Advent & Worship: Zechariah - Worship in Silence

Introduction & Definitions

This week we begin a new message series that looks at worship through the stories of four characters in the advent story.  The four characters we’ll be exploring are Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, Mary, the mother of Jesus, the shepherds and the wise men.  Today we’ll be looking at worship through the story of Zechariah.

Before we dive in to Zechariah’s story, I’d like to clarify some terms & set some ground rules for the message.  The first thing to clarify is what we mean by the word ‘worship’.  In our North American Christian subculture, the term ‘worship’ has come to pretty much exclusively apply to singing.  When we say we are going to enter into a time of worship, what we really mean is that we’re going to sing songs to God.  And while that’s an important aspect of worship, I’d like to suggest that it’s a limited definition of what the word really means and what the real intent of worship is.

Worship as defined in the dictionary is to bring adoring reverence or regard to someone or something sacred.  It means to come with an attitude of deep respect and awe.  It can come with the idea of paying homage to God. Paying homage is a declaration of your belonging to God and a promise of your loyalty and service to Him.  The word worship comes from the old English words of ‘worth – ship’, of declaring the worth of someone.  So really worship is this act of coming with reverence and awe, this sense of both being wowed and a little terrified, to declare your love, your adoration, your loyalty to, your devotion to God and to declare all of the reasons why God is worthy of devotion and praise and why He is valuable and important to you.  And while this most definitely can be expressed through our singing, and in reality three of the four advent stories we’ll look at involve songs, our worship is not limited to song.  True worship can range from the silent heart cries, a brief moment of thankfulness to God and a sense of wonder at the beauty of a sunset, the cool of ice cream on out tongue or the smile of a child, to any visible expression of love and adoration to God to acts of service, caring for the poor, giving of time and money, taking risks.  I hope as we look at worship in this advent season that we expand our definition of worship and recognize that worship is really part of our life blood.  So much of the everyday either is or can be this declaration of God’s worthiness, of His presence and value in our lives.

The second term I want to clarify is the word ‘advent’.  I didn’t grow up with a tradition of ‘advent’ and so I have to learn as an adult what that means.  Advent as a word means ‘a coming into place, view or being’.  Advent is about arrival.  In the Christian tradition, Advent is the start of the liturgical calendar. It’s a time set aside to enter into a season of reflection and waiting.  The goal of advent is to have us reflect on waiting for Christ in two different ways.  First of all, advent asks us to reflect on the ancient longing for Messiah.  We get to enter into the waiting for Jesus’ birth at the Nativity, at Christmas.  And secondly, we reflect on our current waiting for His second coming. 

So the point of advent is not to give us a countdown of crossing off the days before Christmas, but to help us reflect on a heart posture of waiting and longing.  As we reflect on the longing for Messiah, in the longing for Jesus’ first coming, we realize there was no end date where they knew the longing would end.  There was only the waiting, the struggle of the unknown.  There was the promise of this one who would be the fulfilment of prophesy, the fullness of hope, love, joy, and peace.  But there was no knowledge of when He would come.  As we really enter into the story of advent, as we bring not just our mental recognition of waiting, but really bring our hearts into the longing, we find that advent is a time to, yes, be excited and grateful for what we have, but more than that, it’s a time to acknowledge our aches.  It’s a time to give voice to the deepest longings of our heart.  Advent is a time to give voice to the twinges of sadness we maybe try to close off during the rest of the year.  It’s a time to recognize that no matter how good things are, there is something that we’re missing in life.  It’s a time of recognizing the ‘not yet’ of the kingdom.  There are unanswered prayers, questions without answers, itches that can’t be scratched, longings that find no fulfilment.  As we give voice to all of these, then it makes the arrival of Christ that much more meaningful as we find that all of our longings find their rest in Him.

And so as we go through this message series on worship in advent, we need you to be present.  We need you try to move past just enduring another Sunday morning talk (though I won’t blame you for having to endure my talk), to move past just listening to a lecture.  We ask that you’d bring your heart to these stories.  We’d ask that you let the characters in these stories speak to you of their journey of advent, to let the great cloud of witnesses speak to you of their longings and waiting.  And in really hearing their stories, we hope that you’ll find that their stories reflect a bit of your own story and that you’ll find your life story woven a bit more deeply into the greater Jesus story that is being told through all of history.

