Homework

The posts this week have been based on part of a Sunday school lesson I taught from  the first chapter of the book, "Light of the World: the Meaning of Memory" by Amy-Jill Levine.  At the end of the lesson, I gave the class homework with the goal of trying to help them to create a space to hear the voice of God.  Here are the options I gave them altered a little to expand them beyond Advent.  Is there one that you might try?

• If you want to know about what it means that John was to be the new Elijah (which we didn’t  discuss at all), read Malachi 4:5-6 and compare it to Luke 1:16-17.  This one is very specific to the lesson and to Advent, but it leads us to the idea that understanding scripture requires homework.  It's not understanding through simple osmosis (or only attending Sunday school).
• Consider ways to re-hear the gospel.  Reread either the Magnificat (Mary’s song) or the  Benedictus (Zechariah’s song).  Rewrite them in your own words.
• Use your phone’s timer and sit in a quiet place for 2 minutes.  What does 2 minutes of silence  feel like? Can you be silent for 5 minutes? 10 minutes?
• Choose a book and read it during Advent – a little at a time so that you can savor it.  And it doesn't have to be only during Advent.  
• Start today and read one chapter of Luke a day.  After 24 days, you will have read the whole  book.

Luke 1:10-20 - Doubt

I taught a Sunday school lesson during the first week of Advent that I based on the first chapter of the book, "Light of the World: the Meaning of Memory" by Amy-Jill Levine.  I'm going to use parts of that lesson for my next three blog posts.  This is based on Luke 1:10-20.  

Doubt.  Zechariah expressed doubt when Gabriel finished his announcement.  “How will I know  that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.”  The angel replied “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 word, which will be fulfilled in their  time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”

What do you think about this passage?  Is Zechariah being punished for doubt? 

Is doubt a sin?  

Think about when the angel announced to Mary that she would bear the son of God.  Mary asked almost the same  question, and she wasn't struck mute.

Levine writes, “I imagine that at this point, words failed Zechariah.  He was terrified and  traumatized.  Everything for which he had prayed will come to pass, but he is stuck between  belief and doubt.  What at this point can he say?

What is the role of silence in our relationship with God?

Are there times when you allow for silence intentionally?

Luke 1:10-20 - Place

I taught a Sunday school lesson during the first week of Advent that I based on the first chapter of the book, "Light of the World: the Meaning of Memory" by Amy-Jill Levine.  I'm going to use parts of that lesson for my next three blog posts.  This is based on Luke 1:10-20. 

Think about the place where this story about Zechariah happened.  This announcement took place in the temple.  Why do you think it happened in the  Temple?  Could it be that this where Zechariah would have been listening more closely?

William Barclay when looking at this question, he quoted a part of the play Saint Joan by George  Bernard Shaw.  (about Joan of Arc).  Joan hears voices, and it annoys the heir to the French  throne, who says, “Oh, your voices, your voices…Why don’t the voices come to me I am king.   Not you.”  Joan replies, “They do come to you, but you do not hear them.  You have not sat in  the field in the evening listening for them.  When the angelus rings you cross yourself and have  done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air  after they stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do,

Where do you give yourself the chance to hear the voices?

How does setting enhance or detract from receiving God’s word?

Luke 1:10-20 - Pattern

I taught a Sunday school lesson during the first week of Advent that I based on the first chapter of the book, "Light of the World: the Meaning of Memory" by Amy-Jill Levine.  I'm going to use parts of that lesson for my next three blog posts.  This is based on Luke 1:10-20.  I'll post the passage here (but not on the next few posts:

Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside.  Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.  When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him.  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you 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 must never drink wine or strong drink; 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.  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.”  Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.”  The angel replied, “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.”

There are many times in the Bible when we see pattern.  The fact that the author is  writing the story to a particular pattern communicates something to us. For example, when a  woman is at a well in the Bible, a pattern starts.    Do you see a familiar pattern in this announcement and what has led up to it?   It is a pattern of a barren woman, childless, promised children to come.  Where else do you see it in the Bible?  You may recognize it from the Abraham and Sarah story, the Rebekah and Isaac story, the story of Samson’s parents, and the story Samuel’s mother Hannah.

