O Lord, Catch us up, like Zechariah,

    in the whirl of your holy history.

We seem to be but particles in the wind;

    but you declare each of us to be a holy person,

    spokes in the great wheel 

        of your covenant-loving of the world.

Let us be meek in your kingdom, but not abject;

    humble, not self-pitiful;

    obedient, not obsequious; 

    servants, not servile;

    childlike, not childish;

yours in love and willingness,

  and then our smallness shall be your greatness indeed.

Amen.

 

Walter Wangerin, Jr., American writer and research professor

 

_____________________________

 

 

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.”