Dear Friends
Ours is a tolerant society where a person’s beliefs should be treated with respect: but why? Why should others show politeness towards Christianity and Christians? The Church teaches and preaches that a man rose from the dead: not merely resuscitated, neither “woke up” nor “carried on living in His disciples’ hearts,” but resurrected.
If this is made up, or wishful thinking, or a conspiracy, or a means to control others, if Christianity is anything other than True—not merely ‘true to me’ but True—then it would deserve disrespect and ridicule.
These are not easy beliefs, these are not according to our natural understanding. According to the world, life is but a fleeting moment, a blip on the timeline of history, and in the end death takes all—plants, animals and humanity alike cannot escape its inevitability. The Psalmist poetically describes this,
As for man, his days are like grass,
Psalm 102:15–16 ʟxx
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes;
For the wind passes through it, and it shall not remain;
And it shall no longer know its place.
Next to the seemingly endless universe we are like grass, “which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven.” (Matthew 6:30) But King David continues,
But the mercy of the Lord is from age to ages upon those who fear Him,
verses 17–18
And His righteousness upon children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant
And remember His commandments, to do them.
Even before Christ there is the revelation that the righteous continue in the mercy—the love—of God. And the fullness of this love is found in the person of Jesus Christ, in His death and Resurrection. And His Resurrection means that we will rise. Christianity is not, therefore, a “how to live now” nor a set of moral rules, Christianity is about Life according to our potential, according to the Resurrection.
Yet how easy it is to reduce Christianity to a set of beliefs, to which we demand of others respect and even honour! Rather than being about Life in its fullness, we diminish it into a list of beliefs, of rules, of procedures, of rituals, to go alongside the lists of beliefs, rules, procedures and rituals of other religions.
It is not the atheist making jokes which brings contempt on the Church, it is when Christians cheapen the Faith, proclaim adherence to the Resurrection while remaining beholden to death and would rather be served than serve.
Respect for another’s beliefs is actually a Christian idea, and we should—must!—be respectful, because it honours the free will we have each received from the Almighty.
Our Faith, if false, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, would be worthy of ridicule. But if True it is the only source of true joy and meaning in this world. Let us not cheapen the Faith but turn again to the living God in repentance, let us live now—as a community—the Life of the Kingdom that others may see the truth of the Resurrection by our deeds more than our words, by our love more than our statements of belief, by our being alive more than merely existing, that we may be the earthen vessels carrying the love of God to our society.
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Sermon
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South.
Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.”
— Genesis 13:1–2
Abram, our exalted father, was rich. He was rich but was not possessed by his riches, he was rich yet he was generous, he was rich still he placed his trust in the living God rather than his wealth. And because of his faithfulness, the Lord said to him,
“Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
— Genesis 22:17–18
Yet I stand before the Lord and I place all my hope and trust in myself. I examine myself and I conclude that I do not kill, I do not commit adultery, I do not steal, I do not bear false witness, I honour my father and mother, I love my neighbour as myself. “All these I have observed,” I declare as I place myself at the centre of my life. But my riches are a barrier against following God and the words given through the Prophet Hosea apply to me.
“What shall I do to you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do to you, O Judah?
Your mercy is as a morning cloud
And as the early dew that goes away.
Therefore I have cut off your prophets;
I have slain them with the words of My mouth,
And My judgement shall go forth as the light.
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God
More than whole burnt offerings.”
— Hosea 6:4–6
My own faithfulness disappears as the dew in the morning, it is skin deep, and while I protest my faithfulness I lack mercy, while I assert my loyalty I lack virtue, while I state I am a Christian I lack love.
…
Read this Sermon, Give up what possesses us.
Archive of Past Sermons.
Services this week
Friday 5th September
Discussion on the Prophecy of Isaiah, 8 pm
Online only
Saturday 6th September
Great Vespers, 6.30 pm
At 3rd URC Scout Hall, Chandlers Ford
Sunday 7th September
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