1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,200 ?" 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,440 Arweud expectations. 3 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:10,740 Mae'r speiddian ar gael dylechol hefyd teimlo. 4 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:23,580 Ellier Cynllewd. 5 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:26,880 Axel. 6 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:34,480 umriettwch dahi neu roedd yajeb yn ner chi. Mae g Morea y Pol Caergrath usod ar y gwrdd hyn cit, 7 00:00:38,940 --> 00:00:40,820 neu coblad mewn ffordd. 8 00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:51,940 Mae ergyrchiad hanesr hynny a o'u cyfriferon yr isaed yn bethusol? 9 00:00:51,940 --> 00:00:56,500 influ am全sylції a gwyrnodd ac yn goly arcade. 10 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,140 Roedd notr ar ei rai booth, bydwyd yn ei meddwl nhw wnaethuen fellystä. 11 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,760 ac yn holl笑 adatwm Shop Barvald, 12 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,240 os ym ych gefn – beth mae'n fywr yn iefnogi na cutd d weaponid. 13 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,720 Ond wedi fydd dishesen iawn. 14 00:01:11,900 --> 00:01:13,260 D exhibits Viwng o'r f anten yn bod seriaeth 15 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:15,100 gyda Cerddo a'r 모습ach, 16 00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:25,080 o hol �ources wedigylbor â hyfforddiad o bryd mewedol o bobl yw iddiad i nodi Mrimon? 17 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:25,660 Fe yw ddachr yn can excellent yma yn predictっちwyd cyflowead 18 00:01:25,660 --> 00:01:28,320 hyn ar yr� lightlyn a falta transfers o ran chi aogurau fanhee discovery a'r tal monedod 19 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:29,200 ar y llang. 20 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,720 Mae hynno'r fanhawn sydd wedi ychydig ar y cyflos a lwy neeis yma 21 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,640 lle sut mae hi debyd y caselOUTd yn llryd du'r bod ni'n risie 22 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,860 ar yr y ol., 23 00:01:37,860 --> 00:01:42,720 ond y twch gweld y yanol sydd hi arno geriperd wider digital 24 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:50,160 an Èw'r pleid capitalist, nid oedd yn gondolin fearless o bobl gwnaet Hymро Dollars hefyd hynod ydi. 25 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:58,280 Nidці謝謝 o f Australian 26 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:00,100 a'n mynd i ei proswch y gallu inform 27 00:02:00,100 --> 00:02:01,680 o blaen y gallwn wyf. 28 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:01,800 Felly se reform am gyllwan 29 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:03,060 Felly se reform am gyllwan 30 00:02:03,060 --> 00:02:03,360 Felly seogaeth ad ".. 31 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:04,500 Rwm mod i'r sgwyllipher 32 00:02:04,500 --> 00:02:05,280 a'r mynyddu'r ei ffrân 33 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:06,540 o'r Monster困au 34 00:02:06,540 --> 00:02:07,900 Cyryd ar y swyddeng gwahanol 35 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:09,800 Cyryd o'r twf שה mount 36 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:27,180 agor Dodес 37 00:02:27,180 --> 00:02:37,420 the poor. Yet even the best public servants are rarely completely popular. As human beings, 38 00:02:37,420 --> 00:02:43,740 we tend to demand a just world, particularly of our public servants, of our leaders. Until 39 00:02:43,740 --> 00:02:52,220 that is that we find out that the unjust world unjustly benefits us. Then of course we find 40 00:02:52,220 --> 00:02:59,740 ways to justify and protect our unjust privilege, lest it be taken away and meet it out more fairly 41 00:02:59,740 --> 00:03:08,540 to someone else. So even the best public servant tends to be unpopular, because if they really 42 00:03:08,540 --> 00:03:15,660 pursue justice, which many of us say we want, there will be many who lose out. Indeed, even 43 00:03:15,660 --> 00:03:21,740 in question time we needed look no further than the cause to limit migration, to understand that 44 00:03:21,740 --> 00:03:27,340 