Home Worshipping 21st June 2020

Trinity 2 - St. John the Baptist
 
Opening Comments
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The First Hymn
Bible Reading

Luke 1: 57-66, 80

When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, ‘No! He is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘There is no one among your relatives who has that name.’ Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, ‘His name is John.’ Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, ‘What then is this child going to be?’ For the Lord’s hand was with him. 

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Thought for the Day

I was mulling over the Bible Readings for this week with mounting discomfort. The passage was about Jesus at his most disruptive (Matthew 10: 24-39) but then, to my relief, I remembered that the Feast of John the Baptist was coming up and I could swap the Readings! Instead of a scene in which Jesus was dismantling his culture’s social order we have the touching story of an elderly couple rejoicing over their miracle baby. I relaxed into my Study chair, but unfortunately this preacher’s happiness was short-lived. What are we to make of John the Baptist? He was one of the most serious and dour men of his generation.

As this week’s Collect Prayer says, John is known for preaching Repentance. He used choice words to put the fear of God into his hearers whether they were peasant or price. He was the warm-up act for his cousin, Jesus, but he went cool on him when Jesus didn’t conform to his expectations. Eventually his confrontation with Herod cost him his life. In the late middle ages, after having recovered from the plague, people were in a particularly somber frame of mind. They wanted to keep their heads down and dutifully go about their business lest they incurred another disaster. It was in such a context that many churches chose John the Baptist as their pin-up patron saint. 
Today John is as popular as ever with those who believe we have gone soft on religious discipline. I agree we’ve gone soft, but I can’t get away from the fact that John was not God’s lead character. Jesus was the main act. When comparing John and Jesus, the Gospels talk of two very different personalities and two very different approaches to piety. Don’t get me wrong: Jesus knew how to be serious and to challenge us out of our spiritual complacency but he won his followers by being irresistibly attractive as a person. It was those who glimpsed the glory of God in his words and actions that went on to be his most devoted followers. 
John’s birth is of huge significance in the Gospel story, and we will return to it nearer Christmas. But for now let us correct those who think being a Christian is dull and prescriptive. Follow Jesus and share the joy!
Lets us Pray

Lord Jesus help me to grow in the awareness that you are really my sustenance and nobody else. Help me to continuously increase in the recognition that only you can make me become somebody in life. Help me to rest in your strength as I realise that I am weak in my flesh. I pray that I may be solely and wholly committed to my walk with you all the days of my life. I pray that I may not turn away from the path of righteousness for your namesake. I pray that my reliance in you may grow deeper today and that my assurance in you may grow wider.

I pray that my faith in you may grow stronger and my zeal for you may grow bigger. I pray that I may continue to rely on your wisdom and I will no longer lean on my own understanding. I pray that I may yield to your instructions at all times and make you first in all that I do. Amen.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

(Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.)
The Blessing
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Our Second Hymn
Bible Readings for the week:

Monday: Genesis 16:1-15; Revelation 2:1-7
Tuesday: Genesis 25:12-18; Revelation 2:8-11
Wednesday: Jeremiah 42:18-22; Matthew 10:5-23
Thursday: Micah 7:18-20; Galatians 5:2-6
Friday: 2 Chronicles 20:5-12; Galatians 5:7-12
Saturday: Genesis 26:23-25; Luke 17:1-4