Thoughts on St John's Day

*** Den deutschen Text finden Sie im Blog-Beitrag von gestern. 

This week, on June 24, we honor John the Baptist. He was a few months older than his cousin Jesus and he prepared the way for him, He was a fascinating personality, strong and willing to fight for his faith. On this day, we think of his life and work, from the very beginning, when his birth was announced, through his relationship with Jesus, into whose shadow he was to step more and more. This becomes very clear in the Gospel according to John: ^“He must become greater; I must become less.”^. As we think of John the Baptist, we enjoy the longest and brightest days of the year; brilliant sunshine here in Berlin, too. How can it be, that on such bright and beautiful days, people can sow the seeds of hate and violence; how can they live such hate? How can WE live with this seeming contradiction of the great promise of the coming Kingdom of God which already exists among us, in the midst of war and suffering, racism and exclusion, poverty and hopelessness. John must have found a way to glimpse hope in all of this. He knew the path before him and yet he prayed in view of a better world.

I found this prayer on the Homepage of the Protestant Church in Central Germany (EKM, Evangelische Kirche in Mitteldeutschland) which is also one of the supporting Churches of the European Bible Dialogues:

Great God, John the Baptist fascinates us. He got people to think about their lives. He used drastic words to command them to turn around and change their ways, so that the love of God and the love of our neighbor might guide their thoughts and actions. And John baptized Jesus.

As those who are baptized in the name of Jesus, our life should be characterized by love for all human kind. We ask you, please, guide our thinking and our doing and guide us to the path of repentance, wherever we go astray.

Amen