Service for the 7th Sunday after Trinity – 23rd July 2023 – Fr Leonard’s Retirement Service

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  We have a POS facility so you can make a donation by card. There are Communion books for children available for use.  There is coffee and wine in the garden after the Liturgy. This is the final service of Fr. Leonard as Chaplain in Athens. He will continue as Area Dean until summer 2025 and as Apokrisiarios at least until a new priest is present in Athens.

The presiding priest and preacher this morning is Fr. Leonard. The deacon is Deacon Christine.

Entrance Hymn   368 Guide me, O thou great Redeemer

Priest: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

All:     Amen

Priest: The Lord be with you

All:      And also with you

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

Silence

Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.

We have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.

In your mercy forgive what we have been,

Help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be;

That we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God.

Amen.

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.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us, you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen

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Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity, 16th July 2023: ISAIAH 55:10 -13, ROMANS 8: 1-11, MATT.13:1-9, 18-23.

Deacon Christine Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

DANDELIONS

I SPEAK IN THE NAME OF THE Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Have you ever blown on a dandelion clock, maybe when you were a child, to tell the time? It is a game we play in UK; I have taught it to my granddaughter. We have plenty of dandelions in our small patch of lawn and they are thriving, especially this year, after the late wet spring weather and after our holiday.

Did you know that every part of the dandelion, so named after the French dents de lion teeth of lions because of the shape of the leaves, can be used, nothing goes to waste ? Radiki, the name in Greek, is a prize salad leaf boiled as horta. Chicory pikralida is its other name and its roots, which go down very deep, can be dried and ground and used as a plant based coffee.

Dandelion flowers are the beloved flower of bees and keep in the biodiversity in balance. Our Creator God made all this with His divine planning. No wonder, then that No Mow May was declared in UK to encourage the growth of wild flowers in verges and gardens to counteract the groomed and manicured look of aesthetics that ruin the natural world and original intention.

We have no idea how far and wide seeds can spread and where they will fall only to spring up in time depending on the soil where they land. They are not always planted deliberately. So it is with God’s abundance and his Word. Many things take time and the right circumstances to take root. Man is wasteful but God is plentiful and his abundance and goodness is everywhere to be seen.

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Service for the 6th Sunday after Trinity – 16th July 2023

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  We have a POS facility so you can make a donation by card. There are Communion books for children available for use.  There is coffee in the garden after the Liturgy.

The presiding priest and this morning is Fr. Leonard. The deacon and preacher is Deacon Christine.

Entrance Hymn    205  Christ is made the sure foundation

Priest: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

 All:     Amen

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.

Silence

Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.

We have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.

In your mercy forgive what we have been,

Help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be;

That we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God.

Amen.

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.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us, you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen

Collect:  Let us pray    (remain standing as the priest prays the Collect of the Day) 

Creator God, you made us all in your image; may we discern you in all that we see, and serve you in all that we do; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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Audio Sermon for the fifth Sunday of Trinity – 9th July 2023

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Service for the 5th Sunday after Trinity – 9th July 2023

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  We have a POS facility so you can make a donation by card. There are Communion books for children available for use.  There is coffee in the garden after the Liturgy. There is a Choral Evensong at 18.00 this evening.

The presiding priest and preacher this morning is Fr. Leonard.

Entrance Hymn    391  King of glory

Priest: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

 All:     Amen

Priest: The Lord be with you

All:      And also with you

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

Silence

Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed.

We have not loved you with our whole heart.

We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.

In your mercy forgive what we have been,

Help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be;

That we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God.

Amen.

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.

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us, you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen

Collect:  Let us pray    (remain standing as the priest prays the Collect of the Day) 

Almighty God, send down upon your Church the riches of your Spirit, and kindle in all who minister the gospel your countless gifts of grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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Audio Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Trinity, 2 July 2023. Delivered in Belgium – in the morning to the Anglican congregation in Knokke, and in the evening to the Anglican congregation in Bruges.