Zechariah’s story:  The First Half

And so with that, let’s dive into the story of Zechariah.  His story can be found in the first chapter of Luke.  His story is sort of at the beginning of the chapter and at the end of the chapter.  We’ll read the beginning of his story now and then look at the rest of his story later on.  Let’s start with Luke 1: 5-24:

^“In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear ^[gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.” The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute. When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.” ”

Personal Silence:  How long ago was his prayer?

In re-reading this story to prepare for this message, I was really struck with Gabriel’s announcement that “God has heard your prayers, Zechariah”.  In all of my past readings I assumed Zechariah was praying in that moment about wanting a child and God was ‘overhearing’ Zechariah’s immediate prayers.  This year, reading the story again while Darlene & I wrestle with infertility, I have to wonder when was the last time Zechariah prayed for a child?  As Darlene & I go through this journey with infertility, there are a seemingly endless list of choices and ‘plan b’s’ to consider.  We have our hopes that this round of IVF will work, but there’s this list of ‘what if’s and ‘what’s next’ that are in the back of our mind.  Almost subconsciously we try to manage our hopes versus disappointments in having other options to fall back on.  The ‘Plan Bs’ become a bit of a security blanket to guard against the fears of running out of options.  But even with this desperate clutching for a security blanket, we know deep down there’s a time clock on all of these other options.  We desperately ache for children, but how old do we have to get before we give up on that possibility?

For Elizabeth and Zechariah, I think they’re way past the point of being able to hold out any hope of having children.   I don’t know how old they are, but from the way they’re speaking, this isn’t like some late pregnancy.  They’re not in their 40’s and hoping for a child to come later in life.  They’re well past that and into the point where having a child would be beyond a statistical anomaly, but would be a complete miracle.

So again, when was the last time Zechariah prayed for, hoped for a child?  Where was the point where he prayed that prayer for the last time?  When did he and his wife give up on hoping to hear the cries of a little one and cauterized the aching wound in their heart to try to silence those cries in an attempt to live in a ‘manageable level of despair’? When did Zechariah & Elizabeth give up on hope and tried to numb the ache of longing unfulfilled?  How did they deal with the silence of God to their lifetime of unanswered prayer?  How did this affect their worship, of how they viewed God?  How can you adore, praise and swear loyalty and service to a God that seems to have left you in the places where it matters, where it hurts, the most?

The Greater Silence

And so Gabriel’s words tear open the wound again.  If it wasn’t coming from an angel, it would seem like cruel mockery to re-open a promise of a child after having given up on a child many, many years earlier.  And to add to this, not only does Gabriel say that God is bringing Zechariah and Elizabeth a child, but he says this child will be the forerunner to Messiah.

And this maybe touches on the greater silence that we think about as part of Advent.  The book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, ends with these words, quoted in part by Gabriel: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.  He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.””  These are the last official words that Israel heard from God through the voice of a prophet for four hundred years.  Can you imagine the weight of that silence?  For the nation of Israel, God’s voice was heard over and over again through the mouths of His priests, prophets and kings telling them that they were a chosen people, loved by God and part of His plan to show His light to the world.  They were a people blessed by His presence.  But in the four hundred years since these words were spoken Israel was ground under the heel of conqueror after conqueror.  Their nation was in bondage, their way of life systematically choked out as they are forced to adapt to the changing world around them.  There was no voice to tell them they were chosen, loved or part of any plan.  Occasionally in the 400 years, there would be evidence of God’s presence, small glimmers of deliverance or miracles, a small glimmer that they were not forgotten, but did that make things better or worse?  Would it be easier to believe that God had died, or never existed, or had just left them?  Would it not be harder to live with the evidence of God’s presence but the reality of His silence?  It’s like a divorce, like a walking death where the one you love, the one you’ve shared your most intimate moments with now refuses to speak to you. 

Zechariah’s Response:  Looking for Proof that it’s Worth Risking on Hope Again

I’m sure that Zechariah as a priest is keenly aware of the weight of this greater silence, as well as the silence of God to their prayers for a baby.  The role of a priest was to intercede, to go between God and the people, to bring the requests of the people to God and to bring God’s words back to the people.  But if God is silent, then what’s the point?  There are no answers to the cries of the people.  There are no words of comfort to speak.  How much of Zachariah’s life, of his worship, was just going through the motions.  Morning and night making sure the candlestick in the temple, meant to symbolize God’s eternal light and the light He shines in the lives of His people, didn’t go out.  Morning and night burning incense at the altar of incense, meant to symbolize the prayers of the saints, of God’s people, ascending to God night and day.  How much of his priestly duties just felt so hollow and empty in the overwhelming silence of God’s temple without any sense of God’s presence.

