19/04/2023
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Sermons & Services
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Easter – 23rd April 2023: Luke 24, 13-35
Of all the stories in the Easter Narrative collection it is perhaps the St. Luke inclusion of the Journey to Emmaus, with its famous supper details that capture the popular imagination most of all.
Beyond the context, the text, and the story itself, perhaps the most memorable reminder of the Supper at Emmaus is the set of ‘Suppers’ painted by the outstanding Italian Renaissance artist Caravaggio. There are two painting that I am aware of. Art historians among you will be able inform us if there are more.
I am passing around a postcard of the more famous Caravaggio Supper just to remind you, or in case you have never experienced Carravaggio’s art.
There are two lines from St. Luke’s narrative that I would like to focus on today.
The first is ‘Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.’
Secondly ‘Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.’
It is a very common feature in Anglican Church life to have parish bible studies. The purpose of such bible studies is to look at a book from scripture, or a set of themed texts, and study them more closely, not just so that we can apply some textual criticism to them, but so that our reading of such texts brings a more life-enriching understanding of scripture.
Of course we have to be careful how we understand the word ‘criticism’ in our modern context, because usually we associate criticism as a negative activity. In our sense it is about getting into and under the text – trying to see a particular passage or story in its wider context, so that we can be informed by what is written; formed by how the understanding of scripture shapes us and our lives; transformed by how the scripture is a ‘light to our path and a lantern to our feet’. Informed, formed, and transformed.
In a good bible study we learn not just from a leader or teacher of scripture, but also from sharing ideas, experiences, and interpretations of the text, so it is not a ‘bookish exercise’ but one way of building each other up in the faith, and helping us to bind together as the Body of Christ – especially as the scriptures are the possession of Christ’s Church and they are best heard, studied and applied as a corporate activity, working against individualized and ec-centric understandings of the Christian experience
In our time together we have studied – largely through ‘online’ methods – St. Mark’s gospel, Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, the 1st Letter of Peter, various passages in the Book of Revelation, Prophecies of the coming Messiah in the Book of Isaiah, among other things. These have always been profitable times, albeit virtually. I hope participants would agree.
19/04/2023
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Sermons & Services
Service Sheet for the Third Sunday of Easter – 23rd April 2023
Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens. We continue to wish you a very happy Easter. Please stay for refreshments in the garden. Today is also the day we celebrate the Feast of St. George – so Χρονιά Πολλά to all those named George. We have a POS so you can make your donation by card. Follow the service sheet online – wifi password gu5uX8mmtgb8egak
The presiding priest and preacher this morning is The Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan, and the deacon is Deacon Christine Saccali.
Entrance Hymn 234 Christ whose glory (2nd tune)
Priest: Alleluia! Christ is risen
All: He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
The priest then welcomes the people of God and the deacon leads us into Confession.
Silence
Deacon: Lord Jesus, you raise us to new life.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Deacon: Lord Jesus, you forgive us our sins.
Christe eleison
All: Christe eleison
Deacon: Lord Jesus, you feed us with the living bread.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Absolution: 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.
Gloria: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us. You are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive, receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God, the glory of God the Father. Amen. Amen
15/04/2023
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Sermons & Services
Audio Sermon for the 2nd Sunday of Easter – 16th April 2023
Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens
15/04/2023
In
Sermons & Services
Service for the 2nd Sunday of Easter – 16th April 2023
Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens. We continue to wish you a very happy Easter. Today we welcome 33 visitors from Malaysia. Today is Orthodox Easter – Καλό Πάσχα.
The presiding priest and preacher this morning is The Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan, Senior Chaplain.
Entrance Hymn 106 Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Priest: Alleluia! Christ is risen
All: He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
The priest then welcomes the people of God and then leads us into Confession.
Silence
Assistant: Lord Jesus, you raise us to new life.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Assistant: Lord Jesus, you forgive us our sins.
Christe eleison
All: Christe eleison
Assistant: Lord Jesus, you feed us with the living bread.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Absolution: 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.
08/04/2023
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Sermons & Services
Audio Sermon for Easter Sunday – 9th April 2023
Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens
08/04/2023
In
Sermons & Services
Sermon for Easter Sunday 2023 – 9th April 2023
Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Today is Alleluia day – in fact the beginning of 50 Alleluia days leading through to Pentecost. The church has real stamina. We keep going. Most people think Easter is one day – the church keeps Easter officially for 50 days.
