
slowly walked through the great doors of the
temple. Inside, by the flickering light of
the 7-branched lampstand, he poured the
incense on the golden altar in front of the
huge tapestry drapes which concealed the
Most Holy Place. As he lit the incense, a
large cloud of fragrant smoke filled the
air. Then the priest raised his hands and
closed his eyes to offer the routine prayers
that accompanied the burning of the incense.
When he opened his eyes, he would walk back-
ward out of the temple, then turn around to
bless the people in the courtyard.
He no longer
intonated the chant; though when he was
young, the people had loved to hear this
cantor and his melodious voice.
But as he opened his eyes on this morning, the
priest was shocked to see an angel standing beside
the altar. His mouth fell open, his eyes doubled in
size, his heart began to pound within him. Was he
having a heart attack?
Whenever God speaks
to humans through an angel, the first words
are, "
’Do
not be afraid.’"
The angel said, "Zechariah, God wants to know why
you no longer sing. Tell me, Zechariah, why has
your song stopped?"
The kindly beloved
old cleric lowered his head and stared at
the stone floor.
"Faithful
servant, Zechariah, God has heard your prayer even
though the song has been silenced in your heart."
Yes, God has heard
the prayer I have just prayed on behalf of
the worshipers here, the gray-headed man
said to himself.
No, not that
prayer, Zechariah, but your own prayer, the
prayer you once prayed every day from the
depths of your soul.
This priest, who
was at the age of retirement, had been
married to his childhood sweetheart
Elizabeth for as long as he could remember.
Zechariah had
served his Lord as a priest all of his adult
life. To his own people in his village, good
old Zechariah was the very soul of
saintliness.
If the people only
knew...each Sabbath that he went to the
synagogue this man had prayed for a child,
for his very own son or daughter--week after
week, month after month, year after year.
But his prayer
had slowly been extinguished over the
decades, along with it his hope and his
song.
It was as
if he lived in a desert, where all
the wrecked dreams and broken songs
have been discarded.
E. His prayer
life had been given birth out of a youthful
optimism. Years later it descended into a prayer of
desperation, then bitterness and hopeless
resignation:
1. The God of
Israel answered everyone else's heartfelt
murmur, but not Zechariah’s or Elizabeth’s.
2. "Zechariah,
your prayer has been heard." [pause]
a. Yet
God's address is always
uncomfortably personal, he calls us
by name, he interrupts us in
embarrassing circumstances.
3. The Gallup
organization, in a poll identified the
deepest spiritual needs of Americans (SF
7/92):
a. We need
to believe that life has a purpose.
We need to
be know that we are appreciated by
God and close to God
We need to
be listened to and heard.
We need to
feel that we are growing in faith.
Then we may
sing.
II. "YOUR
WIFE ELIZABETH WILL
GIVE YOU A SON AND YOU WILL NAME HIM JOHN."
A. His reaction
was anything but the joy and gladness predicted by
this angel.
Too many years of
disappointment and skepticism have
intervened.
How after
all these years when God never
answered me, do you now expect me to
believe there is good news?
At his very
core he lived in that desert.
He has the
perfect name, Zechariah, "‘
God
has remembered.’"
Charlie Brown and
Lucy are talking about the annual
Thanksgiving football game. Lucy explains
why she missed kicking the ball this year.
She says, "I remembered all the others I've
missed...the past got in my eyes!" (SF
11/93)
Zechariah is no
different than other people of devout and
mature faith, who doubted, for whom their
past got in the way.
B. This
church professional was so locked in to the way
things always were in the past, there was no room in
his life for change, for a new promise, for
happiness and excitement in his old age, only for
skepticism, even bitterness toward a God he had
served unquestioningly since he was a child.
DOUBT is a
necessary part of honest faith,
of discerning the presence of God, and to
what extent this God really cares about you
and me.
"Sooner or later
most of us discover," suggests author
William H Venable, that if we are like
Zechariah, Christmas, and "the coming of
Christ involve(s) promises that pose a
difficult challenge to our own faith."
III. The angel meets this man’s
disparaging attitude with gentleness and kindness.
A.
Not with anger or condemnation,
saying, You of all people should believe, for you
are a man of God; what kind of an example are you
setting?
1. Here he was an
ordained man of God, whose tool of the trade
was his
voice.
2. Now like Mary,
he may only "
keep
these things in his heart and ponder them."
3. He could not
even speak to his beloved wife of over half
a century who has turned up pregnant!
4. Have you ever
found yourself rendered totally
speechless–unable to talk at all. It
happened to me once, on a Sunday after
church, just like old Zach. I had gone home.
Some kind of a temporary paralysis of my
voice must have happened...I could not
explain my predicament to a doctor. It was
terrifying for a very short time. I grabbed
the phone to inform my confirmation class I
would be unable to teach them that
afternoon...but I could not make any sounds
over the telephone mouthpiece. 30 years ago
there was no e-mail, no texting. For this
old priest 9 months would seem like a
lifetime; for me an hour was scary enough!
5. When the old
priest came out into the outer courts of the
temple, he could not finish the liturgy,
only dismiss the people with a wave of the
hand.
a. One
Sunday in our church in Alamogordo,
New Mexico, I had invited a visiting
minister to come and fill the pulpit
and to preside over the baptism of
his first grandson, whose young
parents were members of our First
Presbyterian Church. This minister
was a regional representative of our
Board of Pensions and he came all
the way from Columbus, Ohio. I sat
there watching as he took the little
baby boy in his arms and touched the
infant’s head with the drops of
water and intoned the Trinitarian
formula. And then this grandfather’s
voice began to break up, and tears
started rolling down his face. He
was so overcome, he could not talk.
I walked over and took the
prayerbook from his hand and
finished the baptismal liturgy.
Later, when he had composed himself,
he apologized to the congregation. I
told him, "You have nothing to
apologize for."
(i)
It was one of those
unrepeatable sacramental
moments.
6. When his time of
serving in the temple was over, this
faithful man of God returned to his village
in the hill country to face Elizabeth in
total silence.
Suggests
William Venable, When God's promise
become too big, too overwhelming for
us to cope with them, then all you
and I are really able to do is to be
quiet and to wait. [pause]
Says the
Psalmist, "
For
God alone my soul waits in silence
... my hope is from him."
7. Let us begin
Advent with silence- also as well remember
Kelly Cohoon, this dear member of our church
family, for whom speech is something very
precious, very special.
8. Then it
will be time for a grand and
glorious hymn!
B.
After 270 days of pregnant
speechlessness, when John is born, the proud new
father bursts out with one of the most eloquent
songs of praise in the whole Christmas story, a
song that is often totally overlooked.
that we
could never hope to stand in the
presence of God like Gabriel.
How many times have
you heard that little children, or youth,
are the future of our church? Well, the
elderly are always present also. Someone
like Zechariah will be at every Christmas,
will always be the backbone of faith.
Someone who
brings her ages-long faithful
attendance to the worship service,
and her widow’s mite, and she hears
the Good News, "God has remembered
your prayer."
How could God bring
something new and wonderful, something
exciting and new into our routine, static
aging lives!
Or just maybe you
understand too intimately the situation of
that clergyman and his wife, because after
hopeless waiting, you have experienced the
gracious outpouring of your Lord's kindness,
you know now that your God has spoken to you
by name, He has sent his angel into YOUR
life. [pause]