So when this silence is broken by the presence the angel Gabriel telling Zechariah that both the personal silence in his life and the national silence of God is about to come to an end, it’s no wonder that Zechariah asks, “How do I know for sure this is true?”  We are maybe quick to judge Zechariah’s lack of faith in this passage, but I want to challenge us to feel the place that Zechariah is coming from.  When we consider the heartache, the numbness, the long endured pain of silence, the well of tears that have run dry years ago, is it not a miracle that Zechariah is able to respond this way at all.  If it were you, would you lash out at Gabriel, letting years of anger and disappointment explode out?  For Zechariah to have a hope of believing these words requires a resurrection of hope in him and so it makes sense in some ways that he asks for proof.  To hope again, to feel again is a huge risk for this man.  His heart is numb from broken trust and so to hope again, to have faith again, his head wants assurances that this is not one more foolish hope that’s going to meet in more disappointment.

God’s Response to Zechariah’s Questions: Punishment or Revelation?

And so how does God respond to Zechariah’s request for proof?  Gabriel tells Zechariah that he will, “be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”  The religious part of us can figure this is a justified punishment for Zechariah’s lack of faith.  The parts of us that understand honest doubt wonder why God would be so cruel to punish Zechariah for asking an honest question.  But in looking at this story again, I’d like to suggest another possibility that maybe this was less punishment and more a gift of understanding.  All through the Old Testament, God’s prophets are called to live out the message that God wants to deliver through them.  They become spectacles for the nation.  They act out some holy pantomime that gives an illustration of what God is trying to speak.  As you read these stories you find that the message of God is shaped by their stories.  Even the harshest of message from God becomes tempered by the prophets knowing the heartbreak of God trying to win back the heart of an unfaithful love.

And so I wonder if God leaving Zechariah unable to speak was something like that.  That instead of punishment, Zechariah was being shown God’s heart.  Have you ever experienced a kid at Christmas trying to keep a secret?  “Mommy, I’m not supposed to tell you what your Christmas present is because it’s a secret that we got you a new necklace.”   Kids are horrible at keeping secrets and at waiting on delivering good news.  There is something in our nature that doesn’t wait well when we have the perfect gift for someone.  We ache to join in others happiness. 

So imagine Zechariah’s silence.  Previously the wrestle has been not hearing God’s voice.  Now he’s heard God’s voice, but can’t speak.  Imagine Zechariah’s coming home to Elizabeth and wanting to share what’s happened but being unable to speak.  Sure he can write stuff down, but it’s not the same.  Notes and messages written to your love are nice, but they are normally the exception rather than the rule.  There is a gift in marriage of talking with your best friend and sharing everything from the humdrum of your day to the excitement of your biggest joys.  Imagine the new pain of Zechariah not being able to tell Elizabeth every little thing of his encounter with Gabriel, to express that there is new possibility in the routine of love making.  Imagine the new pain of not being able to speak when Elizabeth tells him that they’re pregnant and to be able to tell her how much he loves her and how excited he is to see the silence broken and God’s words becoming reality.

Imagine for Zechariah the shift of perspective as the reality of Elizabeth’s pregnancy sinks in.  If God is breaking the silence of childlessness, if He is fulfilling His promise of a child for Zechariah and Elizabeth, then is He not also fulfilling the promise of this child being the forerunner to the Messiah.  Suddenly the 400 years of silence starts to drop away as Zechariah starts to see everything in the scriptures in new life and light.  These are not dusty old words, empty promises with no meaning.  It’s all coming true, the long wait, the long silence is almost over and Zechariah can’t tell anyone.  It’s like knowing the punchline to the biggest joke.  It’s like that kid trying to hold in a secret at Christmas.  Imagine Zechariah hearing the cries of the people complaining of their subjugation to Rome and complaining that God has left them and his desire to tell them that, no, they’re wrong, God hasn’t left them. God hasn’t forgotten.  That in less than 9 months the forerunner is here and after that can the Messiah not be far behind?

