Service for the 3rd Sunday in Advent – 12th December 2021

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 in Thessaloniki today. Please remember that masks are mandatory in church and when you are in groups in the garden. We are required to be 1.5m apart for worship.

Opening Hymn:

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him
Who brings good news, good news
Proclaiming peace, announcing news of happiness
Our God reigns, our God reigns

Chorus:
Our God reigns, our God reigns
Our God reigns, our God reigns

You watchmen lift your voices joyfully as one
Shout for your King, your King,
See face to face the Lord restoring Zion
Your God reigns, your God reigns!

Waste places of Jerusalem break forth with joy
We are redeemed, redeemed
The Lord has saved and comforted His people
Our God reigns, our God reigns!

Ends of the earth, see the salvation of your God
Jesus is Lord, is Lord.
Before the nations He has bared His holy arm
Our God reigns, our God reigns!

Lighting of the 3^rd Advent Candle

Minister: People of God, return! You are called to be God’s own. From the mountains announce good news. God comes in justice and peace, to all who follow in his ways. You are God’s Children.

All: Lord make us one in the peace of Christ today and forever. Amen.

 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.

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Zoom Log-in for the eve of the Nativity of Christ 2021

Topic: Carol Service

Time: Dec 24, 2021 06:00 PM Athens

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88473908653?pwd=UDN5SFY0a0ZrWURzUkJQUXBkcmlDQT09

Meeting ID: 884 7390 8653

Passcode: 19F9nqZ

Zoom Carol Service for the Eve of the Nativity of Christ 2021

YouTube link to the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols held at St Paul’s on 19th December 2021 with the help of the Athens Singers

(Zoom 18.00 – try to join around 17.45hrs)

At 17.50  Christina Antoniadou will play some Christmas music before we worship.

Welcome           Father Leonard

Introduction     Deacon Christine

Lord’s Prayer:   Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;

                             Thy kingdom come, thy will be done; in earth as it is in heaven.

                             Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our

                             trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

                             And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil;

                             For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

                             For ever and ever.  Amen.

Carol 

1 It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
from heaven’s all-gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
to hear the angels sing. 

2 Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o’er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains,
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o’er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing. 

3 And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing! 

4 For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.

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Bible Study 2 for Advent Season

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

2 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. ² Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— ³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and ⁵ like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

⁷ To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”

⁸ and

“A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

¹⁰ Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

Live as Servants of God

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. ¹² Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.

¹³ For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, ¹⁴ or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. ¹⁶ As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

The Example of Christ’s Suffering

¹⁸ Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. ¹⁹ For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. ²⁰ If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. ²¹ For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

²² “He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

²³ When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.