Zechariah etc.

[James]

My pastor is running a class on various Bible topics on Wednesday during the lunch hour. It is kind of Sunday School on steroids. We are concentrating on Luke right now. We just finished the bit on the birth of John the Baptist. One of the rabbits we chased was Zechariahs experience with the Angel. After the angel finished his speech, poor dumbfounded Zechariah basically said prove it. Most of might think that the appearance of an angel with a message was proof enough but not old Z. For his stubborn insistence on more info, he gets struck dumb.

My comment was that I understood old Z. Some humans of which I am one want to know. Faith is wonderful, but in some situations not enough. When I was on the verge of suicide at age 17, faith was not enough. God gave me proof that he or she is real and cares. (I think I have shared the experience previously on this forum.) God let me get away with demanding truth. Z did not.

At this same time (being Lent), we are using the first verse of the spiritual I Want Jesus to Walk with Me as the call to the children to come forward for the Children's time during the worship service. Putting Z's experience together with my own experience and the spiritual (which is a favorite of mine), I came up with two more verses for the spiritual.

Lord, in the morning of my life you walked with me
It the noontime of my life you walked with me
In the evening of my life when death is drawing near please Lord Jesus still walk with me

In that great-getting-up-morning walk with me
In that great-getting-up-morning walk with me
When I see you face to face I will know I'm saved by grace then Lord Jesus come walk with me

One of the ways God communicates with me is through the music of faith. When I am puzzled or worried about something, I will find myself singing some tune over and over until new words emerge from the depths of my soul and then I can move on with life. I have been close to death twice. Once was the suicide. The other was when three shifts of emergency room doctors missed the fact that I had a ruptured spleen. I walked around for 11 days with blood seeping into my abdominal cavity. On the 11th day, my spleen gave up. Four hours to live. Two of those were spent in bed. In the third hour, I was put into an ambulance for a quick ride to the ER. In the fourth hour, surgery. After surgery, my vital signs were almost non-existent. After surgery I spent four days in ICU on the verge of death. Each of these experiences has its song. The first is Gaither's He Touched Me words are rearranged by God/Me. The second is HIs Eye is on the Sparrow Words and tune modified by God/me.

Each of us has our own way affirming or reaching for faith and assurance. This is my way.

[Tim Bonney]

Zechariah's inability to speak was in some ways a punishment. But in other ways it allow him to be a witness for God's power in a new way. The restoring of his voice so that he could name his son and sing a canticle of praise adds a lot of power to the experience of John's birth.

(Also when your wife is expecting keeping your mouth shut is some times the smarter move. )

[James]

Thanks Tim, not one of us thought of Z's experience that way. At least one of us should have.

[Dave Roberts]