Zechariah endures months of imposed silence after being told of the impending birth of his son. But when the child is born, the mouth of Zechariah opens, and a song pours forth. It is the first carol. Part I of a three-part series.
[NOTE: The Benedictus is the first of a three-part series called “The First Carols.” The other two are the Magnificat on December 15 and the Gloria on December 24.]
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” wrote the famous mathematician and theologian Blaise Pascal in the 17th century — long before the smartphone, an invention that ensures that people today are rarely quiet and rarely alone.
If Pascal is right — that our problems are due to an inability be alone — then we’re in trouble.
Big time.
We’re approaching Advent, and soon we will be singing Christmas carols. Perhaps we’ve not given too much thought about the history of carols. This series, however, is an introduction to what could be called the very first carols: the Benedictus, the Magnificat and the Gloria. Today, our focus is the Benedictus.
Benedictus is Zechariah’s song. He was able to...
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