Service Sheet for Sunday 26th January 2025 – 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Conversion of St Paul

St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 155 (Ellacombe) We sing the glorious conquest

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 19

Gradual: 154 (St. Petersburg) A heavenly splendour from on high

Offertory: 302 (Song I) O Thou, who at thy Eucharist didst pray

Communion: 305 (Anima Christi) Soul of my Saviour

Recessional: 482 (Gott Sei Dank) Spread, O spread thou mighty word

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles (22: 3-16)

Paul said to the people, ‘I am a Jew and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia.

I was brought up here in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today. I even persecuted this Way to the death, and sent women as well as men to prison in chains as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify, since they even sent me with letters to their brothers in Damascus. When I set off it was with the intention of bringing prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment.

‘I was on that journey and nearly at Damascus when about midday a bright light from heaven suddenly shone round me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” I answered: Who are you, Lord? and he said to me, “I am Jesus the Naz- arene, and you are persecuting me.” The people with me saw the light but did not hear his voice as he spoke to me. I said: What am I to do, Lord? The Lord answered, “Stand up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what you have been appointed to do.” The light had been so dazzling that I was blind and my companions had to take me by the hand; and so I came to Damascus.

‘Someone called Ananias, a devout follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews living there, came to see me; he stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight.” Instantly my sight came back and I was able to see him. Then he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Just One and hear his own voice speaking, because you are to be his witness before all mankind, testifying to what you have seen and heard. And now why delay? It is time you were baptised and had your sins washed away while invoking his name.”

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

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Service Sheet for Sunday 19th January – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 46 (Duke Street) Why, impious Herod, shouldst thou fear

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 96

Gradual: 316 (St Hugh of Lincoln) Sing to the Lord glad hymns

Offertory: 436 (Praise, My Soul) Praise, my soul, the King of heaven

Communion: 317 (St Stephen) With Christ we share a mystic grave

Recessional: 51 (Redhead No. 46) Hail, thou source of every blessing

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy. Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (62: 1-5)

About Zion I will not be silent, about Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch. The nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, one which the mouth of the Lord will confer. You are to be a crown of splendour in the hand of the Lord, a princely diadem in the hand of your God; no longer are you to be named ‘Forsaken’, nor your land ‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The Wedded’; for the Lord takes delight in you and your land will have its wedding. Like a young man marrying a virgin, so will the one who built you wed you, and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.

The Word of the Lord:    Thanks be to God

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Service Sheet for Sunday 12th January 2025 – Baptism of our Lord

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 347 (Fulda) Come, gracious Spirit, heavenly Dove

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 104

Gradual: 58 (Gonfalon Royal) The sinless one to Jordan came

Offertory: 56 (St. Edmund) Songs of thankfulness and praise

Communion: 342 (Carlisle) Breathe on me, Breath of God

Recessional: 466 (Moscow) Thou whose almighty word

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (40: 1-5, 9-11)

‘Console my people, console them’ says your God. ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her

that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of the Lord

double punishment for all her crimes.’

A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert.

Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low. Let every cliff become a plain, and the ridges a valley;

then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all mankind shall see

it; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger to Zion. Shout with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem.

Shout without fear, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’

Here is the Lord coming with power, his arm subduing all things to him. The prize of his victory is with him, his trophies all go before him. He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.

The Word of the Lord:   Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 104: Bless the Lord, my Soul! Lord God, how great you are.

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Audio Sermon for the feast of The Epiphany – 5th January 2025

Canon L W Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Sermon Preached on the feast of the Epiphany – 5th January 2025

Canon L W Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

The part of the Christmas scriptural narrative that we focus on today is the Journey of the Magi – the Wise Men, and their three gifts, of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

This Christmas season it would seem, is a bumper time for providing Christmas Quiz questions. I could easily imagine Jean Mertzanakis providing a whole evening of Christmas questions at a St. Paul’s Quiz Night. There is ironically a rich treasure chest of questions that can be set. And it is good fun supplementing the very well – known Christmas story with questions that make you think, or trip you up because you have never thought of it before.

It is also a time for the nay-sayers to emerge. Those who think that their rational and historical analysis sheds a whole new light on this well known ‘fable’ from Bethlehem. They delight in trying to prove that the historical figures mentioned in St. Luke did or did not exist. They relish in the fact that there is no historical record in any other primary source that there was a census in the reign of Caesar Augustus.

Another popular game for the people who wish to de-bunk the Christmas story, is to draw the parallels in details drawn from gods, such as Mithras. Rational questions get posed as stumbling blocks to the truth of the narratives about the birth of Christ. Mechanical, clunky questions, such as ‘how does a virgin birth work?’ – parthenogenesis to use its posh name.  How is it possible to be an almighty and divine creator of all that exists, and at the same time be a baby in a manger?

Personally I am drawn to none of this. I do not treat Christmas as a puzzle with trick questions. I do not seek to find the natural order or rhythms to dismiss all the possibilities enshrined in this ancient and compelling story – a story that itself, like a star, leads into mystery.

