Dear Friends
On Saturday 4th March we opened the Triodion, the book of the services of Pre-Lent, Lent and Holy Week and since the Great and Holy Pascha, 16th April, we have been using the book which leads up to Pentecost, called the Pentecostarion; for thirteen weekends we have been leading up to this point, the climax of it all. We have prepared for, and received, the Resurrection of Christ so that it is not a distant memory of a long-ago event but a living reality in our lives. And having found the tomb empty, having received the risen Christ, having seen him ascend in glory and take humanity to the righthand of the Father, having fulfilled and perfected the Creation, the Spirit is poured out upon all flesh.
And the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9) is undone. For there the Lord descended, scattering the nations and dividing the tongues, here the Lord descends and shows the tongues of the nations to be languages in which to glorify God.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Acts 2:1–4
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are anointed and sent out to be witnesses of the Lord. We speak not with a common language but a common Spirit, a common heart, a common Church. We speak as distinct and unique yet each being signed with the power of God. We speak representing—making re-present—the Resurrection of Christ our Lord.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome in the Holy Spirit who vivifies us, enlivens us, gives us power to become children of God. And in welcoming him in, this fourteenth Sunday can become for us not merely another in a series but a participation in our Life in Christ so that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) And through the reception of the Holy Spirit, our Liturgy becomes not something we observe but we participate in the rituals—the words, the actions, the movements not being someone else’s nor a mere reenactment but each of our participation in Christ—and unite ourselves to the Lord. “For I am persuaded,” says the Apostle,
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
Romans 8:38–39
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Come, be a part of life! Come and see!
Vespers after Liturgy
On the day of Pentecost (this Sunday, 4th June) we serve Vespers straight after the Liturgy. This includes the three prayers when we start to kneel again in Church for the first time since Pascha.
You may want to bring a cushion on Sunday on which to kneel.
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.
So many in our world are searching for something but they do not know what. There is something in their lives missing and they know not where to turn. So they go out looking for it in self-help books, or meditation, or gym membership, or in eastern mysticism. Or else they look in alcohol, or drugs, or gambling or anything else which points to something beyond the mundane life of this Age. And on a certain level this is good—they are dissatisfied with the life before them, they want something more, something beyond, something transcendent—but the search has become disfigured, they are looking in the wrong place.
We are now in an in between state, we have received the risen Christ yet he has, in some sense, withdrawn and we await with eagerness the coming of the Spirit. As for ancient Israel the Passover, the Pascha, of deliverance from Egypt forms the central part of their liberation from slavery, still had to be completed at Sinai with the giving of the Law: so too our deliverance from slavery will be completed at Pentecost. We have been given all, there is nothing more to receive save “power when the Holy Spirit has come upon [us]; and [we] shall be witnesses to [Christ] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) And as a reminder of this the Church places before us today the prayer of Christ at the end of his long discourse at the Last Supper (John 13–17), immediately before his betrayal and arrest (18:1–11).
And he explains to us what so many in our world are seeking, albeit in the wrong places. For all those who are dissatisfied with life in this Age, the Lord tells us, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Not know about God, for even the Satan knows about him, but know God—a true relationship with him. And at the apex of this relationship, when we truly know God, we offer him our mortality and he offers back immortality, we offer him ourselves and he offers union with him. This is what so many of our friends, relatives, neighbours are seeking and if we love them, truly love them, then it would be a profound denial of love to keep this hidden from them. “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
…
Read last Sunday’s Sermon, And this is eternal life.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Saturday 3rd June
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Sunday 4th June
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
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 the risen Christ
Fr Alexander
[email protected]