Services in August
2nd–3rd August — Usual services
9th–10th August — No services
16th–17th August — No services
23rd–24th August — Usual services
30th–31st August — Usual services
Sorry for any inconvenience.
Dear Friends
In many ways the summer is the real end of year: not only children in school but many more take the opportunity of fine weather for a reset, a break, a refocus before the work of autumn commences. While farmers around us are busy bringing in the harvest, fewer in number are involved in this than in former times. Many try to take some annual leave—those without children may have already done so while those with them complain at the expense—nevertheless, pause and reflection are in order.
And as you pause and reflect, perhaps still enjoying the late summer evenings, what do you see? Is your life as you would want it? Is God front and centre or is He pushed to the periphery? Where is He in my life? Because if the Resurrection is true then He must be at the centre, if Christ has defeated all our enemies then we must be joined to Him, if we have been redeemed—bought back—from slavery to death then that should affect our lives.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I hope and pray you have moments to pause and reflect over the summer: let us bring ourselves back towards God. We can return to God through our prayer, we can return to God through reading Scripture, we can return to God through the services, we can return to God through our own service. And in returning to God He will not reject us, rather He will receive us as He did the prodigal son.
But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my Father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Luke 15:17–24
I will arise and go to my Father, and will say to Him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You,
and I am no longer worthy to be called Your son. Make me like one of Your hired servants.’
And he arose and came to his Father. But when he was still a great way off, his Father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the son said to Him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in Your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called Your son.’
But the Father said to His servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;
for this My son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
Let us, today, repent and turn to the living God, let us be faithful witnesses of Him in this world, let us place our hope and trust in Him that we may be transformed into His likeness and found worthy of Paradise.
Come and see!
I Dream of A Church
by Metropolitan Saba (Isper) of North America
(Translated by Fr Damaskinos Issa)
+ I dream of a church; her master is Jesus Christ alone.
+ I dream of a church; her members seek the life of righteousness at all times.
+ I dream of a church; her youth see the Life flow from their church.
+ I dream of a church; her elders enjoy her warmth in the sunset of their lives.
+ I dream of a church; rooted in her heritage, and present always to face all new.
+ I dream of a church; who allows the Holy Spirit to act.
+ I dream of a church; who does not attribute false names to the Holy Spirit, to justify her decay.
+ I dream of a church; her spiritual fathers are pure and righteous.
+ I dream of a church; who opens the door for the youth to find themselves in Christ. And I detest a church who teaches the youth that the only way to God is the blind obedience that erases their personality that God created.
+ I dream of a church; who welcomes the world with joy.
+ I dream of a church; who does not confine the world within its walls, but goes off into the world to make it a church.
+ I dream of a church; who does not handle the issues with human wisdom, but by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
+ I dream of a church; that gives the last word to her Master and seeks, ceaselessly, to determine the compatibility of her decisions with His vision.
+ I dream of a church; who gets up after every fall.
+ I dream of a church; who plants her feet on the ground but she looks up to heavens.
+ I dream of a church; who leaves the human scales and seeks to take on the stature of Jesus Christ.
+ I dream of a church; who deals with money to serve the needs of God’s people.
+ I dream of a church; who does not limit herself to just being a building, but realizes that the true church is the living church.
+ I dream of a church; who shares with the believers their worries, and concerns, and sorrows.
+ I dream of a church; who is an oasis for consolation in the desert of this world.
+ I dream of a church; who knows how to rejoice in God, and how to give this joy to the people.
+ I dream of a church; who discerns the peace of Jesus Christ from the peace of the world.
+ I dream of a church; who lives the fulfillment of the life.
+ I dream of a resurrectional church.
+ I dream of a church; who prioritizes welfare.
+ I dream of a church; who knows the language of this world, and evangelizes it in a language that the people of the world will understand.
+ I dream of a church; who lives love every day.
+ I dream of a church; who integrates the talents of her people without putting them in the race of completion.
+ I dream of a church; who does not differentiate between clergy and laity, but deals with all as royal priesthood.
+ I dream of a church; who does not accept a goal less than sainthood, and works to nourish the life with the kingdom of God.
+ I dream of a church; who is not led by human desires.
+ I dream of a church; who her poorest and richest are equal in value and respect.
+ I dream of a church; who doesn’t stop working to actualize the Kingdom of God.
+ I dream of a church; who is the body of Christ on earth.
O God save us from the institutionalized church that puts her Master to death and keeps only His name.
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.
What will it take for me to believe? To really believe? Because if the Resurrection is real—not mere wishful thinking, not a hopeful dream, not a trap to ensnare gullible people—if the Resurrection is real I need to lead a new life, a changed life, a transformed life, if the Resurrection is real I cannot remain as I am.
Two blind men come to the Lord and they receive their sight, a dumb demoniac comes and when the demon is cast out the Pharisees claim, “He casts out demons by the prince of demons.” We can always come up with excuses, with reasons, with explanations. And when the disciples had gathered on the appointed mountain, the Evangelist records,
“When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.”
— Matthew 28:17
It is easy to come up with excuses, with reasons, with explanations. Because the doubts are real: no one rises from the dead, death is the end, is permanent, and while the dead may persist in the underworld, they cannot return to this life.
And yet. Yet the Resurrection persists and is foundational to our reality. It was attested to by eye-witnesses who gave their lives for this Truth, it was preached by the Church even when it brought no social status, it has been faithfully followed for two millennia. And my problem is not a lack of evidence, my problem is that I like life in this age: it is pleasant, it is nice—a short few decades of pleasures followed by the certainty of escape through death; I have no responsibilities, I do not have to worry about eternity when an end is in sight.
…
Read this Sermon, What will it take for me to believe?
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 1st August
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 2nd August
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 3rd August
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Online session is via Google Meet: please get indd 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