Service Sheet for Sunday 4th October 2026 – Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Celebrant: Fr Benjamin Drury

Sung Mass for the twenty-seventh Sunday in ordinary time

Processional: 292 (Eisenach) Jesu, thou joy of loving hearts Resp. Psalm: Ps. 80

Gradual: 254 (Melita) Come, let us with our Lord arise

Offertory: 263 (Lasst Uns Erfreuen) All creatures of our God and King Communion: 205 (Urbs Beata) Christ is made the sure foundation Recessional: 427 (Laudate Dominum) O praise ye the Lord

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

The Mass setting is Sir James Macmillan’s ‘St. Anne’s Mass’

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (5: 1-7)

Let me sing to my friend the song of his love for his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.

He dug the soil, cleared it of stones and planted choice vines in it. In the middle he built a tower, he dug a press there too.

He expected it to yield grapes, but sour grapes were all that it gave. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

I ask you to judge between my vineyard and me.

What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done?

I expected it to yield grapes. Why did it yield sour grapes instead? Very well, I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard:

I will take away its hedge for it to be grazed on,and knock down its wall for it to be trampled on. I will lay it waste, unpruned, undug; overgrown by the briar and the thorn. I will command the clouds to rain no rain on it.

Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel, and

the men of Judah that chosen plant. He expected justice, but found bloodshed, integrity, but only a cry of distress.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God.

 

Resp. Psalm: Ps. 80: The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

You brought a vine out of Egypt;

to plant it you drove out the nations. It stretched out its branches to the sea,

to the Great River it stretched out its shoots. (Response)

Then why have you broken down its walls?

It is plucked by all who pass by.

It is ravaged by the boar of the forest,

devoured by the beasts of the field. (Response)

God of hosts, turn again, we implore,

look down from heaven and see.

Visit this vine and protect it,

the vine your right hand has planted. (Response)

And we shall never forsake you again;

give us life that we may call upon your name.

God of hosts, bring us back;

let your face shine on us and we shall be saved. (Response)

A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians (4: 6-9)

There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! I chose you from the world to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last, says the Lord. Alleluia! The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew (21: 33-43)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone.

This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see?

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and giv­en to a people who will produce its fruit.’

The Gospel of the Lord: praise to you, O Christ.

Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP Collect: Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

 

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments Wednesday 7th October: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Friday 9th Oct.: 7:30 p.m.; Evensong (St. John Henry Newman) (Church Choir)

Sunday 11th October: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass

 

Harvest Festival at the Kokotos estate (Sunday, 25th October). Please speak to churchwardens Oliver Knight or Lynn Stavrou about reserving a place on the coach. Mass shall not be sung at church on that Sunday morning.

Community connect coffee morning: Thursday, 8th October, 10:30 a.m. in the churchyard.

The Friends of St. Paul’s: please speak to Dimitris Ramantanoglou, or Father Benjamin, about becoming a Friend of the church.

Pilgrimage walking group: details from Fr. Benjamin.

Short prayer booklets (Prime and Compline) are available, please speak to Oliver Knight

 

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code 

the Church does not receive any funding from the

Church of England or the British Government and is reliant on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support.

 

Senior Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury SSC

frbenjamindrury@gmail.com; Home tel.: 210 72 14 906; anglican@otenet.gr

Assistant Chaplain: Deacon Christine Saccali: 697 737 7655 Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling: 694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                    www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

saintpaulsathens.bsky.social