In fact it is more than 50 days – every Sunday is a day when we celebrate the resurrection, the Lord’s day. Every time we celebrate a baptism we celebrate the resurrection. Every person baptized is an Alleluia person. Just think of that – each one of you here today is an Alleluia person. I’m so pleased that there are so many alleluias in church this morning.
However – You and I are also Good Friday people. Baptism is about the mystery of the cross as well as the mystery of the resurrection. We can’t have one without the other.
Think on this – so many of us here today, people of the cross and people of the empty tomb. We are God’s resurrection community, but also God’s crucified community.
You have come here today and God already knows every one of you by name. You are already familiar. You are his family, we are his family together here in this place – and in every place throughout the world where Christians meet to be the cross and empty tomb people. He is with his daughters and sons where they are persecuted or prejudiced against for their faith. He knows us all by name.
Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb where Jesus has been placed. He is not there. She panics and runs to tell Peter and John. They come to corroborate the evidence of the empty tomb. What has happened to him? Mary asks a stranger and the stranger doesn’t have to give a long and complex explanation. What does he say? How does he explain the empty tomb? Simple! All he says is ‘Mary’. The risen Jesus only has to say her name, and she knows he is risen.
My friends, the risen Jesus knows you by name. By saying your name, you are family; you are the evidence of the Easter faith. As you come forward today to receive the bread and wine of the Easter table.
It is a simple Easter message – it is the gospel, the good news. The risen Christ knows you by name. When you share the Peace today, also share your name with your neighbour. There is a brunch after the Liturgy this morning – speak with someone you have not spoken to before – and say your name.
By the time you leave this church today to live as Christians in the community, you will feel different, because you are different. The risen Christ knows you by name. Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
08/04/2023
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Sermons & Services
Service for Easter Sunday – 9th April 2023
St Paul’s Athens
We have a POS facility for card payments, and you can follow the service sheet online – ask a Sidesperson for the Password.
Happy Easter! There is an Easter Egg Hunt for children after the Liturgy.
Fr. Leonard is leading the worship and preaching this morning, assisted by Deacon Christine.
Blessing of the Easter Candle (Turn to face the door)
Priest: Eternal God, who made this most holy night to shine with the brightness of your one true light: set us aflame with the fire of your love, and bring us to the radiance of your
heavenly glory: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen
Priest: Alleluia. Christ is risen!
All: He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Choir: Setting of the Alleluia
Renewal of Baptismal Vows (at the font)
Priest: As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, we remember that through the paschal mystery we have died and been buried with him in baptism. To follow Christ means dying to sin and rising to new life with him. Therefore I ask:
Priest: Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?
All: I reject them
Priest: Do your renounce the deceit and corruption of evil?
All: I renounce them
Priest: Do you repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour?
All: I repent of them
Priest: In baptism, God calls us out of darkness into his marvellous light. Therefore I ask:
Do you turn to Christ as Saviour?
All: I turn to Christ
Priest: Do you submit to Christ as Lord?
All: I submit to Christ
Priest: Do you come to Christ, the way, the truth, and the life?
All: I come to Christ
Priest: Alleluia. Christ is risen!
All: He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Hymn: 110
30/03/2023
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Sermons & Services
Sermon for Palm Sunday – 2nd April 2023
Revd Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens
There is a telling little phrase in St. Luke’s gospel (9,53) where the author says ‘Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.’
It has a ring of determination to it – a planned or strategic decision. One wonders if there had been any conversations around this decision – had the disciples been given access to the details of this new direction? The little phrase has the resonance of purpose or what we might nowadays call ‘intentionality’.
Whether Our Lord had shared this intention with his closest comrades or not, the Jerusalem based followers of Jesus seem to get wind of his arrival, and are waiting. As he journeys from the area of Bethany where he had raised Lazarus from the grave, down through the Kidron Valley, past Gethsemane, if he looks up Jesus will see the walled city and to his left the pinnacle of the temple – so infamous as the location of one of the Temptations by Satan, the temptation of material, physical power.
His supporters are waiting for him as the rumours have grown about his arrival. They were anxious about what would happen – what would he do – how would he fulfil their expectations?
In the end he disappoints them. Yes, Jesus disappoints them. He disappoints them because of a basic clash of expectations about the messiah. On the one hand there was an expectation that the messiah would be a second King David – after all this was his city, the City of David.
David had been a supreme ruler, conquering all tribes and uniting the Hebrew people into one distinct nation. His was a time of unity, of flourishing, of powerful leadership, of a union between earthly and heavenly power, human and divine supremacy.
