Blessed be

John Lanchbury | Luke 1:57-80 

They made signs to [Zechariah], to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, 'His name is John.' Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, 'What then is this child going to be?' For the Lord’s hand was with him.

When Zechariah, something like a year earlier, was told by the angel Gabriel that his aged wife would have a son, he was literally dumbstruck. Now, with the promise fulfilled in his own sight, he obeys the angel's instruction: the child's name is John. Immediately his tongue is freed, and he proclaims the greatness of God in a prophecy which our own John explains.

A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.