Bishop Justus Church of England School Remembrance Morning Worship The voice of one crying out in the wilderness John the Baptist Season of Advent 10th December 2014 A brief summary of the story from ‘All-Age Advent-Christmas’ by Nick Harding… Elizabeth and Zechariah were not expecting to be parents, they thought they were too old. They believed in god, and Zechariah was an important person who worked in the Temple. On one particular day Zechariah had a special job to do in the Temple, and on going there was surprised to see an angel. It was unbelievable! As he slowly got over the shock, he was even more astonished to hear what the angel had to say. When he heard what the angel said—that he and Elizabeth would have a child—he couldn’t believe it! Zechariah thought it was unbelievable! Then another unbelievable thing happened—he was struck dumb (unable to talk) to give him time to think about the unbelievable things that were happening. Zechariah had certainly had an unbelievable morning! The church remembers John the Baptist in Advent because he prepares the way for Jesus—(Luke 3: 4) ’someone is shouting in the desert: ‘Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel! - Luke quotes from the book of Isaiah (40: 30) many believe the prophets foretold John the Baptist.   Bishop Justus Church of England School  

Gather The Lord be with you And also with you John the Baptist is both colourful and eccentric. His role was to prepare the way for Jesus, to make a straight path for him into our lives. Today in worship think about some of the obstacles that get in the way! What do you need to change to make things better in your life?

Receive An angel appears to Zechariah (John the Baptist’s father)… When Zechariah saw him, he was alarmed and felt afraid. But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You are to name him John. How glad and happy you will be, and how happy many others will be when he is born! He will be a great man in the Lord’s sight. He must not drink any wine or strong drink. From his very birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go ahead of the Lord, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; he will turn disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous; he will get the Lord’s people ready for him. Luke 1: 11-17 Connect John the Baptist with the nativity story watch this excerpt from The Nativity Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfNUOvrpw0Q

Engage You might like to illustrate the obstacles that John the Baptist was trying to sort out by having a simple obstacle course There are lots of things in our lives that get in the way of God. What John the Baptist came to do was to prepare the way for Jesus, calling people to repentance, to say sorry for those things that have become obstacles to living as God wants us to, to direct our attention towards Jesus—to turn our lives around and clear it of all the things that stand between God and us. Be creative—draw a map of your life so far use symbols to show where you have come from and where you would like to go to such as sign posts / roads or paths / detours / uphills / hurdles…..etc. What obstacles are there on your path? Where do you need to get back on track to reach your full potential? What paths need to be straightened? John the Baptist Think about how John went before Jesus’ ministry—preparing the way with his message of repentance and baptising Jesus Watch a short cartoon clip of John baptising Jesus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzpu5Ql1THk Watch John the Baptist assembly ideas… Look at these ‘off the peg’ assembly ideas e.g. uses symbols to explain more about John the Baptist http://www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk/all-age-advent/

Respond Blessed are you, Sovereign Lord, just and true: to you be praise and glory for ever! Your prophet John the Baptist was witness to the truth as a burning and shining light. May we your servants rejoice in his light, and so be led to witness to him who is the Lord of our coming Kingdom, Jesus our Saviour and King of the ages. Blessed be God forever.  

Go Go in the peace of Christ. Amen. Come Lord Jesus!