Fulfillment in the Proper Time

Looking at Zechariah’s story, I think it gives me new perspective of God’s silence.  The angel says that God’s words are fulfilled in their proper time.  We who are bound in time, who live for only the smallest fraction of eternity, for us time is the relentless taskmaster of our days.  We feel the sand slipping through the hourglass, we feel the sting of the curse as our bodies decay and aches and pains start to become harder to shake, where we notice grey hairs and wonder if this is all there is.  Time is sometimes our enemy.  We are not good at waiting.  Waiting means losing so much of what little time we have left.  For us, soon is measured in seconds, maybe minutes at the most.  But God is not like this. He lives outside of time and is the one who starts and stops the clock at the moments of His choosing.  He knows that growth, that change, take time.  Plants require seasons to grow.  It takes nine months to grow a baby.  We spend a third of our life in sleep.  Time does not scare Him.  He will never run out of time.  All things are done in order and with purpose and will fit within His great plans. His words are fulfilled in their proper time.  As an example, five years ago, I stood up here sharing a poem at advent about the ache of 37 years of singleness and it was on that day that my wife, Darlene, was also here and her heart was hooked and we started the journey that brought us together.  Maybe meeting earlier in life would have been nice, but I know in my heart of hearts how thankful I am for His perfect timing in bringing us together at just the right time.

And so I wonder if it wasn’t this kind of revelation that Zechariah received in his time of being unable to speak. Maybe he realized that it is not that God does not want to speak or that He does not want to declare His love and remind them of His plans.  It was that He, in His wisdom knew that maybe the words wouldn’t mean so much until people could see the promises fulfilled.  In the middle of the ache, words are not enough.  We retort with our “how will I know this for certain”.  “I’ve heard these promises before, now I need you to prove it.”  God knows our hearts and as much as it breaks His heart to keep silence, He knows that sometimes silent presence is the best, most loving support that can be given.  Many times, the most intimate expressions of love are found in the silence of shared presence.

Zechariah’s Story: The Rest of the Story

Now let’s look at the rest of Zechariah’s story (Luke 1: 57-80) :

^“Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father. But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.” And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.” And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished. And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God. Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea. All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:  “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant—  As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old— Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; To show mercy toward our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to Abraham our father, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.  And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.”

Lessons in Worship:  Worship in Silence

So reflecting on Zechariah’s story, what does this speak to us about worship?

First of all, I’d like to suggest that there is a place for worship in silence.  I think there is a place where sometimes worship is a going through the motions, of doing things not because of how it feels or because we are encountering God.  Some parts of our life we live in the ‘not yet’.  We live in this season of waiting for advent, of waiting for Christ’s coming both in terms of longing for his second coming and also in longing for Him to break silences in our lives.  Each time we take communion, it may not be an amazing expression of deep heartfelt worship of longing for His coming, but it is a regular repetition of that declaration of longing. We do this ‘until He comes’ over & over again.  There are regular expressions of love that we need to give; frequent “I love you’s”, a peck on the cheek before leaving for work or school, bringing coffee to a friend.  These are the signs of adoration that sometimes can be so powerfully dripping with meaning and in other moments can become the ho hum of everyday repetition.  With our worship of God, we almost need these regular expressions built into our lives; taking communion, getting up on a Sunday to go to church, saying grace before a meal.  These are the regular expressions we use to build in us a ‘muscle memory’ of worship, these little acts of worship that we do without thinking.  Sometimes in the silence of God, we need these to anchor us, to keep us in the place of waiting and longing.  They keep us in the dialogue of silence.  Even in our pain and anger in response to God’s silence, there is something beautiful in the places where we keep yelling at Him.  Even this is an act of worship.  If He wasn’t worthy of our heartbreak we’d just move on and find somewhere else to go.  Even our ache finds its home in Him. There is great power in the humble worship of faithfulness, of stubbornly showing up with God even when it feels like He’s stopped talking to you long ago.

Lessons in Worship:  Worship in the Light of New Birth

The second lesson in worship that I see from Zechariah’s story is the great shift in worship and faith that can comes out of enduring the silence and waiting.  Zechariah’s prophetic song of worship to God after the birth of his son quotes out of Psalms 18.  Zechariah speaks of God raising up a horn of salvation and bringing salvation from their enemies.  These are portions of Psalms 18, a Psalm that David sang when he was delivered out of the hands of all his enemies.  When I look at this, I think, what has changed in Zechariah’s life?  Israel is still under occupation by the Romans.  The Jewish nation is still a downtrodden people.  There is still injustice and suffering everywhere and yet Zechariah is singing of God’s promises fulfilled, of justice come of all things made right.  In reality, Zechariah is living in the ‘not yet’ of the kingdom, but singing like all he can see is the ‘now’ of the kingdom.

