Sermon for Remembrance Sunday – 12th November 2023

Revd. Fr Terry Hemmings – St Paul’s Athens

I have a confession to make I am an agnostic. There are lots of things I don’t know and there are lots of things I think I can’t know. It’s true of science – I love what we are learning about black matter but I shall never have the maths to understand it fully – it’s true of life and of the life to come. I am sure of the life to come but what it will be like I do not know and I suspect if I did would not have the language to explain it.

Therefore I am treading on holy ground when I talk of the life to come and of those whom we love but now worship on a different shore.

Jesus taught that there was a life to come.

You will remember there were two groups who had difficulties with Jesus. The Pharisees and the Sadducees. They had a large argument because the Sadducees had a spirituality which was only for this life. The Pharisees firmly believed in a resurrection. You will remember how Paul, brought up a Pharisee, used this when he was accused of preaching against the Hebrew Scriptures.

This is something we repeat in our creed every week for as Paul wrote, 1Cor. 1619 “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ is not raised your faith is vain/useless; you are still in your sins. Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished”.

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Service for Remembrance Sunday – 12th November 2023

Welcome to our worship on this Remembrance Sunday. A particular welcome to His Excellency Matthew Lodge, British Ambassador, and Sub-Lieutenant Elliott Joiner Royal Navy. This Worship is led by The Revd. Fr. Terry Hemming, who is also the preacher. Lay Reader Nelly Paraskevopoulou will assist. There is coffee in the garden after the Liturgy.

Hymn:   introit 490 (Rhuddlan) Judge eternal, throned in splendour

Priest:      Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

All:            and also with you.

Priest:      O Lord, open our lips

All:            and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Priest:      Give us the joy of your saving help

All:            and sustain us with your life-giving Spirit.

The priest welcomes people informally and then prays:

Ever- living God, we remember those whom you have gathered from the storm of war into the peace of your presence; may that same peace calm our fears, bring justice to all peoples, and establish harmony among the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Assistant leads us into confession.

Lord, you promise a place in paradise to all who call to you in penitence and faith.

Lord, have mercy.

All   Lord, have mercy.

Lord, you bring comfort to those who mourn and have suffered loss.

Christ, have mercy.

All   Christ, have mercy.

Lord, you speak your word of peace in times of conflict and calm our fears.

Lord, have mercy.

All   Lord, have mercy.

All:           Lord God, we have sinned against you;

                 we have done evil in your sight.

                 We are sorry and repent.

                 Have mercy on us according to your love.

                 Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin.

                 Renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation;

                 through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Absolution:      May the Father of all mercies cleanse you from your sins, and restore you

in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All:            Amen

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Sermon preached on All Souls Sunday – 5 November 2023

Revd. Fr Terry Hemming – St Paul’s Athens

I have a confession to make I am an agnostic. There are lots of things I don’t know and there are lots of things I think I can’t know. It’s true of science – I love what we are learning about black matter but I shall never have the maths to understand it fully – it’s true of life and of the life to come. I am sure of the life to come but what it will be like I do not know and I suspect if I did would not have the language to explain it.

Therefore I am treading on holy ground when I talk of the life to come and of those whom we love but now worship on a different shore.

Jesus taught that there was a life to come.

You will remember there were two groups who had difficulties with Jesus. The Pharisees and the Sadducees. They had a large argument because the Sadducees had a spirituality which was only for this life. The Pharisees firmly believed in a resurrection. You will remember how Paul, brought up a Pharisee, used this when he was accused of preaching against the Hebrew Scriptures.

This is something we repeat in our creed every week for as Paul wrote, 1Cor. 1619 “For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ is not raised your faith is vain/useless; you are still in your sins. Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished”.

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Service for All Souls – 5 November 2023

Α warm welcome to Fr. Terry Hemming and his wife Ruth, from Hampshire, who will be with us until January. Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.   There are Communion books for children available for use.  There is coffee in the garden after the Liturgy. St. Paul’s has internet – ask the sidespersons for the password.

