Assuming the Best
Luke 1:67-80
December 2, 2007

How many of us go through the day assuming the best? Assuming, for example, in the words of Zechariah, that good news is on the way from a capable God?

It’s not simply a matter of optimism or pessimism. I have no idea whether Zechariah was an optimist or a pessimist. He was doing his work one day in the temple when a word from the Lord came to him. At first he wondered. Wouldn’t you? But then he began to rejoice and be glad.

There’s a shift being signalled here. Most of us, if we don’t exactly expect the worst, assume that the best we can expect is the ordinary. The odd thing that happens to us, though, when we no longer expect the best, is that we lose our capacity to rejoice and be glad! In fact, we get apologetic.

I attended a public event the other night where I chatted with a man involved in the news business. He thought this story was funny. I’m not so sure! Not too long ago one night on the evening news, a newscaster in Springfield found himself without anything to report except good news – no murders, no traffic deaths, no drug arrests, nobody in city hall caught with his or her hand in the till, noone huddling on the riverbank in the cold that night, no Red Sox collapses – nothing but good news that night – and so he apologized!

Hello! What about the rejoice and be glad part?

How about you? When you hear the story about Zechariah this morning, how Zechariah says now, beginning now, we will be able to “serve the Lord without fear” does it make you wonder? Or do you go Ho-hum, same old, same old? Or do you say, Uh-uh, well, Zechariah is quoting ancient scripture from the eighth century BC embodying the political hopes of Israel in a time of international crisis....

Or -- do you want to get up in your pew and interrupt the order of service, like Zechariah does, and dance a little bit and sing a little bit, and say, Whoa, we’ve got a capable God! Look out world! God is about to do a new thing!

It’s Advent, folks. Christmas is coming. And before we get all grim and determined to do the Christmas thing as people do – after all, when was the last time you ever saw anybody actually smile at the mall!? Before we get all wrapped up – pardon the pun – in the Christmas thing, can we hear a word in Advent about rejoice and be glad?

You see, when Zechariah stopped to think about the word from the Lord, he looked around him and saw that the word applied to far, far more than him. Yes, the word Zechariah heard said that he and Elizabeth were going to have a child, a son, after many years of praying. (Their son John the Baptist, as you know, will grow up to prepare the way for Jesus). But does Zechariah go home and pull out paint chips for the baby’s new room? No, he looks around him and says, This is bigger than me! God is about to do a new thing for those who are afraid, for those who are mired in their own hopelessness, for those who have never heard a word of truth spoken in love!

You and I are invited to hear a word from the Lord today. The wonderful thing about the Advent season leading up to Christmas is that we are given a little time to wonder. What is God up to? And God, Emmanuel, (“God-with-us”), what part is my part in rejoice and be glad?

I do wonder. I wonder whether it is true that we are mired in the war in Iraq and have no alternative but to stick it out? I wonder. Is it truly acceptable to our nation that more than a million young black men will grow up in jail? I wonder. How about this. Does it matter to the health of all Americans that one in five of us has no health care coverage? I wonder what we would see if I ask right now how many of us here in church do not have health care coverage? How many hands would we see raised? Would we see hands we hardly expected to see? Would anyone sense it is time to speak up and speak out about justice and health care in our nation?

When Zechariah mentions the tender mercy of our God breaking upon us like the dawn, banishing shadows and darkness, he’s not talking about setting up the Christmas tree, he’s talking about bringing light to fox-holes and prisons and emergency rooms to people who assume the worst!

Promise me something on this first Sunday in Advent, would you? Well, actually, I’ll go for broke here. Promise me two things on this first Sunday in Advent. First, when you sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel – God with us! – or O Come All Ye Faithful – joyful and trumphant – or Joy to the World – let earth receive her king! – or Silent Night – all is calm, all is bright – ask yourself, who really needs to hear this message? Who really needs to hear some good news? Who needs the dawn to break out on them? How big can I think about a capable God? Let yourself wonder!

That’s the first thing. The second is this. You are a Christian. Don’t apologize! Especially at this time of year. Good news is coming!

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 the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.
(Luke 1:78-79)

Don’t apologize! Don’t assume that the world is going to continue on its not-so-merry way!

Assume the best! Assume we have a capable God! Assume that God already knows the truth about our world! Assume that God is coming to do something about it! Assume that there is only one thing missing in the picture of what God is going to do. And that is you!

Assume the best of yourself. Rejoice and be glad that God has given you the power to speak the truth in love. Assume that through you, a way is being prepared for the coming of something, someone truly special.

OK. That’s three things I’m asking you to promise, not two:

And while you’re at it, smile, would you? Don’t look grim. Remember. It’s Advent. Someone’s coming who’s going to rattle prison bars, make the lame to walk, the blind to see, the mortgage lenders to tremble, and even the Christians like you and me to dance in the aisles.

Who would have thought Advent means: God is not done with us yet?

Amen