Holy Week and Pascha at Twelve Apostles’ Church
Wednesday 16th April
6.30 pm, Holy Unction (Anointing)
Thursday 17th April
9 am, Vesperal Liturgy
6.30 pm, Matins of the Twelve Gospels
Friday 18th April
2 pm, Vespers
6.30 pm, Matins (Lamentations)
Saturday 19th April
9 am, Vesperal Liturgy
Sunday 20th April
9 am, Matins & Liturgy of Pascha
Please note: there will not be a nighttime service.
A joyful Pascha to you all.
Dear Friends
Many get on with their lives. They form relationships, work, eat, sleep and relax. They establish routines and processes. Some marry, some have children, and the days, months and years role by. And, perhaps in old age, they look back on their lives both proud of their achievements and with some regrets about what might have been. And the next generation takes their place. They try to pass on wisdom to those who come after them, with various levels of success, for the cycles to repeat.
Yet there is doubt, there is an itch which cannot quite be scratched, “there must be more than this?!” they ask to no one in particular. There is a restlessness in their soul which cannot quite be dulled by constant entertainment, a yearning in their heart without quite knowing what the yearning is for. And in our secularised world where Christianity is rejected as, in Karl Marx’s phrase, “opium of the people,” this inner angst is easily dismissed as the malaise of our modern world.
Christianity would rightly be rejected if it were about providing strength in this world: a faith which solely presents a nice God, a caring God, a God Who provides health, wealth and happiness for its adherents is scarcely worthy of the name. Yet the Orthodox Church,
preach[es] Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
— First Corinthians 1:23–24
And this—although, perhaps, a stumbling block and foolishness to many—could be understood by others; they may think us strange and our preaching esoteric, but they can understand: many have died over human history for many causes, the world sees a crucified man who died for the Christian cause. But the Apostle develops the point, the Church develops the point, through the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He was seen by Cephas [Peter], then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
— 15:3–8
So that,
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
Then comes the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
— 15:20–27
And therefore this inner yearning from within the hearts of many in our society is the yearning for Life: not more life according to this world but true Life. In other words the yearning is for God—not a condemning god, a capricious god, a god of legalism and sophistries, but God of Truth, of healing, of reality, of Life.
As the deer longs for the springs of waters,
So my soul longs for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before the face of God?
— Psalm 41:2–3 ʟxx
Or, in the words of St Augustine,
Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee. Lord, teach me to know and understand which of these should be first, to call on Thee, or to praise Thee; and likewise to know Thee, or to call upon Thee. But who is there that calls upon Thee without knowing Thee? For he that knows Thee not may call upon Thee as other than Thou art. Or perhaps we call on Thee that we may know Thee. ‘But how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? or how shall they believe without a preacher?’ (Romans 10:14)
— St Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we move towards the Great and Holy Pascha—the defeat of all Christ’s enemies: death, sin and idolatry—let us not forget our neighbours whose hearts yearn for the living God, who know there is something wrong with this world but cannot quite place their finger on it, and introduce them not solely to a God Who died for them but One Who brings them to Life. Ours is a world of doubt and they doubt even their doubting: let us bring them to an encounter with the divine, a sample of immortality, where we no longer live under the oppression of death but according to eternal Life.
Come and see!
We serve a meal following the Liturgy on Sundays. All are welcome.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
How often, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do we throw ourselves into our wants and desires? “I want that drink, that partner, that fantasy, that pleasure.” And all these are for a fix of dopamine—a chemical released by our neurons to reward pleasurable behaviour—to brighten our everyday. Or, in contrast, how often do we throw ourselves into worldly pursuits? To earn more money, to get more power, to stockpile more resources? “These are necessary to have security in this world!” we protest: “I must do it, it is required.”
A man brings his son before the Lord. The boy has had this spirit of infirmity from childhood: “he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid.” This spirit stops him from living: he cannot speak and it casts him down to the earth to which he will return—he is in a living death.
And in this narrative I try to place myself. I know I am not Christ, but perhaps I am one of the disciples who try their best but cannot quite succeed, whom I can use as justification for my own failings. Or perhaps I am the father bringing my son to the Lord, recognising my own failings but still trusting in His power. But there is another: I am the boy. For I throw myself into the fire of pleasure and “into the pounding surf of worldly cares,” as St Theophylact of Ochrid describes. I have allowed demonic powers to overwhelm me and I have become dumb, unable to stand for myself and I am thrown to the floor grinding my teeth and have become rigid. I have given up my dignity, turned my back on my worth as I eke out an existence culminating in death: in fact, I am half there already.
…
Read this Sermon, Thrown into fire and water.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 4th April
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 5th April
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 6th April
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]