Orthodox Christians will bear three things in mind if they want to live honestly and in a God-pleasing way. These three things can be stated as both dangers to avoid and, in the opposite sense, opportunities to embrace.

The first concerns not living as an unconscious Christian, that is, not being informed and mindful of how a Christian should live and why. An example will make this clear. There are two ways in which my leg can move. If you hit the tendon at the front of my knee, as we know, my leg will jerk upwards. This is a reflexive, automatic reaction. I have no control in those circumstances of what my leg will do. However, my leg can also move in a conscious and voluntary way, and although an automatic response is vital in situations of danger, voluntary conscious responses are generally more useful.

In Christian terms, therefore, it is better to make voluntary, conscious choices based on an informed approach to how we should live. Those Christians who only ever respond automatically to a given situation are not truly spiritually connected. So for example, a person may know what to do when someone dies, almost without thinking about it. Such person, however, when asked: “why do you think such things have to be done?” - will often not know how to answer, except perhaps to say: “we have always done this.” A truly God pleasing work is done in a voluntary conscious and informed way. We should, therefore, take pains to get better informed about how to live as Orthodox Christians; not based on unquestioned, automatic responses, but in a thoughtful and well educated way. No one can accuse this Church of St Aidan for failing to provide the means for all Christians here to adopt this more thoughtful and educated approach. The first step, as we know must be to read the Bible and the Fathers in a regular and systematic way. Steps beyond that require good counsel from a spiritual father or mother.  Let us move on now to the second danger and its corresponding opportunity.

The Christian gospel is not an invitation to an easy life. It is an invitation to take up our cross daily and follow Christ. This is made abundantly clear in the Apostle reading that we have heard this morning. Let us hear the relevant section again:

9 For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonoured! 11 To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. 12 And we labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; 13 being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the off scouring of all things until now.

St Paul is referring, of course, to the sufferings that he gladly embraces as part of his apostolic call to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.  Immediately we might detect a ‘get-out clause’ excusing us from the same commitments that the devil pops into our minds. It goes something like this: - “St Paul was an Apostle, an extraordinary man with a special mission from God; I am not. This kind of life is not expected of me.” Such a diabolical temptation must be resisted firmly and immediately. It is true that we cannot tell all the time what God may be calling us to do. That only becomes clear when we pray and when we pray we should stop talking every now and again and listen. God will reveal to us His will if we say unto him as our Lady said: “let it be it unto me according to thy Word.” His call may lead to an ordinary or an extraordinary act or commitment. It matters not; if it is His will, we must obey either way. One thing is for sure, whether ordinary or extraordinary, our task will always involve the way of the cross; not the way of comfort and ease or the broad path that leads to destruction. We must be prepared, like St Paul, and in conformity with Christ’s own teaching in the Beatitudes, to suffer for his sake; to bear the brunt of ridicule, opposition and even persecution. As they say nowadays to men and women alike, and yes, to children also: “Man up, [and we add], follow Christ to Golgotha.”

Finally, the third aspect to get straight in our minds and hearts is the true motivation for what we do. The call to love sacrificially is not done from the fear of hell and its punishments or the desire for heaven and its rewards. The call to love in the way of the cross is its own reward and we must leave the final judgement of our thoughts and actions in this life to God’s mercy and compassion in the next. We cannot let our motivation shift from the object and desire of our love and service to secondary matters about whether or not this will benefit us in some way.  That is not the way of the cross. It is to poison love with self-interest, and we cannot allow that. All that should concern us is the good of the people we serve and in the context of a humble confidence in the love of God to correct our errors and faults and make good that which we all imperfectly aspire to in our witness.

So to recap briefly, let us be mindful and informed about what we do, let us do God’s will and embrace the suffering that will inevitably follow, and finally, let us love unconditionally, as far as we are able, and by God’s grace without any thought for ourselves. God is the righteous Judge and in His mercy he will vindicate His children on the Last Day.