In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Why are you here? Why am I here? Is it to see friends and like-minded people? Is it as a release from the struggles of day-to-day life? Is it as a therapy for the mind? Perhaps it is in anger that another Christian tradition is too liberal, or too traditional, and here you will find your peace? Why are you here?
The Cherubic Hymn guides us to our purpose.
Let us who in this mystery represent the cherubim
And sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-giving Trinity
Now lay aside all the cares of this life
That we may receive the King of All
Invisibly escorted by the angelic host.
For we are called to “lay aside all the cares of this life,” all our struggles, all our temptations, all that makes us happy or sad, rich or poor, healthy or ill, so that—as we ourselves are imaging of the cherubim and revealing the heavenly Court of the King of All—may receive Him, may receive Christ. We have come together, we have set aside our differences—some have more than others, some from periods of rejoicing others from periods of mourning—so that we may be One. But this may beg the question: “how can so many become one?”
“For we, though many,” says the Apostle,
are one Bread and one Body; for we all partake of that One Bread.
— First Corinthians 10:17
Since this is the only way to unity. And the Lord promises this to us today. His Ascension into the heavens is not a departure but that we may be One.
And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be One, even as we are One.
Not that there are some things about which we agree, but that we may be One, as Christ is with the Father and the Father with His beloved Son. Our participation in the Eucharist is, therefore, the great expression of our unity of faith, of faithfulness, of unity with each other because we are united with God.
Why are we here? It is to receive Christ. And we receive Christ through our fellowship together, and we receive Christ through participating in the worship, and we receive Christ through hearing the proclamation of the Gospel, and we receive Christ—for those who have taken the step to be fully joined to Christ through repentance, through the waters of baptism and through the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit—through the Eucharist. And all this is not for me, for my relationship with Christ, but that we be joined together as One. “I, therefore,” says the Apostle,
the prisonerof the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is One Body and One Spirit, just as you were called in One hope of your calling;
One Lord, One faith, One baptism;
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
— Ephesians 4:1–6
And what, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is the fruit of this unity? It is Life, eternal Life, Life without end.
Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You,
since You have given Him power over all flesh, to give eternal Life to all whom You have given Him.
And this is eternal Life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Let us then, dear brothers and sisters, lay aside all that is worldly, all that brings division, that we may be united as One in Christ. And being united we receive Christ—not each individually, but as a community, as the Church—that we may receive the fulness of Life, the destiny of mankind, the fulfilment of all the Promises. And to our world, our society, which walks “through the valley of the shadow of death,” and “has no hope,” (cf. Psalm 22:4 lxx, First Thessalonians 4:13) we proclaim the eternal Life which comes through our fidelity to the Gospel. Death has been defeated, Christ is victorious, and by repentance, regeneration in the waters and receiving the Holy Spirit, by union with Him, we may be found heirs of eternal Life.
To our crucified and risen God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who has taken our humanity to the Right Hand of the Father, be all glory, honour and worship, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
In those days, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
— Acts 20:16–18, 28–36
At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do; and now, Father, you glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made. I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you; for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you did send me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are mine; all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
— John 17:1–13