Zechariah and Elizabeth: Teachers and Companions for Silence and Solitude
I love the season of Advent and the stories that are a part of the unfolding narrative. The season beckons us to wait and watch for all the ways the Christ Child is birthed within and around us.
I am particularly drawn to the stories of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They stand at the threshold, ushering in and pointing to the voice of God’s broken silence.
These pivotal characters have become spiritual companions to me, guides who help me listen deeply to my life, empowering me to explore a deeper relationship with the Holy and how to be human.
During this Advent time, I noticed how Zechariah and Elizabeth’s lives were shaped to exemplify how God meets us in silence and solitude. They can teach and companion us in these powerful practices, even today.
Zechariah was put into an imposed silence as he went mute for at least nine months because he failed to believe the angel. During that time, God re-shaped Zechariah’s mind and heart by unsettling, disturbing, challenging, and pushing Zechariah’s faith regarding who God was, God’s movement and activity in the world, and Zechariah himself.
I am surprised that Zechariah’s silence stands out to me because silence has been such a part of my life since I was a child. I grew up in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and snowy, snowy winters. Each year the winter landscape turned into a whitened world. I remember how stillness settled on the earth and a quietness companioned the snow, ushering in a reverent, hushed silence. Within the magic of the snow, silence became my first spiritual teacher. Over the years, silence has taught me about hurry and living an unhurried life. Silence has a power and is my armor against the endless foolish chatter and words used to confuse and divide friendships, families, and people. It is within the hushed reverence of silence that the noise, chaos, and clutter of my thoughts, emotions, and distractions of life are burned away, and I gain perspective on what is important and meaningful as they are not always visible; silence moves me beyond what is immediately obvious, having a generative power that speaks louder than words. Silence is my wise and faithful teacher about Love, others, myself, and the world. She teaches me to listen intently. Silence has a strength that is rich and deep, and I have bound her to my heart. What more could there be?
As I sit with Zechariah’s story, I notice his lack of capacity to hear God’s voice. There was no room in his heart to receive Gabriel’s words of prophecy and promise. I can only speculate as to the things that his heart was full of–anger, bitterness, despair, self-justification, a large dose of self-righteousness, or a combination of any or all of these. God “invited” Zechariah into nine months of silence. Time and space for the work of silence to happen. Silence re-tunneled, re-drew, and reshaped Zechariah’s vision of God and self. Silence melted away the hard and brittle spaces in Zechariah’s heart, making room to hear and receive God’s voice of prophecy and promise.
Silence makes room to hear and receive the voice of God.
What might it look like for you to create places of
silence to hear and receive God’s words?
Contrasted to Zechariah, Elizabeth chose to cloister herself in seclusion. God became a womb for her as she became a womb for John. A space for the gestating and dependence of new growth to be protected and hidden. A place for the seed to grow and be nourished within her in the same way she found a place to grow and be nourished in the womb of God. God tenderly cared for her as she tenderly cared for John during his most fragile first months of development.
Elizabeth’s response to her miraculous pregnancy was “See what the Lord has done for me.” During her pregnancy, she experienced God’s personal love and divine gaze for her as God’s beloved child. Her solitude created a space for her to commune with the Creator in loving union. God gently and lovingly helped Elizabeth let go of years of shame and humiliation of her barren state to receive something new. God showed her a picture of who she was rather than who others said she was. Solitude provided a place for Elizabeth to attach to God and to unfold into God’s unique identity for her. In the safe cloister of God’s love, Elizabeth received her true name, giving her a deeper capacity to be fully present to God and her unique self.
Solitude makes room to grow into and become more fully aware of one’s true self.
What places in you need to be nourished and
cared for by the womb of solitude?
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One Small Practice to Try:
Take three slow deep breaths, focusing only on the Divine energy, the Divine Breath that moves through your body with each inhale and exhale. This will create a space for silence and solitude to be held within your heart and body. Take this inner silence and solitude with you into your conversations, relationships, and work. It may be helpful to set an alarm on your phone for 9 am, noon, and 5 pm as a reminder to engage in this small practice of silence and solitude.
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Inspiration:
Silence
If I choose to hide you away, it is for a reason. I have brought you to this place. Drink in the silence.
Seek solitude.
Listen to the silence.
It will teach you. It will build strength.
Let others share it with you.
It is little to be found elsewhere.
Silence will speak more to you in a day than the world of voices can teach you in a lifetime.
Find silence.
Find solitude – and having discovered her riches, bind her to your heart.
Frances J. Roberts
The Coming
And God held in his hand A small globe. Look he said. The son looked. Far off, As through water, he saw A scorched land of fierce Colour. The light burned There; crusted buildings Cast their shadows: a bright Serpent, A river Uncoiled itself, radiant With slime. On a bare Hill a bare tree saddened The sky. many People Held out their thin arms To it, as though waiting For a vanished April To return to its crossed Boughs. The son watched Them. Let me go there, he said.
R.S. Thomas
A Blessing for Solitude
May you recognize in your life the presence,
power and light of your soul.
May you realize that you are never alone,
that your soul, in its brightness and belonging,
connects you intimately with the rhythm
of the universe.
May you have respect for your own
individuality and difference.
May you realize that the shape
of your soul is unique,
that you have a special destiny here,
that, behind the façade of your life,
there is something beautiful, good and eternal.
May you learn to see your self
with the same delight,
pride and expectation
with which God sees you in every moment.
John O’Donohue