Commontide
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
The 2nd Sunday after Trinity
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
The Birth of John the Baptist
Red Letter Day
On 24 June the Church keeps the birth of John the Baptist, the son promised to Zechariah and Elizabeth and born to go before the Lord. The date is not remembered from any record of his birth; it is counted, six months back from Christmas, out of the sixth month Luke gives for Elizabeth when the angel came to Mary. It is a red-letter day in the Book of Common Prayer, and one of the oldest saints' days the Church keeps.
Luke 1:5-25 and 57-80 records the circumstances of John's birth. His father Zechariah was a priest of the division of Abijah, and his mother Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron—both were 'righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments.' But they were childless, and Elizabeth was past the age of bearing children, a source of social shame.
While Zechariah was serving in the Temple, the angel Gabriel appeared with an annunciation: Elizabeth would bear a son to be named John. The child would be 'great before the Lord,' would 'drink no wine or strong drink,' and would 'go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.' Zechariah doubted—'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years'—and was struck mute until the prophecy's fulfillment.
Elizabeth conceived, and when her time came, she gave birth to a son. At the circumcision on the eighth day, when relatives assumed the child would be named after his father, Elizabeth insisted: 'He shall be called John.' When Zechariah wrote on a tablet, 'His name is John,' confirming Elizabeth's declaration, his speech was restored and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. His prophecy, the Benedictus ('Blessed be the Lord God of Israel'), is one of the great canticles of the Church: 'And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.'
Luke records simply that 'the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel'—a single sentence spanning perhaps thirty years of ascetical preparation in the Judean desert. The Fourth Gospel identifies John as 'the Baptist' and records his ministry of repentance baptism, his recognition of Jesus at the Jordan, and his testimony: 'He must increase, but I must decrease.' Josephus, writing independently, confirms John's existence, his baptismal ministry, and his execution by Herod Antipas.
Traditionally, the Nativity of John the Baptist has been associated with the summer solstice, when the days begin to shorten—a symbolism reflected in John's own words about Christ: 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30). As Christmas falls near the winter solstice when light begins to increase, John's nativity falls when light begins to diminish. Medieval Christians found this cosmic symbolism deeply significant: the turning of the seasons marked the turning of the ages from Law to Gospel, from the forerunner to the Fulfilled One.