After a thousand years without King David, the messiah would be like him.
But the people are mistaken. They have forgotten their scriptures. They have not remembered the words of Isaiah, where the messiah is clearly presented as one who is humble, indeed humiliated, one who is bruised, despised and forsaken. (Isaiah 53)
So the people greet their king/messiah as he arrives on his donkey. Fulfilling a prophecy in Zechariah, their King does not arrive on a great white stallion.
Yet they shout out in their excitement ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’. I suppose we might think something like ‘Hurrah, our king has come’.
Well, we would be wrong. Hosanna is not a cheer of joy and happiness, but a Hebrew word for ‘save us’. They are pleading with him, pleading with their Messiah to save them.
In human terms Jesus has a choice. He can please the people and satisfy them by turning right as he goes through the gate. This would take him on a route that would end up at the Roman palace of Pontius Pilate, the centre of foreign, pagan rule; Pilate is the epitome of this oppressive alien power. Their messiah/ king will overthrow him and the people will be saved – proper freedom will be restored and the city of David handed back to the Jewish people. Will Jesus turn right and save them?
No, he turns left and heads for the temple which had been turned into a den of thieves, where true religion had been distorted and exploited, and where a corrupt version of God was being forced on the people. Jesus disappoints the people. Their king would not be liberating them in the way they hoped and expected; there would be no overthrow of the Roman eagle. Instead, the intention of Jesus in Jerusalem is to liberate the people from the shackles and chains of their false adherence to religion, to restore them to faithfulness, and to become the true offering for their sins as the Lamb of God, sacrificed on the cross, the cross of both shame and glory.
So this holy week has begun; the great and holy week has begun as we journey with Christ from the howling of ‘Hosanna’
30/03/2023
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Sermons & Services
Service for Palm Sunday – 2nd April 2023
Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens. Great (Holy) Week begins today in the ‘Latin Calendar’. We will begin outside with the blessing of palm crosses and process into church. Do stay for coffee in the church garden after the Liturgy.
We have a POS facility for card payments, and you can follow the service sheet online – ask a Sidesperson for the Password.
Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens. Great (Holy) Week begins today in the ‘Latin Calendar’. We will begin outside with the blessing of palm crosses and process into church. Do stay for coffee in the church garden after the Liturgy.
We have a POS facility for card payments, and you can follow the service sheet online – ask a Sidesperson for the Password.
The presiding priest and preacher is Fr. Leonard, Senior Chaplain. The deacon is The Revd. Deacon Christine Saccali.
Liturgy of Palms (in the Garden)
All: Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Priest: Behold your king comes to you, O Zion, meek and lowly, sitting upon an ass. Ride on in the cause of truth and for the sake of justice. Your throne is the throne of God, it endures for ever; and the sceptre of your kingdom is a righteous sceptre. You have loved righteousness and hated evil. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
All: Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Priest: Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, during Lent we have been preparing by works of love and self-sacrifice for the celebration of our Lord’s death and resurrection. Today we come together to begin this solemn celebration in union with the Church throughout the world. Christ enters his own city to complete his work as our Saviour, to suffer, to die, and to rise again. Let us go with him in faith and love, so that, united with him in his sufferings, we may share his risen life.
The people hold up palms or branches while this prayer is said by the priest
God our Saviour, whose Son Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem as Messiah to suffer and to die; let these palms + be for us signs of his victory and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our King, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
We now process around the church, and as we do so we sing:
We have a King who rides a donkey, we have a King who rides a donkey
We have a King who rides a donkey, and his name is Jesus.
Jesus the King is with us, Jesus us the King is with us, Jesus the King is with us
Riding on a donkey.
Priest: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
The Lord be with you.
All: and also with you
The priest then welcomes the household of faith and then the deacon leads us into Confession.
Silence and stillness
Deacon: We confess to you our selfishness and lack of love: fill us with your Spirit.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Deacon: We confess to you our fear and failure in sharing our faith: fill us with your Spirit.
Christe eleison
All: Christe eleison
Deacon: We confess to you our stubbornness and lack of trust: fill us with your Spirit.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Absolution: Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you your sins, and bring to everlasting life. Amen.
Collect: Let us pray (remain standing in silence as the priest prays the Collect of the Day)
True and humble King, hailed by the crowd as Messiah: grant us the faith to know and love you, that we may be found beside you on the way of the cross, which is the path of glory; through Christ our Lord. Amen.