The Good Shepherd Orthodox Church: Sermons

Епизоди

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  The Wedding Garment: Making the Most of What Christ Offers 09.09.2026 13мин

  6th September 2026: Preaching on Father's Day, Sub Dn. Timothy Grace takes up the parable of the wedding feast and the guest without a garment. In the ancient world the host supplied the garments, so to arrive without one was not poverty but insult — and Christ, the great host, has supplied us with everything we need. Drawing on St. Symeon the New Theologian's call to run to the light while it still shines, he asks what excuse any of us will offer for not becoming holy. He closes with a word to fathers on steering between indifference and control, and on St. Paul as a model of invested, un-domineering fatherhood. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:42 The Parable of the Wedding Feast 2:15 What the Parable Reveals 3:01 Christ the Great Host 4:09 St Symeon: Run to the Light 6:18 A Word for Fathers 7:47 Between Scylla and Charybdis 11:09 St Paul's Model of Fatherhood
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  Tenants in the Vineyard: Saved by Grace, Made to Love 09.09.2026 15мин

  30th August 2026: Preaching on the parable of the wicked tenants, Fr. Geoff Harvey holds together two truths that can seem to pull against each other: we are saved by grace and not by works, yet a faith that bears no love has no life in it. The tenants' great failure did not begin with murder but with forgetting whose vineyard it was. Fr. Geoff offers three simple charges — stand firm in the faith, serve one another in love, and show love to the Lord — and points us to the stone the builders rejected, who has become the cornerstone of our salvation. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:21 Saved by Grace, Not by Works 2:42 The Parable of the Vineyard 4:33 It Began with Forgetting 5:00 Stand Firm in the Faith 7:11 Serve One Another in Love 10:12 Show Love to the Lord 12:21 From Rejection Came Resurrection
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  The Rich Young Ruler: What Has a Hold on Your Heart? 09.09.2026 10мин

  23rd August 2026: In this sermon on the rich young ruler, Daniel McInnes asks what it really means when Christ tells the young man to sell all he has. The problem, he explains, was never wealth itself, but the hold that wealth had over the young man's heart. Whatever sits on the throne of our hearts in Christ's place becomes a weight around our necks, and the godly sorrow of seeing it clearly is the beginning of repentance. When Christ is at the centre, the good things of this world are not denied us but restored to their right place. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:39 Do Not Come with Flattery 1:33 Keeping the Commandments 2:13 Wealth Is Not the Problem 4:08 Godly Sorrow and Repentance 5:23 The Throne of Our Hearts 6:38 Christ at the Centre 8:51 With God All Things Are Possible
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  The Two Kinds of Suffering: Voluntary and Involuntary 11.08.2026 15мин

  9th August 2026: In this sermon, Sub Dn. Timothy Grace explores the Orthodox understanding of suffering, distinguishing between the voluntary hardships we take on through the ascetic disciplines of the Church and the involuntary trials that come to us against our will. Drawing on the day's epistle and gospel readings, he shows how both kinds of suffering, when met with patience and the right attitude, can open the heart to the grace of God. He reminds us that the Church is the place where these two forms of suffering meet, and that even what feels like failure by the world's standards can become our victory in Christ. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:56 Voluntary Suffering & Corinth 3:31 The Ascetic Disciplines 5:19 Christ Sets the Example 6:28 Involuntary Suffering 7:58 The Gospel & St Gregory 9:24 The Great Paradox 11:14 St Sophrony on the Paradox 12:13 The Church: Where the Two Meet 13:13 Making Involuntary Voluntary 13:42 Conclusion
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  What Will You Do? The Feeding of the Five Thousand 28.07.2026 8мин

  26th July 2026: In this sermon on the feeding of the five thousand, Daniel McInnes reads St Matthew's account alongside the fuller detail of St John's Gospel, where Christ tests the disciples with the question, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" Daniel draws out how God chooses to work through people who bring the little they have, how the miracle foreshadows the Eucharist, and how the same question — "What will you do?" — meets us in the needs we encounter every day.
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  You Are the Light of the World: Holiness and the Faith of Chalcedon 20.07.2026 8мин

  19th July 2026: Preached by Fr. Nicholas on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council, this sermon joins two themes: Christ's call in the Sermon on the Mount, "You are the light of the world," and the faith defined at Chalcedon in 451. Fr. Nicholas shows how holiness and true doctrine belong together — the light of Christ shines through both holy living and the confession of Christ as fully God and fully man — and calls us to remove whatever hides that light so that our lives may lead others to glorify God.
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  Discovering Our Gifts and the Virtue of Filotimo 20.07.2026 16мин

  12th July 2026: Preached by Sub Dn. Timothy Grace on the Sunday commemorating St. Paisios of Mount Athos, this sermon draws on St. Paul's letter to the Romans to explore both the unique gifts God gives each of us and the calling shared by all Christians. Through the lives of the saints, the Greek virtue of filotimo — a loving eagerness to do good — and the words of C.S. Lewis, Timothy shows how we grow in holiness by forgetting ourselves and losing our lives in Christ.
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  Christ Conquers: Freedom from Bondage and the Fruit of the Spirit 08.07.2026 18мин