What are the components of the announcement pattern?

• Barren couple without hope for children
• There is an announcement of a coming child – promise of God
• What about the child who is born?  Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Samson, Samuel – all part of  God’s story and work to come.

So, Luke is saying, “here we go again – another great one is about to be born.  See it? You  recognize it.

Compare this to the Annunciation – the announcement to Mary of the birth of Jesus.  How is it  different?  Mary is not barren; she is unmarried.  What does it say about the child to come that “the Holy Spirit  will come upon you, and he power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the  child to be born will be hold; he will be called Son of God.”

Luke is telling us using the same pattern that a great one is to be born, but this one (because of the different  we see in the pattern, we can recognize it) – this one will be even greater.

3. Doubt.  Zechariah expressed doubt when Gabriel finished his announcement.  “How will I know  that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.”  The angel replied “I am  Gabriel.  I stand in the presence of God, and I have bene sent to speak to you and to bring you  this good news. But now, because you did not believe my word, which will be fulfilled in their  time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”

Question:  what do you think about this passage?

Is Zechariah being punished for doubt? Is doubt a sin?  Note that Mary asked almost the same  question.

Levine writes, “I imagine that at this point, words failed Zechariah.  He was terrified and  traumatized.  Everything for which he had prayed will come to pass, but he is stuck between  belief and doubt.  What at this point can he say?

Question:  What is the role of silence in our relationship with God?

Question:  Are there times when you allow for silence intentionally?

Drumbeat of Joy, Part 2

Continuing from the sermon...

The first scripture I want us to read is from Isaiah 35:1-10.  As I read it, listen for the joy in it.  It is a poem written to provide hope to those in exile for their return to Jerusalem.  (Scripture can be found here)

Think for a moment to whom these words were written.  They are part of what scholars call Second Isaiah, and were written about 45 years after the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and the people’s exile out of their land.  Consider their circumstances – they had been God’s people, and now they were doubting that.  They had lived in the land God had given them, and now they were away from that.  They had lived close to a powerful God who inhabited the Temple, and now the temple was gone, and they were doubting the power of God. They were far away from home, captive in another land, and they had been there a long time – 45 years means that many of them wouldn’t even remember what it was like to not be in exile.  It was a dark, hopeless time.  Had God forgotten them?

And then the Word of the prophet comes, speaking of hope and joy.  Remember, words of prophecy are often truth-telling, not necessarily fortune-telling.  Isaiah is telling them a truth they should know already.  The prophet speaks to them of the presence of God, so clear that even the earth knows the difference.  The prophet speaks to them of salvation.  We think about salvation as God bringing us forgiveness and eternal life – and it is, but there is more.  Amy Jill Levine, in her book Light of the World, says that “salvation means freedom or release from current circumstances: slavery, poverty, ill health, hunger, and thirst.”  Isaiah speaks of a Holy Way, along which even those whose sense of direction is terrible will not get lost. It will be a holy way to the Holy City of Jerusalem.  And it is not only a return to the place where God is, but also a return to relationship with God.  These are words of joy.  Can you hear the drumbeat of them?


A few years ago, Steve and I were youth counselors at our church.  With another couple, we had taken the youth to Spring Heights for a retreat.  At the end of the weekend, the vans were packed, and we were ready to leave, but we circled up in the field that is there and prayed together.  Steve led the prayer of thanksgiving for the weekend, and the as he did, the wind picked up and blew around us.  I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt like the holy spirit was blowing around and among us, circling us as we prayed together.  Have you ever had an experience where God was so close in the world around you, in the nature around you, that you just know it.  There is joy in that.  Isaiah was giving the exiled people – people in darkness who are doubting God’s love and power – doubting God’s presence with them - words to reassure them that God was there with them, and that God would lead them home.