“Do Not Be Afraid”, Part 1

Luke 1: 5-25

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, Dec. 1, 2024

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Silence is golden.” But for most people, silence is awkward, especially at social gatherings, or alone with someone else in an elevator, for example. I think this is one reason people like smart phones – we used to have to try to make small talk with strangers, to avoid having too much silence – at a dull cocktail party, standing in line, in the waiting room of a doctor’s office – now we just look at our smart phones as if we are doing something important so we don’t have to actually interact with other people. Or, if we are alone, we can occupy our minds with tik-tok, trivia, or random scrolling.

People do not like silence whether with others or alone with our own thoughts. In fact, researchers found that when they left subjects with nothing to do, “alone in a lab room in which they could push a button and shock themselves if they wanted to, the results were startling: …67% of men and 25% of women chose to shock themselves rather than just sit there quietly and think.”

So we can imagine how difficult it was for Zechariah to spend six months without speaking! Of course, he could get pen and paper and write, but such things were expensive in those days, and probably reserved for more important communications, such as letting people know that the name chosen for his new-born son was “John.”

In fact, we might see this time of silence as God’s way of getting Zechariah ready for the birth of such an exceptional child – the one who would call people out to the desert, warning them to repent, baptizing them in the Jordan River. John’s was the voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”

Our family just spent some time in the desert – literally – in Joshua Tree National Park. The beauty of nature can leave one speechless. You don’t feel as much like talking when gazing on enormous ancient rock formations, a sunset behind distant mountains in a blue-hazed valley, or the immensity of the night sky, sprinkled with stars and planets, sparkling in the clear air far away from the light pollution of the city.  Awe can bring us to silence – a much-needed silence in the busyness of our hectic lives.

The story of Zechariah reminds us that in Advent, silence can prepare us to hear God’s voice. Entering the Holy Place of the Temple to burn incense and to pray for the people, Zechariah left the crowds far behind – the haggling of the money-changers, the sellers of doves and sheep, people shouting to be heard over the bleating of animals about to be sacrificed. In the quiet, darkened coolness of the inmost court, Zechariah was freed from all thought except worship and prayer – and it was precisely there that the angel appeared to him. Maybe angel-sightings would be more common today if we had more silence!

While I don’t ever expect to see an angel as Zechariah did, silence is a key to sensing God’s presence. Silence allows time for reflection, time to slow down, time to listen for the still, small voice. It is a practice we might try to cultivate this Advent, so that we might hear whatever it is God may wish to say to us during this holy season.

For in Advent we enter a season in which we remember how God does new and surprising things – a virgin gives birth, shepherds hear an angel choir, a baby born in a manger turns out to be God appearing on earth. Silence makes it easier for us to watch and see what God may be doing in our lives. As Pastor Erin Wathen writes in Calling All Angels, “If this impossible birth is to be a reality, then what other impossible things might be made manifest with God?” What impossible things are you praying for? Miracles don’t always come in the way we expect or at the time we expect, yet whether the miracle we pray for comes or not, in the Advent stories we are reminded that God’s life-giving love is always at work. Look for hope in unexpected places. When you are silent, you may be able to perceive what God is doing in your life.

Advent reminds us that God can change things for the better. Yet change can be the most terrifying thing of all – even good changes can be frightening. Advent reminds us not to be afraid of change – even challenging changes, like becoming a new parent at an older age, as happened to Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Great things can come from unexpected changes. The child to be born to them, John the Baptist, “…will be great in the sight of the Lord.…even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God…to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Zechariah must have worried about what the angel’s words meant, and how that would change his life, yet, as the angel reminded him, “Don’t be afraid!”

One thing we often fear is change, even change for the better. However, author and pastor Warren Wiersbe reminds us: “Where there is life there must be growth, and where there is growth there must be change. The only things that stand still are things that are dead. Change is a part of life.” Yet it’s easy to get set in our ways when we get older.  Remember the movie Grumpy Old Men, with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemon as two old curmudgeon’s who lived alone? They were both pretty peeved when a new neighbor moved in, with a cat they didn’t like.

It turned out that they both fell in love with her, and of course a lot of funny things happened, so change isn’t always as bad as we think it might be.

Good or bad, the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth reminds us that God is with us in all the unexpected changes of life. In the Book of Genesis we read how, when Jacob was very old, he had to move from Canaan, where he had lived all his life, down to Egypt. His son Joseph, had become great and powerful there, and promised to care for his father in his old age. Listen to what God told Jacob: “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I myself will go down with you to Egypt…” God never abandons us, no matter what happens, even in old age, God promises to be with us.

How can we find courage to face the unknown? Erin Wathen writes, “Courage for facing the unknown and seemingly terrifying is born in contemplation and stillness.

Can we stay out of the noise before the rush of the season carries us away and think about who it is that we wait for?” So we come back to waiting in silence for God to reveal God’s self, to learn what God might say to us, or just to rest in the loving presence of our Lord.

The angel reassures Zechariah and reassures us as well, that the future is not “to be feared because God will abide with loving faithfulness in every moment of it. God is there…” and God waits for us with loving arms. Amen.

Let’s spend a few moments in silence before the Lord…Amen.

Reference: Erin Wathen, Calling All Angels: An Advent Study of Fearlessness and Strength, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2024.

©Deborah Troester, 2024