Service Sheet for Sunday 13th September 2026 - The Exaltation of the Holy Cross - St. Paul’s Anglican Church

08/09/2026

Service Sheet for Sunday 13th September 2026 – The Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Celebrant Fr. Benjamin Drury

Sung Mass for Holy Cross

Processional: 332 (Miles Lane) All hail the power of Jesu’s name Resp. Psalm: Ps. 79

Gradual: 379 (Stuttgart) In the Cross of Christ of glory

Offertory: Sheet (Crucifer) Lift high the Cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Communion: Sheet (Sagina) And can it be, that I should gain

Recessional: 453 (Ellacombe) Stand up! Stand up for Jesus!

All are welcome to stay for refreshments after the liturgy.

The Mass setting is Sir James Macmillan’s ‘St. Anne’s Mass’

A reading from the Book of Numbers (21: 4-9)

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God.

Resp. Psalm: Ps. 78: Never forget the deeds of the Lord Give heed, my people, to my teaching;

turn your ear to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable

and reveal hidden lessons of the past. (Response)

When he slew them then they would seek him,

return and seek him in earnest.

They would remember that God was their rock,

God the Most High their redeemer. (Response)

But the words they spoke were mere flattery;

they lied to him with their lips.

For their hearts were not truly with him;

they were not faithful to his covenant. (Response)

Yet he who is full of compassion

forgave them their sin and spared them.

So often he held back his anger

when he might have stirred up his rage. (Response)

A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians (2: 6-11)

His state was divine, yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God.

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you; because by your cross you have redeemed the world. Alleluia!

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

+ A Reading from the Holy Gospel according to John (3: 13-17)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘No one has gone up to heaven

except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven;

and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world,

but so that through him the world might be saved.’

The Gospel of the Lord: praise to you, O Christ.

Keep, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Church with thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without thee cannot but fall,

keep us ever by thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP Collect: Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity)

Church Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Services: Unless noted, liturgies are followed by refreshments Wednesday 16th September: 10 a.m.; Low Mass

Sunday 20th September: 10 a.m.; Sung Mass

For the diary: harvest festival at the Kokotos estate (Sunday, 25th October). Please speak to churchwardens Oliver Knight or Lynn Stavrou about reserving a place on the coach.

The Friends of St. Paul’s: please speak to Dimitris Ramantanoglou, or Father Benjamin, about becoming a Friend of the church.

Pilgrimage walking group: details from Fr. Benjamin.

Short prayer booklets (Prime and Compline) are available, please speak to Oliver Knight

Donate electronically by scanning the QR code

the Church does not receive any funding from the