*Call
to Worship & Opening Prayer from Romans 8:37-39
L: If I turn to the east, where there are rumors
of war, what can keep me from God’s promises?
P:
Not even death, not even life, not even rulers on this earth can keep us
from the love of God
L: If I turn to the south, where the children
seek asylum, what can keep me from God’s promises?
P:
There is nothing today, nothing tomorrow, no powers that be that can
keep us from the love of God
L: If I turn to the west, where the garbage
swirls and eddies, becoming part of our food chain, what can keep me from God’s
promises?
P:
Nothing above us, nothing below us, nothing in all of creation can keep
us from the love of God.
L: If I turn to the North, where the ice melts
and the sea levels rise, what can keep me from God’s promises?
P:
There is nothing, not even our own resistance that can keep us from the
love of God.
L: Let us pray together: We call You, God our Creator,
God our Savior, God our Inspiration, Who are One! Let us hear the promise in this day! Be with us as we seek our path to justice and
mercy!. Amen.
The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’
Message: Promise
Last week, on June 24, many Christians celebrated the Feast Day of St. John the Baptist. John is said to be Jesus’ cousin, just about 6 months older than Jesus himself. He was the child of Zachariah and Elizabeth, who were really too old to have a child. As an adult, John was a wandering prophet, who baptized people as a way to cleanse them of their sins so they could prepare to be closer to God. More than that, John called for repentance, preaching against worldliness and self-serving behavior, to put it simply. Like the Hebrew Prophets of the Old Testament, John accused the people of acting contrary to God’s will. In fact, John called out the leaders of the synagogues and the Jewish governors appointed by Rome to preside over the Jews. John’s practice of baptism was a ritual of self-purification and rededication to living right. When he called the people to the water, he was bringing them to wash away the influence of the oppressors on their own lives and preparing them to go forth into new lives of righteousness and repentance. At the time, the Jewish people were living in a land occupied by the Romans, oppressed by a foreign power, and not for the first time. According to the Gospels, John preached that God was going to send a Messiah, or Savior, to intervene in the world soon. He promised that this would be the Messiah, who had been waited for throughout the cycles of Jewish captivity and diaspora.
According to scripture, when Jesus came along and was baptized, John declared him to be that Promised One. It was after being baptized by John that Jesus went out to the desert, returning after 40 days of fasting to begin his three year ministry.
John, whose birth fulfilled the dreams of a childless couple, brought a message of hope and promise to a people in bondage. His promise was fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus, who lived his life as the Light shining on the Way of Life that fulfills God’s expectations of us. It was a life lived in love, seeking truth and peace even though it meant his death. The life of Jesus was in itself a promise that if we live as he did, giving of ourselves without fear, we will take part in making the world a new creation, what he called “the Kingdom of God.”
A few days before John’s feast day, on June 21st, people of many faiths all over the northern hemisphere celebrated the turning of the earth to summer. It was the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer. In the summer, it may seem that all of life slumbers under the weight of the heat. Yet it is during this time between spring and fall that plants do much of their growing. During the summer, the crops that were planted in spring continue to grow in preparation for the harvest. The earth holds within her the promise of life-giving food, a promise to be fulfilled in the harvest season. During the summer, we, too, continue to grow spiritually. This is one of the times when can be at our quietest, hiding from the blazing heat. It is a time when we can be at our most contemplative. In the glory of the sunshine, we hold within ourselves the promise of the lives we have been given.
Think about your own lives: what have you planted in your life that you want to harvest this year? What have you promised yourself and others this year? How are you tending to it? In this season, though the sun blazes down upon us, it is beginning to turn away, and the days are getting shorter. Soon the dark of winter will be upon us. While the sun still shines, let us turn to place our feet toward the fulfillment of hope in our own lives. Let us reaffirm our dedication to the Way of the Christ, the life that Jesus lived. They say that our thoughts manifest in our lives and in our very being; we know that it is true – that only by keeping our eyes on Christ will we find hope; only by living in Love will we find Peace. Christ is the light of the world. We eat, drink, sleep, breathe, and love that light.
Yet there is more. Have you ever stood outside in the still of summer, under the full moon? The light of the moon is not its own, you know. It is the reflected light of the glorious sun. Just as the moon reflects the sun to provide light in the dark, we who call ourselves followers of Jesus should reflect the Light of Christ. John the Baptist shined the light of God’s Promise for the hopeless and the oppressed of a captive people. Yet, he was only one voice calling in the wilderness, only one reflection of Light, leading his people out of the darkness and into the River. Imagine if we, who are many, were to reflect the Light of God’s Love all the time, that those who are lost might see a path to the River of God and be cleansed of the things that keep them in the dark, that they might know the Light and Love of Christ that embraces them even now.
Today, let us embrace the promise of our own lives, illuminated by the Divine Light of Christ. It shines greater than the sun above us. Let us reflect Christ’s Light and Love when the darkness of this world is at its greatest.
Benediction:
Thank you, Beloved God, Mother and Father of our Souls, for being with us. It is in Your Time and Your Place that You will show us our Ways. We ask that as Jesus left the Gift of Spirit with his disciples, You leave us filled with Spirit as we enter into the World. Spirit! We Speak in Love to You! Be with us, fill us, make us new and give us energy, wisdom and power to reflect the Light of Christ and fulfill the promise of our lives.
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