Dear Friends
Remember David, O Lord,
Psalm 131:1–5 ʟxx
And all his meekness,
How he swore to the Lord,
How he vowed to the God of Jacob,
‘I shall not enter my dwelling,
I shall not recline on my bed,
I shall not close my eyes in sleep
Nor my eyelids for dozing,
Nor give any rest to my temples,
Until I find a place for the Lord,
A tabernacle for the God of Jacob.’
And this fervour for finding a place for the Lord, a church, remains with us. We want to have a permanent home, a place which belongs to the Kingdom, a House of God among us where we may serve Him and receive immortality. This is important for us and would enable us to grow together in our faithfulness.
And yet it was not King David who built the Temple, it was his son Solomon. And after its building the Lord spoke to him saying,
I heard your prayer and your supplication that you made before Me; I have done for you everything in your prayer. I consecrated this house you built to place My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days.
Third Kingdoms 9:3–7
Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with integrity of heart and in uprightness, and you do everything I commanded him, and keep My statutes and My judgements,
then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I said to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail a man to be ruler in Israel.’
But if you or your sons turn from Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes Moses set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
then I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them. I will cast from My sight this house which I made holy by My name. Israel will be destroyed, and will become but prattle among the peoples.
And notice there are two sides to this, two paths, a path which leads to blessings and a path which leads to condemnation: were we to have a permanent House for the Lord we must continue in following the commandments of God, continue in living the Resurrection—it would not be an opportunity to sit back on our laurels but rather to strive for the Kingdom. As the Protomartyr Stephen says,
However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
Acts 7:48–50
‘Heaven is My throne,
And earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? says the Lord,
Or what is the place of My rest?
Has My hand not made all these things?’
For a church building cannot be the source of our faithfulness to the Lord—it is not where we start—but it would be the fruit, the consequence, of our faithfulness. The Lord does not dwell in temples of stone, brick or wood, He dwells in the temple of the human heart.
“You are the temple of the living God,” says the Apostle,
As God has said:
Second Corinthians 6:16–18
‘I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.’
Therefore
‘Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.’
‘I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the Lord Almighty.’
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we may complain that we do not have a permanent home for our community, that we cannot beautify it as we would like in order to honour God, but this is an opportunity for each of us to offer to God all we have—our time, our talents, our energy, our money—that we may grow in faithfulness. If we wait until we have a building, we will wait forever. But by offering all we have we grow in faithfulness and the Lord may grant us His building as the fruit.
Let us serve, let us sacrifice, let us offer our all, that we may be worthy temples of the living God, separating ourselves from the sin of the world that we may enter the Kingdom of God.
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Sermon
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Notice, dear brothers and sisters, the great gulf in difference between our sins towards God and each other. To one another, the Lord ascribes a hundred denarii—still a large sum, about three months wages for a common labourer—whereas before the Lord ten thousand talents: one talent being about six thousand denarii. “Do you see,” says St John Chrysostom,
“how great a difference there is between sins against humanity and sins against God? As much a difference as between ten thousand talents and a hundred denarii; no, much greater in fact. This comes about from the difference of the persons and from the frequency of the sins. For when someone is watching, we hold off and do not dare to sin. But God is watching all the time, and yet we are not afraid; in fact, we even say and do everything quite brazenly.”
— St John Chrysostom, Homily LXI, ‘On Matthew.’
For what insult do we offer our Lord—Who created us from nothing and set us in the Garden, Who gave us the gift of repentance when we had fallen, Who remained faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him, Who gave His only-begotten Son that we might have Life, Who has offered us the gift of regeneration from on High through baptism—for, indeed, what insult do we offer our Lord when we sin. And when our friends, our family, are present we refrain from sin for the sake of having a good appearance lest gossip break out against us, but when we think we are alone, though God sees, we fall down easily into gluttony, debauchery and licentiousness. Before others I present myself as an upright and righteous person, before God I am hideous, disgusting and full of sin.
And I fall down on my knees and beg God, “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” I do not know how I will pay back for all my offences before Him but I fear the condemnation facing me. And the Lord forgives me. The Cross is the eternal symbol of the forgiveness of God towards us, that we can be released from captivity, that forgiveness is given freely: I am forgiven. But I am not forgiven that I may enter into new debt, I am forgiven that forgiveness replace retribution in my life, that I learn to serve rather than be served, that as Christ has offered His life that others might live so too must I offer my life.
…
Read this Sermon, Forgive.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 29th August
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 30th August
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 31st 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