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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Service sheet for the Fourth Sunday in Advent – 22nd December 2024

St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens

Celebrant: Fr. Benjamin Drury

Preacher: Deacon Christine Saccali

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 11 (Veni Emmanuel) O come, O come, Emmanuel!

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 80

Gradual: 1 (Conditor Alme) Creator of the stars of night

Offertory: 188 (Daily Daily) Ye who own the faith of Jesus

Communion: 184 (Beatitudo) Shall we not love thee, mother dear

Recessional: 9 (Helmsley) Lo! he comes with clouds descending

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 Micah (5: 1-4)

The Lord says this:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be born for me the one who is to rule over Israel;

his origin goes back to the distant past, to the days of old.

The Lord is therefore going to abandon them

till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.

Then the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel.

He will stand and feed his flock

with the power of the Lord,

with the majesty of the name of his God.

They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land.

He himself will be peace.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: (Ps. 80): God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

O shepherd of Israel, hear us,

shine forth from your cherubim throne. O Lord, rouse up your might,

O Lord, come to our help. (Response)

God of hosts, turn again, we implore, look down from heaven and see.

Visit this vine and protect it,

the vine your right hand has planted. (Response)

May your hand be on the one you have chosen, the one you have given your strength.

And we shall never forsake you again;

give us life that we may call upon your name (Response)

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (10: 5-10)

This is what Christ said, on coming into the world:

You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation, prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;

then I said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book, ‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’

Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations,

the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your

will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second.

And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. I am the handmaid of the Lord:

let what you have said be done to me. Alleluia! The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (1: 39-45)

Glory to you, O Lord.

(after the Gospel reading):

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

O Lord, raise up (we pray thee) thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speed- ily help and deliver us; through the satisfaction of thy Son our

Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory, world without end. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Sun. 22nd December: 6 p.m. Choral Evensong

Tues. 24th December: 6 p.m. Nine Lessons and Carols Tues. 24th December: 11:30 p.m. Midnight Mass

Weds. 25th December: 10 a.m. Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas)

Any person interested in serving during the liturgy this Christmastide

should make themselves known to Father Benjamin or to Oliver Knight

Walking Group and Study Group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors. We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)           697 737 7655 anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens   www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

Service Sheet for Sunday 15th December, Third Sunday in Advent

St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens

Celebrant: Fr. Benjamin Drury

Preacher: Deacon Christine Saccali

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 12 (Winchester New) On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry

Responsorial Psalm: Isaiah 12: 2-6

Gradual: 18 (Sandys) Ye servants of the Lord

Offertory: 7 (Little Cornard) Hills of the North, rejoice

Communion: 170 (Lindeman) Lo! in the wilderness a voice

Recessional: 443 (Gopsal) Rejoice, the Lord is King

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 Zephaniah (3: 14-18)

Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud!

Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!

The Lord has repealed your sentence; he has driven your enemies away.

The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst; you have no more evil to fear.

When that day comes, word will come to Jerusalem: Zion, have no fear, do not let your hands fall limp.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.

He will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love;

he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

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Service Sheet for the Second Sunday in Advent – 8th December 2024

St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 15 (St. Stephen) The Lord will come and not be slow

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 126

Gradual: 4 (Cross of Jesus) Come, thou long-expected Jesus Offertory: 13 (Melita) O quickly come, dread Judge of all Communion: 14 (St. Thomas) The advent of our God Recessional: 16 (Wachet Auf) Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling

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 Baruch (5: 1-9)

Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress,

put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever,

wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you,

put the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head:

since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven, since the name God gives you for ever will be,

‘Peace through integrity, and honour through devotedness.’

Arise, Jerusalem, stand on the heights and turn your eyes to the east:

see your sons reassembled from west and east

at the command of the Holy One, jubilant that God has remembered

them.Though they left you on foot, with enemies for an escort, now God brings them back to you like royal princes carried back in glory. For God has decreed the flattening of each high mountain, of

the everlasting hills, the filling of the valleys to make the ground level so that Israel can walk in safety under the glory of God.

And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade for Israel at the command of God; for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory with his mercy and integrity for escort.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 126 What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage it seemed like a dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter on our lips there were songs. (Response)

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels

the Lord worked for them!’

