The Sacred Story for this Sunday, December 22, 2019 came from Luke 1: 5-25; 57-80. The birth of John the Baptist is foretold and we bear witness to the lives of Elizabeth and Zechariah, John’s parents, and maybe we find ourselves connecting with their lives and their stories. This is a story about the birth of a great prophet, yes, but it’s also the story of God’s people responding to the call God has put on their lives - even when they least expected it. Spoiler Alert: God loves you even when you freak out, doubt, and question what They’ve placed before you or called you to do. You have been called and equipped for such a time as this, dear one. Be bold, take heart. Here’s the sermon:

This season of advent has been full of prophets and proclamations of new life, restoration, and the fulfillment of divine promises. There have been stories about the promise of the messiah in Jeremiah 33, the promise of the return from exile in Isaiah 40, the rebuilding of the temple in Ezra, and now in Luke we have the promise of new life that is given to Zechariah and Elizabeth through their son John. These are stories from God’s people that help us understand how God works and who God is. These stories teach us about God’s faithfulness and God’s desire for us to have whole and abundant life.

The story of Zechariah and Elizabeth is a classic God move that parallels closely with the story of Abraham and Sarah from earlier this fall. In this story are two people, well up there in age doing all the “right” things, and yet by the measures of their society, they have suffered a great disgrace by not producing children. They have more or less accepted that they would not have children - due to Elizabeth’s barrenness.

What happens next in this story can be a source of great pain for some people, so I want to say this now: This time of year in the church is particularly full of birth narratives that can be sources of both great hope and great pain for people. Barrenness is often used in biblical narratives as the basis for a miracle and for people who struggle with fertility and pregnancy, that prayer and longing for a miracle is more than just part of a bible story - it's your lived experience.

Receive this good news: conceiving and giving birth does not determine your worth, status as a parent, or womanhood. You are fully and wholly claimed and beloved as you are by the Creator who has chosen you as their Co-Creator in all things. Know that God who knows the deepest cries and loudest celebrations of your heart is with you in all things and calls you beloved, whole, and valid amid all the complexities of childbearing.

What happens next is that Zechariah is visited by an angel of the LORD and told that his wife Elizabeth will soon bear a child. This is shocking enough given their history of childlessness, but then the angel of the LORD continues and says that this child will go out as Elijah did and prepare the way of the Lord. This is spoken to fulfill the prophecy from Isaiah 7 that says: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman[e] is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.[f] 15 He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.”

Zechariah receives this news and is promptly made mute by the angel after posing questions and doubts about what had just been revealed to him. Even in Zechariah’s doubt though, the LORD continued to work just as he has done throughout the ages.

That’s the really great thing about God, even when things seem impossible and unbelievable, God doesn’t need our endorsement or understanding to continue acting. Sometimes the grace of God is that God keeps working around us while we’re doing our best to figure things out.

Elizabeth, Zechariah’s wife, becomes pregnant and rejoices quietly at the work that God has done. The selection of text for today skips the part of the story where Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes to visit Elizabeth and the two rejoice at the wonders of their miraculous pregnancies. I think that it’s in that visit where Elizabeth comes to fully recognize what God is up to. And she responds faithfully and joyfully at the work she has been called to in her pregnancy and eventual childbirth. It seems that something inside Elizabeth allows her to be at peace and calls her to a quiet faithfulness.

I aspire to have that same quiet faithfulness of Elizabeth, but I know that I’m really much more like Zechariah. I have QUESTIONS. I have concerns. I’m often too caught up worrying about the hows and the what ifs because I have this fear of messing it all up. This story of Zechariah and Elizabeth gives me hope because it shows me that God has room for ALLLL of that. God can handle those of us with questions and doubts, along with the Elizabeths who are blessed with the gift of contentedness and peace.

God works in and through all people, and this story makes it clear that we are all called to co-creators with God, just as we are. If we look to the end of this story, Zechariah is filled with the Holy Spirit after the birth of his son John and proclaims the goodness and faithfulness of God in and through all things. And so, whether we receive the good news with a quiet certainty and faithfulness or with a host of questions and doubts, we are called to proclaim the good news all the same. We are called to proclaim the good news of God’s faithfulness as we await to proclaim the good news of God with us.

This season of Advent has been pointing towards the arrival of Jesus and the fulfillment of the prophets and the scriptures. Even more than that though it has pointed us towards a God who calls us out of our fear and doubt, so that we may live into the abundant life found through God’s grace in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Advent points us toward Jesus, Emmanuel - God with us - to say LOOK here is God come to be with you and to proclaim their faithfulness. It’s okay if you’re afraid, but you don’t have to be. Advent calls us together to share our hopes and our fears and to ground ourselves in the promises and faithfulness of God who comes to us in even the most impossible of situations. Advent calls us towards Christmas when we remember the new life that we are born into through Christ, and we join together to proclaim the love of God who meets us in all of our doubts and fears. Thanks be to God.

Doubt and Praise: A Story of God's People in Advent