May the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts be now and always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
The behaviour of many children has no doubt left their parents speechless, but there must be few fathers to whom that has happened before their sons have even been born.
Yet that is exactly what happened to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist.
Strictly speaking, of course, it was not the behaviour of John that rendered Zechariah mute, but rather the news that John was going to be born in the first place.
Imagine Zechariah’s shock when an angel suddenly appeared to him when he was carrying out his priestly service, hidden away in the sanctuary in the Jerusalem temple:
Imagine Zechariah’s surprise and scepticism when the angel announced to him that, despite his and his wife Elizabeth’s advanced and, thus far, childless years, they were to have a son and were to name him John.
Only when John had been born and was brought to be named and circumcised on the 8th day, as our gospel reading reminded us, did Zechariah recover his voice – and then he had plenty to say, echoing the words of our first reading this morning, from Isaiah:
In verses which the compilers of the lectionary have omitted from this morning’s gospel passage but which we have come to know as the Benedictus, Zechariah proclaims:
You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.
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Why, then, does God want this unexpected child to be called John?
We are never told, but in Hebrew the name John is: Johanan, which can be translated as the Lord has shown favour – a meaning for us to hang on to: the Lord has shown favour.
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Now, as far as I recall, it is lost in the mists of time as to why our medieval ancestors chose to dedicate this church building with the name of St John the Baptist:
There may have been an earlier parish church, on a site closer to the river, also dedicated in John’s name, but again I don’t think we know why that name was chosen.
At any rate, in 1407, the Abbot came across what is now Cathedral Square from what was then Peterborough Abbey and, on Sunday 26 June, two days after the Feast of the Birth of St John the Baptist, the Abbot consecrated this church building and dedicated it with the name we know it by to this day.
So, at this time, every year, we mark both the Patronal Festival of this Church, the Feast of the Birth of St John the Baptist, on 24 June, and also the Dedication Festival of this church building, the anniversary of the date on which it was consecrated, on 26 June – and we gather all that up in our celebrations today.
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And it is good to be with you for this day of celebration:
I am grateful to Michelle for inviting me to come back and preach – not least because a bad back prevented me returning to do so the last time I was expected:
My penance for that is now a regular workout at the gym, an activity that I’d never have imagined would lie ahead of me, all those years ago, when I was vicar here.
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Now, the Feast Day for most saints occurs on the date on which we believe they died:
Leaving aside the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is naturally a rather special case and has several feast days including both her birth and her passing from this life, and St Paul, whose new start in life at his conversion is marked as a special day in the church’s calendar:
Of all the other saints and martyrs, John the Baptist is the only one whose birth is marked as the date of significance, rather than his beheading, which passes by each year, almost unnoticed, on 29 August.
Having begun my parish ministry as a curate in London in a church dedicated to St John the Baptist, and finished up here – a question I’ve often pondered and ask afresh this morning is:
What does it mean for us to belong to a parish church which has St John the Baptist as its patron?
We celebrate John as the for-runner, who went before the Lord to prepare his way, as Isaiah and Zechariah foretold,
John who leapt for joy in his mother Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of the voice of Mary as she herself bore Jesus in her own womb,
John who said he himself must decrease as he, Jesus, must increase,
John who regarded himself as unworthy to untie the sandal straps of the one who humbly went on himself to wash the feet of his disciples as a sign and symbol of what they – what we – should do for one another.
We are called to be a missional church – a church sent by God into his world – and to have St John the Baptist as patron of our own particular part of that church is surely a stimulus to us to look for ways in which we too can, in all humility, prepare the way of the Lord:
How can we be a sign and witness to the Lord’s desire to come into the lives of all people, to be known and loved by them?
How can we be ever more inclusive and welcoming to those who might find, in this place, opening up before them, the life-giving joy of worshipping and following the lamb of God, to whom John the Baptist points?
John’s preparing of the way of the Lord is characterised by a call to repentance, a call to his hearers to mend our ways, to tax collectors to collect no more than is due, to soldiers not to throw their weight around, to retired clergy not to speed on the motorway between Birmingham and Peterborough – to all of us to share what we have with those in need and to live as blameless a life as we possibly can.
We are not all called, I am sure, to imitate John literally, to live on a diet of locusts and wild honey, or to dress in camel hair coats.
John’s preparing of the way of the Lord is nevertheless a challenge to us all to get stuck in generously: to seek to discern what our own particular role in the mission of the church of today is called to be.
Personally, finding that someone just 7 months younger than me has been chosen to be Pope, with the immense weight of responsibility that comes with that role, rather challenges me to ensure that I do not sink into an idle retirement.
Whatever your age, inspired by the example of your patron, St John the Baptist, what are you being called to be and to do – in the life of the church, and in all else that the Lord summons you to be engaged in?
Whose burdens are you being called to lift from their shoulders or, at least, to share?
What surprising new beginnings are you being called to embark upon – surprising new beginnings that might indeed leave your forbears speechless?
Whatever you are called to be and to do, as individuals and as the church community in this place, may you indeed find rich meaning, purpose and blessing in walking in the footsteps of John the Baptist, in preparing the way of the Lord:
May this be a place that resounds with the assurance that the Lord does indeed continue to yearn to show favour, does indeed yearn to be known, worshipped and served by the people of Peterborough today.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Service: Rev Gordon Steele 22nd June 2025. (St John’s Church Peterborough UK)
Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:7-end, Acts 13:14b-26, Luke 1:57-66, 80