Advent Perspective: Back to the Start

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Back to the Start

By the tender mercy of our God,

the dawn from on high will break upon us,

to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 1:78-79 (NRSV)

I wanna be in the Light

As You are in the Light

I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens

Oh, Lord be my Light and be my salvation

Cause all I want is to be in the Light

From "In the Light" by DC Talk

The liturgical calendar begins with the season of Advent, a time of waiting that precedes Christmastide when we celebrate Christ's coming to earth as an infant.  The liturgical calendar ends with Christ the King Sunday, on which we look forward to the day when Christ returns to earth to defeat evil and reign over the earth in an age of peace.

Many congregations use the Revised Common Lectionary, a three-year cycle of Scripture readings that follows the liturgical calendar.  The readings for each Sunday typically include a reading from one of the Gospels, a reading from one of the other New Testament writings, a Psalm, and a reading from one of the other Old Testament writings.¹  This year, on Christ the King Sunday, the Psalm was replaced by a certain passage from the Gospel of Luke, commonly called the Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79).  This passage is a song that was sung by a certain priest soon after the birth of his son.  Interestingly, this same song also replaced the Psalm last year on the second Sunday of Advent.

One day, an elderly priest named Zechariah was serving in the temple, and, while he was burning an incense offering to God, he was visited by an angel named Gabriel.  This angel told Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth, who previously had been unable to have children, would soon have a son.  This child, whom they were to name John, would grow up to become a great prophet who would have a major impact on the people.  At first, Zechariah would not believe Gabriel, because both he and his wife were well beyond child-bearing years, so Gabriel told Zechariah that he would be mute until his child was born.  Zechariah came out of the temple, unable to speak.²

Nine months later, Elizabeth gave birth to a baby boy.  When the time came to name the child, the family wanted to name him after his father.  Elizabeth said that the child would be named John, but the family remarked that nobody in their family had that name.  Zechariah, still mute, wrote on a tablet, "His name is John."  Suddenly, the old priest was able to speak once again, and then he broke into prophetic song.³

Zechariah believed that something big was on the horizon and that the dawn would soon break upon a people trapped in darkness.  He believed that the long-awaited Messiah would soon arrive to save the Jewish people from oppression.  He believed that the promises that God made to his ancestors would soon be fulfilled, and he praised God for God's faithfulness.  Zechariah believed that his newborn son would play a special role in these happenings by preparing the way for the Messiah.  To his son, he sang,

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his people

by the forgiveness of their sins.⁴

The placement of this song in the Lectionary reminds us that the church calendar is not a line but a circle: it ends where it begins.  As we look toward the Second Coming of our Savior, we immediately join those who awaited the first coming of their Savior.  Both Christ the King Sunday and the season of Advent are reminders that we are still waiting for the dawn to break; we are waiting for the day when our Savior comes into the world to set things right.  Our job as Christians is to be like the child to whom Zechariah is singing.  As people who both follow Christ and prepare the way for Christ, we are called to be a source of light for people who feel as though they are wondering in darkness.

On a personal note, sometimes passing by a familiar landmark causes me to reflect on where I was when I encountered it previously and how my life has changed since then.

When I encountered the Canticle of Zechariah last December, I was in a rather dark place.  I had recently left my home church, and the Bible study group that had been my faith community for the last five years had just decided to call it quits.  I felt that I had abandoned a community that needed me and that I was subsequently abandoned by a community I needed, and I wondered if maybe the latter was punishment for the former.⁵  I wasn't thinking very highly of myself at the moment, and I experienced a sense of homelessness because I no longer knew where I belonged in the Church.  At that time, the song made a lot of sense to me, since I felt that I was wandering in the darkness, waiting for the dawn to break.

When I encountered this song again recently, I realized how much my life had changed in the past year.  I no longer feel like I'm in such a dark place.  I have found my way to a church where I believe I will have many opportunities to grow.  I am starting to experience a new sense of community with fellow parishioners who have been very supportive of me.  Also, the last five months of preaching has restored a sense of purpose in my life.  I am thankful for all the people who, by simply shining they light they have been given, have illuminated the path for me.


Notes:

1. For more information about the Revised Common Lectionary, check out the following website: http://www.commontexts.org/rcl/.
2. Luke 1:5-25
3. Luke 1:57-80
4. Luke 1:76-77 (NRSV)
5. I now look back at that time as a moment of grace.  If I couldn't even keep a little Bible study going, then I should not feel responsible for the future of a whole church.  Sometimes freedom can be found in futility.

The fresco pictured above was painted by Domenico Ghirlandaio in the late 1400s and can be found in the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy.