In the Church of St. Nicholas, today on the second Sunday before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, the Sunday of the Forefathers and Mothers, the hierarchal vicar of Kotor-Tivat, the parish priest of Kotor, archpriest-stavrophor Nemanja Krivokapić, gave a sermon.

At the liturgy, the Holy Gospel according to Luke (Genesis 76) was read, which tells of a man who prepared a great supper and invited many, but they made excuses that they could not come. The main theme is that everyone is called to the Kingdom of God, but it is up to us to deserve it. As Father Nemanja said, people often find excuses not to accept the invitation to the Kingdom of God, similar to those in the aforementioned Gospel. He emphasizes that, just as one should prepare for a wedding supper, so one should prepare for the Kingdom of God, through prayer, fasting, communion, and good deeds.

He emphasizes that the Kingdom of God is of utmost importance and that we are all called to participate in it, that it is important to reexamine our priorities and not allow everyday concerns to distract us from spiritual life. The coming of Christ is an invitation to the Kingdom of God, and we need to prepare for that coming.

"We heard the Holy Gospel in which the Lord Jesus Christ tells the story of the Kingdom of God. In many places in the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ speaks about this topic. Very often the topic is the Gospel stories, those stories that the Lord Himself tells about the Kingdom of God. So, if He speaks about a topic several times, it means that this topic is very important. Not that He mentioned something in passing, so whoever heard, heard, but if He speaks about that topic several times and in different ways, it means that it is a topic that needs to be thought about intensively. And that is, therefore, the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God has been prepared by God for all of us people. God created this world and all of us, but He also created the Kingdom of God that will follow. So, this life of ours is important, but we are not here only for this life. This life lasts as long as it lasts, short or long, in any case it will pass. We were not created for these 70, 80 or however many years we will live, we were created for something much more important. And here, on this earth, we are to deserve what is more important, which is this Kingdom of God that the Lord is talking about. So, we are all called, as we hear in this Holy Gospel, we are all called to the Kingdom of God.

God, that good God who created this world out of love, imagined how it will all look like afterwards. If He has already created it, then He wants us humans to participate in it. So, we are all called, but it is up to us how and whether we will deserve it, whether we will make an effort to deserve it.

In this Gospel, it speaks precisely about our attitude towards what has been prepared and offered to us. This feast in the Gospel story is a festive feast prepared and everyone is invited, but there are always some excuses and reasons why one cannot come. And in this one, when we listen to this story, one would say how strange these people, a man invites them to a wedding, to a big feast, and they have something more important. So who is funnier, those people or us today, because this story is addressed to us, because we are invited to the greatest possible feast that exists, which is the Kingdom of God, and despite that we always look for some explanation, or justification why we cannot come.

Just as for that festive dinner, this wedding dinner, feast, one needs to prepare, one needs to organize one's time first of all, one needs to prepare, dress nicely and one needs to prepare a gift, bring something to that wedding. So we are also invited to what has been prepared, which is truly priceless, and that is the Kingdom of God, the only thing we need to give something from our side, to organize our time in such a way, to come to the liturgy, to church, to take communion, to fast.

There are always some excuses. I know it's good, you should go to church, you should fast, but now I have to do this and that. Everything is more important than coming to church. That's why there is that God's commandment, six days to work and the seventh to dedicate to the Lord your God. So, God knows that we humans are prone to being distracted, distracted by earthly worries, but it is important to dedicate time to what is important for our eternity. And that is the time of mourning, the time of the Holy Liturgy, fasting and preparing for the most important thing we can, which is Holy Communion. So, take time to prepare. Then prepare. Take a bath, dress beautifully and solemnly for the wedding. That means cleansing your soul and body from sin and decorating it with good deeds. Prepare a gift for the wedding, for the wedding. That means preparing a gift for the Kingdom of God. What is that? These are our good deeds. Works of mercy, forgiveness, compassion for others. These are good works. These are gifts that we need to offer and prepare. We are called, but we need to make a little effort. But there are always some excuses, as we heard in this Holy Gospel. But so it says in the Gospel. Many are called, but few are chosen. Few will respond to what is offered to them.

In the Old Testament, the chosen people were called, but since the coming of Christ, the chosen people are those who have believed in Christ. All nations are now called, but it will be that chosen Israel. Those people who have believed in Christ. That invitation to that feast, to the supper, to the Kingdom of God, is the coming of Christ.

The coming of Christ here on earth. The God who prepared and created all of this, He came here to earth, to give us, humans, the opportunity to receive it.

We celebrate it through the great holiday of Christmas, when God came to earth. And then with this Gospel we prepare ourselves for that coming. And now when we remember and think about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, two weeks before Christmas, we celebrate the Forefathers. These are our fathers who, in the Old Testament, believed in the sea, the multitude of those nations who were godless or polytheists, believed in the right way, believed in God. These are our forefathers from Adam through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and David Solomon… They are all listed in church hymns. And then the prophets who announced the Lord Jesus Christ, all the way to Zechariah and Saint John the Baptist, also prophets and forerunners. We remember them all on this day. We remember all of them, who lived before Christ and were not Christians, as it is said in the troparion “who by their faith obtained salvation and predestined the Church by their faith” because from their seed was born the Most Holy Theotokos, She Who gave birth to Christ the Savior, Who brought us salvation.

These are the wonderful, general, holidays that we celebrate in the run-up to Christmas.

In our Serbian people, we also have our own, so to speak, local church-folk holidays - Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Children's Day. Today is Mother's Day and I take this opportunity to congratulate all mothers on the holiday.

These holidays emphasize love in these days when we are preparing for the holiday of love, which is Christmas. It is a holiday of love because God comes out of great love for us humans, whom He created, and we have sinned but He comes to take our sins upon Himself, to resurrect and conquer death.

This is a great expression of God's love for us. At that time, we should first of all express love within the family, which is the foundation of every society and the Church. The family is a small Church and therefore through these wonderful holidays of the Mother, the Father, the Child, when we symbolically bind ourselves and then untie and give gifts to each other, we strengthen love in what is most important, which is the family. These are the wonderful customs with which we prepare for the joyful feast of the Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever, amen,” said Fr. Nemanja in his sermon.

The Holy Gospel according to Luke (Beginning 76).

“16. And he said to him: “A certain man prepared a great supper and invited many. 17. And at supper time he sent his servant to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18. And they all began to make excuses. The first said to him: ‘I have bought a field and I must go out to see it; I beg you to excuse me.’ 19. And another said: ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to see them; I beg you to excuse me.’ 20. And a third said: ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21. And that servant came and told his lord. Then the householder was angry, and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind.’ 22. And the servant said, ‘Lord, it is done as you commanded, and yet there is room.’ 23. And the lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24. For I say to you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my supper; for many are invited, but few are chosen.’”