Dear Friends,
Welcome to this second edition of our benefice e-Newsletter for the parishes in Chew Valley West. A special welcome to those on our electoral rolls whose emails addresses have been added this week. As always, you can unsubscribe by clicking the link at the end of this email.
This Sunday, the Second of Advent, our thoughts turn to John the Baptist. It is impossible not have sympathy for John (and not just because his father was a priest!). His purpose was to be the forerunner; his work to deliver the message to the people of God that they/we should prepare to meet God in Jesus Christ. As such, he paints himself out of the Gospel, content to be superseded and left as a footnote in God’s salvation plan. John will fall silent as soon as Jesus starts to preach.
Our Gospel passage for this week (links below) tells us who John the Baptist is, but more importantly who he is not. John is the messenger, but he is not the message. The first two verses (Luke 3:1-2) give us a detailed circumstantial account of where and when John the Baptist appears. Why did Luke go into such trouble to include these historical details when writing his Gospel? The point is that these events which are soon to take place in Bethlehem happened at a real time and place—at a real moment in human history, involving God in the form of a real, human child. John is the latest in a long line of prophetic voices who have foretold the coming of the Messiah at this moment. Every path has been made straight, every valley filled and every mountain levelled in preparation for this moment. Now God’s salvation has come to us, not on account of our own efforts, but as a gift.
God came among us in the frailty of the Christ-child in the squalor of Bethlehem. In the words of our Collect for this week, we pray that he ‘will soon raise up his power and come among us [again] … with great might’.
Yours in Christ,
Ian
