may we bless our children and grandchildren

The blessing that we heard that Zechariah gave his son “You, child will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.” [Luke 1:76,77] is one that God the Father has given to each of us. We have tended to think that the role of prophets was to fore-tell the future. The role of Jewish prophets was to call people back to God and God’s Way. It was to help people have a realistic understanding of themselves as sinners and also to have a realistic understanding of God’s love and forgiveness. The prophets warned the people that if they continued to behave in certain ways, the inevitable consequences would be disastrous, often in the form of wars.  

Prophets all around the world have been warning for years that unless we take our responsibility to reduce carbon emissions and curb our materialism much more seriously, there will be more war as less privileged people fight for access to dwindling supplies of food and resources.

Today, unusually we had a second Gospel reading that gave us a glimpse of the man John, who had grown from the child whose birth and blessing we first heard about. He was living a simple life in the Jordan Valley as an example of the blessing. He taught about the need for people to be realistic about the things that they did wrong and to see they were on the wrong path; that the way they were doing thing was leading to “no win” situations. It was important that they realise this and that they alter the way they were going, their life style and turn to a different way to avoid disaster. John offered them baptism as a sign to show their commitment to this new way of life.

May we bless our children and grandchildren with our commitment to their future by rejecting the values of capitalism and committing to a simpler life-style. May we bless all children so that they know the peace in their hearts and lives which comes from close relationship with the God of love and peace.

Rev Julianne Parker (for full sermon see sermons page)