The presiding priest this morning is Fr. Terry Hemming, who is also preaching, the deacon is Deacon Christine Saccali

Entrance Hymn

Introit: Introit: 327 (Grafton) Christ, enthroned in highest heaven (verses 1, 4, 5, and 6)

Priest:    Blessed be the Kingdom of God

All:         Now and for ever

Priest:    Our help is in the name of the Lord

All:         Who has made heaven and earth

Priest:    The Lord be with you

All:          And also with you

The priest then welcomes the people of God and the Deacon leads us into Confession

Grace, mercy and peace

from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ

be with you

All   and also with you.

Deacon We run the race set before us, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Therefore let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, bringing them to Jesus in penitence and faith.                            (A short period of stillness and silence)

Deacon:                 Your raise the dead to life in the spirit.

Kyrie eleison              All: Kyrie eleison

Deacon:                 You bring pardon and peace to the broken in spirit.

                           Christe eleison          All: Christe eleison

Deacon:                 You make one by your Spirit the torn and divided.

                           Kyrie eleison             All:  Kyrie eleison

Absolution: Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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Sermon for the Feast of All Saints – 29th October 2023

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

The Sermon on the Mount – we imagine Jesus atop a small mountain somewhere beside the Sea of Galilee. He looks out over those who have gathered to hear his words, most of them sitting below him on the slopes of the mount. He preaches as if he were high above everyone else, like a preacher in a lofty pulpit.

This may be picture that requires correction. A visit to the site beside the sea indicates that this even was not so much a pulpit experience, but rather a theatre experience. Jesus treats his location like it was a Greek or Roman theatre – a sort of Galilean Epidavros. He sits below them, like the protagonist of a Greek play, with his audience ranged in front of him spreading upwards. Like any good classical theatre, we know the effect of how a single voice carries to the very back row, to the ‘one and sixpence’ cheap seats furthest from the action. Whether front row or back row, no one is cheated of the performance. This we can imagine being the setting for Jesus and his Sermon on the Mount.

Alternatively, each of these sayings of Jesus could be part of a collection – a collection of sayings gathered together by the gospel writer from across the rich teaching material of our Lord and hung together like a string of pearls – each a pearl of great price. Also plausible, but I prefer to imagine Jesus at the centre stage of a dramatic event.

The Sermon on the Mount – also known as The Beatitudes, a name derived from the Latin word beatus, which is the Latin Vulgate translation of the Greek New Testament word μακάριος – the introductory word to each of the stanzas of the teaching.

Some contemporary translations have preferred to translate this word as ‘happy’ – ‘Happy are the meek’ etc etc. Indeed we should be happy if we are blessed – in sense of being inwardly glad – ‘I was glad when they said unto me, we will go into the house of the Lord (Psalm 122) from Psalm 122, made familiar to us not so long ago as it was sung to Hubert Parry’s tremendous musical setting as Charles III entered Westminster Abbey for his coronation.

But the word ‘happy’ just doesn’t quite cut the mustard. The Archbishop of Athens and All Greece is referred to as Makariotatos, from this word makarios, and rendered into English as ‘Your Beatitude’. I don’t think I would dare to have an audience with him at the Archbishopric Residence and greet his as ‘Your Happiness’.

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Service for All Saints Sunday – 29th October 2023

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens. Fr. Leonard, the Area Dean, will preside and preach. Nelly Paraskevopoulou will assist. In our Liturgy today we are also giving thanks for the life of the Revd. Edward Wetherall (Fr. Ted) who died aged 94 in Tolo on September 26th. May he rest in peace.