I am more persuaded, my friends, by some human responses recorded in the gospels, in particular St. Luke. At the greeting of the Archangel Mary ‘CONSIDERED  what manner of salutation this might be.’ To the visit of the shepherds ‘Mary PONDERED these things in her heart’.  These words are my friends and companions. And the human responses of the shepherds who respond to God’s glory by REJOICING and GLORYFYING, and the Wise Men who kneel to WORSHIP, that part of the Christmas Narrative we focus on in our Liturgy today.

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Sermon for Advent 4: Cloth for Cradle: Readings Micah 5, Luke, Hebrews

Revd. Deacon Christine Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

May God be on my lips and in all our hearts. AMEN

Her name was Miss Betts and she used to work in the pharmacy in the town in uk where I grew up. She had retired and lived near us but every day we would see her walking briskly up and down that same route with scarcely a break. She was on the move all the time, without respite and at a fair lick. The same goes for a man I see on my drive down to church and other days who parks the car at Aghios Stephanos and starts fast walking  at a rapid pace past Kapandriti , where I live now, which is also some considerable distance. The same route all the time.

Today it is the fourth Sunday of Advent – how do we feel we have travelled through these four weeks of peace, hope, joy and today love? Have we rushed through without a glance not pausing on our way to Bethlehem or have we savoured the journey, reflecting as we go? If I am honest, I am dragging my feet a bit this year and plodding on. I find it odd that I don’t write and receive many Christmas cards any more and not only from dear departed family and friends That ecards have replaced the traditional ones. Call me old fashioned.

I have been reading a book entitled On the way to Bethlehem which was on my shelf. It is all about leaving baggage behind and arriving at Bethlehem, Ephrathah named in our Micah reading, unencumbered. I have found it helpful and it has helped me to pause, lighten my load and mood.

Our readings today give us focus on Bethlehem and on two pregnant women Elizabeth and Mary. Only Luke records this story and it is an extraordinary one. The encounter helps us slow down before the rush of Christmas. It is not clear why Mary early in her pregnancy would wish to see her much older cousin in mountainous Judea  who was six months further ahead in an unexpected pregnancy, though one can imagine. It was a journey of some 70 miles and we are told she stayed three months.

Mary greets Elizabeth  but Elizabeth’s greeting is even more extraordinary as is the reaction of the foetus in her womb who we know will become John the Baptist who we have spent a couple of Sundays thinking about. Luke is the only evangelist to give any background to John, remember. Luke is a lover of stories and songs and weaving them into his accounts along with the protagonists even women and as a doctor may be paying attention to pregnancy detail. The baby skipped the Greek word is eskirtise in the womb – think of our heart skipping a beat. A baby moving is joyous, usually, to the woman carrying it, the movement miraculous as a sign of life. I have been privileged to feel that quickening as the writer Sarah Ward entitled one of her books. I also have known the disappointment of a failed early pregnancy and infertility. And we must remember how common it is for men and women despite the great strides made in science.

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Service sheet for Sunday 29th December 2024 – First Sunday of Christmas, The Holy ~Family

St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Athens

Diocese in Europe

Celebrant: Fr. Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 21 (Es ist ein’ ros’ entsprungen) A great and mighty wonder

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 128

Gradual: Sheet (The Holly and the Ivy) The holly and the ivy

Offertory: 36 (The First Nowell) The First Nowell

Communion: Sheet (In Dulci Jubilo) Good Christian men, rejoice

Recessional: Sheet (Tempest Adest Floridum) Good king Wenceslas

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received

A reading from the First Book of Samuel (1: 20-22, 24-28)

Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son, and called him Samuel ‘since’ she said ‘I asked the Lord for him.’

When a year had gone by, the husband Elkanah went up again with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow. Hannah, however, did not go up, having said to her husband, ‘Not before the child is weaned. Then I will bring him and present him before the Lord and he shall stay there for ever.’

When she had weaned him, she took him up with her together with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the temple of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was with them. They slaughtered the bull and the child’s mother came

to Eli. She said, ‘If you please, my lord. As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. This is the child I prayed for, and the Lord granted me what I asked him. Now I make him over to the Lord for the whole of his life. He is made over to the Lord.’

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

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Service for 25th December 2024 – The Nativity of our Lord Christmas Day

St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens

Celebrant: Fr. Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 30 (Adeste Fideles) O come, all ye faithful

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98 (see 535 in the New English Hymnal) Gradual: 39 (Puer Nobis) Unto us a boy is born (verses 1, 2, 4, 5)

Offertory: Sheet (I Saw Three Ships) I saw three ships

Communion: Sheet (Humility) See amid the winter’s snow

Recessional: 25 (God Rest You Merry) God rest you merry, Gentlemen All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

Please remember that the chaplaincy in Athens neither receives funding from the British Government nor from the Church of

England. All donations are, therefore, very gratefully received

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (52: 7-10)

How beautiful on the mountains,

are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation,

and tells Zion, ‘Your God is king!’

Listen! Your watchmen raise their voices, they shout for joy together,

for they see the Lord face to face, as he returns to Zion.

Break into shouts of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem;

for the Lord is consoling his people, redeeming Jerusalem.

The Lord bares his holy arm in the sight of all the nations,

and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

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