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Luke 1:67-79

Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
鈥楤lessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.听He has raised up a mighty saviour for us听in the house of his servant David,听as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,听that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.听Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,听and has remembered his holy covenant,听the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,听to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness听before him all our days. 听And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;听for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,听to give knowledge of salvation to his people听by the forgiveness of their sins.听By the tender mercy of our God,听the dawn from on high will break upon us,听to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,听to guide our feet into the way of peace.鈥�

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鈥淎re you saved?鈥� is a question that confronts many driving past posters outside churches or sandwich boards in big cities.听 I often wonder if anyone has a clue what it means.听 I remember as a stroppy teenager asking a visiting bishop what 鈥渂eing saved鈥� meant.听 I don鈥檛 remember the answer was very helpful.

John the Baptist鈥檚 commission was to begin the healing process for people that Jesus would complete in his life, death and resurrection.听 Being saved has something to do with healing 鈥� relationships with God and within humanity. The song Zechariah sang at John鈥檚 birth is used every morning in the Daily Office as a reminder that we continue to live, knowing that promise through history is continuing to be kept by God.听 Being forgiven as well as forgiving can be a difficult thing to deal with, but when we do know we are forgiven, that鈥檚 something like a foretaste of heaven.