Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Wisdom Wednesday: Three Prayer Songs

Grace and peace to you. I’m Rev. Joe Cailles, the pastor of Peakland United Methodist Church in Lynchburg Virginia. Today is Wednesday, December 13, 2023, and we are in the season of Advent. We at Peakland are considering this book, All the Good: A Wesleyan way of Christmas. This week is chapter 2, praying in Advent, written by Rev. Dr. Sangwoo Kim of Duke Divinity School. The chapter highlights a passage from the Gospel of Luke, called the Song of Zechariah, who was a priest in the temple, husband to Elizabeth and father of John the Baptist. The Gospel of Luke tells us that when the angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah that Elizabeth would bear a child, Zechariah doubted because he and Elizabeth were a much older couple. Because Zechariah doubted Gabriel told him he would not be able to speak until John was born. As I said on Sunday during the sermon, I wonder if Zechariah’s silence was a hindrance to Elizabeth during her pregnancy or was his silence a blessing? When John is born, Zechariah is able to speak again and his first words are a song and a prayer of praise to God. Here are the first verse and the last verses of that passage found in Luke 1, beginning with the 68th verse. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has looked favorably on the people and redeemed them. 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. 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.’ Zechariah’s song, his prayer, to God shows us who he believes God to be: the one who looks favorably on the people, gives light to those of us in darkness, guides our feet in the ways of peace, gives us salvation and forgiveness of our sins. There are two other prayer songs like Zechariah’s in the first two chapters of Luke’s Gospel…. Mary’s Song, often called the Magnificat, and it is found in Luke chapter 1, beginning with the 46th verse Mary sings and prays, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. After Jesus is born, Mary and Joseph bring him to the Temple for his presentation. In Luke, chapter 2, The priest Simeon meets them there. Scripture says that the Holy Spirit had told Simeon that he would live long enough to see the Lord’s Messiah. When Simeon holds the infant Jesus, he sings, and he prays to God: Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation. The complete song of Simeon is found in Luke chapter 2, verses 29-32 Each of these prayer songs show us today who God is and what God is doing for us. I invite you in the next few days to consider each of these prayer songs for yourself. The song of Mary Luke 1:46-55 The song of Zechariah Luke 1:68-79 The song of Simeon Luke 2:29-32 Read through each of these passages three times. After the first read through, consider the question What does God do and say in this passage? After the second read through, consider the question, What does this prayer say about humanity and our relationship to God And then after reding through the passage a third time, consider the question, What does this prayer inspire me to do and be this Advent Season and beyond. My hope is that the time spent with these scriptures will help you to do all the good you can. Speaking of Songs, our next Sunday worship here at Peakland is on Sunday, December 17 and it will be at 10:00 a.m. in the sanctuary and on livestream. The worship service this Sundays will be filled with music: our sanctuary choir sings, our handbell choir rings. We’ll have piano, organ, flugelhorn, and congregational hymns. It’s going to be a highlight of the Advent season. If you’d like to learn more about Peakland and finding your place here, contact me at Peaklandpastor@gmail.com All are welcome to Sunday worship, in person or online. All are welcome to join us at Peakland as we are reaching out, serving all, and extending God’s Table. Thanks be to God.