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Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

Isaiah 6:2

This perhaps we can understand, we can try to imagine something like a man with six wings, but elsewhere,

Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces.
The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like the colour of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went.

Ezekiel 1:15–17

Which is strange.

Genesis is not trying to portray a “talking snake” but an angelic being who is “more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lᴏʀᴅ God had made.” (Genesis 3:1)  The Devil tricks Adam and the Woman to eat of the fruit and they are expelled from Paradise into the world.  But to the Devil God proclaims,

Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.

Verse 14

Because, we know as well as ancient people knew, serpents do not eat dust, but that the fiery one eats the dust from which Adam was made (verse 19), which is to say the Devil is given the temporarily authority over death until he will be cast into “the everlasting fire [which is] prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)

But God did not forsake his creature made after his image and gave all that he be reconciled to him: as we hear at the Liturgy of St Basil, served during Lent,

Yet Thou didst not turn Thyself away till the end from Thy creature which Thou hadst made, O Good One, neither didst Thou forget the work of Thy hands, but Thou didst look upon him in divers manners, through Thy tender-hearted mercy. Thou didst send forth prophets; Thou has wrought mighty works through the Saints who in every generation have been well-pleasing unto Thee; Thou didst speak to us by the mouths of Thy servants the prophets who foretold to us the salvation which was to come; Thou didst give the Law as a help; Thou didst appoint guardian angels. And when the fullness of time was come, Thou didst speak unto us through Thy Son Himself, by whom also Thou madest the ages.

Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil

We have not been abandoned by the Lord but brought into union with him through Christ and his death and Resurrection, who by his own death tramples down the power of death, the Devil, and rises to new Life.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not read Genesis, and the other books of the Bible, as fables and as myths but as the narrative of our creation and God’s fidelity to us despite our infidelity towards him.  Let us look to understand not as the world would see it but with spiritual eyes, open to the mind and understanding of the Church.  To do so, we could use the following prayer—read by the priest before the Gospel reading but applicable to all Scripture.

Illumine our hearts, O Master who lovest mankind, with the pure light of thy divine knowledge, and open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of the Gospel teaching; implant in us also the fear of thy blessed commandments, that trampling down all carnal desires, we may enter upon a spiritual manner of living, both thinking and doing such things as are well-pleasing unto thee: for thou art the illumination of our souls and bodies, O Christ our God, and unto thee we ascribe glory, together with thy Father who is from everlasting, and thine all-holy, good, and life giving Spirit: now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Come and see!

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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.

It is easy, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to like the good sides of the Gospel, the pleasant sides as I define them. Healing comes and I am attracted to the Kingdom, Christ dies for me that I may rise with him to new Life and I am hooked in, Christ commissions me to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19) and I am flattered.

“[T]he sons of the Kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

And I am panicked—even being a son of the Kingdom, a member of the Church, is no guarantee of salvation. And I am forced to consider the words of the Lord in the previous chapter,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in Heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21–23)

The Lord, in today’s Gospel reading, is contrasting those who have nothing except Faithfulness with those who have everything except Faithfulness.
…

Read this Sermon, Nothing except Faithfulness.
Archive of Past Sermons.

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Services this week

Friday 26th July
Discussion on the Gospel of Matthew, 8 pm.
Online only

Saturday 27th July
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm.
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford

Sunday 28th July
Matins and 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.

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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]