Come to “Timeless Wisdom” Melbourne’s Lenten Retreat

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.

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.