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00:22Let us pray
00:26Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ
00:29Who, when your disciples and friends deserted and left you
00:33Remained alone in the hands of sinful men
00:36Like a most gentle lamb
00:38Within the jaws of a ravenous wolf
00:43Strengthen my excessive weakness
00:45And confirm my too great unstableness
00:47By the support of your grace
00:49And join me to yourself with the bonds of love
00:53That I may neither have no wish nor the power
00:56Ever to depart or separate myself from you
01:01Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ
01:04Who allowed yourself to be led around bound
01:07By an armed band and taken to Annas
01:12Allowing yourself to be stood before him
01:14As though you were a common criminal or robber
01:19O unspeakable gentleness of my Redeemer
01:22Look, while they take and drag and thrust you forward
01:27You uttered not a single word of complaint
01:30Or murmur or word of resistance
01:33But in silence you followed them wherever they led you
01:37Obeying their commands
01:39And permitted their wanton injuries to you
01:44Grant, O Lord, that these your virtues may shine in me
01:47To the everlasting glory of your name
01:51Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ
01:54King of heaven and earth
01:55Who in great humility
01:57As poor and needy and of no account
02:00Was stood before the proud High Priest
02:03And most sweetly endured the dreadful blow
02:07Which his impious servant put upon you
02:12Restrain, I beg you
02:13In me all outbreak of anger and passion
02:17Suppress all acts of indignation
02:20And quench within me all desire of revenge
02:24That when I am provoked by injury
02:27I may not be disturbed
02:28I may offer no resistance
02:31May suffer no disquiet
02:34But endure everything with a quiet mind
02:36May I even repay evil with good
02:41Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ
02:43Who permitted himself to be lead-boned
02:46In a shameful manner to Caiaphas
02:48That you might deliver us from the penalty
02:51Of eternal death
02:52Restoring to us true liberty
02:56Make me most ready
02:58To endure every reproach
02:59And all contempt for your name's sake
03:03Grant that in the very middle
03:05Of ridicule and outrage
03:06I may give you thanks with a perfect heart
03:09And by means of these trials
03:11May grow and increase more and more
03:14In your love
03:18Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ
03:20Who, when three times denied
03:23By your Apostle Peter
03:26Mercifully turned and looked upon him
03:28With kindness
03:29And brought him to repentance
03:31And holy sorrow for his sin
03:33In like manner
03:34May you turn upon me also
03:37Your eye of mercy and love
03:39That I may weep over my past sins
03:42With the tears of true penitence
03:44And may never again commit them
03:47May I never be found sinning
03:49Against your goodness
03:50In word or deed
03:54Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ
03:56Who stood before the elders
03:58And the people of the Jews
03:59With a calm countenance
04:00And humble look
04:02Who did not refuse to be falsely accused
04:05And to suffer many injuries
04:09Give me grace never to say an untrue word
04:11Or to falsely accuse my neighbour
04:14But that I may bear with all quietness of heart
04:17The calumnies that are heaped upon me
04:21Casting all my troubles upon you
04:23May I always, in silence
04:25Look for the grave and consolation
04:28At your hands
04:32Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ
04:35Who, when Caiaphas the High Priest
04:38Adjured you by the name of God
04:41Declared the truth
04:42And proclaimed yourself the Son of God
04:44And did not refuse to be counted by him
04:47And the rest who stood by as a blasphemer
04:50May I fully abhor this contempt
04:53And defence against you
04:54May I, in every place
04:57Reverence the presence of your divinity and majesty
05:03May I think of you
05:04Adore, praise and love you
05:07Above all things
05:08Forever and forever
05:11Amen
05:15O Lord, open our lips
05:17And our mouths shall sing your praise
05:26O be joyful in the Lord
05:30O be joyful in the Lord
05:32O be glad
05:33Turn the Lord in gladness
05:37And come before his prayers
05:40And through your tongue
05:43Be sure that the Lord
05:47He is God
05:49He is God
05:51It is he that shall fail us
05:53And trust me ourselves
05:55We are his people
05:58And the sheep of his pasture
06:01O be joyful in the Lord
06:04Who do your ways
06:05To his peace
06:06Recast me
06:08And in truly
06:10His arms
06:12Recast
06:13Be thankful
06:15Come to him
06:17And speak
06:18To the Lord
06:20Of his name
06:21For the Lord
06:24Is gracious
06:25His mercy
06:28Is everlasting
06:31And his truth
06:34And joy
06:35From generation
06:37To generation
06:44Glory be to the Father
06:48And to the Father
06:52And to the Father
06:53And to the Holy Ghost
06:56As it was in the beginning
07:00Is now and ever shall be
07:05World without end
07:13Amen
07:25O praise the Lord
07:28O praise the Lord
07:29O heaven
07:30Praise him
07:32In the heart
07:36Praise him
07:37All the angels
07:39Of his
07:41Praise him
07:43Praise him
07:45All his words
07:47Praise him
07:49Sun and glory
07:52Praise him
07:55All his stars
07:57And light
07:59Praise him
08:01All his cares
08:04And in waters
08:06Let us
08:18Amen.
