Perhaps this is the summer you decide to celebrate feast days. June offers the feast day of John the Baptist (June 24); the feast of Columba was June 9. Traditionally, many Lutherans haven’t done much with the feast days, but the more I learn, the more I yearn for what they promise: inspiration, enrichment for our spiritual lives and a means of learning more about heroes of the faith who might otherwise be lost to us.
Most will be familiar with the story of John the Baptist but revisiting his life might give us new appreciation for a prophet who spoke truth to power. Maybe you’re wary, thinking: John the Baptist? Isn’t that the one who called us a brood of vipers? But God doesn’t send prophets because we are already damned. God sends prophets to call us back to the path on which we should be traveling. After all, summer is a time when many of us slack off. It’s good to be reminded by a truthful prophet that we have a mission.
This message is excerpted from “The holy month of June” by Kristin Berkey-Abbott in the June 2019 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate John the Baptist.
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