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Is it quiet where you are? There is snow falling here in Vancouver today. It’s always quiet in the snow, at least once you are done with the driving through it.
It is rarely very quiet just about anywhere. If you are in a quiet place you might notice that there are actually quite a few sounds around.
I’ve still been thinking about Zechariah and the angel Gabriel. The story is told in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Zechariah was a priest, a minister, and Gabriel was an angel sent by God. Gabriel’s visit to Mary is the visit that is most remembered, and for good reason, but he stopped by to see Zechariah first while Zechariah was taking up the religious tasks of his priestly office. When Gabriel appeared beside the altar Zechariah was terrified. He was then consoled, comforted by the words of Gabriel. Gabriel’s words included a promise that Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, though both she and Zechariah were thought to be past the age of having kids, would bear a son. It was after hearing these words that Zechariah began to explain to Gabriel how biology and aging and childbearing works. Gabriel seems a bit caught off guard by this. He interrupts Zechariah’s “how things work on earth” speech with three words:
“I am Gabriel.”
He continues that he has been sent by God to communicate this promise. He had told Zechariah that Zechariah would know “joy and gladness.” However, apparently because of Zechariah’s unwillingness or inability to see the promise, he shuts Zechariah up. He makes him quiet. Zechariah is now a wordless minister. That’s a bit miraculous in itself. Would Zechariah’s quietness make him more able to see God’s promise and presence? Would I be more able to see if I were more quiet? Would you?
Gabriel says that Zechariah’s “punishment” will last 9 months. Zechariah goes home and, as the Bible terms it, “lays” with his wife. Whenever I preach on this passage I comment that I think old Elizabeth found old Zechariah more attractive that night because he couldn’t talk.
Could we see God’s blessing and presence more if we were more able to be quiet?
I read last week about something called an anechoic chamber. This is a sound studio space that is considered, perhaps, the quietest place on earth. It is possible to visit such spaces, but apparently they are not easy to endure. The article points out that most people can’t take it. It really is quiet. The only sounds are those of the body of the person in the space. You can hear your heart beating. The article mentions that numbers of people report being able to hear their blood flowing. Would that remind you that you are alive, or would it just be creepy?
We have entered the season of Advent. This is the season, in the Christian calendar, of preparing for Christmas, for the birth of the Christ child. I don’t have to tell you that there is lots to be done in December. It’s only November 29th today, but you may already feel that you are behind in your intended tasks. What might it mean to include, amidst the activity of getting ready, intentional, determined quiet. You might not ask the angel Gabriel to shut you up, but there is possibly a happy medium.
In the book of Revelation, John, on the prison island of Patmos, has a vision of Jesus. This is not a manger vision or a crucifixion vision. This is a cosmic vision. Jesus above time, Jesus as the author and sustainer of creation. In the vision, Jesus has feet like burnished bronze and a face shining like the sun. The vision also has sound. John says that the voice of Jesus is “like many waters.” John says something that has remained with me since one of the first times I ever read this passage. He says, “I turned to see the voice.”
Quietness is not just about what we don’t hear, about the absence of sound. Even in the anechoic chamber there is some sound.
For me and for you I invite the quiet, this Advent, that would allow us to hear a voice that is like “many waters”.
Or - “as the little lamb said to the shepherd boy…”
What a wonderful discussion of quiet and so needed in today's noisy world.....three of my key words are quiet-present-aware. Enjoy your snow!