Better Than an Angel...A Saviour!
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Better than an angel…a Saviour! The weary world rejoices! Does it? How are you doing, Evergreen? How are you doing? Weary and rejoicing don’t even belong in the same sentence, do they? Does this weary world rejoice? Are you weary? Does it feel like weariness has been sitting on your chest for months? Is your rejoice switch in the on position, or the off position? Pastor Scotty Smith posted on facebook this week, “Christmas brings no pressure to be “up.” The “hope and fears of all the years” meet in Jesus; and “a weary world rejoices” at his coming. Hope doesn’t replace fear, it invades it. Rejoicing doesn’t replace weariness, it inhabits it.” Do you need a Savior? Of course, we have one. We have one. But this morning, do you need a Savior? Are you weary in waiting for something in your life that seems impossible? Let’s look to the text: Luke 1. Read Luke 1:1-25 He leaves the house again and again and again. And again. Day after day. Some mornings he can hardly bear to tell her good bye. This is their normal. It's been this way for a long time. It's not of their choosing. And he can't change it. When he goes to work, well, it's important. He does his work, "unto the Lord." With all his heart. But in a tiny piece of his mind, he carries thoughts of her. She is his forever bride. He wants everything for her. He wants joy in her heart and life. But what can he do? He pushes questions aside. He gives thought to his faith...his strong faith...to trusting God. It is the only solution he has for understanding. For coping. For sanity. He leans into his faith and lives it. One more day. One more day. The house is empty. He is gone for the day. She thinks about herself, her life. She thinks about her husband. She feels she has let him down. It is her fault. She cannot fix it. She knows he wants to fix it. So many thoughts swirl around her head. She loves the Lord, and is faithful to seek His ways. But the ache in her heart feels physical some days. It has weight to it. She feels in her whole body. Somedays she can hardly lift her arms to do the tasks of her day. Sometimes…sometimes she can barely lift her head. She says prayers as she walks and works. Her worship sincere, yet her mind full of questions. She has so many questions. When they were first married...she was younger...they were younger…they had so much joy. It was never easy. It is hard work, two becoming one. It is hard work knowing how to reach your hand out and find his. It was hard work, what they did together to build a life. But it was also wonderful. She remembers it, as if it were a place. A place to try to find each day. On top of the pain she already has, she feels guilt...shame...in her thinking that what she has is not enough. It is a burden she cannot get free of. A wrong that is never righted. A weight she cannot set aside. They don't talk about it. Oh, no! He will come home and they will eat. They will talk of other things. They look into each other’s wrinkled faces. She laughs, and he loves the wrinkles that come to life around her eyes. She laughs…for him. He laughs…for her. So deep is their love. He will lie down next to her at night. Probably hold her awhile as they fall asleep. Their tiredness becomes peaceful rest that turns to sleep. It is good. Yes, our Lord is good. And we will take what He has given us. But He, the Lord, has not given us children. None. None. Not one. Not any. It is an agonizing none. This none…it is a prison. Because...Elizabeth...was...barren. They have no children. Verse 7: “But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren. So says the scripture in Luke 1, where we will spend our time this morning. Evergreen, Do you need a Savior? This morning, do you need a Savior? Are you wrestling with a barrenness of the heart? Do you have a deep sadness of the heart? Do you find yourself in an agonizing “none”…a prison? None. Not for me. Nothing for me. Do you need to be reminded of something? Do you need your heart to be stirred? Ahhhhhh. Do we need our hearts to be stirred? Do we need the impossible? Do we need a Savior? Christmas. Advent. Waiting for something good to happen. Waiting for the very best good to happen. Waiting for “it’s the most wonderful time…of the year” to happen. Waiting for the impossible to happen. Oh, it's already happened. But we wait for it to happen...again...to us...for us. We want our hearts to be stirred. Wouldn't it be nice to have an angel appear? Have an angel say your name. The angel Gabriel appears in Luke 1, first to Zechariah and then to Mary (the mother of Jesus) in Luke 1: 26-38, and both times he says "Do not be afraid. And then Gabriel says their name. “Zechariah.” “Mary.” There is something about having your name spoken aloud. Attention getting. Personal. Intimate. “Zechariah.” “Mary.” Wouldn’t it be nice to have an angel appear? Yes, please. That is what I would like. I’d like an angel. To startle me. Scare me even. Fill me with fear. Fill me with wonder. Fill me with joy. Say my name. Yes, please. Say my name. Stir my heart. See my barrenness. See my barrenness. See my emptiness. See my hurt. See my prison. Say my name. Please. Please. I’d like an angel. I need an angel. I…really need an angel. The joy of Christmas. Do you wonder at Christmas, what will stir your heart? What new thing will thrill me about this Christmas? How will I move past a weariness of the season or a weariness of my heart…things I must do…places I must go…people I must spend time with where it might be awkward. The ache of people I have lost this year. All the baggage of the past year. What new things will thrill me? How will the Christmas story move me again to rejoice in my Jesus and my faith? What about my barrenness? My bleakness? My lifelessness? My emptiness? My tiredness? This is where we might find ourselves 12 days before Christmas on December 13th. One week before Christmas. Three days before Christmas. Every year before Christmas. Waiting for our hearts to be stirred. Tell me a story. No, not that story. We hold up a hand. We cross our arms. We shake our head. Not that story. We know that story. It doesn't stir our hearts so much anymore. Tell us a new story. And maybe we think, “tell us a story…and please…could there be an angel?” Elizabeth was barren. Her womb. Her heart. She loved the Lord her God, but also carried a sadness of the heart. A barrenness of the heart. Do you feel the same? Maybe…maybe send me an angel? It might be easy to say "Shame on us, if that is true." But you know what? It was true for Zechariah. It was true for Elizabeth. In their hearts, their lives, they were so so hungry for a new story. Weren't they? A new story. Stir our hearts. Stir my womb. Maybe it had been awhile since they prayed that way. Maybe they prayed that way at first. Maybe for years. But now, "they were along in years." Much older. In their time, they were the modern day Abraham and Sarah. They were. Do you think they knew that story? Surely they did. And do you think Zechariah and Elizabeth thought about Abraham and Sarah, and then thought, "Why not us, too?" I would. I would everyday…for the first year. And most everyday…for the next couple years. And once a week for the year after that. Until, after time, I told myself, "I will take what He has given me." I would try to let gratefulness grow in my heart…pray for it, feed it, nourish it…and push regret and anger and doubt into a tiny corner of my heart. And so "tell us a new story.” Our hearts desire “tell us a new story”…becomes, maybe, with a shoulder shrug…this is our story and there is nothing we can do about it. This is what God has chosen for us. Zachariah and Elizabeth. Faithful in their walk, thanking God for His goodness, and to be fair...ordinary folks like you and me doing the best they can in life. They don't ask God for much. They work at trusting Him and loving Him. Until. Until. Until. It is not the greatest “until” ever. But it is a pretty good “until.” An ordinary day for Zechariah and Elizabeth…until it is not. One ordinary day Zechariah is chosen by lot according to the priesthood to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense, and the angel Gabriel appears. “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.