Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.  With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Luke 1: 1-25

Christmas is such a wonderful time of year! For most of us, no matter how old or young we are, this time of year comes with a fun sense of excitement and anticipation. There is excitement of getting together with friends and family that we may not see very often or the anticipation of a few days off of work or school. There is almost always something to look forward to this time of year. But let’s be honest, for many of us, it is also a time of stress, anxiety, and business that can outweigh those feelings of excitement and anticipation. Sure, those family gatherings are great, but what about all those other “fun opportunities” that pull at us this time of year. You know, the office party, the shopping, the school events, final exams, travel plans, the “other” family gathering and on and on, not to mention the stress that comes from wondering where we are going to find the time to prepare a dish for all of these parties. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with picking up a good ole pumpkin pie from the Publix bakery. That is… if there are any left. Oh geez, another thing to worry about. I can feel my heart picking up the pace and my mind racing as I type, and these thoughts go through my head!

It feels like the Christmas season starts earlier every year (I saw an Abominable Snowman standing next to a giant skeleton at Home Depot a few weeks ago), but somehow it also goes by faster and faster every year. Just about the time we start feeling like we are spinning out of control, we open up the calendar and realize it’s January. Whew, you made it through another Christmas season. It was a whirlwind of crazy, but at least you made it through. And if we’re not careful, we end up getting to the end of the season having completely lost all sense of that excitement and anticipation that we had just a few weeks earlier.

Don’t go beating yourself up over it. It happens to all of us, and it doesn’t just happen during Christmas time either. More often than not, it’s not a busy season that steals our excitement and anticipation, but it just slowly fades away over time. Take Zechariah and Elizabeth from our scripture reading for example.

Now I never met them, but I can only imagine that as young newlyweds, these two had lots of excitement and anticipation for the family that they had plans to build. Who knows how many kids they wanted to have, but I bet it was a lot. That was the thing to do back then. If Elizabeth was anything like my wife, she had a list of names that were her favorites along with a few names that reminded her of a kid from school that was definitely not an option no matter how much Zee liked the name. Not only that, but they probably had big plans to bring them up in the family line of priests so they could be a part of changing the world. After all, the promised Messiah was still to come and He could arrive any day. Or maybe not… As time went on, still no babies to hold. The dream of a big family probably evolved into a hopeful prayer that turned into a desperate cry that maybe they could just have one child someday. Still no Messiah either. I can only imagine that there were times when Zechariah was fulfilling his priestly duties that he wondered what it was all for. I wonder if there was ever a time where he asked God “why”, or “why not”, or “when.” I know I sure have when my dreams begin to fade. With any hope of ever having a child having slipped away a long time ago, and the excitement of the coming messiah having become nothing more than a routine day at work, Elizabeth sent Zechariah off to work one day expecting him to come home with everything remaining the same. After all, that’s the way it had been for many years now. But God, in His perfect timing, knew that this day would be different and that the timing was right to not only change the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth, but it was time to begin changing the course of history. Even though Zechariah doubted at first that God would actually do what He said, God knew that Zechariah and Elizabeth still had enough excitement and anticipation left in them to fulfill their dream and His plan.

What about you? I think it’s safe to say that all of us have felt a sense of excitement and anticipation we had for something in our lives at some point that just didn’t go exactly how we drew it up in our mind. Maybe you didn’t get the job you wanted or admitted to your first choice college. Maybe you have been asking God to heal a physical or relational pain for years, and nothing seems to have changed and you’ve begun to believe that it never will. I’m praying this Christmas season that you will be able to rekindle your excitement and anticipation that God put in your heart. He has shown us from the beginning of time that He is on our side. He may not send an angel at the alter like He did for Zecheriah, (believe me, I’ve wanted Him to sometimes,) but He is working in your life. He loves you, and His timing is perfect!

Jeremy Ross