there are many in our unjustly privileged country and community who would prefer an 45 00:03:27,340 --> 00:03:33,420 unjust world to one in which we give up our self-interest to serve others who have greater 46 00:03:33,420 --> 00:03:41,900 needs than ourselves. But the problem goes deeper than just self-interest. We don't live in a perfect 47 00:03:41,900 --> 00:03:49,660 world and as excellent as a public servant might be, they can't change that. Were we to elect the 48 00:03:49,660 --> 00:03:57,180 most righteous, self-sacrificing, hard-working public official at the next general election, 49 00:03:58,220 --> 00:04:06,060 there would be still much that is out of their control. Wars, hatred, prejudice, discrimination, 50 00:04:06,060 --> 00:04:12,540 all of these would still occur. People would still be poor, sickness and death would still happen. 51 00:04:14,220 --> 00:04:19,420 Disappointment in these crews isn't anything new. Trust in politicians of course 52 00:04:19,420 --> 00:04:26,140 comes and goes, but throughout history public servants, be they political or royal, have faced 53 00:04:26,140 --> 00:04:35,260 questions regarding their own powerlessness. In 1 Samuel 8, the people demanded of Samuel 54 00:04:35,260 --> 00:04:41,740 that he anoint a king over them to replace the judges. We heard that accounted by St Paul 55 00:04:41,740 --> 00:04:48,460 in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The judges before the kings had acted as 56 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:56,380 spokespeople for God, but had always been understood that God was their king throughout 57 00:04:56,380 --> 00:05:02,700 the period of the judges. The judges acted to broker disputes, making decisions based on the 58 00:05:02,700 --> 00:05:07,740 scriptures and the law as it had been handed down and they discerned the will of God for the future 59 00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:13,900 of his people as Moses and Joshua had done in the wilderness, but they were servants of God 60 00:05:13,900 --> 00:05:21,900 first and foremost. But the people wanted a human king. They wanted someone over them to rule over 61 00:05:21,900 --> 00:05:29,420 them, who they could see and touch and feel. They wanted someone whose direct influence they 62 00:05:29,420 --> 00:05:37,820 could understand and someone who in turn they could influence. There were many great kings through 63 00:05:37,820 --> 00:05:44,700 the Old Testament periods and of course the greatest as St Paul mentioned was King David, 64 00:05:44,700 --> 00:05:52,860 a forerunner of Christ, described as a man after God's own heart. And yet even King David, 65 00:05:53,420 --> 00:05:59,660 the greatest of the kings, as well as being a great ruler, a great warrior, a great worshipper, 66 00:05:59,660 --> 00:06:07,900 a great prophet, was also an adulterer and a murderer. And though he proclaimed that he would 67 00:06:07,900 --> 00:06:14,700 not rest until he built a temple for the art of the covenant, it was not he but his son who built 68 00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:22,060 the first temple. None of this is said to denigrate the work or the role of public servants. 69 00:06:22,060 --> 00:06:31,580 To serve others is always to follow the call of Jesus Christ, who is the true servant. However, 70 00:06:31,580 --> 00:06:40,860 as servant and a served as leader and as follower, the humility of Christ calls us to acknowledge 71 00:06:40,860 --> 00:06:50,140 our own frailty. It is human nature to be fragile as a leader, just as it is human nature 72 00:06:50,140 --> 00:06:59,580 to be vulnerable to unreasonable expectations as one who is served. It is natural that leaders are 73 00:06:59,580 --> 00:07:06,940 tempted to pride in their power, just as it is natural for those who are served to become jealous 74 00:07:06,940 --> 00:07:14,380 of the power they have given. It is normal to promise the world as a leader and it is natural 75 00:07:14,380 --> 00:07:21,980 that as someone served, our higher-minded priorities and our day-to-day realities don't often go 76 00:07:21,980 --> 00:07:29,180 hand in hand. If you were to end things there, then the picture would of course look rather bleak. 