09:03Amen.
09:17Amen.
09:41Amen.
10:18Amen.
11:02A reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke, Chapter 1.
11:09The time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she gave birth to her son.
11:14The neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they
11:19rejoiced with her.
11:22On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name him Zechariah
11:28after his father.
11:29But his mother replied, No, he must be named John.
11:34They said to her, But none of your relatives bears this name.
11:40And so they made signs to the baby's father, inquiring what he wanted to name his son.
11:46He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, His name is John.
11:52They were all amazed.
11:55Immediately Zechariah's mouth was opened, his tongue released, and he spoke, Blessing God.
11:59God.
12:00All their neighbors were filled with fear, and throughout the entire hill country of Judea,
12:05all these things were talked about.
12:08All who heard these things kept them in their hearts, saying, What then will this child be?
12:15For the Lord's hand was indeed upon him.
12:19Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, Blessed be the
12:25Lord God of Israel, because he has come to help and has redeemed his people.
12:30For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he
12:36spoke
12:37through the mouth of the holy prophets from long ago, that we should be saved from our
12:41enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
12:45He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that
12:51he swore to our ancestor Abraham.
12:54This oath grants that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, may serve him without
12:59fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, for as long as we live.
13:07You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the
13:11Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness
13:17of their sins.
13:19Because of our God's tender mercy, the dawn will break upon us from on high, to give
13:25light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the
13:32way of peace.
13:35This is the word of the Lord.
13:37Thanks, beings of God.
13:47As promised, Elizabeth finally gave birth an immense, remarkable by virtue of her advanced
13:54years.
13:56Again, we see an example of obedience, for traditionally children were named after their ancestors.
14:02But in this case, it was decided that the baby would be named John.
14:08More raised eyebrows.
14:13When John was born, his mother's heart was filled with great joy, and her neighbors rejoiced
14:17with her.
14:18And when their little child, a week old, was introduced into the Jewish commonwealth, a
14:24feeling of awe filled the hearts of those priests, and there was much wonderment concerning
14:29him.
14:30Fear came upon them all, and everyone was asking, what manner of child shall this be?
14:37No doubt the exceptional character of the circumstances attending his birth and his circumcision accounted
14:45for the joy, but also for the fear.
14:48For apart from all that was unusual, there was reason enough for both sentiments to be felt
14:54and shown.
14:55At any ordinary human birth, there is an occasion for hopefulness and gladness of heart.
15:04The mother remembers no more her pain and anguish, for joy that a man is born into the
15:09world, said our Lord, in John chapter 16.
15:13And why rejoice on this particular occasion?
15:16Because of the love which the little child will cherish.
15:20No, not indeed, to be manifested in its earliest days, but to be felt and shown before long,
15:28the beautiful, clinging, wholehearted love of childhood, a love which it is fair to see
15:34and most precious to receive.
15:36The love which the little child will call for, the love which is parental and fraternal,
15:42the love of those who serve well as kindred and friends.
15:48This too is one of the most goodly sights in the eye of purity and wisdom.
15:53It is one of the sweetest and most wholesome ingredients in a hog cup of earthly good.
16:00The discipline which the coming of the child will involve.
16:04All parents have an invaluable privilege from which they ought to derive the greatest possible benefit.
16:11They may be slow to learn, so unimpressionable, so obdurate, that they are none the wiser or
16:17better for being parents.
16:18And in that case there will be something or even much worse.
