Christmas Services
We will continue to have our regular services each weekend. In addition, we will have.
Tuesday 23rd December
6.30 pm — Paraklesis
Wednesday 24th December
9 am — Royal Hours
Thursday 25th December
9 am — Matins and Divine Liturgy
I wish you all a joyful celebration of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: may our incarnate Lord grant you every blessing.
Dear Friends
From out of the fiery furnace, Azariah prays,
Blessed are You and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
Daniel 3:26–30 ʟxx
And praised and glorified is Your name unto the ages.
For you are righteous in all You did for us,
And all Your works are true.
Your ways are upright,
And all You judgements are true.
The judgements You made are true,
According to all You brought on us
And on the holy city of our fathers,
Because in truth and judgement
You did all these things on account of our sins.
For we sinned and acted lawlessly
To depart from You.
We sinned in every way,
And did not obey Your commandments.
Neither did we treasure or do as You commanded,
That it might go well with us.
And this is truly beautiful. He does not blame God for this injustice happening but accepts it as a result of his own sin, and what’s more, the he identifies with the sins of his ancestors. “Those sins were my fathers’ fault, not my own,” he could have protested, yet he says “We sinned in every way.”
The Three Holy Youths—known either as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Hebrew or as Azariah, Ananiah and Misael in Greek—lived in exile, separated from Jerusalem and under “an unjust king—the most evil in any land.” (verse 32) But when commanded to commit idolatry by bowing down to the image set up by Nebuchadnezzar they refused. They refused, but they did not say, “we deserve no consequence for our refusal,” rather,
For there is a God in the Heavens, Whom we serve, and He is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will deliver us from your hands, O king.
verses 17–18
But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image you set up.
There was not a deal, “We will follow God and He will protect us,”—although, in this case, He did—but “no matter what happens, we will follow God.”
And in our world ruled by the Satan, who has the power to grant the kingdoms and glory of this age, (see Matthew 4:8–9, Luke 4:5–7) we live in exile but are called to stand for God. Not in a self-righteous way, not in a way which condemns others around us, not in a way which puts God to the test, not in a way which demands no consequences for our actions, but humbly, modestly, faithfully, living a life which is according to Christ.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we cannot be Christians and expect no consequences. While we may not face being thrown into a fiery furnace, we may have to face the fire of ridicule, the suffering of sneers, the scorn of mockery. Our world does not understand the Gospel yet cannot overcome the Gospel and unleashes a fury against it. We preach an incarnate and crucified God Who has defeated death and is risen.
For the Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the Power of God. …
First Corinthians 1:19, 22–25
For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The Apostle explains to us the Gospel.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
First Corinthians 15:1–8
by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He was seen by Cephas [Peter], then by the Twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
After that He was seen by James, then by all the Apostles.
Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
Let us, therefore, stand firm in our faithfulness, dear brothers and sisters, as did the Three Holy Youths, as we are encouraged by St Paul, that we may proclaim this Gospel. This will have consequences, this will have an effect, but by standing firm together we may become true Christians and heirs of eternal Life.
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
A sinner comes to the Church. She is unlike me—she is strange, unusual, she does not fit in and speaks in a unusual voice. She has not come because of me but in spite of me. Yes indeed, she is a sinner and is bearing the consequences of her sin. She is bowed to the ground, born down by the weight of her sin, and sees in the ground the earth to which she will be destined, “For dust you are,” says the Lord, “And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)
I, on the other hand, have been raised up by the Lord. I may stand straight so that I might cast my vision to the heavens: it has been granted to me that I may contemplate the things of God, holy things, divine things. And this woman interrupts my self-righteousness. I see her facing towards the earth and I am discomforted: this is not because she is different from me nor that she is a great sinner, I am discomforted since whereas she looks to her destiny in the earth because she has been ensnared, I can look to the heavens but I still am focused on the earth. Her situation convicts me: I am worse than she for I name Father, Son and Holy Spirit while being focused on death.
Christ, dear brothers and sisters, has freed us from slavery to sin and the tyranny of death, Christ has led captivity captive. We no longer need fear death for it is defeated: and while we still must go through dying, unless the Lord appears first, we laugh in the face of death, and while sin still lies at our door we are given the tools to rule over it. (compare Genesis 4:7) But I am still tempted by death—it is easy to understand, it has a finality to it, it ends whatever I become—and any reminder of it destroys me. I see a sinner and it reminds me of the hypocrisy in my life, I see a sinner and I want her removed from my presence because I see in her a reflection of me, I see a sinner and I want to condemn rather than pity her entrapment and work for her release.
…
Read this Sermon, A sinner comes to the Church.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 12th December
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 13th December
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 14th December
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