Fr Leonard Doolan

Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Trinity – 2nd July 2023delivered in Belgium – in the morning to the Anglican congregation in Knokke, and in the evening to the Anglican congregation in Bruges.

Fr Leonard Doolan.

I thank Fr. Augustine sincerely for inviting me to preach. We have known each other many years now.

Addressing the Christian community in Rome, the Apostle Paul puts a stark challenge to the believers that sounds dissonant to the modern ear. Are you an instrument of wickedness or an instrument of righteousness?

It is beyond the boundaries of this sermon to begin to explore all the implications of the application in St. Paul’s theology of sin and righteousness – and it is not just about being a good person going through life without harming anyone and giving to charities, or bad person going through life inflicting hardship on people,   because he is also contrasting the antithesis of living under the law – namely the Law of Moses which Paul now understands as a form of slavery and life in Christ which Paul now understands as freedom in the Spirit. ‘The letter kills but the Spirit gives life’ if you put it succinctly.

So when we consider what St. Paul means by wickedness and righteousness the distinctions are not straightforward, nor what they appear to be on the surface. However he does introduce well an approach to understanding the other two scripture readings this morning. His words act for us almost as a commentator on two other related, but not so easy passages of scripture.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks to the priests and the people in the House of the Lord. This is the Temple in Jerusalem. He is addressing the people who were left in Jerusalem after the fall of the city to the Babylonians in BC587. The temple is destroyed a year later. It is the time of the Exile. Just a word about this. Contrary to what we imagine, when the Babylonians under the King Nebuchadnezzar, carried off the people of Israel to slavery in Babylon, it was the better educated Israelites who were taken into captivity – not the people who for example, worked the land, who were ethnically and socially of a lower social standing.

So the prophet Jeremiah refers the priests and the people to the prophets of the past generations – the prophets who spoke of wars and famines and pestilences. Such prophets are easily credible in our own rather dark times.

If we consider the war between Russian and Ukraine as it develops we begin by seeing envy between one nation and another, patriotism, greed, self- protection and self – serving military and political action. One nation begins to seek domination over another, and to possess land to protect peoples who ‘speak our language’. It has created chaos – a chaos that has not just been contained to two nations, but globally, because the nations of the world are intertwined, they are interdependent.

So what happens in Ukraine causes hardship in Africa because, for example, the world needs grain from fertile Ukraine. So we can’t put our heads in the sand and say it has nothing to do with us.

In the last few days we have seen the chaos deepen, as mercenaries who were fighting for Russia in Ukraine are now suspects of treason against the Russian political leadership. Chaos begets chaos.

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Service for the Feast of SS Peter and Paul – 2nd July 2023

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here

for the first time or visiting Athens.  Today we commemorate the apostles, Peter and Paul (whose feast falls on June 29^th). It is kept as our Patronal Festival. After the Liturgy we all gather in the church garden for a brunch. The presiding priest is Fr. Bjorn Kling,

Pastor of the Swedish Church. The preacher is Angelos Palioudakis.

Entrance Hymn   216 (tune 433)

Priest:    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

     All:         Amen

Priest:    The Lord be with you

     All:         And also with you

The priest then informally welcomes the people of God and Angelos leads us into Confession.

(A short period of stillness and silence)

All:  Father eternal, giver of light and grace, we have sinned against you and against our neighbour, in what we have thought, in what we have said and done, through ignorance, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault. We have wounded your love, and marred your image in us. We are sorry and ashamed, and repent of all our sins. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us, forgive us all that is past; and lead us out from darkness to walk as children of light. Amen.

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.

Gloria:  Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God

              Heavenly King, Almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you

              thanks, we praise you for your glory.

              Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God,

              you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at

              the right hand of the Father; receive our prayer.

              For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are

              are the most high, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God

              the Father. Amen.  

Collect:  Let us pray    (remain standing as the priest prays the Collect of the Day) 

Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you in their death as in their life; grant that your Church, inspired by their teaching and example, and made one by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

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