Dear Friends
Now the Word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.’
But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lᴏʀᴅ. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lᴏʀᴅ.— Jonah 1:1–3
Christ, the Word of the Lord, came to the Prophet Jonah with an instruction and Jonah was—perhaps from our perspective at least—understandably hesitant. Nineveh was far away, near Mosul in modern day Iraq, full of pagans, it was the capital of the powerful and cruel Assyrian Empire and it was a wicked city worthy of destruction. So Jonah flees from the presence of God.
Where could I go from Your Spirit,
Or flee from Your face?If I should ascend into heaven, You would be there;
If I should descend into Hades, You would be there;If I should take up my wings at dawn
And pitch camp at the furthest part of the sea,Even there Your hand would lead me,
And Your right hand would hold me.And I said, “Perhaps darkness shall cover me,”
But the night shall be light to my delight;For darkness shall not be dark because of You,
And the night shall be bright as day;
As its darkness, so also shall be its light.For You possess my heart, O Lord;
You took hold of me from my mother’s womb.— Psalm 138:7–13 ʟxx
And we too try to flee from the face of God, but as King David so beautifully describes, where exactly could we go to hide from the Lord? For Jonah his attempt had him in the Abyss, swallowed by the sea monster, but even from the belly of the beast he was not alone,
Water is poured over me to my soul;
The lowest depth encircled me;
My head plunged into the clefts of the mountains.I descended into the earth,
The bars of which are everlasting barriers;
Yet let my life ascend from corruption, O Lord, my God.When my soul was failing from me, I remembered the Lord.
May my prayer be brought to You, into Your holy temple.Those who follow vanity and lies forsake their own mercy.
But with a voice of thanksgiving and praise,
I will sacrifice to You.
As much as I vowed, I shall offer up to You,
To You, the Lord of Deliverance.— Jonah 2:6–10
Yet there was still work to be done, despite Jonah’s foolish attempt at flight from God, He still had a plan for him.
Now the Word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came to Jonah the second time, saying,
‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’— Jonah 3:1–2
And the Lord has a plan for us, a vision, a mission: that we should make present here the death and Resurrection of Christ, that it should be a reality here, that all who desire freedom from slavery to death may be made alive in Christ. And we, too, are understandably hesitant. By myself this is not just hard, not just challenging, this is impossible. But as a community, working together for the building up of the Church vivified by the Holy Spirit, all things are possible.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to work together for the sake of the Kingdom of God, to bring love, hope and compassion to our world which is in such desperate need. We, each of us, need to offer to the Lord all we have—our time, our talents, our energy and our money—that we make manifest in our world Christ, “the Helper of the helpless, the Hope of the hopeless, the Saviour of the storm-tossed, the Haven of the voyager, the Physician of the sick.” (Anaphora, Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great)
Come! Come let us not attempt to run from the presence of God but listen to his calling that we build up his Church, drawing all to join his Victory over all the powers oppressing humanity, that we may receive eternal Life.
Come and see!
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.
I want to think of myself as starting in a neutral position: there is good and evil, on either side, and along with everyone else I am in the middle. And I can make a choice, I can choose good and move one way or choose evil and move the other. But always I have the possibility of return to my starting position, it might be hard but I can get back to the beginning and rechoose if I choose to do so.
Notice, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, how in today’s Gospel the man is “from the city.” He has his home, his citizenship, but has been deprived of his birthright: no longer does he live in his house but wears no clothes and lives like those already dead who are in the tombs. He has lost his dignity and is tormented and in slavery to the many demons possessing him. For him there is no neutral, there is no middle state, he is either naked among the tombs or “clothed and in his right mind.”
And there is, truly, no middle ground for us, we are either actively trying to follow God—sinning along the way yet repenting too—or we are not. And when I am dwelling in death the Lord sees me as I truly am, sees me in my sinful and abominable state, but is not revolted by me. He sees me and again frees me from my slavery, sets me at liberty, restores my freedom. And he sets no condition on me, no compulsion, but I cannot stay neutral—I must either be clothed and in my right mind or I will return to the tombs for more torment.
…
Read this Sermon, No middle ground.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 25th October
Discussion on the Gospel of Matthew, 8 pm.
Online only
Saturday 26th October
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm.
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 27th October
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]