Dear Friends
The nights draw in. We are starting to feel a chill in the air even during daytime. Streets are quieter than a short while ago as we await the last parts of autumn before the plunge into winter. We are preparing to live not quite a hibernation but a quieter part of the year, a less social part of the year, a period more suited to contemplation and spending time with family.
And the Church institutes a fast. In her love for you and her love for me, the Church says that we should turn this time of natural reflection into a time of anticipation for the coming of our Lord—for Forty Days (starting on Friday 15th November) we shall prepare for the Nativity according to the flesh of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. We prepare, we fast, that not only will we commemorate Christ born of the Theotokos: we prepare, we fast, that Christ be born in us, carried within us, enthroned in our hearts.
And our world has this the wrong way around. Christmas celebrations around us seem to start on 1st December, if not before, and are then forgotten about come Boxing Day and that strange week leading up to New Year. For us we yearn to celebrate the coming of Christ, born within us, but as the athlete who arrives at the Games unprepared will not be able to perform to his potential, so too we need to train, to prepare, that we may compete well.
But to aid us, to cheer us on, the Church gives us many feasts along the way, the Great Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple (21st November), St Catherine (25th), the Apostle Andrew (30th), St Porphyrios (2nd December) St Barbara and St John of Damascus (4th), St Sabbas (5th), St Nicholas (6th), St Ambrose (7th), St Anna (9th), St Spiridon (12th), Prophet Daniel and the Three Holy Youths (17th), St Ignatius (20th) and many more: these do not negate the Fast but encourage us in our endeavours.
If you don’t know how to fast, what to do, then ask and we can work out the best way for you to participate.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us in this natural period of reflection prepare ourselves to meet the incarnate Saviour, born in poverty that we might receive riches, born in humility that we may receive glory, born to die on the Cross that we receive Life. Let us prepare to meet Him, let us take up the Fast that we too may be joined to Him, bear Him, so that we may inherit eternal Life.
Come and see!
Catechism & Catechumens
There are several members of our community who have expressed an interest in fully joining the Church, either through Baptism or Chrismation depending on circumstances.
I want you to, I think everyone should be a full member of the Church, but I am also keen not to put pressure on anyone. If you want to join you need to ask.
For me there are two key requirements.
1. You are a member of our community. You participate in services as well as the rest of the life of the community.
2. You understand The Symbol of Faith (also called the Creed) in the way the Church understands it.
To help with 2., on Saturdays, after Vespers I will start to go through the Symbol of Faith. This will only last up until 7.40 pm (Vespers usually ends around 7.10–7.15 pm).
If you are interested in joining the Church (though there’s no commitment) or are already a member but would like to know more about our Faith, you’d be most welcome to join us.
If you’d like to join the Church, but can’t make it on Saturday evenings, then please speak to me and we can make alternative arrangements for you.
[For those who would like to come to Confession on Saturdays while this programme is happening, Confessions can happen from 7.40 pm: apologies for any inconvenience.]
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.
“How should I live my life as an Orthodox Christian?” I ask the Lord. And he replies to me, “What is written in the Scripture? How do you read?” I reply to Him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” The Lord replies to me, “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” But seeking to justify my original question—I do not really want to know what I should do to live as a Christian but what is minimally acceptable, “What’s the least I need to do and still be saved?”—seeking to justify my original question I ask the Lord, “And who is my neighbour?”
And I want to hear back from Him, “Go to Church, serve the Liturgy and other services, receive Communion and the other Mysteries.” And these are all good things—objectively good!—and are necessary for the building up of the people of God: we need them in our lives. We must love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our strength, but this must not be an end in itself: if this were the totality of our faithfulness to the Lord then it would be for our condemnation. So the Lord gives the familiar Parable of the Good Samaritan.
A man has been attacked by robbers and stripped of his personhood and dignity. And he is passed by three pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, the City of God. A priest passes him and says to himself, “I go to serve the Liturgy,” and passes him by, likewise a Levite, “I go to receive Communion,” and passes him by. And these are good things, righteous things, but they should not form the totality of our faithfulness. Yet one who is a heretic, who gets things wrong about God, who does not worship God according to the Tradition of the Church, sees in the man one who deserves compassion, sees in him the image of God and sees in himself someone who should serve rather than be served.
…
Read this Sermon, Serve God, serve our neighbour
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 15th November
Discussion on the Gospel of Matthew, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 16th November
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 17th November
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]