Taken from Todays E-Brethren Speak: Give voice to the promise By Erin Matteson He could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak(Luke 1:22). How many of us take intentional time to be quiet each day? It is not something most people tend to do. Apparently it had to be forced on Zechariah, the New Testament priest and father of John the Baptist. But even though it wasn’t something he sought, it was a blessing. Even if it felt like a punishment, it took him to an incredible place. The irony of this gospel story is that it is Zechariahs wife, Elizabeth, who is literally pregnant, but Zechariah ends up with something growing in him as well. As Elizabeth becomes pregnant, Zechariah begins a gestation period that brings the Good News to life again in him, culminating in the birth of a new song of hope and promise, possibility, and peace. The good news for us in that, is that in our barren places where hope may seem lost, or we can no longer see or know God’s promise of a better day, God will come to us, and plant or grow a new song, within us. An important part of this story is the partnership or means of silence. Just as John is the forerunner to Jesus, silence, grounded-ness in prayer, going inward, seems to be the forerunner to rediscovering our voice, discovering a new song. Think of the Christmas season and we rediscover this ancient truth. This is so opposite of the world. Everyone is running around crazy, shopping, worrying about gifts, noisy. But it is when we all stop, and spend simple time with family, or make time to be quiet, listen to one another. Listen, to and for God. It is in the quiet of carols being heard, or the Christmas story being told once more, that we can rediscover the story alive in us, that we can remember the power that comes from love in our midst, and be remembered, in that remembering. Stopping, to be a little more quiet, if not silent, cracks open enough space in our living for something special to be heard for the first time—or again. Something new grows in us and we discover new energy, new possibility, hope, joy, love, peace, a fresh song of life. The preparation for Christmas—The Good News—to be born in us as it was in Zechariah, is for us to be countercultural. It is for us to stop more, speak less, go inward, allow our senses to heighten, be surprised as something fresh and new rises within us until we can’t help but let it burst forth. It is for us to see ourselves in this day, as active participants in Christ being proclaimed and born into the world, just as Christ was, long ago! It is for us as Brethren, to rediscover our voice, a voice for peace and made manifest in the action of service. —Erin Matteson is a team pastor at the Modesto Church of the Brethren in California. She wrote this and several other resources for this year’s Advent Offering, available at brethren.org/adventoffering . To participate in the offering now, visit brethren.org/give
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 00:27:59 +0000
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