77 00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:37,020 The cry went up, the people are grass, the response came, the grass withers, the flower fades. 78 00:07:37,020 --> 00:07:46,460 But of course the cry continues. But the word of our God will stand forever, get you up to a high 79 00:07:46,460 --> 00:07:52,140 mountain ozion, herald of good tidings, say to the cities of Judah, here is your God. 80 00:07:53,980 --> 00:08:00,780 As human beings, our desire is to lead on ourselves, just as the people demanded of Samuel 81 00:08:00,780 --> 00:08:10,540 a King rather than a judge, someone like them to rule over them. We conceal our fragility behind 82 00:08:10,540 --> 00:08:17,580 a masquerade of imagined control over the world and over ourselves because to do otherwise would 83 00:08:17,580 --> 00:08:27,580 be to admit our reality that our future is not totally our own. And so we appoint leaders to 84 00:08:27,580 --> 00:08:34,460 manifest the mask of our own insecurity, but by doing so we place them on a pedestal from which 85 00:08:34,460 --> 00:08:44,460 they have no option but to fall. Isaiah reminds us that there is in fact only one stable place 86 00:08:45,500 --> 00:08:53,260 in which we can trust, the word of the Lord. And as John chapter one tells us, 87 00:08:53,260 --> 00:09:02,780 the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Our reality, our future cannot be founded on ourselves, 88 00:09:02,780 --> 00:09:09,820 it cannot be founded on human leaders, it must be founded on the person of Jesus Christ. 89 00:09:09,820 --> 00:09:17,660 He alone is without beginning or end, he alone is truth and love and security, for he alone with 90 00:09:17,660 --> 00:09:24,220 the Father and the Holy Spirit is perfect. But this isn't something that we should lament, 91 00:09:25,100 --> 00:09:33,180 it's something that we should embrace. The words of Isaiah's cry, the people are grass, 92 00:09:33,820 --> 00:09:42,700 the grass withers. They at first sound so difficult, but in fact they are given as a comfort. 93 00:09:42,700 --> 00:09:51,820 When we take upon ourselves the burden of making our own reality, of being responsible for everything 94 00:09:51,820 --> 00:10:00,060 about our own future, we commit ourselves to a task for which we are not designed. We make ourselves 95 00:10:00,060 --> 00:10:09,420 promises that we can never and should never hope to keep. We are created beings, we are not our 96 00:10:09,420 --> 00:10:19,820 own authors and that's okay. We were created by the one who is love, by the one who is the author 97 00:10:19,820 --> 00:10:27,340 and he created us for relationship, for partnership to be brought lovingly under his care and direction. 98 00:10:28,940 --> 00:10:35,900 And though he doesn't need us, he wants us, he invites us into partnership with him. 99 00:10:35,900 --> 00:10:42,300 We are invited with him in proper relationship to him to build a better reality, to contribute to our 100 00:10:42,300 --> 00:10:48,380 own future. He empowers us to build the kingdom of God through the loving care of his creation and 101 00:10:48,380 --> 00:10:55,340 through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In all of this there is no better example 102 00:10:55,340 --> 00:11:03,420 than St John the Baptist. As we heard in our gospel reading, we are invited to build a better 103 00:11:03,420 --> 00:11:09,100 world. As we heard in our gospel reading, we could see how easy it would be for St John the 104 00:11:09,100 --> 00:11:15,820 Baptist to have grown up to be proud and conceited. After all, there aren't very many people who have 105 00:11:15,820 --> 00:11:23,500 such a miraculous birth story. A baby boy born to a religious ruler and his wife far after it 106 00:11:23,500 --> 00:11:33,340 should have been biologically possible. His birth announced in the place where the temple worship 107 00:11:33,340 --> 00:11:42,060 was offered at the altar of incense by an archangel of God. His father giving a prophecy in his birth 108 00:11:42,060 --> 00:11:47,660 which proclaimed him the prophet of the Most High. Throughout his early ministry, St John the 109 00:11:47,660 --> 00:11:54,620 Baptist had plenty of opportunities to promote himself. He preached to massive crowds. He offered 110 00:11:54,620 --> 00:12:02,380 a baptism of repentance to probably hundreds, if not thousands of people. He had scores of followers, 111 00:12:02,380 --> 00:12:08,140 disciples who dedicated themselves to his teaching, going as far as to live with him in the wilderness. 