16:24But if the little child does not lead us, it is our own fault and our folly.
16:30The child's dependency on his parents, trustfulness in his parents, obedience to his parents,
16:36do these not speak eloquently of our own dependence upon and our trustfulness and our obedience to our Heavenly Father.
16:46The love we feel for our little child, the care we take of him, the profound regret we should feel
16:53if he went astray,
16:54the sacrifice we are ready to make for his recovery.
16:58Does not all this summon us with touching or even thrilling voice to realise the love of God for us,
17:06his human children,
17:07the care he has taken of us day and night through all our years, the profound divine regret with which
17:15he has seen us go astray from himself,
17:18and the wonderful sacrifice he made for us when he spared not his own son but delivered him up for
17:24all in order to restore us to himself and restate in status in our heritage.
17:33Of the labour we are necessitated to bestow, the patience to exercise, the self-denial and sacrifice to shame,
17:41these are essential factors in the forming of our character.
17:45We may not choose them, but we may well be most thankful for them, of the excellency to which the
17:54child may attain,
17:56be it physical beauty or intellectual ability or spiritual worth or value to service.
18:05Who can tell what lies latent in that helpless infant, what sources of power and blessing are in that little
18:12cradle?
18:15It may well be that fear comes on all those who hold their own children in their arms,
18:21for they are entrusted with a little child and receive with that a most grave responsibility.
18:29It is true that nothing can remove the accountableness of each soul to its creator for what has become.
18:37But it is also true that parents are foremost seriously responsible for the character and career of their children.
18:45Our children will believe what we teach them, will form the habits in which we train them,
18:50will follow the example we set them, will imbibe the spirit which we are breathing in their presence.
18:56What shall this child be?
19:01That depends upon ourselves.
19:03If we are only true and wise and kind, our children will almost certainly become what we ourselves are,
19:11what we long and pray that they may be.
19:15Joy and awe are therefore the two appropriate sentiments at every human birth.
19:21When the child is born into the home, there enters that which may be the source of the greatest gladness
19:27to the heart.
19:28There also enters that which should make life a far more serious and solemn thing.
19:37After the account of the birth and the naming of John, we have the wonderful testimony of Zechariah, his father,
19:44after his tongue was freed and he was filled for the Holy Spirit.
19:48To the child and to all those within range he proclaimed John's mission,
19:53that he was to go before the Messiah, proclaiming his arrival and making ready the path for him.
20:02It is possible that the young John was going to go on to become a bit of a handful,
20:07for we learn that he preferred to be outside, probably wandering far from home.
20:13And when he was older he became, of course, the voice in the wilderness,
20:18not for him the easy way, nor indeed for his parents,
20:22but the steely determination to live only according to the will of God.
20:29Once John had been circumcised, we read that the Holy Spirit descended upon his father, Zechariah,
20:35and that he began to give a great prophecy concerning his son and the Messiah who would shortly follow him.
20:43In this simple event, we can see the forgiveness of God,
20:47for Zechariah had been mute since he learnt of his wife's forthcoming pregnancy as a result of his unbelief.
20:55No longer mute, but not only that, but very and most certainly vocal.
21:01He blesses God for what he has done for his people and for what was about to come.
21:08Indeed, these words were so very strong that they are less of a prophecy rather than a news bulletin,
21:15for they proclaim in the birth of John what is to come directly and also through the birth of Jesus
21:21in just a few weeks' time.
21:24When he speaks of God, it is interesting to note that he generally speaks in the past tense,
21:31only moving to the future tense toward the end of the passage.
21:36Not only through the coming of the Messiah is God about to visit with his people,
21:40rather than merely sending prophet after prophet to spread his words,
21:45but he will bring about their redemption.
21:49John would go forth spreading the call to repent,
21:51but the Messiah would grant salvation to those who beg forgiveness for their wickedness.
21:58Through this salvation, through the tender loving mercy of God,
22:01Lord, a light will shine out across the land to all the people to see,
22:06giving hope to all who are surrounded by the darkness of this world and granting them peace in the next.
22:17Let us pray.
22:20O Lord, we pray that your grace may always be present and follow us,
22:26for making us continually given to all good works.
22:30Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
22:39May the Lord bless us and keep us from all evil,
22:43bringing us to everlasting life. Amen.