Ideas and Ideologies


Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord

1st–2nd April

We are honoured and delighted to welcome our Father in Christ, Metropolitan Silouan, to our community for his second archpastoral visit to us: this is an opportunity to gather around our bishop and joyfully celebrate together.

Saturday 1st April
6.30 pm — Vespers

Sunday 2nd April
9 am — Matins and Liturgy

St Ignatius of Antioch writes, “For we ought to receive everyone whom the Master of the house sends to be over his household, (Matthew 24:45) as we would do him that sent him. It is manifest, therefore, that we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord himself.” (Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians, 6) Therefore, in showing hospitality and welcome to our bishop, we honour Christ who is made present through him.

All are welcome—Come and see!


Dear Friends

Our world likes to identify itself with ideas and prefers when they come in opposite pairs—liberals and conservatives, scientists and artists, Apple and Microsoft, fans of two warring clubs, religious and atheists. And these groups form a short-hand—my “side” is defined as logical, rational, caring and loving whereas the “other,” whomever they may be, as illogical, irrational, uncaring and hating. And I surround myself with those with whom I agree so I may congratulate myself on our superiority.

And I come to Christ and I want him to agree with me. My position is loving, so surely God who is love (1 John 4:8) will support it? And I come, and I hear another group just ahead of me come with their own devious question to him.

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do you care about anyone, for you do not regard the person of men.”

They were flattering him, as I had planned—for them it was to “entangle him in his talk,” for me to convince him of the correctness of my cause.

“Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

They had laid their trap. And I start to squirm, because I have started to notice how I am wanting to do a similar thing, I want to manipulate the Lord as did the Pharisees. And the Lord responds to them, and he responds to me,

But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought him a denarius. And he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

They said to him, “Caesar’s.”

And he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left him and went their way.

Matthew 22:15–22

For the Lord has not come to resolve petty disputes, he has not come to teach us the best way to live in this world, he has come to lead us to new life, a resurrected life, a life without the confines of this world. The Christian faith is not to teach us a better way to live according to the standards of this age but to reveal to us the standards of the next. So to the extent we can alleviate hunger we do it because hunger has no place in the Kingdom, and to the extent that we can bring about healing we do it because infirmity has no place in the Kingdom: and what may only now be done in a limited sense in the Kingdom will be unlimited.

And I look and I consider myself, and how I have tried to conform Christ to one of the competing ideas of this world and I start to realise how I must conform myself to Christ. I must give up my ideologies for the sake of Christ. And when I do this I no longer see the “others” as wrong but human persons in the image of God who have a need and desire to encounter the living God. And instead of using Christ to serve my ideology, I must serve Christ through serving them.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, leave aside the ideologies of this life and turn to Christ. Do not be drawn into the arguments of this age but be united to Christ and the age to come—and in so doing bring the Kingdom of God more fully into our world which is in need of the Way, the Truth and the Life, in need of Christ.


We serve a meal following the Liturgy on Sundays. All are welcome.


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Sermon

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.

Our modern world proposes that science has taken the place of religion in explaining the unexplainable. And many in our society find this convincing. Those who are believers are tempted by this, that all in existence has a physical, rational, understandable explanation which science provides or will provide. Believers are tempted by doubt, by unbelief.

Still, science has not yet won, faith persists. And those who have abandoned religion cannot quite let it go—“I’m spiritual but not religious,” is a common refrain from them, they cry out “that’s karma” when a mishap befalls someone they perceive as bad. And as much as believers are tempted by unbelief, unbelievers are tempted by belief. The words of the father in today’s Gospel ring out to us in our modern world: despite their antiquity they describe our state, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

Between last Sunday’s Gospel reading—when the Lord said to his disciples, “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)—and today’s, the Evangelist Mark describes to us the Transfiguration (9:2–13). This event, where the Lord shone on the mountain and Moses and Elijah appeared talking with him, shows indeed “the Kingdom of God having come with power.” (9:1) And now he returns to find the remaining disciples in chaos. “I asked your disciples,” says the father to Christ, “to cast [the dumb spirit] out, and they were not able.” The disciples were fearful, they had earlier been given authority, “And he called the twelve to himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits,” (6:7) yet now they were not able for they had not been sent for this task. Theirs was not a magical ability, as for the sorcerers of paganism, but only when they are acting from the Lord may they be able to do this, “This kind,” says the Lord, “cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting,” which is to say, “this kind cannot be driven out except through our spiritual and our physical reality being as one.”

Read last Sunday’s Sermon, Tempted by doubt.
Archive of Past Sermons.


Services this week

Friday 31st March
Discussion on the Book of Numbers, 8 pm
Online only

Saturday 1st April
Vespers, 6.30 pm
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh

Sunday 2nd April
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 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 meet at St Francis’ Hall, Nightingale Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 9JA. Come and See.


Can I help you?

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]