This post is in congruence with Seasons: Advent Devotional series. To learn more, click here.
This week’s mantra reminds us to take a step back through our season of life.
To prepare for today's post, read Luke 1:5-23, 1:57-80, and Isaiah 51:1-3.
In November of 2021, a movie titled Tick…Tick…Boom! highlighting the life of American lyricist and composer Jonathan Larson was released. After watching it one night, I was enthralled by the life of Larson. He was a composer and lyricist living in New York City who was desperate to leave his mark on Broadway. The movie follows his autobiographical monologue in real time and you are able to walk through his journey of writing one of Broadway’s most renowned musicals: Rent. Living in the 80s surrounded by the rise of HIV/AIDS cases among his close friends, he is burdened by the idea of his life being over without the chance to truly live. When his best friend gets an AIDS diagnosis, he is inspired to write a musical about real life and thus inspires the musical Rent. How does that relate to today’s text and mantra? A spoiler about Jonathan’s life is that he never lived to see Rent being performed off Broadway. He suffered an aortic aneurysm the morning of the performance and passed away just ten days before his 36th birthday. Jonathan died obsessing over the legacy that his life would hold without even knowing how transformative it would end up being to the Broadway community. To pivot into the readings provided, Zechariah was a little like Jonathan. He was oblivious and doubtful that God could provide him a life that could defy what life presented itself to be. The season of life Zechariah faced appeared to be a life that parenthood could never exist in. The season of life that Jonathan faced appeared to be a life that three Tony awards, a Pulitzer prize, and one of Broadway’s longest shows could be in. That’s why I think the text from Isaiah is so fitting. God reminds us to look at where we’ve come from, at what we’ve faced and what our ancestors have faced and to find refuge in the future that awaits. Jonathan’s life was enough for him to be inspired to write a musical that illuminates real life when all he wanted to do was write bohemian fiction. Zechariah’s life presented itself with the gift of a child, a gift that as a priest knowing the texts and the stories of old that he would be familiar with throughout history. It can be so easy to find ourselves in a season of life that we call “the worst thing we’ve ever faced”. A good friend always reminds me to remember all of the times in my life I’ve uttered those words and how in those moments I fully believed there was no surviving it. Did I survive? Will I survive again? Zechariah’s prophecy is the fulfillment of this; that the season of barrenness and disbelief will be overcome by the horn of salvation guided through the wilderness by John the Baptist and restored through Jesus the King. Like the song says “We will feast in the house of Zion, We will sing with our hearts restored, He has done great things, we will say together, We will feast and weep no more”.
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