Service for Sunday 22nd February – First Sunday in Lent
Celebrant: Fr Benjamin Drury
Sung Mass for First Sunday in Lent
Processional: 67 (Aus der Tiefe) Forty days and forty nights Psalm: Ps. 51
Gradual: 465 (Margaret) Thou didst leave thy throne and thy kingly crown
Offertory: 439 (Gerontius) Praise to the holiest in the height
Communion: 507 (Attende Domine) Hear us, O Lord, have mercy on us
Communion II: 59 ( Jena) Now is the healing time decreed
Recessional: 65 (St. Andrew of Crete) Christian, dost thou see them All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.
The setting of the Nicene Creed is on page 562, the Sanctus-Benedictus
page 567, the Agnus Dei page 569, in the New English Hymnal
A reading from the Book of Genesis (2: 7-9; 3: 1-7)
The Lord God fashioned man of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living being.
The Lord God planted a garden in Eden which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. The Lord God caused to spring up from the soil every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden.
Now the serpent was the most subtle of all the wild beasts that the Lord God had made. It asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?’ The woman answered the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden. But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, “You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death.”’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘No! You will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.’ The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was desirable for the knowledge that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She gave some also to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realised that they were naked. So they sewed fig-leaves together to make themselves loin-cloths.
The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God.
Psalm 51 (Chant: M. Camidge)
- Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude of
thy mercies do away mine offences.
- Wash me throughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my
- For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before
- Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest
be justified in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged.
- Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived
- But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts: and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
- Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
- Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bones which thou hast bro- ken may rejoice.
- Turn thy face from my sins: and put out all my
- Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within
- Cast me not away from thy presence: and take not thy holy Spirit from
- O give me the comfort of thy help again: and stablish me with thy free
- Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto
- Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.
- Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord : and my mouth shall shew thy praise
- For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it thee: but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
- The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise.
- O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
- Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar.
A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans (5: 12-19)
Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned. Sin existed in the world long before the Law was given. There was no law and so no one could be accused of the sin of ‘law-breaking’, yet death reigned over all from Adam to Moses, even though their sin, unlike that of Adam, was not a matter of breaking a law.
Adam prefigured the One to come, but the gift itself considerably outweighed the fall. If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift. The results of the gift also outweigh the results of one man’s sin: for after one single fall came judgement with a verdict of condemnation, now after many falls comes grace with its verdict of acquittal. If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man’s fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who receives the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man’s fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God
Gospel acclamation: Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory! Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew (4: 1-11)
Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very
hungry, and the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into loaves.’ But he replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’
The devil then took him to the holy city and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God’ he said ‘throw yourself down; for scripture says: He will put you in his angels’ charge, and they will support you on their hands in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Scripture also says: You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’
Next, taking him to a very high mountain, the devil showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘I will give you all these’ he said, ‘if you fall at my feet and worship me.’ Then Jesus replied, ‘Be off, Satan! For scripture says: You must worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’ Then the devil left him, and angels appeared and looked after him.
The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, O Christ
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments
Sunday 22nd Feb.: 6 p.m.; Choral Evensong & Benediction (church choir)
Wednesday 25th February: 10 a.m.; Low Mass Sunday 1st March: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass (Lent II) Wednesday 4th March: Low Mass
Sunday 8th March: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass (Lent III)
Wednesday 11th March: 10 a.m.; Low Mass
Sunday 15th March: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass (Lent IV) (Mothering Sun.)
Wednesday 18th March: Morning Prayer (BCP) & Stations of the Cross
Sunday 22nd March; 10 a.m. Choral Mattins (BCP) (Passion Sunday)
Wednesday 25th March: 10 a.m. Morning Prayer (BCP) & Rosary
Bishop’s Lent Appeal: for the Vale Silves Community Centre, in Portugal.
Details on how to donate are to be found on the notice board in church.
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
Senior Chaplain: Fr. Benjamin Drury SSC
Home tel.: 210 72 14 906
Assistant Chaplain: Deacon Christine Saccali: 697 737 7655
Church of Sweden: Fr. Bjorn Kling: 694 6072428
Facebook @AnglicanAthens www.anglicanchurchathens.gr
saintpaulsathens.bsky.social
No Comments