Dear Friends
What is it that the Church has to offer? In a world of despair, loneliness and sadness, where desperation seems to grow on an exponential scale, how does the Church make a difference?
Some may point to community, the Church brings contact with others, both superficial conversations and deeper connections, and this is important—vital even—for humanity. Others may point to morality: in order for a society to function we need agreed ways of working together. The state cannot enforce this on every level, we need everyone, or at least the majority, to do the right thing at the right time while the police and other public services are able to deal with and punish the minority who do not. There are others, still, who look at the rituals brought by the Church which bring a sense of purpose and meaning to a chaotic world, or to the charitable work done by churches throughout the land without which our society would not operate. There are some who point to the positive effects on a person’s health and well-being which come from membership in a religious community while for others it is about staying connected to ancient roots, whether for ancestral reasons of an interest in history.
And if these are the purposes for which the Church stands, it would rightly fall into insignificance as society sees through the inadequacy of its mission.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.
— Matthew 28:18–20
The Lord gives to us the mission, the purpose, of the Church. We do not offer community, morality, ritualism, charity, health, well-being nor ancient roots as being valuable for themselves, we offer Christ crucified and risen—the end of death, the wiping away of sin, the release from captivity. We may use these other things but Christ is the message, Christ is the goal, Christ is the agent of change. The Apostle Paul writes,
For if I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel!
For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
What is my reward then? That when I preach the Gospel, I may present the Gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the Gospel.
— First Corinthians 9:16–18
And not only do we preach Christ, present Christ, worship Christ, we do this not as some distant and unobtainable concept, we show the path to draw near to Him, to approach Him, to become His Body: we present the path of repentance. We ourselves can be transformed and transfigured, we ourselves can defeat idolatry, sin and death, we ourselves can be “crucified with Christ; it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us,” (cf. Galatians 2:20) that we may be alive in Him. And by following in His way, being united to Him through His Body, the Church, we may be truly Christians and heirs of eternal Life.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the world can find community, morality, ritualism, charity, health, well-being and ancient roots elsewhere and is tired of (so-called) Christians looking down on them as inferior, lacking and deluded: yet we are called to offer more, much more, abundantly more, we offer Christ; we offer the divine, we offer the end of affliction, we offer that even if pain and suffering continue in this life they will not endure, we offer that even our dying can be a witness of Life, we offer that through repentance and humility we will be transformed and transfigured into true human persons, citizens of Paradise and inheritors of eternal Life.
Come! Come and encounter the mystery of God, Come and see the renewal of our race, Come and be a witness of the Resurrection of Christ.
Come and see!
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
We have heard the Gospel, that death has been defeated, that sin has been overcome, that idolatry has lost its power, and have come to believe in Christ as the risen God and Saviour. But what is it to believe in Christ?
“Every one who acknowledges me before men,” says the Lord,
“I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in Heaven; but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny him before My Father who is in Heaven.”
Since to be a Christian is not a hidden thing, a secret organisation, a marginal opinion: to be a Christian is to acknowledge Christ before all. This does not mean we stand on street corners shouting our opinions, the Lord tells us,
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.”
— Matthew 7:21
To acknowledge is not to say, to acknowledge is to do the will of God: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, take in the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (see Matthew 25:31–46) But the Lord demonstrates to us how and why we should do these things, for we are familiar with the commandment,
“Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”
— Exodus 20:12
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Read this Sermon, To acknowledge is to do.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 20th June
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 21st June
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 22nd June
Matins & 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
webenquiry@orthodoxeastleigh.uk