The Anglican Church in Greece 6th Sunday of Easter (May 17th 2020)
Welcome to our Eastertide Sunday worship brought to our homes by Zoom. After the worship we can have a short chat together. The hymns and other shared texts you might know by heart, or you can print out this service, or you may have a hymn book at home, or you
may be happy to listen in silence.
There is now a Zoom weekly Bible Study and a mid-week evening quiet reflection service. The login address for the quiet evening service is on the website. To join the bible study please contact Fr. Leonard first on his own email. The Sunday worship login address remains the same throughout May. St. Paul’s is open again for its regular times from May 5th. Please see the website about public services beginning again.
The preacher this morning is the Revd. Dimitris Boukis, secretary of the Synod of the Greek Evangelical Church.
Zoom Sunday worship will continue until end of June, opening at 10.00hrs. From 17th May there will be a short, said, Eucharist at St. Paul’s at 12 noon. We are not back to normal yet!
Priest: Alleluia! Christ is risen
All: He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Hymn: What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.
The priest then welcomes the people of God and the deacon leads us into Confession.
Silence
Deacon: Lord Jesus, you raise us to new life.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Deacon: Lord Jesus, you forgive us our sins.
Christe eleison
All: Christe eleison
Deacon: Lord Jesus, you feed us with the living bread.
Kyrie eleison
All: Kyrie eleison
Absolution: May the God of love and power forgive you and free you from your sins, heal and strengthen you by his Spirit, and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
Gloria: Glory in the highest to the God of heavens:
Peace to all your people through the earth be given.
Mighty God and Father, thanks and praise we bring,
Singing Alleluia! To the heavenly King.
Jesus Christ is risen, God the Father’s Son;
With the Holy Spirit, you are Lord alone.
Lamb once killed for sinners, all our guilt to bear,
Show us now your mercy, now receive our prayer
Christ the world’s true Saviour, high and holy one,
Seated now and reigning from your Father’s throne:
Lord and God, we praise you! Highest heaven adores:
In the Father’s glory, all the praise be yours!
Collect: Let us pray TOGETHER (Collect of the Day)
Risen Christ, by the lakeside you renewed your call to your disciples: help your church to obey your command and draw the nations to the fire of your love, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
First Reading Acts 17, 22-31
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor[a] he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God[b] and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
This is the word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God. Alleluia!
Hymn: A new commandment I give unto you:
that you love one another as I have loved you,
that you love one another as I have loved you.
By this shall all know that you are my disciples:
if you have love one for another.
By this shall all know that you are my disciples:
if you have love one for another.
A new commandment I give unto you:
that you love one another as I have loved you,
that you love one another as I have loved you.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Without my help you can do nothing.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Without my help you can do nothing.
Gospel Reading
Deacon: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! The Lord is risen. Alleluia!
All: Alleluia
Deacon: The Lord be with you
All: and also with you
Deacon: Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John (John 14, 15-21)
All: Glory to you, O Lord
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
Deacon: This is the gospel of the Lord, Alleluia!
All: Praise to you, O Christ. Alleluia
Sermon The Reverend Dimitris Boukis
Affirmation of Faith
Priest: Do you believe and trust in God the Father?
All: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Priest: Do you believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ?
All: 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 the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Priest: Do you believe and trust in the Holy Spirit?
All: 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: (kneel or sit) Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
(Intercessor: – pray your own prayers also)
Peace: Alleluia! Alleluia! The risen Lord came among his disciples and said, ‘Peace be with you’. Then were they glad when they saw the Lord! Alleluia!
Priest: Alleluia! Alleluia! The peace of the Lord be always with you.
All: And also with you. Alleluia! Alleluia!
You might like to scroll along the gallery of the participants to see who you are sharing the peace with.
Hymn (you might now like to put aside your collection for today, but also the collections for previous Sundays when we have not been able to meet as a church)
1 Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heav’n to earth come down:
fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercies crown:
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation,
enter ev’ry trembling heart.
2 Come, Almighty to deliver,
let us all thy life receive;
suddenly return, and never,
nevermore thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
serve thee as thy hosts above,
pray and praise thee without ceasing,
glory in thy perfect love.
3 Finish, then, thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be:
let us see thy great salvation
perfectly restored in thee;
changed from glory into glory,
’til in heav’n we take our place,
’til we cast our crowns before thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.
Closing Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer: (to be prayed in your own language)
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.
God our Father, whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life: may we thirst for you, the spring of life and source of goodness, through him who is alive and reigns, now and forever. Amen.
Hymn 1. Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord;
he is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored;
he hath loosed the fateful lightning
of his terrible swift sword;
his truth is marching on.
Refrain:
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
- I have seen him in the watchfires
of a hundred circling camps,
they have built for him an altar
in the evening dews and damps;
I can read his righteous sentence
by the dim and flaring lamps;
his day is marching on.
(Refrain)3. He has sounded forth the trumpet
that shall never call retreat;
he is sifting out the hearts of men
before his judgment seat;
O be swift, my soul, to answer him;
be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
(Refrain)4. In the beauty of the lilies
Christ was born across the sea,
with a glory in his bosom
that transfigures you and me;
as he died to make men holy,
let us die to make men free,
while God is marching on.
(Refrain)5. He is coming like the glory
of the morning on the wave,
he is wisdom to the mighty,
he is honor to the brave;
so the world shall be his footstool,
and the soul of wrong his slave.
Our God is marching on.
(Refrain)
Priest: God the Father, by whose love Christ was raised from the dead, open to you, who
believe, the gates of eternal life.
All: Amen
Priest: God the Son, who in bursting from the grave has won a glorious victory, give you
joy as you share the Easter faith.
All: Amen
Priest: God the Holy Spirit, who filled the disciples with the joy of the risen Lord,
empower you and fill you with Christ’s peace.
All: Amen
Priest: And the blessing….
Deacon: Go in the peace of Christ. Alleluia! Alleluia!
All: Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Alleluia!
Next Week’s Readings (7th Sunday of Easter: Acts 1, 6-14; John 17, 1-11)
Fr. Leonard’s usual Day Off – Monday (in emergencies contact Deacon Christine)
Home tel : 210 72 14 906; email anglican@otenet.gr
Deacon Chris: 22950 53164: Day off – Friday
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
Notices: Public worship can begin again on 17th May, but with restrictions. We will have a period of transition in which there will be a said Liturgy at St. Paul’s at Noon, as well as a Zoom worship, opening at 10.00. Check the website for details. Wednesday liturgy begins from 20th May at 10.00 as usual.
Check the website for information about logging on the mid-week evening service, and for the Bible Study please email Fr. Leonard first.
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