Service for the 1st Sunday in Lent – 18th February 2024
Welcome to St. Paul’s Athens especially if you are here for the first time or visiting Athens. Please stay and have coffee after the liturgy.
The presiding priest and preacher is Fr. Marcus Ronchetti. The deacon is The Revd. Deacon Christine Saccali.
Entrance Hymn 376 (Kingsfold) I heard the voice of Jesus say
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 people of God and the deacon leads us into Confession.
Silence and stillness follows for a few moments
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
Priest: May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring you
his pardon and peace.
All: Amen.
Collect: Let us pray (remain standing as the priest prays the Collect of the Day)
Heavenly Father,
your Son battled with the powers of darkness,
and grew closer to you in the desert:
help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer
that we may witness to your saving love
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading (please sit) Genesis 9. 8-17
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Reader: This is the word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25 (vs. 1-9) To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul
Refrain:
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul
Verses:
1) To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; O my God, in you I trust
let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies triumph over me.
2) Let none who look to you be put to shame,
but let the treacherous be shamed and frustrated.
3) Make me to know your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.
4) Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you have I hoped all the day long.
5) Remember, Lord, your compassion and love,
for they are from everlasting.
6) Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions,
but think on me in your goodness, O Lord according to your steadfast love.
7) Gracious and upright is the Lord;
therefore shall he teach sinners in the way.
8) He will guide the humble in doing right
and teach his way to the lowly.
9) All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth
to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Second Reading 1 Peter 3. 18-end
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
Reader: This is the word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Hymn : 67 (Aus der Tiefe) Forty days and forty nights
Gospel Reading
Deacon: Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory. The Lord is a great God. O that today you
would listen to his voice. Harden not your hearts.
All: Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.
Deacon: The Lord be with you
All: and also with you
Deacon: Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. Mark (Mark 1.9-15)
All: Glory to you, O Lord
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Deacon: This is the gospel of the Lord
All: Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory.
Sermon : Fr Marcus Ronchetti (Please sit)
Affirmation of Faith (please stand as we declare our historic faith in the Trinitarian God)
Priest: Let us declare our faith in God.
All: We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love.
We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high.
We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Intercessions: (kneel or sit) Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
The Peace: (please stand)
Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us access to his grace. The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
All: and also with you
Offertory: 63 (St. Bernard) All ye who seek a comfort sure (The collection is then taken)
The Great Thanksgiving Prayer (please remain standing for this)
Priest: The Lord be with you
All: and also with you
Priest: Lift up your hearts
All: We lift them to the Lord
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
All: It is right to give thanks and praise
Priest: It is right to praise you, Father, for all your goodness and your love. When we
turned away you did not reject us. You came to meet us in your Son.
All: You welcomed us as your children and prepared a table where we might sit and
eat with you.
Priest: In Christ you shared our life that we might live in him and he in us.
All: He opened wide his arms upon the cross and, with a love stronger than death he
made for all a perfect sacrifice for sin.
Priest: On the night before he died he came to table with his friends and taking bread, he
gave you thanks; he broke it and gave it to them saying: Take, eat: this is my body
which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.
All: Lord Jesus, we bless you: you are the bread of life.
Priest: At the end of supper, taking the cup of wine he gave you thanks, and said: Drink this,
all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you for
the forgiveness of sins; do this in remembrance of me.
All: Lord Jesus, we bless you: you are the true vine.
Deacon: Praise to you, Lord Jesus
All: Dying you destroyed our death,
Rising you restored our life;
Lord Jesus, come in glory.
Priest: Father, send your Holy Spirit on us now; may this bread and this wine, be to us
the body and blood of your dear Son. As we eat and drink these holy gifts make
us, who know our need of grace, one in Christ, our risen Lord. With your whole
Church throughout the world we offer you this sacrifice of praise and lift our voice
to join the song of heaven for ever praising you and singing:
All: (Sung) Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of
your glory. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
The Lord’s Prayer: (to be prayed in the language of your choice)
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.
Priest: Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup
All: we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Sung: Jesus Lamb of God, have mercy on us. Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us peace, grant us peace.
Priest: Draw near with faith. Receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which he gave for you, and his blood which he shed for you. Eat and drink in remembrance that he died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.
All: We do not presume to come this your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table. But you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son Jesus Christ and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.
All baptized Christians may come forward to receive the body and blood of Christ. If you wish you may receive a blessing.
Communion Hymn: 70 (Southwell) Lord Jesus, think on me
Post Communion Prayer: Let us pray (please stand)
Priest: Lord God,
you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven;
by it you nourish our faith,
increase our hope,
and strengthen our love:
teach us always to hunger for him who is the true and living bread,
and enable us to live by every word
that proceeds from out of your mouth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
All: Father of all, we give you thanks and praise, that when we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living, he declared your love, gave us grace, and opened the gate of glory. May we who share Christ’s body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, so we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Post Communion Hymn: 72 (Olivet) My faith looks up to thee
Priest: Christ Give you grace to grow in holiness, to deny yourselves, take up your
Cross and follow him, and the blessing…
Deacon: Go in the peace of Christ
All: Thanks be to God.
Deacon Chris: Day off – Friday Home tel. 22950 53164
Swedish Church: contact Fr. Bjorn on 694 607 2428
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. Please ask about our monthly envelope scheme.
Notices:
–Fr. Marcus Ronchetti will be holding a Lent course Tuesdays at 7.30.at the Clergy apartment ‘Lost in Wonder, Love and Praise’. We will be Exploring our prayer life as busy people in a mad world. Starting on February 20th for 5 weeks. Please write your name on the list at the back of the church if you want to attend
-World Day of Prayer, on Friday 1st March at 5.30pm in the 2nd Evangelical Church.
-Electoral Roll Forms are available – if you live in the Athens area, have attended services regularly for six months and wish to be included on our Electoral Roll please complete one of these and hand it to Jane Mandalios or, if she is not available, Jean Mertzanakis. Inclusion on the Roll gives the right to vote at our Annual Meeting or stand for election to Council or as a Churchwarden.
-Quiz Nights – these are held 5 or 6 times a year – listen out for dates or have a look at our notice boards. Let Jean Mertzanakis know if you wish to come along.
–Farewell service for Bishop David
A service of Evening Prayer, Thanksgiving and Sending Out will be held on Wednesday 28th February. Everyone is very welcome to join.
This is an occasion for everyone in the diocese to give thanks and say farewell to Bishop David and to Revd Canon Deacon Frances on their retirement.
On Zoom and on YouTube – Wednesday 28 February from 1800 – 1900 cet (1700–1800 gmt) https://www.youtube.com/@dioceseineurope_cofe
–please look after your personal belongings as thieves are known to operate in this area
-Weekly Prayer Tuesday 09.00 on-line. Check the website for the details.
–A POS is available so you can make your Sunday donation by card
-Monthly Giving envelopes – it is never too late to join this scheme. Just ask about it.
-Coffee Morning 14th March 2024 in the Swedish Centre 10.30-12.30 ask Anne Dedes for information
-We are glad to have welcomed you to St Paul’s today but remember you can keep in touch with us wherever you are you are in the world. See our e-mag on the website.
https://www.facebook.com/AnglicanAthens/
@AthensAnglican
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