Patronal Festival 2017 - 10am Eucharist, Parish Church
What then will this child become? For indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
May the words of my lips and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord our Strength and ourRedeemer
As you will have realised from our readings this morning, if not from the wonderful displays of flowers all around us, today we are celebrating our Patronal Festival. Yesterday was the feast of St John Baptist, the patron saint of this church.
The practice of adopting a patron saint is almost as old as the Church itself. It was thought that this patron saint would offer special protection or guardianship, would be particularly ready to hear the intercessions of the faithful in their church, so to speak.
For us in the CofE this practice is a reflection of our Catholic heritage rather more than our Protestant past. Like so much in catholicism, and in this town too, it comes to us from the Romans. In ancient Rome a patron was a man or woman of wealth and influence, a benefactor who took a special interest in a particular person, profession or cause.
No doubt in secular Roman life that patron would often become a model or mentor for their particular protege. Similarly it seems to me, a church can usefully reflect on the qualities of its chosen patron saint in order to direct its life. And so on this Patronal Festival
I would like to draw on three features of our patron saint that we might usefully reflect upon as a living church dedicated to John Baptist.
Firstly there is wilderness. No doubt influenced by that passage in Isaiah we heard, about a voice crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, John is thought to have spent time in the wilderness - something of a crazy figure perhaps, eating wild locusts and honey, and clothed in camel skin.
Wilderness times can be both frightening and formative.
This year of course at our Patronal Festival we find ourselves in an interregnum, when the post of Vicar of Cirencester is vacant. This can be a bit frightening. And I am sure you will join me in hoping that by next Patronal Festival that will no longer be the case! But the wilderness is also the place where angels minister.
As both our patron saint and the One to whom he points show us, the wilderness can be a fruitful place.
Wilderness experience can be deeply formative, as many who have suffered and been ministered to by angels there will testify. The PCC is already underway with what I hope and pray will be a deeply formative process for us all, as we seek to discern how God is calling this living church of St John Baptist. This is the time to ask ourselves as a parish, What kind of child are we? What then will this child become?
The second feature of our Patron Saint on which we can call is depicted in our beautiful icon of him. He is shown pointing to Christ. In our selfie-obsessed age it seems to be increasingly difficult to look away from ourselves. Although wilderness experience is partly about self-examination, about the repentance to which St John Baptist calls us all, it is not about self-adulation or self-congratulation. A most endearing quality of John Baptist is surely his humility - not the kind that we might associate with some later saints of the church, but a rough, searingly honest self appraisal. He is a child of God who points away from himself.
As Fr Leonard pointed out to me in the Holy Land, at Qumran, it is possible that John Baptist and Jesus were both members of the Essene community there; that it could have been that whilst there together John realised that Jesus rather than him was the chosen one. John had the humility and the grace to accept this, to put the needs of the people before himself. He pointed away from himself, saying to his followers, I am not he, and pointed instead to Jesus, saying Behold the Lamb of God. As children of God and followers of Christ, we are called to do likewise, for the sake of others.
The third feature associated with St John Baptist I wish to draw upon is his call to repentance. So often this call can sound harsh and judgemental. And yet the Greek word for repentance, metanoia, offers us so much more than judgement. It speaks of turning, a turning of the heart. This seems to offer understanding that turning is a gradual process, a form of becoming.
And it is of course at baptism that the candidate or their representatives are asked, Do you turn to Christ? I well remember lying my way through those baptismal questions as a parent. At least I thought at the time that I was lying. Did I turn to Christ in that moment? Not entirely. But looking back it is clear that that moment began a process of becoming; a gradual turning to Christ had begun.
How wonderful that on this Patronal Sunday there will be a baptism here this afternoon. I hope the family think all the flowers are just for them! But What then will this child baptised today become? I guess no-one yet knows. But we do know that as that child passes through the waters of baptism, a lifelong journey with God will begin, a journey of becoming.
So we have three features of our Patron Saint that may be regarded as three aspects of becoming: wilderness, pointing to Christ, repentance.
Becominga child of God is a process, a gradual process, a lifelong process, whether for a child, a parent, a living church or a parish. It is the living out of our baptismal promises. It is not always an easy process. As many of us already know well, it can involve wilderness experience, honest appraisal, the need for humility and repentance. But to enter willingly into such a time is itself a form of pointing to Christ, I believe.
Becoming is about bringing to birth something new. The feast of St John Baptist is kept today, the anniversary of his birth rather than his death. Perhaps, in conclusion, we can draw from that too, for becoming is about new life. Becoming the children of God, the church of God that the Father calls us to be is about moving on towards the fullness of all that we can hope to be.
Let us then follow in the way of our patron saint, pointing to Christ in all that we say and do during this interregnum, so that we may prepare the way of the Lord for others. That way we will grow and become strong in spirit. We may be certain that the Lord is with us.
And so let us pray:
Almighty God,
On this day, as we give thanks for the life of our patron saint, we pray for this church of St John Baptist, giving thanks for the beauty of this building, for all who contribute to its fabric and its life. We pray for this living church; that in all we do and say we may prepare the way of your Son, pointing to him in our words and in our lives; that we may bring others to begin a lifelong journey with you. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.