St. John of Shanghai Orthodox Church
The English-language Orthodox Church in Vancouver, BC
Our Lord’s response to Peter’s query re how many times he should forgive his brother is an inverse echo of Lamech’s claim to vengeance – a connection I failed to note in this sermon, but one which undergirds the antidote noted.
Readings referenced:
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Fr. Tim of St. Nicholas and Demitrios Greek Orthodox Church very kindly invited me to give the homily for this year’s Sunday of Orthodoxy Pan-Orthodox Vespers… This was that homily, as originally recorded and published by Alexander Ovodov on YouTube.
This sermon actually brings up for me the question of context that was raised in our discussion about whether or not to begin this podcast. The comment that I make, partway through, that the ancestors of those present were “coming into a place that was empty of sacredness” was intending to draw a contrast between what was to them a land that as yet had no Orthodox Christian history, as opposed to the lands long-blessed with Christian saints and sites from which they had just come. Canada’s native spiritual traditions, or even the inherent sacredness of the land as a creation of God were not in view here.
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Since I have been asked to create a podcast to share my sermons, here’s my attempt to start one. And since any podcast needs a name, I am borrowing a line from my mission statement for St. John of Shanghai Orthodox Church. Our mission is to incarnate and translate the apostolic tradition, so I suppose a part of my job can be characterized as “Translating the Tradition.”
Here, for starters is my sermon from our first Presanctified Liturgy this Great Lent: “Tired and Hungry.”
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We are all on a journey: an ancient journey, full of perils.
We travel together for safety, and our companions, chosen or haphazard, largely determine our experience of our travel,
Except for two unalterable truths…
Everything changes, nothing stays the same.
No one can ever go back the way they came.
And, like all journeys, the ultimate significance of our endeavours depends largely upon our intended destination
And on our intended purpose, once we get there:
Are we some rough beast, slouching towards Bethlehem to be born?
Or are we a vulnerable young mother,
Voluntarily submitting ourselves to the pains of travel and the labour of childbirth
To do our part to help provide a body for and to bring into the world the Christ-child?
And, if the latter, our journey does not end at Bethlehem.
For, once we have so participated in His embodiment, we have chosen, and been chosen, to go further:
To go as far as needed, to continue the journey as long as we are needed
To protect and nurture and bring up Him who has chosen to be born of us
In the humiliation of the stable:
the helpless saviour of the world, the Prince of Peace.
Christ is born!
May we, with our souls and our bodies – our entire beings, throughout our entire journey –
Glorify Him.
Christmas is coming… and so is Theophany! Since our custom is for the priest to take a bit of “time off” after Christmas (consisting largely of not doing Wednesday services), and Christmas is slightly different, here’s the list of services coming up:
And, speaking of the Great Blessing of the Waters, here’s a short piece that Mike McCardell did when he happened to run across us blessing the waters at Kits Beach in 2012: https://youtu.be/7TYH6voSQb0
Finally, calendars are here! Many thanks to Zane, of Ancient Burials, for providing them for us (in a wonderfully timely manner) this year!