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in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Through
the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and
save us. Amen. Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King,
the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury
of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every
impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal,
have mercy on us (three times).
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.
All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us. Lord, cleanse us from our sins. Master, pardon our iniquities. Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities for
Your Name’s sake. Lord have mercy (three times).
July
20, 2014 Sunday Sermon, Cosmic Events
Old
Testament Lesson
Exodus 20:1-17, The Decalogue: The Law
And God spoke all these
words,
“I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You shall not have
other gods before Me.
You shall not make
for yourself any graven image:
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down
yourself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God am
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third
and fourth generation of those who hate Me; and showing mercy to thousands of those
who love Me and keep My commandments.
You shall not take
the name of the Lord Your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold
him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day
to keep it holy. You shall labor six days,
and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: You shall not do any work
in it: not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor
your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates:
for in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and
hallowed it.
The
First Commandment with promise
Honor your father and your mother: that your days may be long on the land which
the Lord your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit
adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; You shall not covet
your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his
ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
The
Psalms
Psalm 119:12, 18
Blessed are You, O Lord: teach me Your Statutes.
Open my eyes, so that
I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.
Psalm 110:1-7
The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right
hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
The Lord shall send the rod of your strength
out of Zion: rule in the midst of your enemies.
Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties
of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
The Lord has sworn, and will not repent, “You
are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”
The Lord at your
right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen. He shall fill the places with the dead bodies.
He shall wound the heads over many
countries.
He shall drink of the
brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
Psalm 114:1-8
When Israel went out
of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his
sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
The sea saw it, and
fled. Jordan was driven back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little
hills like lambs. What ailed you, O you
sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you
were driven back? You mountains, that you
skipped like rams? You little hills,
like lambs?
Tremble, you earth,
at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; Who turned
the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
The
Revelation
Revelation 4:1-11
After this I looked, and,
behold, a door was opened in heaven. The
first voice I heard was like a trumpet talking with me; who said, “Come up here,
and I will show thee things which must come after.” Immediately I was in the spirit. Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat
on the throne. He looked like a jasper and
a sardius stone. There was a rainbow around
His throne, in sight like an emerald.
Around the throne were
twenty-four thrones: and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed
in white raiment; and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
Out of the throne proceeded
lightning and thunder and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before
the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
Before the throne there
was a sea of glass like crystal. In the midst
of the throne, and around the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. The first beast was like a lion. The second beast like a calf. The third beast had a face like a man. The fourth beast was like a flying eagle. Each of the four beasts had six wings around him,
and they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying,
“Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Pantokrator, Who is, Who was, and Who is coming.”
These beasts give glory
and honor and thanks to Him, Who sits on the throne, Who lives for ever and ever. The twenty-four elders fall down before Him,
Who sits on the throne, and worship Him, Who lives for ever and ever, casting their
crowns before the throne, saying,
“You are worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honor and power: for You have created all things, and for Your
pleasure they are and were created.”
The
Homily
Cosmic Events. Let’s face it. We take the Bible for granted. All too often we read the Bible and it flows
in one ear and out of the other ear, without pausing in between; sometimes we
fail to read it at all. In large
segments of The Church, the Old Testament is not read at all: no wonder we don’t
understand the New Testament. The Old
Testament in Greek was the Bible of the New Testament Church: it was their
worship manual, their evangelism manual, their standard of preaching and
teaching. From the Old Testament in
Greek the New Testament Church and the New Testament Scripture grew together
side by side. The Church could not exist
without the Old Testament in Greek, the Septuagint. It is the disgrace of The Church that the Old
Testament is not read.
Both the Old and New Testaments are
filled with Cosmic Events. Media people
love expressions like “an epic of biblical proportions.” I don’t think they really have any idea what
that means. When Jesus was borne, Angels
sang, the stars themselves were shaken, nothing in the Universe remained
unmoved, even the rocks cried out, a handful of shepherds, and a few Persian
dignitaries. Herod grumped about it and
took lethal action. Nobody else
noticed. Why didn’t anybody notice?
Yes, the Old and New Testaments are
filled with Cosmic Events. Events of
such proportions that they shook and still shake the Universe itself: Creation,
Abraham’s would-be sacrifice of Isaac, the flight into and out of Egypt, the
giving of the Law, the entry into the Holy Land, the coming of David and
Solomon, the voices of the prophets, the destruction of Jerusalem; the Incarnation,
birth, life, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Enthronement of Jesus
Christ, God’s Own Son on the Day of Pentecost, in 33 AD.
Considering the magnitude and
significance of such events, how can we be so inattentive? How can we persist in asserting our petty
wills against His? How can we be so indifferent? Do we not realize what is going on all around
us?[1]
[1] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations,
please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish. No rights are reserved. They are designed and intended for your free
participation. They were freely
received, and are freely given. No other
permission is required for their use.
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