So what’s changed for Zechariah?  It is the birth of a child.  And not just any child but it’s his child.  With the fulfilment of one of God’s promises to Zechariah, his worship is transformed and he now sings songs as if all of God’s promises are already fulfilled.   There is something so powerful in our worship where even the smallest of births in our life which come after the long waiting to end our drought of silence that transforms us.  I love being in this place during worship and seeing the kids, as noisy and annoying as they may sometimes be. It’s so beautiful to see them here, some of which were maybe at risk of not being here.  Going through infertility and seeing all the statistics and how many things there are to prevent you from having a child, let alone a healthy child, it makes you realize that every child, every birth is such a gift.  It breathes new life into the words of Psalms 8, “From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength because of Your adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.” We are always one generation away from extinction, from the end of the church, or from the end of hope.  Because of this, every birth is a messenger, an angel, of resurrection.  Messengers that the promises of God will continue past the small moments of our days as God’s great plan relentlessly marches towards eternity.  Zechariah sings of Jesus as the Sunrise, as the Dayspring.  In metaphor, each new sunrise is a resurrection of sorts and Jesus, the Messiah, is the resurrection and the life.  His dawning, His birth, changes everything and ensures that life and hope will always win.

Lessons in Worship:  Worship from Knowing God’s Heart

Thirdly, as I look at the story of Zechariah I see that worship is impacted by our understanding of God’s character, of knowing who He is.  When it comes time to name the baby, their friends tell Elizabeth and Zechariah to name the child after their father.  They say, name him, “Remembered of Jehovah”, which is what Zechariah means.  Continue the lessons of the past.  Cling to the reality that God has not forgotten you, but He remembers you.  Zechariah, as inspired be the words of the angel replies with, “No, his name is John.”  The name John means ‘Jehovah is gracious’ or ‘Jehovah is a gracious giver’.  

In metaphor, this speaks so much to me of a shift in understanding that Zechariah gained and one that I’ve wrestled with to understand.  In the silence, the main question to be answered is, ‘Does God even remember me?’ and it’s important to go through the motions and maintain our worship of a God that doesn’t forget us.  But worship flows so much more freely when we understand that our worship is given to a gracious God, to a God who is a giver of good gifts.  He is a God that lavishes His favour on us.  He is a God of extravagance and moves mountains to show His love.  In the silence, the voice of the accuser comes to tell us all of how God is not worthy of love and trust, of faith and devotion.  We are reminded constantly of the pain of waiting, of the heart break of longing.  “If God was truly a loving God, would He let you suffer so?”  The revelation of God’s gracious heart dispels these lies.  When we know God as the gracious one, our hearts spill over in thankfulness and gratitude for who He is and all He’s done.

Lessons in Worship:  Worship in The End of Silence

Finally, a fourth lesson that comes out of Zechariah’s story for me is a reminder that the silence has been forever ended.  Yes, there are still places of silence in our journey of faith.  Yes, God still speaks his poetry with an economy of words.  Yes, we still wait for His second coming.  Yes, we live in the ‘not yet’ of the kingdom.  But with the first advent, with Christ’s coming to earth, the silence has been, in reality, forever broken.  Those who have given their ‘yes’ to Jesus are now indwelt by the risen Christ.  We are the mystery of the ages, Christ in us, the hope of glory.  We are part of the incarnation, the word made flesh.  We are the burning bushes that blaze with fire but are not consumed.  We have His word written on hearts of flesh.  We are His messengers and at any moment God may use us to speak to another through word or deed to bring His message of hope and light to them.  Part of our worship is to live in breaking of the silence; to go to those who live in darkness and to bring His light of love to them.  It’s part of our job to declare the ‘now’ of the kingdom.  To declare that the years of silence are broken, that God can be trusted, that He is worthy of risking your life on, that He is a gracious giver, that God hears our prayers.  Sometimes one of the ways to ‘hear from God’ in your own silence is to bring comfort to another in their silence. It’s maddening, but you’ll suddenly hear your voice speaking the words you wish you’d hear from God,  though if you paid close attention, you’d realize that was God speaking to you, too. 

Our worship is not hidden in church on a Sunday or even hidden in the secret places of our heart.  Our worship comes in declaration of who God is to those around us.  We are His messengers;  His love letter is written on our hearts for all to see.

Conclusions
 
So to close, as we enter this season of advent, take time to sit with the waiting and longing.  Make friends with the silence.  Hold those you love close and don’t say a word.  Enjoy the gifts of love that can’t be spoken; the signs of love that are more than words can say.  Reflect on the heart of God who waits for you in your silence, who hears your prayers and the heart cries you can’t even give voice to.  Know that He is a gracious giver.  That He has woven and grafted you into His story and that He longs to bring resurrection and love into your life.  Let the reality of who He is sink in and fuel a heart of humble adoration for Him.