.png)
As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play
in the traditional lands
of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People.
We continue to commit ourselves
to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building
with our First Nations neighbours.
Call to Worship:
You, my child, shall be called
the prophet of the Most High,
For you will go before
the Lord to prepare his way.
Luke 1.76
O Come, Let Us Worship
Collect:
Almighty God,
You called John the Baptist to give witness to
the coming of your Son, and to prepare his way.
Give your people the wisdom to see your purpose,
and the openness to hear your will, that we, too,
may witness to Christ`s coming, and so prepare his way;
through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
The Proclamation of the Gospel:
Luke 1:57-80
Sermon: The Venerable Brian Evans
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of
our hearts be ever acceptable to you, O Lord. Amen.
"This Liminal Space"
This is not a practice of mine.
Except today, I believe these comments from ‘For All the Saints,’ (published by our National Church), is significant-not only for this our Patronal Festival, but at the same time, it takes us back to the Old Testament as a forerunner to the Good News of the New Testament.
At the same time, we are called today to live in-the-midst-of the news of the world affecting us in this present time; and to our own place as a national church, and this, our parish of St. John the Baptist, Duncan.
I Quote:
“The Birth of Saint John the Baptist; 24 June is a Holy Day.
The birth of Saint John the Baptist is told in the Gospel according to Luke, where it serves as a bridge between the Old Testament and the time of Christ.
The initial focus of Luke’s account is Zechariah the priest, and his wife Elizabeth; and the evangelist draws on phrases and motifs from the Old Testament, in order to associate them with Abraham and Sarah.
Like those ancient figures, the parents of John the Baptist were righteous but childless. Moreover, Elizabeth herself (like Sarah) was well past menopause, so that, according to nature, she was no longer able to conceive a child.
But just as God intervened to make Abraham and Sarah have a child and become the forebears of the chosen people, so an angel announced to righteous Zechariah, that he and his wife were to have a son who would be the forerunner of the Chosen One, the Christ.
So, it came to pass that Elizabeth conceived, and gave birth to a son, whom she named John.
Then his father Zechariah prophesied, saying,
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.
Zechariah also saw that his son’s mission would prepare the way for the fulfilment of God’s oath, 'the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life'.
Thus, according to Luke, the birth of John the Baptist gathered up, and embodied the whole truth of the Old Testament and made it ready for its own perfection in Christ Jesus, the One whose way John was born to prepare.”
End of Quote
Our Scripture readings for today also speak of changing times.
From the prophet Isaiah, we find Jerusalem and Judah standing in a liminal time.
I am sure they have felt as if they were in hopeless times.
At the same time, they have a vision for future times. Future times, in which we should acknowledge the comforting nature of God.
We are reminded, the seeds of comfort can invade the words of diversity and give us hope.
The message is: in the end, God shall reign.
Not unlike the hymn, ‘God Reigns.’
A reminder for us: if listening to the “downers” of the news of the world, which at times can take us down a road of hopelessness, we need to listen to the God of encouragement.
From this OT time of uncertainty, we move to Paul, and his friends, on their first missionary journey.
We can only imagine their excitement, as they set out on this first journey, to share the message of salvation in Jesus.
Except.
Except, rather than the anticipated enthusiastic reception they were expecting, when they shared how the Christian message is a message of servanthood, rather than a military king who would overthrow Rome’s control, how the message of servanthood was rejected.
Here, they find themselves in a liminal time.
This, then, takes us directly to the Gospel announcing the birth of John the Baptist.
When we come to this moment, we come to a moment when we need to discover our engagement in this time.
As we pray in our Collect for today, to have the wisdom to see God’s purpose in our lives. Not just God’s purpose: for John’s coming into the world is to prepare us for something even greater.
We might ask, what is greater?
The answer comes in our Collect – an openness to hear the will of the Lord for our personal lives, and the corporate life of the Christian church in general.
John’s story is our story.
John’s story has various reflections from the OT, of how people saw grief and sorrow in their lives, only to have their lives changed dramatically, as their greatest desires are fulfilled.
We have more than one situation when elderly couples were given children in their later years.
Here, we have this today with Elizabeth and Zachariah.
In each account, as in the account of the birth of John the Baptist, we experience their vindication through their trust in God.
This is not all.
For even as a child, John challenges the social norms of the day.
Imagine when Zachariah chooses the name for their son.
He does not follow the customs of the day. Within society, today, there lingers expectations around the naming of a child.
This is followed by, at a young age, John goes off into the wilderness to live, enfolding his life to a study of the holy writings of the day, in preparation for his life to be
“the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord.”
When John emerges from the desert, calling on the world, as it was known in that day, to prepare the way for Jesus.
Not only does John challenge the world in its ways of injustice and immorality, but he also calls the world to accept the ministry of forgiveness, which includes the first form of baptism.
Then, he humbles himself saying,
“there is one coming who has much more to give us.”
John’s humility is so bravely stated, when he says, in the midst of his popularity, proclaiming, there is one coming for whom I am not even worthy to untie his sandals.
This is a huge statement for the world.
The meaning for this annual marking of the Patronal Feast Day of our Patron Saint, is greater than simply saying ‘thank you’ or singing praises in the name of John.
Today, is a reminder of the clarion call to us, to continue to challenge the injustice of our time; to embrace the inclusive world we are called to wrap our arms around, in all the sense of what Christianity is to be in the world.
Thanks be to God. Amen.