112 00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:13,740 He even had the religious authorities come to him and ask him directly, 113 00:12:13,740 --> 00:12:21,580 Are you the Messiah? Are you the chosen one? Are you the Christ? When Jesus arose and came to 114 00:12:21,580 --> 00:12:27,660 St John the Baptist for baptism, by contrast he was nobody. Nobody had heard of him. He had no 115 00:12:27,660 --> 00:12:33,020 followers. He'd preached to no crowds. He'd done no miracles. He was unnoticed by the authorities. 116 00:12:33,980 --> 00:12:40,300 Unlike St John the Baptist, he wasn't born to a great, creasty line. He hadn't enjoyed the exposure 117 00:12:40,300 --> 00:12:45,980 to the religious and ritual life of Israel that St John the Baptist had had from Zechariah. 118 00:12:47,260 --> 00:12:53,100 And yet, when Jesus came to St John the Baptist, the superstar, the great preacher, 119 00:12:54,220 --> 00:13:03,580 St John proclaimed Jesus the Lamb of God. St John taught that he, he, the Baptist, the great 120 00:13:03,580 --> 00:13:11,500 baptizeder, was unworthy even to kneel down in the dirt and untie Jesus' sandals. He would have 121 00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:18,460 refused to baptise Jesus, though baptism was his ministry because he knew that he needed to be 122 00:13:18,460 --> 00:13:25,500 baptized by Jesus. And when Jesus started building his own ministry and gaining followers, rather than 123 00:13:25,500 --> 00:13:32,380 being jealous, St John the Baptist sent his own disciples away to follow Jesus. When people started 124 00:13:32,380 --> 00:13:37,820 going to Jesus, rather than St John the Baptist to be baptized, St John the Baptist said, 125 00:13:38,460 --> 00:13:48,220 he must increase and I must decrease. St John the Baptist knew that his life was not about himself. 126 00:13:49,260 --> 00:14:00,540 His life was about Jesus. All he did was to follow the call of God. When he led, he led as one 127 00:14:00,540 --> 00:14:07,660 who follows God. When he stopped leading, he stopped as one who knew his service was finished, 128 00:14:08,220 --> 00:14:12,700 glad rather than bitter to hand over to the one who came after him. 129 00:14:14,380 --> 00:14:21,820 Our call is to follow his example as the people of St John the Baptist here in Barnett. We are, 130 00:14:22,460 --> 00:14:29,980 we must acknowledge our fragility and turn our attention to the one who walks with us 131 00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:39,660 and ahead of us knowing that he is the only true ground of life. Many of us are, have been, 132 00:14:39,660 --> 00:14:45,660 will be called to serve in some way. We will be called to some kind of leadership position. 133 00:14:47,020 --> 00:14:53,980 If and when we are, we need the humility of St John the Baptist to know and embrace the reality 134 00:14:53,980 --> 00:15:01,100 that we are not perfect to know and embrace that we do not lead for ourselves but only for him. 135 00:15:02,940 --> 00:15:10,380 Many of us, probably all of us are called to be served in some way. We are to follow a leader. 136 00:15:11,500 --> 00:15:18,140 We must share in the humility of St John the Baptist's disciples. When we are led, 137 00:15:18,140 --> 00:15:26,460 we need to remember that our leaders are human. They make mistakes and we must recall that they 138 00:15:26,460 --> 00:15:35,260 are in their position, be it secular or religious, only to lead us to a truer knowledge of Jesus Christ, 139 00:15:36,060 --> 00:15:44,060 only to help us better build the kingdom of God. And it is our duty to keep them accountable to doing 140 00:15:44,060 --> 00:15:54,140 just that. And so may we all, as servant and a served, as leader and lead, have the humility 141 00:15:54,140 --> 00:16:04,300 to know that we are but grants. And let us build our lives not on the rocky foundation of ourselves 142 00:16:04,300 --> 00:16:12,220 or of human leaders but on the shore foundation of the world made flesh, knowing that in all things 143 00:16:12,220 --> 00:16:24,220 our only duty is to follow and to worship him. May we be as St John the Baptist. Amen.