In this sermon, Fr. Philip Hall explains the spiritual call to outdo one another in showing honor, starting from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and Christ’s healing of the paralytic in the Gospel of Matthew. Fr. Philip tells us how authentic hospitality means offering our time, patience, and prayer, and how genuine forgiveness brings inner restoration, strength, and joy. This is a sermon recorded on July 12th, 2026 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=geBp_t8Pdg4
Fr. Philip:
In the world out there, people work hard in order to bump themselves up in the world and make themselves appear to be more important. They get bigger houses, they get bigger cars, they get fancier clothes, they trade in their old partner for a new and renewed one. All these things are petty, temporary, very temporary. Life goes past very, very, fast.
But what carries on into the next world is that relationship we have with God. And when we do that, we don’t need to worry about what anybody else thinks of us. I don’t need to worry about my standing in the world. What I can do instead is what St. Paul says: We honour everyone else. We show them honour. He says, “Outdo yourself, outdo each other in showing honour to others”, bolstering them up, helping them to see that they too are children of God. That they also are in the image and likeness of God. That they also are loved by God who wishes to forgive them and bring them into that relationship with him.
“Practice hospitality”, says the apostle. Yes, not just by offering home or food or other things like that, but offering care, offering yourself, offering your time, your very being, your patience and your prayer time for them. All this starts with forgiveness, forgiveness that heals from within like that paralytic man, which unites yourself to God and also yourself and then to everybody else. A forgiveness that gives strength to your arms and your legs so that firstly you can go to where you belong and you belong in your home in heaven, but also so that you can do the Lord’s work. You can run with him, you can follow him, you can exercise your strength in his service and that will bring endless joy to you. The forgiveness which allows you to belong to God completely. And that is awesome.
Sometimes the Gospel, this Gospel you find it says the villagers were filled with fear, but the word really means awe. They were filled with awe. They were filled with amazement. They were dumbfounded because what they saw was awesome. A man, they knew, they knew the man. The man paralyzed was able to stand up and walk and pick up his bed and go to his own home where he belonged. Just like each one of them can too, that awestruck. This sort of forgiveness is not empty, it’s creative. This forgiveness is restorative.
It is energizing, vivifying, life-giving. It’s awesome. So live it yourself. And when you hear the Lord’s prayer, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, or forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who forgive those who trespass against us. Then remember what an awesome, wonderful thing that is. Today’s readings are Romans chapter 12 verses 6 to 14 and Matthew chapter 9 verses 1 to 8. Your prayers. God bless you! Amen.
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