Liturgy of the Word for Trinity Sunday – 4th June 2023
Welcome to St Paul’s Athens, especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens.
Please join us after the service for refreshments in the garden. St. Paul’s has internet – ask for the password.
The worship is led by Nelly Paraskevopoulou who is in training to be a Licensed Reader.
Entrance Hymn: 146 Holy Holy Holy
Minister: Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you
All: and also with you.
Minister: O Lord, open our lips
All: and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Minister: Give us the joy of your saving help
All: and sustain us with your life-giving Spirit.
The minister then welcomes people informally.
Prayers of Penitence
Minister: Jesus says, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. So let us turn away from our sin and turn to Christ, confessing our sins in penitence and faith.
All: Lord God, we have sinned against you;
we have done evil in your sight.
We are sorry and repent.
Have mercy on us according to your love.
Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin.
Renew a right spirit within us and restore us to the joy of your salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Minister: May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us
in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All: Amen
Psalm Hymn Book 533 This will be led by the choir (Please be seated)
Refrain: O God, you are my God, for you my soul is athirst.
First Reading : Isaiah 40, 12-17, 27-end (Reader: Julia Shear)
Who has measured the waters of the sea in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has directed the spirit of the Lord or as his counsellor has instructed him? Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice? Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust. Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him; they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
At the end of the reading:
Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
All: Thanks be to God.
Minister: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.
All: And Christ shall give you light.
Minister: You have died and your life is hid with Christ in God.
All: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead.
Minister: Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.
All: And Christ shall give you light.
Minister: When Christ our life appears you will appear with him in glory.
All: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
The Benedictus Luke 1, 68-79 (Please stand to say the canticle together)
- Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who has come to his people and set them free.
- He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, born of the house of his servant David.
- Through his holy prophets God promised of old to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us,
- To show mercy to our ancestors, and to remember his holy covenant.
- This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
- Free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
- And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
- To give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of all their sins.
- In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
- To shine on those who swell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end. Amen.
Gospel Hymn 377 Immortal, invisible God only wise
Gospel Reading Matthew 28, 16-end (Reader: Oliver Knight)
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Reader: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All: Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon (Please be seated) Nelly Paraskevopoulou
Hymn: 483 The church of God a kingdom is
The Apostles’ Creed (remain standing)
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Intercessions: Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer. (Intercessor: Angelos Palioudakis)
Collect:
Holy God, faithful and unchanging: enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth, and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love, that we may truly love you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on 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.
The Peace (Please stand) The peace of the Lord be always with you
All: and also with you
Hymn: 413 Now thank we all our God (During this hymn the collection will be taken)
Notices
Minister: Let us say the Grace together: The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
Fr. Leonard’s usual Day Off – Monday (in emergencies contact Deacon Christine)
Home tel : 210 72 14 906; email anglican@otenet.gr
Deacon Chris: Day Off – Friday 697 737 7655
Swedish Church: Fr. Bjorn 694 6072428
The Anglican Church in Greece (including St. Paul’s) is self financing, and receives no income other than from the generosity of those who worship here. We are a legal body and we pay tax. Our tax number is 997073090. If you wish to donate direct to our bank (IBAN) the account with Piraeus Bank is: The Anglican Church in Greece, St. Paul’s Athens GR 820172 0500 0050 5008 6327 479 Swift code is PIRB GRAA
Liturgical Material Copyright of the Archbishops’ Council
Notices:
- Sincere thanks to all who supported the Coronation Bazaar on Sat 27th– stall holders, contributors, those who attended and spent money!, and not least Lynn Stavrou.
- Weekly Giving: if you would like to make your weekly giving to the church by our envelope scheme (which we would encourage) please speak to Nelly Paraskevopoulou.
- Sunday Table Top Sales: There is often a Greetings Card stall and a Second Hand Book stall in the garden after the liturgy. Please do look out for them.
- Church History and Guidebook ‘Opening Doors’ available for sale always when the church is open. €10,00 a copy, it makes excellent reading, or a gift for someone else. If you don’t have enough cash you can pay by card (POS available).
- Tuesday Morning Zoom Prayers – see the website for details
- Leonard is with the congregation in Thessaloniki this weekend.
- Coffee Mornings (now on Thursdays!!!): June 8th, July 13th. These are in the Church Garden
- Quiz Nights – these are monthly. Listen out for the dates!
- Next week’s preacher is Archimandrite Isidoros Katsos, parish priest at Metamorphosis Church in Plaka.
https://www.facebook.com/AnglicanAthens/ @AthensAnglican
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