Dear Friends
Christ is risen!
Well we may rejoice in what has been achieved in our community. We meet together regularly to offer worship to God, we sit and share a meal together, we have regular education offered to all. Yet my rejoicing could easily cover my role, my purpose, my destiny: what I must do if I am to play my part is change, I must put off sin, I must repent.
And I put it off: “Lord, I will repent later,” I lie, “let me have these moments to myself.” Because I am not willing to hear the Gospel, to receive Christ, to become the person I was called to be.
And yet, Christ is risen! Here, in the midst of the Feast of feasts and the Festival of festivals, when we particularly celebrate and rejoice in the defeat of Death, Sin and Idolatry, where we see most clearly our liberation from bondage and slavery, I have the opportunity to receive again the Gospel of Christ.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
Philippians 2:5–11
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And, there is more. That if I unite myself to him I may receive all the more.
As many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death.
Romans 6:3–11
Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him.
For the death that he died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So, Christ, in the form of God and equal with God came down and was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, and we too can be baptised into his death. And having put on this baptism we may be raised from the dead and brought to newness of life. God wills for us that we should no longer be slaves of sin and, therefore, we believe that we shall also live with him; for through our death with him through baptism we have been freed from sin and Death no longer holds dominion over him nor us.
And so I must put it off no longer. I must accept this Gospel, this desire for life and so I must repent, I must change, I must turn aside from wickedness and turn to life.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God is calling us to reach our potential. Turn aside from wanderings and look to the Lord. Let us stand firm in our faith, our faithfulness, and receive again this Gospel of Salvation.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
We serve a meal following the Liturgy on Sundays. All are welcome.
Do you, or someone you know, want to join our mailing list and receive our weekly email? Then let me know.
Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Christ is risen!
It is hard to stand for the Gospel—I am afraid of ridicule and belittlement. I want to stand for Truth; I however, like the remaining members of the Twelve, run away and hide for fear of being identified with the Nazarene. Yet the Lord finds courage in surprising places.
Joseph and the Myrrh-bearers were from opposite ends of the Judean spectrum: he was a rich and influential member of the Council, they were women from Galilee who accompanied a wandering preacher. Yet they were all willing to put themselves forward for action when others would not. Joseph’s secrecy in following Christ could not be maintained once it was known he had begged for the Body; “And he bought a linen shroud,” the evangelist tells us, “and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.” The Myrrh-bearers, too, honoured the Body by preparing spices to anoint Christ and, without hesitation, set off for the tomb before the dawn.
And you and I can do the same. We, like the Twelve, may lack the strength to go out and preach the Gospel but we can honour appropriately the Body of Christ. We are offered his Body freely through the Word and through Communion, but like Joseph we must hew out the rock within our hearts—the rock of sin, the rock of ego, the rock of pride, the rock of self-centredness—to make a worthy place for him. And like the women, we must prepare and bring to him appropriate offerings. And in doing this, in bringing our broken selves to the Lord in humility and in love, we too will be found worthy of Pentecost, and we “shall receive 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)
…
Read last Sunday’s Sermon, Animated by the Holy Spirit.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 5th May
Discussion on the Book of Numbers, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 6th May
Vespers, 6.30 pm
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Sunday 7th May
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 the risen Christ
Fr Alexander
[email protected]