January Sermons 2025

​Sunday January 5, 2025
By Fr Peter Sheko
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we heard the beginning of St Matthew’s gospel giving the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:1-25).  At the first glance it seems like just a list of names, but in reality, it tells a powerful story of God’s love and His plan to save us.  St Matthew starts with these words:  the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.  By mentioning David and Abraham, St Matthew reminds us of God’s promises.  God told Abraham that through his descendants all nations would be blessed (Gen ch12).  God told David that his kingdom would last forever (2Samuel ch7).  These promises come true in our Lord Jesus Christ who brings blessings to everyone and opens the way to God’s eternal kingdom.  
What is interesting in this genealogy is the mention of women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, although Bathsheba is not mentioned directly by name, but as the wife of Uriah. She was the woman who King David took as his wife after he sent her husband off to die in battle.  These stories show us how God works through unexpected people and situations.  Tamar faced injustice but found a way to preserve her family. The story shows that God can bring justice and hope, even in the toughest situations.  Rahab, a former prostitute, from Canaan, saved her family through her faith.  She hid a couple of Joshua ‘s spies and asked them in return to spare her family.  This reminds us that God accepts everyone who seeks Him, no matter their past. Ruth, a widow, became part of God’s plan through her loyalty and faith.  Her story shows that God’s love extends to all people, even foreigners.  And Bathsheba is connected to David’s sin, as he married her and sent her husband off to battle to be killed. Her life is part of the story of restoration and covenant.  She became the mother of Solomon and part of the lineage of the Messiah. These women remind us that God worked through all kinds of people, no matter their background or past.  No one is beyond His love or grace.  
St Athanasios the Great said, “God became man so that man might become God”.  Jesus Christ, being fully God and fully human came to bring us closer to God.  He did not stay distant but entered our world to save us.  The genealogy of Jesus Christ always reminds us that God’s plan is always at work, even when we fail to see it.  It leads us to the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel, which means God is with us.  Here is the important part:  God’s story does not end here.  It continues through each of us.  In Baptism we become part of his family.  We are called to share His love and light in our daily life. St Athanasios teaches us that we are called to draw closer to God, to share His love, peace and. Holiness.  This is the true purpose and joy of life.  As we prepare for Christmas let us be inspired by this message.  Trust in God’s love, rejoice in His promises and take steps to grow closer to Him every day.  No matter who we are or what our past looks like, God has called each of us to bring His light to the world. May the Lord who came to live among us, fill our hearts with joy. Amen. 

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​Tuesday January 7, 2025
by Fr Nicholas Karipoff
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Christmas, the Nativity of Christ! This is the beginning of the greatest thirty-three years of the history of the world!  Emmanuel, God with us, is here. The Bible is all about God’s providence for us before time.  God foresees the hundreds, even the thousands of events in sacred and secular world history all geared towards His coming.  God the Saviour comes in the humility of a baby born in Bethlehem, as we have just heard. (Mathew 2:1 – 12). When we look at the simple stories of His birth in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, we can see that there is connection there with the events in Rome, other places in the world and in Israel.  Many nations and tribes are unified for the first time under Rome.  The Church sees this as an image of the coming unity in the Holy Spirit.  It is reflected in our Christmas service.  When the Roman Emperor, Octavian Augustus, commands that a census is to be conducted of everyone in the Roman Empire, he unknowingly facilitates the fulfilment of Micah’s prophecy that Jesus Christ, the Heavenly Bread, is born in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem means “the house of bread” in Hebrew.  Persian Astronomers, saw a bright new star in the constellation of Pisces. Pisces was a sign of Israel in the ancient world because all those constellations were attributed to different nations.  The Magi knew that they had to come to Jerusalem.  They tell King Herod and his court that the King of Kings is born and ask where to find Him. They are informed by the scribes that Christ must be born in Bethlehem. It seems strange that the visitation by the Magi and their explanation of the star seen in Israel is forgotten thirty years later, as well as the excitement that the shepherds shared to everyone that the angels were singing about the birth of Christ.  All these incredible events were forgotten!  Christ is referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, and Israel was still waiting for the Messiah who was to come from Bethlehem. But He is Jesus of Bethlehem! They somehow forgot, but that was part of God’s plan, too. He wants people to recognise Him with their hearts. 
The events of secular history can be used by God for His purposes.  The world remains ignorant, of course, and continues to behave like Herod, trying often enough to kill the newborn king. We live in times when Christ seems to have been driven out of the world, almost completely, but two thousand years ago He also did not find a place anywhere for Himself to be born.  The King of Kings was born in a cave, used as a barn.  The world did not want Him.  He then had to flee from Herod who wanted to kill Him. 
God has a way of turning any adversity into victory and triumph.  It begins thirty-three years later in the biggest way, with the Cross and the Resurrection just when everything seemed like it was finished.  Christ even said, “It is finished”, but in a good way.  It is completed and the world did not notice.  Not long ago we saw the churches almost completely close when we experienced the lockdowns.  Then people had a chance to stop and think about themselves and their life, maybe for the first time. Many people found Christ and Orthodoxy.  
Christmas is a festive promise that God is truly with us.  Emmanuel – God with us.  In His providence He directs the life of the church and the life of the world and the life of each one of us. Even with the worst challenges that can come our way, let us never be discouraged by anything that happens, either in the world, in the church or in our life, because Christ is with us. 

