christmas-background-festival-candle_GyvAXnPu (1)

The Order for Evening Prayer Daily throughout the year

This or some other passage of scripture:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us: but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 St. John 1.8-9

DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy. And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God; yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace, saying after me:

A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation after the Minister.

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, We have offended against thy holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done, And there is no health in us: But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders; Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults, Restore thou them that are penitent, According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord: And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

The Absolution or Remission of sins to be pronounced by the Priest alone;

ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live; and hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance, and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him, which we do at this present; and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure, and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Baptism of Christ Blog

Zoom Service for the Baptism of Christ: 10th January 2021

 

Deacon:   The grace of God has dawned upon the world through our Saviour Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself for us to purify a people as his own.

All:            Amen. Lord have mercy.

 

The deacon leads us into a short period of silence, followed by Confession.

 

Deacon:   God be gracious to us and bless us, and make your face to shine upon us:

Kyrie eleison

All:            Kyrie eleison

Deacon:   May your ways be known on the earth, your saving power among the nations

                  Christe eleison

All:            Christe eleison

Deacon:   You, Lord, have made known your salvation, and reveal your justice in the sight of the nations:

                  Kyrie eleison

All:            Kyrie eleison

 

Priest:   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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sermon news

Sermon for Epiphany Sunday Zoom Worship – 3rd January 2021: Matthew 2, 1-12

Fr Leonard W Doolan – Athens

 

In this first sermon of 2021 we begin with a question. I will offer four responses to the question, but these are personal responses, so others may offer different responses. However before we do this, we have to know the question.

 

Why is it that only St. Matthew tells the story of the arrival of the Magi, the wise men, to worship at the Christ manger?

 

The first response is a pragmatic one, but we need to say it, even if we don’t expand too much on it. From the academic discoveries of biblical criticism we know that the 3 gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, are similar. This is why we call them the ‘syn-optic gospels’. The 4th gospel, that of St. John, is excluded for these purposes.

 

The material included in St. Mark’s gospel constitutes the ‘core’ material for all three synoptics. However, St. Luke has additional material distinctive to himself, as does St. Matthew. This choice of material stresses their own ‘take’ on divine events. For our purposes it is enough to say that both Matthew and Luke add their own tradition of stories, especially around the infancy of Jesus, and again after the resurrection. So this is a purely pragmatic first response.

 

The second is that Matthew introduces us early in his gospel to the ruling family of Judea, who will persistently be seen as opponents of Jesus and the kingdom he came to preach and fulfil. The story of the Sages’ journey gives an account of a stopping place chez Herod. This is Herod the Great, the murderous Herod. We are told of his shocking reaction to the news that a ‘king’ had been born in Bethlehem of Judea – namely the slaughter of the holy Innocents, whom we commemorate a couple of days after Christmas Day. The Orthodox give the specific number as 14,000. It is one of Herod’s sons, King Herod Antipas who will later be the adulterous king, denounced by John the Baptizer, and who will have John beheaded. At the time of the trial of Jesus before his death, St. Luke and only St. Luke, tells of Jesus being put before this Herod (but that is outside St. Matthew’s account so we must move swiftly on). This royal household of Herods is not a family to be messed with, and represent a kingliness entirely of this earth.

 

The 3rd response I offer to the question about Matthew’s unique inclusion of this story lies at the very end of his gospel. The beginning is in the end, so to speak. 27 chapters after the story of the Journey of the Magi, Matthew completes his gospel with a scene of a gathering on a mountain in Galilee. Despite the doubt of a few, his disciples worshipped the risen Jesus. This is the same word in Greek to describe what those Magi did when they presented their gifts – they worshipped him. Jesus with his disciples gathered around him on the Galilean mountain gives what we call ‘The Great Commission’. He instructs his followers saying ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.’ (Matt. 28, 19)

 

This commission to go out to the nations – an inclusive and embracing apostolic mission – is a universality that is already shown by Matthew at the beginning of his gospel, with the journey of the Wise Men. These are not of the house of Israel; they are not of the faith of Abraham, Jakob and Isaac, but gentiles, foreigners, and even worse than that, they were astrologers because they interpret events through the movements of the firmament.

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3 kings BLog

Zoom Service for Epiphany Sunday – 3rd January 2021

Happy New Year! Welcome to our Christmas-Epiphany worship brought to our homes by Zoom.  After the worship we can have a short chat together. The hymns and other shared texts you might know by heart, or you can print out this service, or you may have a hymn book at home, or you may be happy to listen in silence.

 

The Sunday worship login remains the same until the end of January. Always double check for information  on our website.    The 10.00am Epiphany Service on 6th January will be live-Zoomed from St. Paul’s. The log in for this will be on the website. Unfortunately due to new Government Restrictions, NO  congregations are allowed in Church on January 6th.

 

The preacher this morning is Fr. Leonard

 

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

All:        and also with you.

Priest:  Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours.

All:        Glory to God in the highest heaven.

 

1 The first Noel the angel did say
was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
in fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
on a cold winter’s night that was so deep. 

Refrain:
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
born is the King of Israel. 

