Dear Friends
To succeed in many sports and games it is necessary to have a good defence, scoring goals is not enough if you concede more, which requires training, planning and excellence in executing the plan. A good defence is necessary, too, in the military but also in our lives: we want to teach our children resilience to get up again when knocked back, to not become dejected with a refused job application, undesired grades or romantic rejections. In our lives we need to have a good defence to protect us—our physical, mental and emotional wellbeing—as we navigate our path through life.
A Christian ending to our lives, painless, blameless, peaceful; and a good defence before the dread Judgement Seat of Christ, let us ask of the Lord.
Grant this, O Lord.
We pray this so often in our services perhaps we become oblivious to it. And yet, I will stand before the Judgement Seat of our Lord and Saviour and need to give an account for what I have done with what I have been given: I will need to give a good defence. And the more we are given, the greater the blessings we have received, the more that will be expected of us.
So what is it that we must do to have a good defence? It is to do the will of God: not to simply do good things—many do good things to bring glory to themselves, to appear altruistic and generous, to appease someone more powerful—but to do them for the sake of God and His Kingdom. A good defence is found in serving others without expectation of reward, in giving beyond what is generous, in helping: to make manifest the Kingdom of God here and now so that others marvel at “the hope which is in us.”
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. ‘And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.’
First Peter 3:14–17
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we pray for a good defence before the Judgement Seat of Christ but this is revealed through our actions now. We have received so much, we have received the Gospel of the Resurrection, the calling to new Life, the sanctification of the entire world, and it is our responsibility to nurture it in our lives so that it is more than a tiny trickle offering sustenance but a mighty stream offering an abundance of Life to all. Let us work together, encourage each other, help each other, that the Kingdom of God may be proclaimed and we receive from the One Who is both our Advocate and Judge, Jesus Christ, a good defence and enter into the joys of the Kingdom.
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.
One says, “I became a Christian that God would bless me with riches,” while another, “I became a Christian that God would heal my physical pain and comfort my mental anguish,” and another still, “I became a Christian that my life would be made more easy, more comfortable, more enjoyable,” and others, “I became a Christian for cultural reasons, or counter-cultural reasons, or to long for a lost past, or to receive a better tomorrow.” But these are all centred on me, on my wants and my desires, my preferences on life and my hopes for the future: God is incidental in all this, Christ in my life would be optional extra, the Resurrection a mere afterthought.
The Apostle says to us today,
“Five times I have received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”
These are not said to show off, to prove manliness and masculinity, to demonstrate why St Paul is in charge: these are said as the logical consequence of being a Christian. To be a Christian is to suffer in this world, and if we are not blessed with the dignity of facing outright persecution then ours is to serve, to give, to honour, to sacrifice.
We have witnessed this week the consequences of being a Christian: on the day of the celebration of All the Saints of Antioch, more than twenty were added to their glorious number at the Church of the Holy Prophet Elias in Damascus, many more were wounded because they wished to gather together and worship the living God. His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of Antioch, spoke these words at the funeral of the martyrs.
Read this Sermon, To be a Christian.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 4th July
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 5th July
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 6th July
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