Disruption, Part 2

Disruptions come in the good and the bad variety.

Good Disruption - my son wakes up from his nap early and comes walking down the hall saying "Mommy, hold you" with his little arms outstretched.

Bad Disruption - a staff member accidentally spills coffee all over his Macbook Pro and we spend the morning laying hands on it in desperation, cleaning the mess and googling home remedies for drying out a computer (for all of the Apple lovers out there who are panicking, fear not, all is well).

Zechariah's disruption in Luke 1 was a little of both.  The good part - "even though you and your wife are old and maybe not up to chasing kids, you're going to have a baby and he's going to be awesome.  He's going to prepare the way for Jesus!"  The bad part - "since you doubted whether the good part was possible, you're going to lose your ability to speak for nine months, which may be a tad detrimental in your work as a priest."

Can you say "DISRUPTION!?!?!"

A kid on the way, no way to talk (how many of you pastors have tried preaching a whole message to your congregation in subtitles?), and on top of all of that, the kid was supposed to be the one the prophets spoke of who would call people back to faith and prepare the way for the Savior of the World (not exactly the message Rome was waiting for or wanting to hear since Herod thought he was the King of the Jews).

See, it's like I said before, that first Christmas when Jesus came created a major disruption for everyone involved.  Zechariah thought he had life figured out.  He knew his gifts, he understood his job.  Sure, he and Elizabeth had experienced some disappointments in life such as not being able to have kids, but they were fine.  They had each other.  Their life had been good. They knew their parameters and the way of the world.  They understood their limits and they worked well within them.  Oh, but wait...

Jesus was coming and everything was about to change.  Rules are gone, limits blown away.

Jesus is coming again this Christmas.  What limits are you placing on your life right now that need to be taken away?  What boundaries have you set for what you can and cannot do?

Jesus wants to do more than you ever dreamed possible.  Will you let him disrupt your life?