 

2 They looked up and saw a star
shining in the east, beyond them far;
and to the earth it gave great light,
and so it continued both day and night. [Refrain]

 

3 And by the light of that same star
three Wise Men came from country far;
to seek for a king was their intent,
and to follow the star wherever it went. [Refrain]

4 This star drew nigh to the northwest,
o’er Bethlehem it took its rest;
and there it did both stop and stay,
right over the place where Jesus lay. [Refrain]

 

5 Then entered in those Wise Men three,
full reverently upon the knee,
and offered there, in his presence,
their gold and myrrh and frankincense. [Refrain]

 

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

Deacon:   The grace of God has dawned upon the world through our Saviour Jesus Christ, who sacrificed himself for us to purify a people as his own.

All:            Amen. Lord have mercy.

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sermon news

Sermon for the first Sunday after Christmas – St John the Evangelist: 27th December 2020

Deacon Christine Saccali

 

May I speak in the name of the living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN

Today we celebrate and give thanks to God for the life, witness and works of St John the Apostle and Evangelist on this his feast day, just two days after Christmas. I cannot actually recall this falling on a Sunday in recent years or my preaching on it. John often gets pushed out of the birthday boy celebrations but the beginning of his gospel is often used as a text on Christmas day.

 

Scholars have often debated John’s identity and authorship as regards references to him in the New Testament writings, raising questions of the books attributed to him – the Gospel of John, the three epistles and the book of Revelation. Whatever the answers to these debates may be, we can be confident that there really was a close follower of Jesus called John and that he witnessed to the truth of God in the flesh – ‘the Word became flesh’ – in the famous and eloquent prologue to the gospel. And haven’t we just celebrated that incarnation? I hope you have.

This same John, we believe whose prose is inspirational,  was a Gallilean fisherman one of the sons of Zebedee called from his nets along with his brother James. And as I was writing this I realised that this  background was amazing in itself that John is also called the theologian – not as a highfalutin description – but as someone who deals in the word of God – Logos and who is the Word but Christ himself?

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Christmas Blessings (1)

Christmas 1 – St. John the Evangelist (also known as John the Theologian): Sunday 27th December 2020

Happy Christmas! Welcome to our Christmas  worship brought to our homes by Zoom.  After the worship we can have a short chat together. The hymns and other shared texts you might know by heart, or you can print out this service, or you may have a hymn book at home, or you may be happy to listen in silence.

 

 A new Zoom login address will be necessary for the first Sunday of January onwards. See website.   

Deacon Christine will lead the worship this morning and preach. Fr. Leonard is now on leave until Jan 4th.

 

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

All:           and also with you.

Deacon:   Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours.

All:           Glory to God in the highest heaven.

 

1 The first Noel the angel did say
was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
in fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
on a cold winter’s night that was so deep. 

Refrain:
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
born is the King of Israel. 

 

2 They looked up and saw a star
shining in the east, beyond them far;
and to the earth it gave great light,
and so it continued both day and night. [Refrain]

 

3 And by the light of that same star
three Wise Men came from country far;
to seek for a king was their intent,
and to follow the star wherever it went. [Refrain]

 

4 This star drew nigh to the northwest,
o’er Bethlehem it took its rest;
and there it did both stop and stay,
right over the place where Jesus lay. [Refrain]

 

5 Then entered in those Wise Men three,
full reverently upon the knee,
and offered there, in his presence,
their gold and myrrh and frankincense. [Refrain]

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Christmas Blessings (1)

Christmas Morning Zoom Service – 25th December 2020

 

 Happy Christmas! Welcome to our Christmas morning worship brought to our homes by Zoom.  After the worship we can have a short chat together. The hymns and other shared texts you might know by heart, or you can print out this service, or you may have a hymn book at home, or you may be happy to listen in silence.

 The Sunday worship login for Sunday 27th remains the same. A new address will be necessary for the first Sunday of January onwards. See website.    

 This morning there will also be a Christmas Liturgy live-Zoomed from St. Paul’s Church. Only 9 people can attend by prior booking. The link to follow this service is also on our website.

 

The preacher this morning is Fr. Leonard

 

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

All:        and also with you.

Priest:  Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours.

All:        Glory to God in the highest heaven.

 

1 O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come and behold him, born the King of angels; 

Refrain:
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord! 

 

2 God of God, Light of Light eternal,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created, [Refrain] 

 

3 Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
Sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above:
“Glory to God, all glory in the highest!” [Refrain]

 

4 Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n;
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing; [Refrain]

 

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

Minister:  Christ the light of the world has come to dispel the darkness of our hearts. Therefore let us turn to the light and confess our sins.

All:            Amen. Lord have mercy.

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Christmas Greetings Blog

Carol Service for the Eve of the Nativity of Christ: Zoom service 1800 hrs (Try to join around 17.45 hrs)

The words of all the carols are available on our website. Login addresses for other services are also on the website.

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.

1st Reading   Luke 1 (26-38)    The Annunciation

Anthem:        Angel’s Carol (John Rutter) sung by Clary Read in Canterbury

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