Wednesday Words
December 13, 2023
Deacon Pam Shearman

This week Luke pulls together the stories of Zechariah and Elizabeth. During this third week of Advent, we ask, “How does a weary world rejoice?” and we reflect on the answer, “We allow ourselves to be amazed.”

If you’re like me, you know that weary feeling all too well. Even as I write this, Jaime and I are still weary from having had COVID in October. They call it COVID Fatigue and it lingers in our bodies, uninvited and unwelcome. It’s a physical energy drain that doesn’t seem to end, making me doubt the Doctor’s reassurance that it will pass soon. It’s not the worst weariness I’ve felt. What has made me most weary are the times when there’s been discord in my family, guilt about mistakes I’ve made in the past, or uncertainty about my future.

Weariness slows me down and that’s not all bad. It causes me to spend more time quietly listening and looking for any encouraging sign of God’s presence. Listening in silence and weariness can be difficult. I recently looked into attending a silent retreat and was shocked at the high cost. It seems that sitting in silence is so difficult that it’s also become very expensive!

Choosing silence in our weariness can restore our souls. In a deep meditative silence, we can quiet our thoughts and turn our hearts to the amazing things God does. The Rev. Cecilia D. Armstrong put it this way, “When we acknowledge our weary world while remembering what God has already done, and what God is doing, THEN we can rejoice.

One of my spiritual practices is to reflect on times I’ve been in awe. I remember seeing the lush, green canopy of the Amazon rainforest from 35,000 feet in the air. I was in awe seeing the grandeur of creation, the immense forest stretching to the horizon in all directions. I’ve seen the awesome Northern Lights dance in the night sky, each type of atom in the atmosphere contributing its own hue to the celestial light show. I’ve seen a blanket of tiny white flowers cover a field of lava rock. I’m in awe of this delicate flower, so fragile it can be destroyed by a footstep. Stil, it has roots that crack solid rock and increases its beauty year on year. I’ve stood at my window many a winter night to see the snow and ice glimmer on tree branches like pearls and diamonds in the moonlight.

These amazing sights direct my thoughts away from my weariness and towards our Creator. I am awed when I think how beautiful God must be to have created such beauty in our world. And that comforts my weary soul. Neil deGrasse Tyson, physicist, put it this way, “If you think of feelings you have when you are awed by something – for example, knowing that elements in your body trace to exploded stars – I call that a spiritual reaction, speaking of awe and majesty, where words fail you.”

After questioning Gabriel in the temple, words failed Zechariah, but only for a time. God never failed Zechariah. God was faithful and God’s promises were fulfilled. God was with Zechariah in his weariness. God was with Elizabeth. God was with Mary. God was with John. God is with us in our weariness. The prophet wrote, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary…He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.” (Is. 40:28-9) In a weary world, it is awesome to remember that you are beautiful to God and God holds you in love, always.