  5th July 2026: Fr. Geoff Harvey reflects on the deliberate contrast between this Sunday's Gospel and Epistle: the two demoniacs enslaved by evil, and the fruit of the Spirit that grows in those who follow Christ. Drawing on the sobering example of Judas, he calls us to stay close to Christ, cultivate one fruit of the Spirit, and bear one another's burdens.
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  The Faith of the Centurion: Humility and the Work of Repentance 29.06.2026 12мин

  28th June 2026: Daniel McInnes reflects on the Gospel account of the Roman centurion who comes to Christ on behalf of his suffering servant. He draws out the centurion's remarkable humility, his compassion for one beneath his social standing, and his unwavering faith in Christ's authority to heal. Daniel challenges us to turn that same gaze back on ourselves and to take up the work of repentance and the life of virtue within the Church.
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  Where Is Your Heart Fixed? Seeking First the Kingdom of God 24.06.2026 7мин

  21st June 2026: Fr. Nicholas Frazer reflects on the Gospel and Epistle readings and the single question they place before us: where is your heart fixed? Drawing on Christ's words about the eye, treasure, and anxiety, he shows how seeking God's kingdom first transforms worry into trust, resting our lives in the love of a faithful Father.
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  The Saints of Antioch: Three Lessons for the Antiochian Orthodox Church 14.06.2026 15мин

  14th June 2026: Sub Dn. Timothy Grace reflects on the Sunday of the Saints of Antioch, drawing on the lives of three great Antiochian saints — St. Raphael of Brooklyn, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Marina of Antioch — to highlight three enduring qualities of the Antiochian Orthodox Church: a cosmopolitan missionary spirit, a practical and grounded faith, and the grace of bearing suffering with heavenly hope.
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  Called to Holiness: The True Purpose of the Church 12.06.2026 21мин

  7th June 2026: Fr. Geoff Harvey reflects on the Sunday of All Saints, exploring the Orthodox Church's true purpose: to transform ordinary people into saints. He examines what holiness really means, the commitment it requires, and how we are all called to become citizens of God's eternal kingdom, using the lives of the saints as witnesses to Christ's transforming power.
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  Living Water and the Harvest: A Sermon for Pentecost 02.06.2026 4мин

  31st May 2026: In this Pentecost sermon, Daniel McInnes traces the Jewish roots of the feast back to the Torah's harvest festival, and shows its Christian fulfilment in the descent of the Holy Spirit. Drawing on Christ's words about living water in John's Gospel, he calls the Church to be filled with the Spirit and go out into the world to bring in the harvest of souls.
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  One in Faith, One in Love: The Council of Nicaea and the Trinitarian Life 26.05.2026 6мин

  24th May 2026: In this sermon for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, Fr. Nicholas Frazer reflects on the Council of Nicaea and Christ's high priestly prayer in John 17. He draws together the Church's Nicene confession with the call to trinitarian prayer, worship, and unity — showing how truth and love, Orthodoxy and orthopraxy, belong inseparably together in the life of the Church.
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  Blindness, Trust, and the God Who Works in Unexpected Ways 21.05.2026 12мин

  17th May 2026: In this sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Pascha — the Sunday of the Blind Man — Sub Deacon Timothy Grace reflects on Christ's healing of the man born blind alongside the story of Paul and Silas in prison and the life of Abba Anastasios. He explores God's apophatic nature, the call to trust his hidden work in our own darkness, and how this freedom can lead us to wonderworking acts of grace in the world.
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  The Well, the Witness, and the Worldwide Mission 16.05.2026 17мин

  10th May 2026: In this sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Pascha, Fr. Geoff Harvey reflects on the encounter between Christ and St. Photini at the well of Samaria, drawing together the Gospel of John and the Acts of the Apostles. Under three headings — the well, the witness, and the worldwide mission — he explores how Christ meets us in our weakness, how transformed people naturally proclaim Christ, and how one encounter at a well can overflow into a missionary church that reaches the whole world through the power of multiplication.
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  Do You Want to Be Healed? A Sermon on the Paralytic at the Sheep Pool 04.05.2026 10мин

  3rd May 2026: In this sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Pascha, Daniel McInnes reflects on the healing of the paralyzed man at the Sheep Pool and draws contrasts with the apostolic healings in Acts — Aeneas and Tabitha. He explores the Church's primary image as a hospital for souls, the difference between isolation and community, and the call to bear one another's burdens as we approach the feast of Pentecost.
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  Divine Liturgy, 25 August 2024 02.05.2026 2ч 10мин
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  Who Will Roll Away the Stone? A Sermon for the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women 27.04.2026 5мин

  26th April 2026: In this sermon for the Third Sunday of Pascha, Fr. Nicholas Frazer reflects on the quiet courage of Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and the Myrrhbearing Women — those who remained faithful to Christ when fear had scattered the disciples. Drawing on the Gospel of Mark, he explores three movements of love: the courage to stand with Christ when it is costly, the faithfulness to seek him even in darkness, and the revelation of the empty tomb, where Christ has already overcome what we fear most.
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  From Doubt to Knowledge: St. Thomas and the Path of Faith 21.04.2026 14мин

  19th April 2026: In this sermon for the Sunday of St. Thomas, Sub Dn. Timothy Grace explores the spiritual journey from crippling doubt to unshakable faith — and ultimately to the knowledge of God. Drawing on the Church Fathers, including St. Gregory the Great, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Cyril of Alexandria, he shows how doubt, surrendered to Christ, becomes the foundation for transforming faith. A message for all who struggle with uncertainty on the journey toward God.