What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad. (Response)

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry land.

Those who are sowing in tears

will sing when they reap. (Response)

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

carrying seed for the sowing

they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves. (Response)

A reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Philippians (1: 3-6, 8-11)

Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present. I am quite certain that the One who began this good work in you will see that it is finished when the Day of Christ Jesus comes; and God knows how much I miss

you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you. My prayer is that your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognise what is best. This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us for the glory and praise of God.

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Prepare a way for the Lord,

make his paths straight,

and all mankind shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia! The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (3: 1-6)

Glory to you, O Lord.

(after the Gospel reading): The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them,

read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our

Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer Collect)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Weds. 11th December: 10 a.m. Low Mass

Sun. 15th December.: 10 a.m. Sung Mass (Advent III)

Coffee Morning: Thursday 12th December (10:30 a.m.)

Carol ‘sing along’: Sunday 15th Dec. (6:00 p.m.)

Choral Evensong: Sunday 22nd Dec. (6:00 p.m.)

Service of Nine Lessons & Carols: Sunday 24th Dec. (6:00 p.m.)

Midnight Mass: Tuesday 24th Dec. (11:30 p.m.)

Christmas Day: liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

Study Group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Walking Group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors.

We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)           697 737 7655 anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                    www.anglicanchurchathens.gr

Service Sheet for Sunday 1st December 2024 – Advent Sunday

St Paul’s Anglican Church Athens

Celebrant Fr Benjamin Drury

Welcome to our Liturgy of Holy Communion (Sung Mass)

Entrance: 1 (St. Gregory) Creator of the stars of night

Congregational Psalm: Ps. 25 (Southwell)

Offertory: 11 (Veni Emmanuel) O come, O come Emmanuel!

Communion: 5 (Merton) Hark! a herald voice is calling

Recessional: 10 (Personent Hodie) Long ago, prophets knew

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy. The church’s Christmas Bazaar continues until 4:30 p.m. at the War Museum (2-4 Rizari)

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 Jeremiah (33: 14-16)

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Congregational Psalm: Psalm 25 (tune: Southwell) To thee I lift my soul:

O Lord, I trust in thee:

My God, let me not be ashamed,

nor triumph foes o’er me.

Show me thy ways, O Lord; thy paths, O teach thou me:

And do thou lead me in thy truth,

therein my teacher be:

For thou art God that dost

to me salvation send,

And I upon thee all the day

expecting do attend.

My sins and faults of youth

do thou, O Lord, forget:

After thy mercy think on me,

and for thy goodness great.

God good and upright is:

the way he’ll sinners show

The meek in judgement he will guide

and make his path to know.

A reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (3: 12-4:2)

Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Finally, then, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to

please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. Show us, O Lord, your mercy,

and grant us your salvation. Alleluia!

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke (21: 25-28: 34-36)

Glory to you, O Lord.

(after the Gospel reading):

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time

of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us

in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.(BCP Collect)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments

Weds. 4th December: 10 a.m. Low Mass

Sun. 8th December.: 10 a.m. Sung Mass (Advent II)

Choral Evensong: Sunday 22nd Dec. (6:00 p.m.)

Coffee Morning: 12th December (10:30 a.m.)

Christmas Bazaar: 1st December (War Museum): until 4:30 p.m.

Carol ‘sing along’: Sunday 15th Dec. (6:00 p.m.)

Service of Nine Lessons & Carols: Sunday 24th Dec. (6:00 p.m.)

Midnight Mass: Sunday 24th Dec. (11:30 p.m.)

Christmas Morning: Sung Mass: 10:00 a.m.

Study Group & Walking Group: details from Fr. Benjamin

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code;

the Church does not receive any

funding from the Church of England

or the British Government and is reliant

on the goodwill of congregants and visitors.

We thank you for your support.

Priest Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury frbenjamindrury@gmail.com;

Home tel.: 210 72 14 906

Deacon Christine Saccali : (Day Off: Friday)           697 737 7655 anglican@otenet.gr (Church e-mail address)

Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling  694 6072428

Facebook @AnglicanAthens                    www.anglicanchurchathens.gr