At seminary a few weeks ago I heard a
sermon on being in the in between times. We are on a journey and we
are in between what we want to be and what we are , and what we had
been. We are in a journey in school heading to graduation, but are
in the in between. But this is true for all of us. We are in between
starting a job and retirement. We have in between birth and death,
we are an in between people – looking forward at where we want to
go, looking back at where we have been and experiencing the now in
all its imperfections. That too is Zechariah's story. In Luke
1:68-79 Zechariah speaks for the first time in nine long months. He
is told of the coming of his son John and because of his and
Elizabeth's age does not quite believe it. So he is struck mute
until the child came and Zechariah nodded his agreement with
Elizabeth that their son should be John. Which was against the
culture and customs of the time. His community expected the son to be
named Zechariah!
Zechariah knew from what the angels
had told him that he was at the cusp of a new time. That he was in
between seeing it actualized and it beginning. He was stuck in the
in between. But in that uncomfortable time of knowing change is here
and knowing what that is going to unfold like he sang this psalm of
joy to the Lord.
Zechariah reminds us that God has been
in the mix since the beginning. God has been with Israel in the
prophets and the covenants and never has God been unfaithful to his
people. God is always faithful to his covenants from Abraham on. He
testifies to his son being the one to point us toward the savior of
us all, and gratitude for that savior. He does not yet know that
John will die fulfilling God's will to point to the savior and
encourage people to repent of their separations from God. He does
not know how this savior will play out for the world, but he is
faithfully waiting in the in between time for God to fulfill God's
promises.
Finally he reminds us that the savior
will (1:77) “give knowledge of salvation to his people by the
forgiveness of their sins. (v. 78) By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us, (v.79) to give light to
those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our
feet into the way of peace.”
That is the summary of Jesus' time on
Earth and what the Holy Spirit does for us today! Today this very
day a bit more than 2000 years later this message is for us. Knight
and Powe remind us of how Wesley saw salvation”
“Wesley believes in going to heaven,
but that is not for him the heart of salvation. Commenting on Ephesians 2:8 (“Ye are saved through faith”) Wesley says the
salvation spoken of in this text “is not a blessing which lies on
the other side of death. . . . It is not something at a distance;”
instead “it is a present thing, a blessing which, through the free
mercy of God, ye are now in possession of.”6 It is the gift of a
new life, a life we have in the present, and which death cannot take
from us. It is heaven in the heart.”1
Salvation is a new life now. The
forgiveness of our separations our sins is for now in our in between,
while we are on our journey. The new life awaits us, the joy, and
the “way of peace” as Zechariah says it is here. This is our
story at advent. Advent is a time of waiting for the coming of
Christ. It is the in between time when we examine our lives and see
where we are on this journey. Are we ready for salvation – for a
deeper relationship with Christ in our life now? Are we willing to
stop holding onto what we think we should be doing, what should be
happening and truly offer it up to God. Are we ready to truly, daily
give our lives over to God so that we can experience salvation, and
peace in our everyday. A way of living where no matter how bad our
circumstances are we can truly find comfort in the Lord, offer our
worries, fears and anxieties to the Lord and experience the joy of
not walking this road alone. To know that the Holy Spirit walks
beside us, that we are not alone in our sadness and loneliness. This
is Zechariah's prayer for each of us. This is my prayer. May our
God who came to us as Jesus, to show us the path to salvation break
into our everyday lives and walk with us in peace. Let us truly get
ready to invite Christ into our hearts and lives again this Christmas
season.
Amen.
1Knight,
Henry; Powe, Doug (2006-10-24). Transforming Evangelism, The
Wesleyan Way of Sharing Faith (Kindle Locations 75-79). Discipleship
Resources. Kindle Edition.
No comments:
Post a Comment