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Sunday January 12 
By Archbishop George Shaefer

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and seeing this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen Him, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. (Luke 2: 15-20)

Beloved in the Lord, Clergy and Faithful of the Australian and New Zealand Diocese!
As we celebrate the Blessed Nativity of Our Saviour each year, we are always drawn to this miraculous scene when the invisible spiritual world was revealed to men. Hosts of angels appeared to simple shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem, glorifying our Creator, singing praises to Him, and proclaiming His incarnation. They announced to the shepherds, and through them to all of mankind, the birth of the Saviour, Christ the Lord, telling them how they would find Him wrapped in swaddling clothes. The shepherds then hastened to see the Lord and worship Him and went away glorifying God and spreading the good news about what they had seen and heard. We likewise are all called not only to come and see the Lord and worship Him, but also to go forth and proclaim the good news of the Saviour’s birth. We should be proclaiming the good news of the Gospel not only in word, but also in deed, by living the Gospel. Just as the star led the Magi to Bethlehem (according to St. John Chrysostom the star was actually an angel), our good works should lead people to the Truth, as our Saviour Himself
instructs us: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt 5: 16). We must not be swallowed up by the world lying in darkness but make every effort to be in the world but not of the world, consciously rejecting the mindset of today’s society. Like good and faithful servants, we should increase the talents bestowed on us from the Lord, using them to spread the Gospel. May we not bury our talents in the ground, as we wait for our Lord to appear. May we not be the fulfillment to the words of our Saviour: “when the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). I ask all of the faithful to make an effort to extend a helping hand to all those in need, giving alms to the poor, donations to the churches, helping them to bring the Word of God and grace to the world, helping others in whatever way you can, thereby showing love to your fellow man and fulfilling the commandment of God. A new commandment I give unto you. That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13: 34-35)
I greet you all, brothers and sisters, with the Feast of the Nativity of Christ our Saviour!  Amen.

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​Sunday 19 January 2025 The Feast of Theophany
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 
Today’s feast of Holy Theophany is connected on many different many levels with the feast of Christmas which we just celebrated not long ago. The early church celebrated the two events on one occasion, it was called the Theophany, meaning the appearance or manifestation of God, celebrating both the birth of Jesus and His proclamation as the Christ by John the Baptist and by the Father and the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the deepest connection of Bethlehem with the Jordan River is at the level of Christ’s humility. St John the Baptist said that he did not know Jesus Christ before he came to the Jordan. He may have thought that the Messiah would appear in glory immediately. Like the apostles, he was part of that culture, which visualised the messiah as a glorious king, who would make himself apparent in a powerful way. St John himself projected an image of great spiritual power and was accepted by the vast majority of Israel as a powerful prophet. Some even wondered if maybe he was the messiah.  There is a tradition in the church that he had such a booming voice that he could be heard a long distance away. Thousands of people came and trembled as they heard him. Yet St John, in all this power, speaks of himself as the lowest servant of the coming messiah. 
 
When St John sees Jesus coming and recognises him as the lamb of God, he tries, as we heard in today’s gospel, to refuse to baptise him because he said, ‘I need to be baptised by you’. John spoke out of a deep sense of humility, but the humility of God is greater than the humility of any human being. Christ tells St John that all righteousness must be fulfilled. This is the beginning of purification and forgiveness and salvation of humanity. This happens through God’s humanity in Christ. We hear from St Paul’s letter to Titus, which preceded the gospel today, that God, ‘Saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit’.  The icon of Jesus Christ in the waters of Jordan is an image of our entry of our life in Christ through water and the spirit and the essential character of this life is meekness and humility as Christ said. We learn from Him. Opposite to this is pride, which is the source of all sin. It makes us aggressive towards one another as we attempt to assert our sinful will on other people. Only humility can make us meek, ready to sacrifice our ego for the other person rather than be aggressive. We sacrifice our egos the sake of Christ’s peace and for the grace of God that brings salvation to all men, as we hear in St Pauls letter to Titus.
 
Today is Theophany, the appearance of Christ and the manifestation of one God in the Trinity. May we always be ready to make the first step towards our neighbour in humility to overcome all temptations, all hurts. To come to that trinitarian unity of love brought to our earth by our Saviour. 

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​Sunday 26 January 2025
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 
On Sunday after Theophany every year we hear the words of the Lord like the peal of a large bell, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’. The Kingdom of Heaven is a way of life that is radically different in spirit. To access this life, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven – Christ’s church - we have to repent. St John the Baptist spoke of the need to bring fruits of repentance. Words are not enough. Action is needed to prove our resolve to seek this spirit of Christ. The holy fathers and holy mothers speak of doing the opposite things to the passions within us to limit bodily drives: instead of curiosity guard your eyes; instead of blaming the other person, blame yourself and it goes on and on. Passions are God-given drives, but they have become distorted through the fall and are the weeds which suppress God’s good wheat. 
 
The passions are expressions of our false self, our selfish ego. In the words of the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, ‘The other (person) is hell’ and that is how our selfish ego sees things. But for Christ, it is the opposite. Our salvation is in our neighbour. St Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 4, which we heard before the Gospel, speaks of unity of spirit and the bond of peace. The life of the ego as expressed in the passions is fragmentation and alienation. That is the essence of the effect of the fall. There is a kind of schizophrenia inside of us and between us. There can be superficial unity that can only be constructed by force and through fear. It is superficial. The moment that the fear disappears it all falls apart.  Real unity can be achieved through humility, gentleness and patience in putting up with one another in love. 
 
This is an impossible task without the strength that is given in Christ’s kingdom of heaven, the Church, the life in Christ. So let us hear that bell today. Repent, change your heart by redirecting your heart to things that are very different from what people normally love to love.  We soon begin our annual course in our spiritual life, Great Lent, and we begin learning that this change of the spirit in our real life happens in secret. Nobody can see it. We do not condemn people who live the life of the world.  We continue showing them our love. We need to learn how to blame and condemn only ourselves. The good thief judged himself and was forgiven by the merciful judge. The fathers teach if you judge yourself God will not judge you. This is the teaching of the Gospel. This is the teaching of the holy fathers.

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