Services this weekend (17th–18th February)
On Sunday 18th February we will join with the Church of St Nicholas, Southampton for their services.
St Nicholas’ Church
102 Bernard Street
Southampton
SO14 3EH
Please do join us. 9 am Matins and Liturgy.
Dear Friends
As we work through this challenging time as a community we may ask ourselves the question, “Why do we need a Church building?” We are blessed to be able to meet together on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings, to serve the Liturgy and other services together, to have fellowship with each other: why a building?
And we turn to the famous words of the Apostle,
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? … For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
First Corinthians 3:16–17
And again,
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.
First Corinthians 6:19
And again,
You are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
Second Corinthians 6:16, 7:1
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be my people.” …
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
And we think and consider the Tabernacle is no more, the Jerusalem Temple is no more, because each Christian is the Temple of God, Christ is enthroned in our hearts.
And yet. And yet from the beginning Christians have not separated themselves from each other, we—the temples of the living God—gather together in one place to worship God. And the place where we gather, from as early as we can tell, has been made a special place, a unique space, a building in which we discover the beauty of God. And so the pagan emissaries of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, were brought,
to the building where they [the Christians] worship their God, and we knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We only know that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations. For we cannot forget that beauty.
And this is our calling, to make heaven tangible here on the earth through beauty. If we are to be the Church, if we are to manifest the Resurrection of Christ in this world, our society is in desperate need of beauty. They have had enough of being told what to think, of how to behave, of what to value: ours is to show them the transcendent, to raise the mundane and ordinary into the sublime and extraordinary.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for us to be Christians in this age, in this society, we need to let our worship be heavenly rather than earthly. And we can do this by working together—through our prayer, through our offerings, through our sacrifices—that by beauty we may strengthen our faithfulness and bring all the more to faith. Let us work together that we may have a building in which we no longer know whether we are in heaven or on the earth, where God dwells among us, where beauty permeates that the Gospel of the Kingdom may be proclaimed all the more and we be united to the risen Lord.
Come and see!
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.
Why, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do others have better abilities than I do? It seems unfair—a capricious God who bestows much on one while another receives little. If God had given me much, I would have used it for his glory, I would have passed on blessings, I would do things in a good way.
But the facts of my life tell a different story. I have heard the Gospel, I have been offered union with God, I have been freed from captivity to sin and death, and I have buried it all in the earth for fear of losing it. And on the Last Day the Master will say to me,
“You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? … cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”
We use certain words, my brothers and sisters, so often that we are in danger of losing their meaning; “the servant of God,” or “the handmaid of God,” and we think these mean “chosen by God” or “blessed by God.” But these are not memberships in a club, honorific titles: servants and handmaids are those who work for their Master. The three in today’s Gospel reading were not family, were not friends, were not people at large, they were servants. Theirs was to do their Master’s will and his to reward them for it. And what a reward he offered to each,
“Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.”
…
Read last Sunday’s Sermon, Faithfulness and Fidelity.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 16th February
Discussion on the Gospel of Matthew, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 17th February
No service
Sunday 18th February
Matins & Divine Liturgy, 9 am
At St Nicholas’ Church, Southampton
Online session is via Google Meet: please get in contact for the details.
Please join us: all are welcome, 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
[email protected]