Dear all.
Gospel reading
Yesterday’s gospel of the great banquet (Luke 14:16 – 24) is a teaching of great warning as to the consequences of not being committed when called by the Lord. God calls us in many and various ways and in this case he invited his chosen not once, when he set the date for the banquet, but twice through his servant. At no time does God cease to call us to him.
Yet his chosen, begged off, giving all sorts of rationale as to why they could not attend the feast when called. The upshot of that is that they have precluded themselves from the banquet. Though their failure to act they were no longer invited nor chosen to be at the banquet. Do you see the terrible price that is paid for those who do not heed the invitation of the Lord?
The Lord has a divine plan for our salvation. His incarnation, ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension were all part of this plan to resurrect our fallen nature. As St Athanasius put it: God became man so that man could become God. For all his might and power however there is one thing that God cannot do: and that is to make us love him. Man has free will to love and accept Christ. If man can exercise that will in favour of Christ then most certainly he can exercise that will to reject him.
The house of the Lord will not remain unfilled. Others have now been called and are now the chosen. We, the chosen equally can now choose to ignore the call to attend or accept the invitation. Whatever would we choose has dire consequences. Make no mistake the Lord’s house will be filled. We who have lived in darkness have now seen a great light which drives out the darkness and our own experience compels us to be in the house of the Lord.
All are called. If we do not hear that call we will be locked out of the feast. Others will take our place. The losers will be ourselves and that loss is something that we will not understand until the next world. Most certainly there is a chasm between this world and the next but for all that are we prepared to risk eternity by denying the call? Is it sensible to say I can defer attending the side of Christ in the knowledge that I am called NOW!? The answer, I think is self-evident, delay at your peril. In this case, indifference is death.
Programme for this week
Please refer to the programme sent last week. Also, please visit our web site as we are constantly updating it now and the programme as well as other information can be found there.
Raffle
Our raffle was drawn yesterday and the results are as follows:
- First prize – ticket number 1737 in the name of John Stamatis. Congratulations to John for winning $3500 as well as four nights’ accommodation at Afkos Grammos Boutique Resort in Nestorio, Greece;
- Second prize – ticket number 2457 in the name of “A.DI” of 4 Brookland Cres Marangaroo; congratulations for winning the 9 karat gold earrings valued $900;
- Third prize – ticket number 1892 to NPK; congratulations to Nick for winning the unisex cross valued at $420.
To the rest: commiserations… And better luck next time!
To all, thank you for supporting the raffle of St Nektarios.
Sunday school/Christmas carols breakup party
Yesterday afternoon the weather was inclement. We resolved that we could not hold our function in the garden and instead held it in the church. Everyone agreed that it was the best breakup party yet. The children especially were great. A thank you to all the mothers for dressing up their children and bringing a plate to share. Henceforth, I think we will be presenting the formal programme inside the church and using outside for the party.
Flower and coffee roster
There are still plenty of spaces both on the coffee and the flower roster. Please consider putting your name down and assist with these two rosters.
Thought for the week
We’re all adept at finding justification for our actions. However, it is our choices that justify us. It does not matter what the mouth says but what the heart feels. If the heart is indifferent then no amount of glib words can bridge the gulf for ultimately indifference is the destruction of love.
(Editor’s note: A collection of Father John’s past thoughts are now available on the website. Please find it here.)
Till next time.
In Christ.
Father John Athanasiou – 0411 061 554
Write a comment: