
Welcome to St., Swithin's Day.  If it does not rain the legend has it we can expect fine weather for 40 days.   So break out the sunblock. 
Bishop of Winchester 852-62.  Friend and chaplain to Anglo-Saxon Kings of Wessex.  Restorer and builder of churches.  
The miracle attributed to him is that he  restored a basket of broken eggs belonging to an old woman that had been smashed for some reason by workmen building a church.  On the strength of that he became the patron,  as he still is,  of Winchester Cathedral.  When his remains were moved in 970 inside the Cathedral from a grave outside the Cathedral's West Door , it is said that thunderstorms and bad weather last 40- days an indication of the Saint's displeasure at being moved and in a curious way that story in turn  gave rise to the rhyme 
St Swithin's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St Swithun's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain na mair
So much for the history lesson.  But the legend of St. Swithin shows how much we enjoy a story, embroidered or not.  And how much we can learn from them for they are the means by which we chart the development of the human race , our society here in Britain and our beliefs.  
Our reading from the New Testament today is one of the most vivid in the Bible   Terrible though it is  we can derive inspiration.  But there are some important Christian truths to be taken from each of it . 
Herod marrying his brother's wife.  Henry VIII to divorce Catherine of Aragon. 
The death of John the Baptist.   A theme for painters, poets and playwrights.  A gory pictures by Caravaggio, the play by Oscar Wilde and an opera by Richard Strauss.   Given what we see and hear without batting an eyelid  on the a stage these days, it's interesting that Salome, though completed as a play in 1892, was not performed in this country for almost 40 years because the Lord Chamberlain's regulations forbade the portrayal of Biblical characters on stage. 
In "The Death Of John The Baptist", it initially appears that evil
   was the winner...
   a. Herod succeeded in imprisoning and killing John
   b. Herodias his wife and daughter Salome succeeded in manipulating Herod and getting rid  of John

2. There are times today when it seems that evil people are the ones
   who win in life...But as the Bible tells us judgement is mine I will repay says God.  At one point all of us will be called to account for what we do in life. 

Actually Herod and his wife got their cumuppance when they were forced into exile by the Romans and died in obscurity. 

So besides paving the way for the Ministry of Jesus, John stood up for what he thought was right.  I suppose you could say that he was too outspoken, tactless and not one to employ the soft answer that turns away wrath. He'd been denouncing evil loudly for some years.  

And he suffered for it when he took on the entrenched power of the local ruler. 

But he set us an extreme example of what all Christians need to do: stand up for what is right , even if it means suffering.  Christian history is full of martyrs.  
Here in Guilsborough No such dramatic gestures needed ,  but each of us in our own way has to stand for what is right.  And our Christian faith provides the base for making right decisions.  "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)



Corrupt Olympic officials, bankers who manipulate and exploit, MPs who fiddle expenses, benefit cheats  -  there's nothing very new in all of that it surely went on in some way during in Jesus own time. 

Each one of those  - at the individual level -  who have been involved, failed the test when challenged and succumbed to greed.  Surrounded by temptations..... but we excuse ourselves for turning the blind eye to them. 


The judge enforcing the obsolete law
The banker making the loan for war
The expert designing the long range gun
To exterminate everything under the sun
Would like to get out but can only mutter
What can I do it's my bread and butter.


We go through life facing moral choices. Often difficult. Very few people risk death, but each time we cheat or lie some of our moral fibre erodes. By the time you get to my age there's not much left, one might say.  Who hasn`t transgressed ?  But that's where that other facet of Christianity rescues us.  If we repent, God forgives. 
So the overall message that I take from today's Gospel reading is that FIRST We all need a bit of John the Baptist in us to speak out against wrongdoing:  no need to break china or like the 17th century preacher Solomon Eagle go around with coals of fire burning in a bucket on our heads.   
SECOND we can speak out better if we are seen and known to follow Christian principles in our own lives and THIRD, since we shall inevitably transgress owing to the frailty of human nature, we should repent and seek God's forgiveness.  

Words of the General Thanksgiving in the Book of Common Prayer:
" That we show forth thy praise not only with our lips but in our lives,  by giving up ourselves to your service and walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days. " 
 
 


