In the Least Expected Places

One thing I’ve discovered about being a pastor is that I start thinking about the next church calendar season well before it actually arrives.  Advent doesn’t start until Sunday, but I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of months now--planning a sermon series, doing initial research about Luke 1, working on our liturgy, making sure that someone got candles for Sunday. 

We will be preaching through Luke chapter 1 over the next four weeks.  This Sunday I'm preaching on the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth from Luke 1:5-25.  Along with the text, this poetic and musical retelling of the story has been in my heart over the last couple of weeks.  This song is by a band called So Elated on their Christmas album, The Bewildering Light (follow the link to get the album legally for free at noisetrade!). 

Jerusalem and the holy temple filled with smoke
Zechariah shuns the news from the angel of hope
Stuck behind an incense cloud of religion and disappointment

God keeps slipping out of underneath rocks 
in alleys off the beaten path
Open both your eyes.

Prophets and kings and poets can contribute their work
just like eggs in a nest are alive with the promise of birds
But the Lord of Creation will not be subjected to expectation

God keeps slipping out of underneath rocks 
in alleys off the beaten path
Open both your eyes.

Elizabeth, barren, her knees black and dirty like coal
her consistent prayers float to the sky and revive her soul
God we will wait though we don't understand your redemptive story

God keeps slipping out of underneath rocks
in alleys off the beaten path 
Open both our eyes.

I love the reminder that “the Lord of Creation will not be subjected to expectation.”  I have expectations, and hopes, and dreams, but God who created heavens and earth doesn’t fit neatly into those boxes.  But that doesn’t mean God is absent, because often we see glimpses of God where we least expect it, “in alleys off the beaten path.”  God came to Zechariah and Elizabeth in the middle of their dashed expectations, and he did something unexpected in and through them. 

And my prayer for myself and for you this Advent, especially while we are in those places where God isn’t doing what we expect, is that our response will be like Elizabeth: 

Elizabeth, barren, her knees black and dirty like coal
her consistent prayers float to the sky and revive her soul
God we will wait though we don't understand your redemptive story.

Image by Nick Thompson, http://www.flickr.com/photos/pelegrino/1356007875/, November 30, 2012.  Used under a Creative Commons License.