Entrance Hymn             

1. Oh, when the saints Go marching in Oh, when the saints go marching in

Oh how I want to be in that number, When the saints go marching in

2. Oh, when the drums begin to bang Oh, when the drums begin to bang

I want to be in that number,  When the saints go marching in

3. Oh, when the stars fall from the sky Oh, when the stars fall from the sky

I want to be in that number, When the saints go marching in

4. Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call, Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call

I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in

5. Oh, when the saints go marching in Oh, when the saints go marching in

I want to be in that number, When the saints go marching

Priest:    Blessed be the Kingdom of God

All:         Now and for ever

Priest:    Our help is in the name of the Lord

All:         Who has made heaven and earth

Priest:    The Lord be with you

All:          And also with you

The priest then informally welcomes the people and leads the opening prayer for the departed as we pray with thanksgiving for Fr. Ted.

Father in heaven, we thank you because you make us in your image and give us gifts in body, mind and spirit. We thank you now for Ted and what he meant to us and so many people as a faithful priest and friend. As we honour his memory, make us more aware that you are the one from whom comes every perfect gift, including the gift of life eternal through Jesus Christ.

All:  Amen

Nelly now leads us into our confession:

We run the race set before us, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Therefore let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, bringing them to Jesus in penitence and faith.                            (A short period of stillness and silence)

Nelly:                 Your raise the dead to life in the spirit.

Kyrie eleison              All: Kyrie eleison

Nelly:                 You bring pardon and peace to the broken in spirit.

                           Christe eleison          All: Christe eleison

Nelly:                 You make one by your Spirit the torn and divided.

                           Kyrie eleison             All:  Kyrie eleison

Absolution: Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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Sermon preached at the Harvest Festival at the Kokotos Winery – 22nd October 2023: DEUTERONOMY 8: 7-18, LUKE 12: 16-30.

Deacon Christine Saccali

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts always be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our redeemer Amen

Well, we’ve already sung the all-essential harvest hymn We Plough the Fields and Scatter, we remember from harvest festivals of years gone by, with gusto but actually how connected are we all to the land and the food it produces to sustain us? How do we connect to God our Creator through Rogation and planting and harvesting process?

Have a look at the beautiful poster below by Hannah Dunnet, an artist and writer of reflections, this picture is inspired by fields in Yorkshire. A picture paints a thousand words. She incorporates scripture verses into her pictures. I can look at them for ages. I particularly love the contrast of the planted and fallow areas here and the lie and curve of the land. Do come up and study it for yourselves later.

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Service for Harvest Festival at Kokotos Estate – 22nd October 2023

The presiding priest is Fr. Bjorn Kling, the deacon is Deacon Christine Saccali, who is also preaching.

Opening hymn

1. We plough the fields, and scatter
   the good seed on the land,
   but it is fed and watered
   by God’s almighty hand:
   he sends the snow in winter,
   the warmth to swell the grain, Refrain:
   the breezes, and the sunshine,                    All good gifts around us
   and soft, refreshing rain.                               are sent from heaven above;
   then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord,
   for all his love.
2. He only is the maker 3. We thank thee then, O Father,
   of all things near and far; for all things bright and good,
   he paints the wayside flower,    the seed-time and the harvest,
   he lights the evening star;                       our life, our health, our food.
   the winds and waves obey him,            Accept the gifts we offer
   by him the birds are fed;              for all thy love imparts,
   much more to us, his children,   and, what thou most desirest,
   he gives our daily bread. [Refrain]        our humble, thankful hearts. [Refrain]

Priest: Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

All:  and also with you.                (The priest welcomes everyone)

Deacon: God’s whole creation groans.  We confess our sin in penitence and faith.

Consider the birds of the air; they do not sow or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Lord have mercy.

All: Lord have mercy

Deacon: Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not toil or spin, yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Christ have mercy.

All: Christ have mercy

Deacon: How little faith we have. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Lord have mercy.

All: Christ have mercy.

(The priest then pronounces the words of Absolution)

May the God of love and power forgive you and free you from your sins, heal and strengthen you by his Spirit, and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord.   Amen.

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