Monday 13th January 2020 at 20.30 hrs
Panos Mouzourakis and his band in a pop mood welcome the New Year
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Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens
‘Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head, ‘To me be as it pleaseth God’ she said. ‘My soul shall laud and magnify his holy name’; most highly favoured lady. Gloria”
These are the words of one of the verses of the lovely Advent hymn we have just sung, ‘The angel Gabriel from heaven came’.
It takes us back to earlier in the year, to March 25th, the date on which the church throughout the world celebrates the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary’.
We will stick with Mary’s ‘yes’, as this is the word that perhaps is a wiser word for us on the 4th Sunday of Advent, when we are challenged yet again to allow Christ to be born again within us. Will we say a definite no, or an indifferent no; and indifferent yes or a definite yes? The choice is ours – just as Blessed Mary had a choice. God does not compel us to do anything – he works with our free will, with our consent. Our consent for blessing is as vital as Mary’s consent to the message of the Archangel. ‘To me be as it pleaseth God, she said’.
This same exercise of choice is offered to Joseph, as we heard in our gospel reading this morning. I wonder how many of us have significant and life-changing dreams that come as ‘night messages’ from God. Have you noticed how often in the bible, it is in a dream that God communicates with an individual? Joseph seems to be very prone to such significant dreams. It is through his dream that he is reassured about taking Blessed Mary as his wife. Imagine that – in fact, let’s imagine that!
30th Choral Evensong at St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Sunday, December 22nd, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Philellinon 27, 10557 Syntagma.
Cantores & Cappella Sancti Pauli conducted by Iason Marmaras
Minister: The Reverend Canon Leonard Doolan
free admission and retiring collection
After the service arias from Handel’s Messiah will be sung by Marina Theodoropoulou, Alexandra Plessia and Clair Zerva.
The Renaissance Choral Evensong services at St Paul’s are organised by the Schola Cantorum Sancti Pauli, the Athens Centre for Early Music (of the Ατhens Conservatory), and St Paul’s Anglican Church.
The Cappella Sancti Pauli, under the direction of Iason Marmaras, sing a series of Choral Evensong services that aim to revive the musical and liturgical practice at Cathedrals and Chapels during the Renaissance, but also the music as experienced by musicians in those times, seeing the music as a functional part of the liturgy, rather than as a building block for concerts.
Rev. Canon Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens
No woman on earth has ever given birth to anyone as great as John the Baptist. I am a big fan of John the Baptist. However it is not I who grant to John this great accolade of birth, but Christ himself.
The holy scriptures reveal to us glimpses into the life of John, known as the Πρόδρομος , the Forerunner. And yet we are left thirsting for more knowledge of this man. In some ways it is a pity that we refer to him as John the Baptist, as John the Baptizer captures more accurately the dynamism of this character.
It reminds me of the rather pathetic joke: What do John the Baptist and Winnie the Pooh have in common? Only their middle name! (Think about that one).
The gospels build up a picture, though little more than a squint, of John. We know that he has familial connections with Jesus. We use the word cousin. On account of the journey made by Blessed Mary to her ‘kinswoman’ Elizabeth, to tell her that she is to carry the child of the Holy Spirit, we are reliably informed that Elizabeth was already 6 months into her pregnancy. Thus we know that John is half a year older that Jesus.
John’s father and mother are both known to us, and we know that the father, Zechariah, was on duty at the temple when he has his vision that he will have a child with Elizabeth who is to be called, not son of Zechariah, but John. Both John’s parents were very elderly when he was conceived. Given Zechariah’s duty at the temple we know that he was one of the temple officials, so John would have been brought up familiar with the temple – a factor that will be very significant in his future life.
This Sunday’s 10.15 Liturgy will be a Christingle Service and we hope many families will attend. For those who have not attended a Christingle service before here are some details about what it’s all about:
The symbolism of Christingle
Each element of a Christingle has a special meaning and helps to tell the Christian story:
The orange represents the world
The red ribbon (or tape) symbolises the love and blood of Christ
The four cocktail sticks represent the four corners of the earth
The sweets and dried fruit represent all of God’s creations,
The lit candle represents Jesus’s light in the world, bringing hope to people living in darkness.
It is traditional at a Christingle Service to bring along a present for underprivileged children and this year we will be collecting new toys for Hestia Hellas.
Canon Leonard Doolan
Even the most casual observer of events on the world stage must realize that, in rather biblical language, ‘the nations are in uproar’. For months now we have seen the deep discontent of the people of Hong Kong spilling out on to the streets of the city. In South America a number of political leaders have fallen from favour recently. In the city of Nazaria in Iraq there are many deaths of civilians as the Iraqi people react to corruption in high places and the lack of jobs, opportunities, and a future. Europe is not without its problems either. President Macron has declared NATO as brain dead. France had it yellow vest protests for weeks – and Spain and Italy have social problems; the cohesion of the European Union is shaky as we enter a period of change in its senior bureaucrats; and then of course there is BREXIT and the parliamentary paralysis this has created in the ‘mother of parliaments’.
I think we can say that we are not living in contented times. What might be the cause of this malaise? What underlies the fracturing of societies and alliances? Why are trade deals, closer monetary union, political integration, bureaucratic standardisation from Brussels why are these not managing to bring cohesion? What is it that is missing?
From traditional to contemporary, there is something for everyone to enjoy at St Paul’s this December.
Our festive Christmas singalong on Sunday 8th December, is a hit with the whole family with songs both old and new and traditional carols being sung all washed down with warm mulled wine and Panetone. Fr Leonard conducting “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is the real highlight of the evening. There will be a 5€ entry charge for those aged 16yrs+ and a retiring collection. Arrive early to obtain a seat!
Our Choral Evensong with the Scola Cantorum takes place on 22nd December and the traditional service of Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve brings a more reflective side to the season.
There will be no Singalong Messiah this year, but save your voices for next December – we’ll be back!
Check out St Paul’s Calendar here for full details of dates and times
