Birth of John the Baptist 24.6.07
The human spirit often shows great resilience in time of crisis. The way people survive things like wars, attempted genocide, and natural disasters is impressive.
For example, people went on having babies in the midst of World War II.
Some people ask, how can you bring children into a world which is so marked by trouble and which faces such a bleak future?
But there in the midst of it all, we still have children – expressing hope for the future.
Today the Church celebrates a birth, a birth of a very special child.
It is also an expression of hope. We know the path this child took, so his future is past to us.
However, we relive this event so that we can recapture the feeling of hope and wonder which the people of that time felt.
Here a special child is born, accompanied by all sorts of signs and wonders – the angelic appearance to Zachary; who is struck dumb; the advanced age of Elizabeth; the mysterious choice of name; the meeting (in the womb) of John with Jesus, and the recognition of Mary by Elizabeth as Mother of the Lord.
These are all very familiar to us and may be dulled by repetition, but if we face them in their full freshness we can experience some of the excitement of the time.
And that in turn will revive our own sense of wonder at God’s providence, and our own hope for the future.
We know the story of our salvation, but do we let it fill us with hope?
Or do we in fact let the adversities of our time weigh us down and lead us nearly to despair?
Do we not feel with the psalmists that God’s mercy is past, that He may have worked wonders in previous ages, but where is He now?
We face the present world in all its complexity and its denial of God.
We look for signs of hope and they can be found.
They can be found at any point of the long story of salvation which stretches from Adam, Noah, and Abraham to the present day.
When we look at any part of this long chain we can celebrate that particular thing and all the rest that goes before and after – and be revived in hope.
Where we stand right now it is (as usual) unclear what the future will be.
But by expressing and renewing our hope in God’s power to save, we are going a long way to making that future take the right course.
We can form the future by the response we make now to God’s will.
John the Baptist did this himself by being faithful all his life. Other saints also.
‘John’means ‘God is gracious? Is He ever, with unmerited salvation being offered so fully.
John’s life did much to introduce and facilitate the flow of God’s grace. He lived his own name.
His death was also glorious, (prefiguring that of Jesus) and so he remains one of the most revered saints in the Church.
He will help us follow our path from birth to death, straying neither right nor left.
Hope - as solid as the One in whom it is placed - will be the foundation of our lives.
Whatever difficulties we face, they are as nothing compared with the power of God.
Even if bombs are falling, salvation is still found in Christ.
So we go on having children, gaining degrees, ordaining priests, living lives – all time is in God’s hands. We must be faithful and watchful stewards making the most of whatever time we have.
We thereby prepare the way for the Master to return.
The human spirit often shows great resilience in time of crisis. The way people survive things like wars, attempted genocide, and natural disasters is impressive.
For example, people went on having babies in the midst of World War II.
Some people ask, how can you bring children into a world which is so marked by trouble and which faces such a bleak future?
But there in the midst of it all, we still have children – expressing hope for the future.
Today the Church celebrates a birth, a birth of a very special child.
It is also an expression of hope. We know the path this child took, so his future is past to us.
However, we relive this event so that we can recapture the feeling of hope and wonder which the people of that time felt.
Here a special child is born, accompanied by all sorts of signs and wonders – the angelic appearance to Zachary; who is struck dumb; the advanced age of Elizabeth; the mysterious choice of name; the meeting (in the womb) of John with Jesus, and the recognition of Mary by Elizabeth as Mother of the Lord.
These are all very familiar to us and may be dulled by repetition, but if we face them in their full freshness we can experience some of the excitement of the time.
And that in turn will revive our own sense of wonder at God’s providence, and our own hope for the future.
We know the story of our salvation, but do we let it fill us with hope?
Or do we in fact let the adversities of our time weigh us down and lead us nearly to despair?
Do we not feel with the psalmists that God’s mercy is past, that He may have worked wonders in previous ages, but where is He now?
We face the present world in all its complexity and its denial of God.
We look for signs of hope and they can be found.
They can be found at any point of the long story of salvation which stretches from Adam, Noah, and Abraham to the present day.
When we look at any part of this long chain we can celebrate that particular thing and all the rest that goes before and after – and be revived in hope.
Where we stand right now it is (as usual) unclear what the future will be.
But by expressing and renewing our hope in God’s power to save, we are going a long way to making that future take the right course.
We can form the future by the response we make now to God’s will.
John the Baptist did this himself by being faithful all his life. Other saints also.
‘John’means ‘God is gracious? Is He ever, with unmerited salvation being offered so fully.
John’s life did much to introduce and facilitate the flow of God’s grace. He lived his own name.
His death was also glorious, (prefiguring that of Jesus) and so he remains one of the most revered saints in the Church.
He will help us follow our path from birth to death, straying neither right nor left.
Hope - as solid as the One in whom it is placed - will be the foundation of our lives.
Whatever difficulties we face, they are as nothing compared with the power of God.
Even if bombs are falling, salvation is still found in Christ.
So we go on having children, gaining degrees, ordaining priests, living lives – all time is in God’s hands. We must be faithful and watchful stewards making the most of whatever time we have.
We thereby prepare the way for the Master to return.
