Dear Friends
“I am right,” I say to myself, with the implication that all other opinions are wrong. And I spend my life correctly, I act truly, I think rightly. Everything I do I want to be precise, every thought accurate.
And I encounter the Gospel, that Christ has defeated idolatry, sin and even death and invites me to Life in Him. And this seems impossible, unbelievable: how could any rise from the dead? Death has a finality, a permanence, an irreversibility. But I investigate—I discover for myself—and realise it is the logical position: why would His followers suffer and die for a lie or a mistake? How could so many people be fooled? If He did not rise the history would not make sense. And if we remove the implausible—that the Gospel is all false—then what remains must be True: Christ is risen and invites me to new Life.
“I am right,” I say to myself. And having learned the Truth of the Gospel I want to be close to Christ, so I search for the correct church and the right beliefs. And I discover the Orthodox Church and I learn her Truth and am enamoured with her doctrines, “Here I may continue to be right,” I say in self-satisfaction. And my desire to be right keeps me away from Christ, I replace love with correctness, service to others with logic, I preach the concept Orthodoxy rather than the Gospel and I remain a stranger to God.
Which is the more important, to be correct or to be close to Christ? If my desire to be in the Orthodox Church is to be correct then I will find disappointment and misery—the faithful will not live up to the standards I impose on them, I do not live up to these standards either—but if here I discover Christ, here I learn to serve others, to repent, to turn again to the living God, then by the power of God I may be transformed to become a true human person: repenting of my sins and serving others for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are here to be transformed into the likeness of God. There is no room for egoism, self-centredness nor rejoicing in our correctness: rather there is service, there is a cross, there is sacrifice. Let us come together not in exclusivity but in openness and in love that we may bring Christ to all the more, that they may join us in being transformed by the power of the Resurrection and that we all become inheritors of eternal Life.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“Ours is an intellectual faith,” I say to myself, “I have heard the Gospel, and it agrees with me.” And I reduce Christianity to opinions—this is right, that is wrong—and I give the accepted pronouncement for each situation. From my ivory tower I can look down on the poor unfortunates around me, “thank God I am not like them.” And on the Last Day I will stand before my Maker and say,
“‘Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in Your Name, cast out demons in Your Name, and done many wonders in Your Name?’ And then He will declare to me, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
— Matthew 7:22–23
Because I have turned our Faith into words rather than actions, opinions rather than service, managing death rather than Life. And well do the words of Christ apply to me,
“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.”
— v. 21
The words of today’s Gospel are directed at you and are directed at me.
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
This is not the words of opinion but of action since our Faith is not shown by thinking that God exists—even the Devil would qualify as a Christian by that standard!—but that we do something: it is not that “I have faith,” as some intangible concept but that “I am faithful,” that my inward faith is demonstrated by my outward actions.
…
Read this Sermon, Not opinion but action.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 28th March
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 29th March
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 30th March
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.
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]