Sermons Fr.Mark

Sermons

Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 8, tell the Parable of the Sower; also known as the Parable of the Soils.  Any farmer or gardener will tell you that the fullness of the growth of that which is planted is infinitely dependent on the health of the soil in which the seed has been sown.  In this parable, Jesus is both the sower and the seed.  Today, as we hear our Lord describe to His disciples the various conditions of soil that have a direct impact on the seed that has been planted, our role is to hear Him and let Him discern the condition of the soil of our soul.  The cultivation of the soil of our soul with the help of our Lord is essential to the fullness of His life and His Kingdom blossoming forth in and from our lives.

Evaluating the Condition of the Soil of our Soul

Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the beginnings of the Church, poured out gifts and ministry so that each living stone in the Church could minister His salvation one to another and to this world. Satan used the humanity in the Church to twist those gifts into tools of division.  St. Paul writes about this in Ephesians, 1 Corinthians, and Romans.  In each of those writings, St. Paul corrects and exhorts the children of God giving them the remedy to this problem.  Today we look at St. Paul's writing in Ephesians chapter 4.  There the Apostle teaches the Church that the foundation for every ministry in Christ must match the Divine Nature of our Lord.  That foundation is love which stands upon the pillars of the virtues of humility, meekness, and longsuffering.

Humility, Meekness, & Longsuffering:  The Pillars of Christian Ministry

In Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" Ebeneezer Scrooge is described as a self-absorbed old miser who lives only for himself. He is devoid of any community and, in this brief life, lives only for the gain and preservation of things non-eternal with blinders on to suffering humanity all around him.  This is the same description Jesus gives of the rich man in the Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus.  Both Scrooge and the rich man were on a collision course with an eternal fate that no one would desire.  Today we look at how Scrooge was brought to beautiful tears of repentance which freed him to become love and be enabled to receive love in one of the most beautiful descriptions of the transformation of a very broken person. There is a little of Scrooge and the rich man in each of us, how might we come to enjoy the fullness of life that is only found in becoming the love of God for those around us?

Ebeneezer Scrooge and the Parable of the Rich Man & Lazarus

In the Parable of the Great Supper from St. Luke 14, our Lord reveals the heart of God and His framework for the salvation of mankind.  It is God Who prepares the banquet inviting all to come in and partake of His goodness.  But some who were invited make non-eternal excuses for why they cannot accept His invitation while many others come and receive the goodness of God.  In this parable, our Lord wants us to see that our priorities are excellent indicators of that which our heart truly desires. May we all allow our Lord to turn our hearts to love Him above all things that we may enjoy the fullness of His banquet of salvation.

The Question of Priorities

In 1 Peter 5 St. Peter teaches the entire Church, both Clergy and Laity, how they are to live in relationship to God and to one another.  The Apostle implores all to live from Christ's Nature of Humility.  Today we open our souls to see the value of this great virtue and how Christ desires to free us from the service of ourselves and the consuming thoughts we have about ourselves.  May Christ set us free so that we may live in the joy of doing His will.

Humility in the Life of the Church

It can be said that the Christian life is broken down into three phases. First, the joy and excitement of conversion.  Second, there is a season of struggle where God can feel very distant or absent in our lives.  The third phase is the blessedness of a grown and matured faith that grants us such a deeper experience of God in our lives.  Today we focus on how to best live and weather the storm of the season of our journey with Christ through the sufferings of this life.  Allowing Christ to be a part of our great sufferings helps us to know Him in ways we never could before.

How to Live in Times of Suffering & Struggle

Our Gospel reading today is the miraculous catch of fish in St. Luke 5.  Today we look at all that transpired to see the true framework for the fulfilling of the Great Commission by Christian evangelism.  Evangelism, and every good work, begins with our encounter and experience with Christ our God.  There faith is born enabling us to follow Christ beyond our human reason.  At the catch of fish, Christ invited Simon Peter to cooperate with Him in this wondrous miracle.  Simon Peter, when asked to go into the deep waters and cast the net, said to the Lord, "At your word, I will." Christ did the rest and the miraculous catch of fish took place.  Our Lord is the beginning and the end of all Christian evangelism. And we are changed as we cooperate with Him.

The True Nature of Christian Evangelism

June 1, 2020 - Today is the only Sunday in the Season of Ascensiontide, that Season between the Ascension and Pentecost.  On this day we are reminded that as Christ Ascended keeping fully our humanity joined to His Divinity, He did so that we might become participators in His Divine nature all of our days.  He ascended so that we could ascend from every result of the Fall of man and into the experience of the fullness of His Kingdom.  Today we remember with wonder what God has offered to us all.

Christ Ascended So That We Could Ascend

June 7, 2020 - We celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, a day that would absolutely change everything.  On this day our Lord fulfilled His promise to endue His disciples with power from on high as He would send them the promised Holy Spirit giving them this power, this grace, for their salvation.  And, they were given power to become the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ upon the earth.  The result on that day is that 3,000 experience the living Lord Jesus Christ and received the same promised Holy Spirit through the waters of Baptism.  On this day we remember the mighty work of God through the Sacrament of Baptism.  And we remember that by virtue of our becoming recipients of the same power and grace by the Holy Spirit, we have become the continuation of the ministry of Christ in the earth for the offering of His salvation to all.

Pentecost:  We Have Received Power From on High

June 21, 2020 - Today is the first Sunday in the longest liturgical season of the year, Trinitytide.  Having remembered by grace the conception, birth, life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, having celebrated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all of those in Christ at Pentecost we turn our attention throughout this blessed season to learn how shall we now live because of all of this.  On the first Sunday after Trinity, our Lord so faithfully sets the stage by calling us to become love as God is love.  This homily encourages us to offer ourselves to Christ in such a way that we become the experience of the love that God is for all around us.

Called to the Highest Virtue

June 29, 2020 - In the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 14 Jesus tells the parable of the Invitation to the Great Supper.  The Great Supper that all are invited into is life in the Kingdom of God where He feeds us His mercy, His healing, and His power unto the salvation of our souls.  We also come to understand that we, Christ's Body in the earth, bear within us the imprint of this invitation to all who dwell in chaos and darkness.  If there was ever a time that we needed to show ourselves to be the Ark of Salvation with all of the chaos, violence, fears, and worries all around us; is it not right now.  This message is a call for the Body of Christ to not be conformed by the patterns of this world, but to live and dwell as citizens of the Kingdom of God alone.  If we will be the Ark of Salvation now, souls living in chaos and confusion will see what life is like for citizens of the Great Supper and they will come and dine with us.

Being the Ark of Salvation in the Midst of Today's Chaos

At St. Peter Orthodox Church, you will find a people committed to our Lord and to one another. Everything we do in our Parish is to either encourage us toward maturity in our Christian life or to be a means by which we can encounter the reality and grace of God toward the healing of our soul.