Nativity of St. John the Baptist
Appointed Lessons
Isaiah 40:1-11 * Acts 13:14b-26 * Luke 1:57-80 * Psalm 85 or 85:7-13
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
The Living Word | Lectionary Preaching Aids
Preaching Today
John Sundara: Israel’s Story, and Ours
“You ready yourself. You prepare the way and make straight the highway for the Lord. And you wait in silence like a watchman waits for the dawn and for the first ray of sunlight after a cold, wintery night.”
Classic Texts
Christopher Wordsworth: Greater Than the Holy Prophets
“Greater than the holy prophets, for he did the Lord baptize; Greater than the holy prophets, for he did evangelize; Since so great was John the Baptist, who beheld Thy orient gleams, O how blest are Nations walking in Thy full meridian beams!”
Articles
Sherry Black: His Name Is John
“Those gathered would have named the child after his father, as was tradition, but his mother objected, saying, ‘He will be called John.’ This caused a bit of disturbance, this change in tradition and expectation. We know how culturally resistant we are to change!”
Pamela Lewis: The Preparer
“His role was to humbly ‘decrease’ himself and to point, not to the Nazirite, forbidden to touch the dead or to drink wine, but to the Nazarene, who will raise the dead and change water into wine. John points to a more powerful preacher and the true Savior.”
