Sermon for the second Sunday of Advent – 4th December 2022: Isaiah 11, 1-10; Matthew 3, 1-12.

Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

The sermon this morning is shorter than usual. Hurrah! I can hear some of saying, or at least thinking. The reason is that today is our Christmas Bazaar, so many members of our regular congregation are already at the venue getting set up. We are now on the 2^nd Sunday of Advent. Last week I referred to the 4 themes that now plot our path through this holy season: The Advent Hope; the Prophets; John the Baptist; and then a timely reminder of Gabriel’s message to Blessed Mary nine months before we celebrate Christ’s birth. So today we are thinking of the 2^nd theme – the Prophets.

The great prophet of the Old Testament is Isaiah. He is writing around the late 8^th century BC. His influence is immense, and many of the prophecies are used in the selection of Advent Sunday readings. Today’s prophecy has real impact for he pairs together extraordinary opposites to show what the result will be when the Lord’s Anointed one will come among us. The wolf will dwell with the lamb; the leopard will lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion together. The ridiculous opposites are such that one can only imagine that Isaiah is leading our thoughts towards a paradise – like the Garden of Eden, the perfection of creation before the Fall.

To both sides of this remarkable image of Paradise re-gained, the prophet refers to Jesse. This is so significant for us as Christians. Jesse was the father of many sons, one of whom became more famous than his brothers – his name was David, and he was chosen and anointed as King. ‘Once in royal David’s city’ is one of the hymns we will be singing in a few week’s time. The significance is that Jesse was a Bethlehemite, so a shoot will come from Jesse’s line – it will be a child of Bethlehem. It is also Joseph’s town of birth. So the new kingdom, or restored paradise, will be born in the child in a manger in Bethlehem. ‘On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

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Service for the 2nd Sunday of Advent – 4 December 2022

Welcome to all. Our Liturgy is shorter in length and time because today is also our CHRISTMAS MARKET. The presiding priest and preacher is The Revd. Canon Leonard Doolan, Senior Chaplain in Greece.

Entrance Hymn: 3   Come thou long expected Jesus

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

[Lighting of the 2^nd Advent Candle

Priest: People of God, be glad! Your God delights in you, giving you joy for sadness and turning the dark to light. Be strong in hope therefore; for your God comes to save. You are God’s children.

All:      Lord, make us one in the love of Christ today and forever. Amen]

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

Priest: When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins.

A period of silent stillness follows

Minister: Turn us again, O God our Saviour, and let your anger cease from us.

Kyrie eleison

All:           Kyrie eleison.

Minister: Show us your compassion, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Christe eleison

All:          Christe eleison

Minister: Your salvation is near to those that fear you, that glory may dwell in your land.

Kyrie eleison.

All:          Kyrie eleison

Absolution we hear the words of God’s forgiveness to those who are truly penitent

Collect:  Let us pray    (remain standing as the priest prays the Collect of the Day)   

O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

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Audio Sermon for Advent Sunday – 27 November 2022

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Service for Advent Sunday – 27th November 2022

Welcome to all as we begin to worship in this holy season of Advent. The presiding priest and preacher is Fr. Leonard.

There is coffee after our Liturgy. Please note the church has a POS if you wish to donate by card.

Entrance Hymn: 11   O come, O come Emmanuel

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

[Lighting of the Advent Candle

Priest: People of God, awake! The day is coming soon when you shall see God face to face. Remember the ways and works of God. God calls you out of darkness to walk in the light of his coming. You are God’s children.

All:      Lord, make us one as we walk with Christ today and forever. Amen]

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

Priest: When the Lord comes, he will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Therefore in the light of Christ let us confess our sins.

A period of silent stillness follows

Deacon:  Turn us again, O God our Saviour, and let your anger cease from us.

Kyrie eleison

All:           Kyrie eleison.

Deacon: Show us your compassion, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Christe eleison

All:          Christe eleison

Deacon: Your salvation is near to those that fear you, that glory may dwell in your land.

Kyrie eleison.

