Dear Friends
As children, it would be easy for us to cause offence to our parents, our families, and those close to us. We would be given something which they would perceive to be of great value, great worth, but for us it would just be another toy to go alongside the others. Yes, sometimes we might be given something and value it instantly but at other moments we would not be impressed.
We value things differently depending on our circumstances: that for which we have no desire and have not had to work hard will, inevitably, be of less value to us.
God offers to you and he offers to me immortality, union with him, life in its fullness, and we can easily overlook this and have an ungrateful heart: so he allows the Christian life to be a struggle sometimes—not that we are “earning” salvation but that we come to appreciate more the value of the gift before us. Getting to Church, or standing in prayer, or giving without the expectation of return, takes effort on our part and we must work at it and persevere. And this struggle, this violence, is spoken of by the Lord.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
— Matthew 11:12
This is not a violence against another, it is a violence against ourselves, a violence against the evil powers of this age.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
Rejoice, therefore, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Lord gives us the opportunities to learn to value more fully the gifts he bestows upon us—he desires that we grow into the fullness of our Faith. We should not expect the Christian life to be an easy stroll but a march, a challenge, a struggle. And in the community of believers, the Church, we can support and help each other, live with one another: so that we are not strangers to each other but a family where we glorify Christ who has defeated sin and death and given us new life.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Elsewhere in Scripture, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes and the Lawyers, come to the Lord, we are told, “testing him.” They want to see if he really understands the Law of God—not recognising him as the Lawgiver—or they have found a logical trap which they believe will ensnare him. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Matthew 22:17) asks the Pharisees, “And who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29) states the Lawyer, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36) riddles another, “in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?” (Matthew 22:28) mock the Sadducees.
And I must ask myself carefully, “Am I testing the Lord?” It is good to ask questions, to deepen our knowledge, to discover more about the living God: but do I ask to learn or do I ask to justify? Are my questions as a disciple of the Master or as a test?
The ruler in today’s Gospel reading was not testing the Lord. We discover elsewhere that he came running and knelt before the Lord to ask his question and that Christ “looking at him, loved him.” (see Mark 10:17–27) “Good Teacher,” we, too, cry out along with the ruler, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And, in reply, the Lord says nothing about mere beliefs because to inherit eternal life it is about our actions in this life. “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.’” These, written on the hearts of all humanity (see Romans 2:14–16), are what all should follow. We know them, we follow them, and when we break them we know we have done wrong.
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Services this week
Friday 9th December
Discussion on the Book of Numbers, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 10th December
Vespers, 6.30 pm
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Sunday 11th December
Divine Liturgy, 9.30 am
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Online session is via Google Meet: please get in contact for the details.
Please join us: all are welcome, come and see.
Attending Church
We will be meeting at St Francis’ Hall, Nightingale Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9JA. Come and See.
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I am here for you, you need only ask. Is there a way I can support your life of faith? Get in touch.
Can you help the community?
Yes, absolutely. Offer yourselves to the Lord: pray! Make available to him all your talents and ask him how he would like you to use them — listen for his reply.
Your prayers!
With love in Christ
Fr Alexander
[email protected]