sermon news

Sermon for the 10th Sundy after Terinity – 21st August 2022:Is 58, 9-end; Hebrews 12, 18-end; Luke 13, 10-17

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

One of the responsibilities set before a preacher is that of enlightening the hearers: this may be done in a number of ways, and sometimes in more than one way within the same sermon. There is the expository sermon – one in which the preacher looks carefully at the text of one of the scripture readings. There is the exhortatory sermon – one in which the texts or the common theme is crafted to encourage people in their faith and daily life; the sermon might be entirely or partly didactic – that is a focus on straightforward teaching, about the church’s history or dogmatics.

Other styles of preaching exist, of course, and all sermons can use illustrations from literature, humour, or human examples of goodness or indeed of sadness. Preaching is a rich environment for enabling the flourishing of themes, subjects, and styles. Normally though the preacher will feel the need to leave some questions answered, and a congregation will so often want to be more certain after hearing a sermon preached.

Well that’s all very fine and dandy. However, I ask the question, is there some room in the preacher’s annual schedule simply to place before a congregation some dilemmas, antitheses, opposites – simply naming them but without the contortions of supplying a solution?

If this is one of the legitimate purposes of a preacher, then we can approach today’s scripture readings, observing the dilemmas they provide us with – and not seek to give an answer.

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Liturgy 30:08:2020

Service for the 10th Sunday after Trinity – 21st August 2022

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  Please note that the church has a POS facility. Drinking water is always available at the back of the church. Please stay for coffee in the garden after the liturgy. Fr. Leonard will preside and preach. Deacon Christine is our deacon.

 

Entrance Hymn   388  Jesus shall reign

 

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 leads us into Confession.

 

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)

 

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.

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Liturgy 30:08:2020

Service for the 9th Sunday after Trinity – 14th August 2022

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  Please note that the church has a POS facility. Drinking water is always available at the back of the church. Please stay for coffee in the garden after the liturgy. Fr. Leonard will preside and preach. Deacon Christine is our deacon.

 

Entrance Hymn  333 All my hope

 

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 leads us into Confession.

 

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)

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.

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sermon news

Sermon for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary – 14th August 2022

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

The 15th August (tomorrow) is the universal date on which the church celebrates the Blessed Virgin Mary. This celebration is kept by the Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican traditions.

On this date the Orthodox speak of the Eternal Sleep of the Mother of God, and Blessed Mary is referred to in Orthodoxy as Panaghia – (All holy). The Roman Church celebrates what they now call the Assumption, a dogma that is barely 200 years old as currently understood, and a dogma which does not rest at all comfortably with Anglican theology, and may be a major cause for Anglicans to be ‘cautious’ about absorbing Mary into a theological system. In Greece the 15th August is always a public holiday.

The Anglican tradition is more akin to the East than to Rome, and for centuries since the Reformation we have commemorated the Dormition, the ‘falling asleep’ of the BVM on this date.

Blessed Mary is the human mother of the incarnate Jesus, the fully human Jesus. We must remember however that in Christian theology this same Jesus is also fully divine, so Mary is indeed the mother of Jesus as the bible witnesses, but at the same time, the Church accords her the exalted title of Mother of God, since Jesus of Nazareth is both fully human and fully divine. Her title is agreed in the ancient Councils of the church as Theotokos – God-Bearer, a title that emerges from the seriously dangerous debates in the 4th and 5th centuries concerning the humanity and divinity of Christ. Her title makes Blessed Mary a ‘protectress’ of the of the human-divine Jesus.

It is on account of this that Blessed Mary is worthy of the titles ascribed to her by the Church. So she is indeed Panaghia (All Holy One) in all three traditions, even if only the Orthodox use this distinctive Greek word.

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Liturgy 30:08:2020

Service for the 8th Sunday after Trinity – 7th August 2022

Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.  Please note that the church has a POS facility. Drinking water is always available at the back of the church. Please stay for coffee in the garden after the liturgy. Fr. Leonard will preside, Deacon Christine is our deacon, and the preacher is Angelos Palioudakis.

 

Entrance Hymn 237 Morning has broken

 

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 leads us into Confession.

 

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)

 

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.

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sermon news

Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Trinity, St Ignatius – 31st July 2022: ECCLESTIASTES 1:2-12,2:18-2, LUKE 12:13-21

Deacon Christine Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

It is the height of summer here now – August tomorrow and I hope you have had or will have a break or a staycation as the fashionable phrase goes. But the real question is, I feel, is whether we have been able to take time out of our hectic schedules to spend time with the King, as the hype for the Elvis film goes but we are talking about the king of our hearts and souls – Jesus.

But carving out time, even on holiday or on leave to be with God isn’t always as simple as that, I find. I don’t know about you but it takes me two or three days to unwind and leave all the day to day stuff behind that nags away at one. Then I have to still my soul and listen out above the tumult and clamour of life for that small voice. By the time, I am in the position to listen then it can be time to come home again.

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Trinity 7

Service for the 7th Sunday after Trinity – 31st July 2022

Welcome to St Paul’s Athens,   especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens. Deacon Christine leads our worship today, and is the preacher. Fr. Leonard is on holiday until August 5th.

We have a POS – you can make your donation to St. Paul’s by card. Please come to coffee in the garden after the Liturgy.

 

Opening Hymn:  239  Lord of all hopefulness

 

Minister:  Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

All:            and also with you.

Minister:  O Lord, open our lips

All:            and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Minister: Give us the joy of your saving help

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

 

The minister then welcomes people informally.

Prayers of Penitence

Minister:   As we come to the Lord at the start of this New Year, let us seek his grace to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom as we confess our sins in penitence and faith.

 

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.

 

Minister:  May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us

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

All:            Amen

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Iris gal.

Summer flowers at St Paul’s

Our Church garden is a small oasis of greenery and shade and our aim is to create an ‘urban garden’ that attracts bees, butterflies and birds. When Athens City Council were informed of this they generously donated many bedding plants that are doing well and provide splashes of colour to welcome our congregation and visitors as they enter and then gather in the garden following the service.