All:          Kyrie eleison

Absolution we hear the words of God’s forgiveness to those who are truly penitent

[There is no Gloria in Advent)

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Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King – 20th November 2022:JEREMIAH 23:1-6,LUKE 23: 33-43

Deacon Chris Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

We have been hearing the word King a lot after the accession of King Charles 111this year after the death of Queen Elizabeth 11 and we have had to get used to different words in the National Anthem, new coins minted and many other changes. Today we celebrate the last Sunday before a new lectionary year before the First Sunday in Advent next week. Today is known as Christ the King a very different kind of king from a worldly king.

Our gospel passage from Luke today reflects this making it very clear that Christ on the cross, great priest bestowing forgiveness and taking on himself the role of temple in sacrificing his body, is also Christ the King. Truly priest and truly King bringing in God’s Kingdom. We are in Kingdom season after all before we enter Advent season.

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Sermon preached for Remembrance Sunday – 13th November 2022

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

After preaching for Remembrance Sunday every year for 39 years is there anything new that I can say? Probably not. The Christian preacher, I, can only engage in variations on the same theme.

The theme is this. War is a sin – whatever provokes it is also sinful. War is a sin because it causes a chasm; a chasm between man and God, between one person and another, one nation against another; and a chasm to the integrity within ourselves, for it pulls us apart in our ‘oneness’ with God and fellow human. In this chasm we find that we are able, through intellectual game-playing, to justify that one side has justice and right; and that the other side is unjust and wrong. In a sophisticated world like ours, how naïve is that polarisation?

So war is a sin – and its consequences have a huge outreach in human experience. Every war is a vortex of destruction that drags human beings into it, willing or unwilling, combative or non-combative. Nobility sits side by side with collateral damage; destruction sits side by side with the high moral ground.

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Audio Sermon for Remembrance Sunday, 13th November 2022

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Sermon Preached on 7th August 2022

Angelos Palioudakis

Recorded in Genesis chapter 15, is the promise from God which carries right

through into the New Testament readings that we have before us: Luke’s Gospel

chapter 12 and Hebrews chapter 11. Let’s focus on Luke’s Gospel chapter 12, a

passage where Jesus effectively says to his disciples: “watch where you’re going,

keep my father’s Kingdom central in your heart and your mind and your life in

spite of your own made-up fears of financial matters.”

Jesus comes to reframe our perspective, to enable us to prioritize our lives.

He tells us that we need to tend to our greatest spiritual needs, if we are to

become citizens of heaven. He tells us to sell our possessions and give to the

poor. He gives a warning to us that we are too attached to this world and we

are too attached to our stuff.

Well, I think it is safe to assume that we don’t have to pull an imitation of

St. Francis of Assisi and give away all our possessions and wander around the

streets. What Jesus is saying here is this (and I quote): “where your treasure is,

there your heart will be also.” So if your treasure is safely deposited in heaven

then heaven is going to be the centre of your thoughts and your desires. And

that’s the crux of the matter.

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Sermon for the Feast of All Saints – 30th October 2022

Rev. Canon  L W Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

I have a confession to make. I am absolutely hopeless in understanding how to use new technology. I feel like a dinosaur, which is prehistoric.

I draw my inspiration from Scripture, but even there I discover that Moses was ahead of his time, for he went up into the cloud, and long before I had an iPad, Moses had a tablet, more than one in fact.

Today we celebrate All Saints, on this All Saints Sunday. In the letter to the Hebrews we hear a lovely phrase –a great cloud of witnesses – like an ‘i-cloud’. Have you heard of it? Some of you think I am talking about technology again where the i-cloud is where every message everyone sends to anyone anywhere is stored for ever and a day as evidence, a witness, to what you have ever said in any message to any person, anywhere. The amazing thing is that this contemporary i-cloud doesn’t exist anywhere. You cannot see it, touch it, smell it, taste it, or hear it. It has no existential reality – it is simply there. The cloud of witnesses is simply there.

But you will have guessed that the ‘cloud of witnesses’ is not quite like the iCloud, but it has some similarities. The ‘cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews is a glorious vision by a follower of Christ who described something very beautiful. It is a place but no GPS would ever find it for you. This place is full of the evidence of Christian lives lived well, witnesses to a different kind of communication, the communication of love between God and humanity, humanity and God, and between human beings.

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Audio Sermon for the feast of All Saints – 30th October 2022

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens