The biblical story of John the Baptist, the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah, begins even before his birth. His leaping in his mother’s womb is seen as a great alleluia in anticipation of the birth of his redeemer, and this good news of Jesus Christ is related in all four gospels as beginning with John as Christ’s forerunner, or as the Benedictus puts it:The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) Luke 1 vv76 & 7776: And you, child, (John the Baptist) shall be called the prophet of the Most High, ♦ for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,77: To give his people knowledge of salvation ♦ by the forgiveness of all their sins.John’s ministry of Baptism was to wash away peoples’ sins, so that they could be drawn closer to their God. In his ministry he was quite clear that he was not the Messiah or Christ but that he was pointing the way. Salvation was not about offering sacrifices in the temple but about examining the way we lived and treating those around us by caring for them not taking advantage of them and using them for our own gain. John stood in a long line of prophets who all made the point that serving our God was about how we treated the alien, the orphan and the widow. They were the people who lived on the edge of society and were often ignored, as they still are today. John also had the courage to stand up to the rulers of his day and challenge them when they were doing immoral things. In Herod’s case marrying his brother’s wife and, of course, for pointing this out John was executed by Herod. Yes, John may have pointed to the coming of the Messiah but he only saw the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. We like the Gospel writers have the wonderful gift of hindsight, we can look back at the lives of John the Baptist, Jesus and the disciples, but for John his ministry was based on pure faith that he was carrying out the will of God and as such is a wonderful human example for us all. He walked in faith even though he never saw the completion of the act of Salvation in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.Let us give thanks for the birth and life, albeit so short, of John the Baptist. His task was to point the way to Jesus and so may we follow in the way that he has shown us.Andrew SSL
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.’ (Psalm 85:10,11)Hymn: On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry...Job 38:1-11; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13‘God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.’ 1 John 4:16Let us pray: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer for the day: Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Saviour by the preaching of repentance: lead us to repent according to his preaching and, after his example, constantly to speak the truth, boldly to rebuke vice, and patiently to suffer for the truth’s sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.Luke 1: 57-66, 80Please see the message from the minister.Let us join in prayer and ask for God’s empowering love to impact:the Church, that all may know and serve the Lord, to make a positive difference;the world, that peace will reign and that all people will care and share;our nation, that those who are elected will work for the good of all;our neighbours, families and friends, that relationships will thrive;people who are sick or suffering, for the healing power of the Holy Spirit to be known;those who have been bereaved, that all who mourn will be comforted.Let us pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in the prayer that Jesus taught us: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.Hymn: Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us... May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all for evermore. Amen.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
Imagine the scene: there’s a lady at a bus stop with around 20 children on a Sunday afternoon, looking like ‘the old woman who lived in a shoe’! She’s taking scruffy children from the council estate in the town where she lives to a Sunday school held in a hut. The scene will stay with me, I was one of those children. I loved going there each week: the people were kind, we got biscuits, we sang songs and listened to Bible stories - presented in a fun way, often using fuzzy felt cut-outs. After a couple of years I grew out of it and moved on in my life, but those kind people giving their time so generously had sown seed in me which God would have the opportunity to grow much later on. They were seeds of connection. Kindness and joy were connected with Jesus, and the Bible was connected with God. These truths stayed with me.Our sermons over the last few weeks have been about truth, we seem to have a theme going! When I was ready many years later I drew near to God, and God drew near to me, helping that seed to grow so that I now have the confidence and faith Paul spoke of in his letter to the church in Corinth.Jesus spoke in parables, which sow seed in the form of stories. He likened the kingdom of God to seed which miraculously grows once we’ve sown it, and to the tiniest of seeds which grows into a huge shrub. A farmer friend said that his act of faith each year was when he had ploughed the fields and sown the seed. There’s always joy when new shoots come through and start to grow, and delight when it grows to fruition and we can taste the results.It troubles me though that fewer good seeds of connection have been sown over the generations, so that we may find it difficult to mention our faith at all. Some have sown false seed, connecting faith with conflict, spreading hatred rather than love, and disconnecting God’s name from the wonder of creation.As Pat told us last week: ‘In today’s world we face testing the truth among so many deceits.’I don’t know about you, but my vision for the UK and for the world is one in which all people will serve God and one another faithfully and confidently, one in which honesty, kindness, goodness, patience, self control, generosity, love, peace and joy are in evidence. God delights in people who have grown this healthy fruit of the spirit. So do we.I wonder, do we have the confidence and faith to sow the good seeds of connection, to tell the truth about Jesus when the opportunity arises to those who have only heard the lies? A few words of truth are enough, God can grow the tiniest of seed.‘If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation,’ said Paul, ‘everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!’ Some seed may land on stony ground, but unless the good seed has been sown, how will God grow it at all?In the 6th century BC God told the prophet Ezekiel that he would take a tender twig from a cedar tree and plant it so that it would produce boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble tree. He accomplished this in the form of Jesus. 2000 years later, some kind people took seed from this tree and sowed it in me so that I came to believe, follow his teaching and become confident in faith. I am a new creation. God is awesome!Each one of us has our own story to tell, and love of God to share. Let us pray that we will each have the confidence to tell our stories, to sow the good seed and make connections of truth for other people, when the time is right.Amen.Julie Rubidge, Lay Minister
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night’ (Ps 92:1-2)Hymn: Now the green blade riseth...Ezekiel 17: 22-24; 2 Corinthians 5: 6-10, 14-17‘God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.’ 1 John 4:16Let us pray: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer for the day: Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.Mark 4:26-34Please see the message from the minister.Let us join in prayer and ask for God’s empowering love to impact:the Church, that all may know and serve the Lord, to make a positive difference;the world, that peace will reign and that all people will care and share;our nation, that those who are elected will work for the good of all;our neighbours, families and friends, that relationships will thrive;people who are sick or suffering, for the healing power of the Holy Spirit to be known;those who have been bereaved, that all who mourn will be comforted.Let us pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in the prayer that Jesus taught us: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.Hymn: Be thou my vision...May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all for evermore. Amen.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
