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In this video, Fr. Philip Hall talks about the true ambassadors of Christ among us—the people in need of our love and compassion. From the homeless and lonely, to the exhausted worker and forgotten child, God places these individuals in our path as a test of our hearts. This video reminds us of the importance of showing love, kindness, and empathy.
This is a sermon recorded on March 10th, 2024 at the All Saints of Lincolnshire Orthodox Christian Church, Lincoln, England.
Watch the full sermon on Archimandrite Philip’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG7umJP2bBY
Fr. Philip:
The Lord has ambassadors all over the place: people who are in need of help, they need our love, they need our things. They need clothing, they need food, they need help, they need our presence. Who are they? Well, the beggar sitting in the doorway of the shop. The homeless person sleeping underneath the arch, even the homeless people who come and sleep in our church doorways at the back of this place here. They need our love.
The struggling parents doing their best with their children, maybe no grandparents and great-grandparents around to help them, no uncles and aunties to come to their aid… that’s where we come in. The unwanted problem child in the school, poor lad—poor lass, that none of the teachers like and all the kids say has fleas. That child needs our love. The housebound elderly person spending hour upon hour by herself, wondering if anybody’s going to come.
The person who comes to check out you and spends several moments talking to you about the weather because maybe you’re the only person he’ll talk to all day. The exhausted worker, maybe that same person at the checkout coming to the end of 8 hours, did you treat him or her nicely? Did you thank them, did you smile? Did you engage them in conversation? Did you notice how tired they were? Did you pray for them?
These are things that are more important than fasting. The lonely man with mental health issues who comes to you in his craziness asking for help, the first timer at church—how difficult it is, isn’t it, to be as you were a foreigner in a new land, to walk through the church door and see all these folk all knowing what to do and you have not a clue. All it takes is somebody to say: “Hi! Have you been here before? Oh! Can I show you around? Let me introduce you to the priest…”
The list is endless. All of these people are ambassadors of Christ. They don’t look like them. They’re not wearing stars of office, sashes to show how important they are, they’re not dressed in beautiful clothing. These are the broken, the humiliated, the humble, the poor, the rejected of our society. And they are Christ’s special ones that He has sent out to test us, for us to do something about. He tests them, of course, as well.
I’ve come across cases where one homeless man has given another homeless man money because that other one needed more than he did. If each of these ambassadors to Christ is hiding in plain sight, how did you treat them? It’s a matter of your life and death too. They need your love much more than you need your fasting and prayer. They need your love much more than you need your sacraments, and your reading of the Scriptures, and your prayer meetings. And of course, you shouldn’t neglect any of those either!
Your prayers! God bless you! Amen.
