Dear Friends
Communities, if they are to be enduring, have foundation stories: we might agree or disagree with them, think they show the community in a positive or negative light, but they are there. From the quarrel between Romulus and Remus leading to the former’s establishment of Rome, to the great explorers and pioneers moving west to inhabit the great land of America, to a family coming from an immigrant background and rising up the social ladder through hard work and toil to achieve success in a new land. Communities large and small—mighty nations, humble families and everything in between—survive and thrive through the retelling of their foundation, their own myth, that the next generation can take it on, be part of it and make it their own.
What is the foundation story of modern Britian? Of modern England? What is the myth which binds us together to each other, to our community, to this nation that we tell to our children that they too may be part of our community? This is somewhat difficult to tell as it is not so much a narrative, a story, as a series of events. From Empire and standing firm against the rise of fascism in Europe and the defeat of Nazism, to the diminishing role on the world stage, from the explosion of change in the sexual revolution, to the rise of market economics. These happenings are difficult, if not impossible, to form into a narrative which may be why it is so difficult to explain for what England and Britain stand.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
And from here we have a narrative, a story, which binds us together as a community. God creates man, man falls yet God does not give up on his creature whom he loves, and creates a new community through Abraham into which Christ can be born and call all into the community through his death and Resurrection, and
as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name:
John 1:12–13
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
This is the narrative, the foundation story, which forms the Church: a deeper reality than is offered by any merely human community because it reveals Truth. And in a world, a society, so in want of a narrative, desiring a foundation on which to build, where communities and relationships are breaking down because they have no narrative around which to unite, the Church offers to them Christ.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we have an option. We can descend alongside our society as bonds of fellowship seem to be breaking around us, or we can be counter-cultural and reveal the Truth, reveal Christ, that all the more may come to him and inherit eternal Life. And to stand against the culture is difficult, it requires work on our part, but we have the opportunity to bring hope and love to a people in need that we all may turn again to the living God who is our foundation, our support, our strength and who leads us to the Kingdom.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“Again,” says the Lord, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44) And our generation has taken this to heart: in a secular age, where conversations about religion are discouraged, we have found the treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, (Matthew 13:45–46) and keep it hidden in the field of our hearts.
We justify this, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, by relying on St Seraphim of Sarov’s maxim,
“Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved.”
And we interpret this as, “Serve the Liturgy and a thousand will be saved, … Act as silent witnesses, Be a prayerful member of the wider community, Live a righteous life, and souls around us will be saved.” Yet while thinking in this way, we should also turn St Seraphim’s words around,
“If a thousand souls around us are not being saved, we have not acquired the Spirit of Peace.”
Because solely serving the Liturgy, or praying, or doing any virtuous thing—while in and of themselves they are positive—is not enough to acquire the Holy Spirit: the Christian life should encompass the totality of our lives.
…
Read this Sermon, You are the light of the world.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 19th July
Discussion on the Gospel of Matthew, 8 pm.
Online only
Saturday 20th July
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm.
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 21st July
Matins and Divine Liturgy, 9 am.
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
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 3rd URC Scout HQ, Kings Rd, Chandlers Ford SO53 2EY. The Scout hall is behind and to the left of the URC Church. 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 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
[email protected]