Dear Friends
“If I were rich,” I lie to myself, “then I would be able to serve the Lord, serve his Church, properly.” And we so easily fall into this trap. “If I were the bishop, then I’d have things better organised; if I were in a monastery, then I’d have time to pray; if I were in charge, then thousands would come to believe in God.”
The problem with this is twofold. Firstly, I am placing myself as judge over those whom I am criticising. I am really saying, “even I could do a better job than they are doing.” It is a great act of arrogance to think in this self-centred and self-serving way—at best it is misguided, at worst delusional.
Secondly, I am refusing to live here and in the moment. Rather than being in the place and time where I am, with the resources and talents the Lord has given me, I live in a fantasy world where I am a god and all fall down at my magnificence. “I am right,” I tell myself, “what I think should happen is the best” and, as for others, “they get it wrong and should let me control everything.”
And the life I am called to live falls by the wayside. The Lord calls me not to live another life nor to carry another cross, he calls me to be in the present—in the here and now—and to carry the cross I have been given. And my own cross is heavy and takes effort on my part: but all other crosses are too heavy for me. The Devil whispers in my ear, “Look at his cross, it is lighter and easier than yours; look at her cross, she doesn’t deserve such tasks.”
So, I must change, I must repent. I must ignore the Devil’s deceptive urgings and ignore the cross of others: I must carry my own: be the Christian I am called to be. And the place I live in, the place I work, the place I worship the living God, can be for me Paradise and the Kingdom.
And what’s more, should I live the Christian life and carry my own cross, I would help and support others in their lives and their struggles, I would help them to carry their own cross.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us carry the cross we have been given and not look with envy and malice at the crosses of others. God has placed us here and now with our resources, our money, our talents, our time: we cannot offer what we do not have, what is someone else’s, but we can offer ourselves by being in the moment and in our reality, not is some fantasy. Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh of thrice-blessed memory tells us,
God can save the sinner that you are, not the saint that you pretend to be.
Let us not pretend to be a person we are not, a fantasy and a demon, but strive to scrape off our sins by joining ourselves to the Lord, following in his footsteps which lead to Golgotha, crucifixion, death and eternal Life.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“Who was it that touched me?” says the Lord. Many had come to be near him, to hear him and to see the miracles they had heard about. “Who was it that touched me?” and the disciples do not understand: “Master, the multitudes surround you and press upon you!” says Peter. But the Lord persists, “Some one touched me; for I perceive that power has gone forth from me.” He was not asking who touched him physically, many in the crowd had done that, but who touched him with Faith, who touched him with longing, who touched him not as a mere man but the incarnate Lord.
Jairus, we may presume, was a good man according to the Law of Moses, an upright man, a man who commanded respect among the Jews. He had heard the stories of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee—that he had healed the Centurion’s servant by merely a command (Luke 7:1–10) in this same city, yet Jairus did not come to the Lord. He had heard that the Lord had travelled to Nain and raised the son of a widow (7:11–17), yet Jairus did not come to the Lord. He had heard the report of Jesus forgiving the sins of the sinful woman in Simon the Pharisee’s house (7:36–50), yet Jairus did not come to the Lord. Now Jairus, however, becomes desperate—his daughter is not getting better, in fact her illness is dragging her down to the point of death, and is finally willing to risk losing his place in society, his honour, his pre-eminence among his own people, and go to Jesus.
Yet still he lacks faith. Despite what he has heard of the Lord’s miracles and teachings in Galilee he does not know what to do. He lacks the faith of the gentile centurion, who asks the Lord to command that his servant be healed, and he does not risk bringing his daughter out of the house to come before Christ. He does not know what to do yet he must do something.
…
Read last Sunday’s Sermon, Who was it that touched me?
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 3rd November
Discussion on the Divine Liturgy, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 4th November
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At St Francis’ Hall, Eastleigh
Sunday 5th November
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.
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Can you help the parish?
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
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