These are resources meant mainly for The Anglican Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Kefalas, on the island of Crete in Greece, but others may find them helpful!

The Cross of Flowers 2020, decorated by David & Mary Hurley with flowers from Jan Lovell and Jo Cheslyn-Hall.

Read

The Bible readings appointed for Easter Sunday are:

• Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6
• Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
• Colossians 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43
• John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10

If we had been meeting in the Tabernacle in Kefalas today we would have used the second set of readings, from Jeremiah, Psalm 118, Acts, and Matthew.

Here is the Gospel of the Resurrection according to Matthew:

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.”

So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”                Matthew 28.1-10

A tomb near Nazareth, probably similar to the one in which Jesus was buried.

Reflect

I have posted the sermon I might have preached this year. You can find it here.

I have done a close reading of Psalm 118, our psalm for today, which I posted several months ago.

Remember

We are not gathering for a Sunrise Service this year, but perhaps this video from 2019 will have to do. Next year, in Kefalas!

Share

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, will lead an Easter Sunday service at 9:00 am BST, which is 11:00 am EEST here in Crete. You can find it here.

The Right Rev’d Dr Robert Innes, our Diocesan Bishop, will lead an Easter Sunday  service tomorrow morning at 10:00 am EEST here in Crete (9:00 am CEST); the video will be available on the Diocese in Europe YouTube Channel.

A Church Near You, a service of the Church of England, lists over a thousand possible live streams of services, including the ones provided by churches in the Diocese in Europe.

The Episcopal Church (“TEC”) based in the United States has a set of live streamed services, including an Easter Vigil. Grace Cathedral in San Francisco starts its Vigil at 9:00 PM PDT Saturday, which is 7:00 am EEST on Sunday morning here in Greece.

If you feel like braving Zoom, Father Leonard Doolan will hold an Easter Liturgy at 10:15 am EEST (but sign in around 10:00 am). You may need to download the Zoom app to your computer, tablet, or smartphone, and you will need to enable your microphone and camera. If this seems overwhelming, download A User’s Guide, prepared by the clever folk at the Diocese in Europe office: Zoom – A User Guide – Apr 2020
The service leaflet for St Paul’s Athens can be downloaded here: Easter Sunday 2020 Here are the details for logging in:

Leonard Doolan is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Please join us in Athens (God and technology willing) for our Easter Sunday worship. You can join the ‘meeting’ from 10.00am but the service will begin at 10.15 which is our normal service time here. Afterwards we can make a coffee and have a chat.

You will see that this facility is available each Sunday until the end of May by which time I hope we will be able to meet together in ‘social proximity’. Please also see attached the order of service that you might like to print out before Sunday.

Just click on Join Zoom Meeting which you will see just below, and follow a couple of easy clicks to join with us. Don’t worry about the other info, but if you have trouble joining you can find at the bottom of this message the meeting number and password. Hopefully you won’t need it.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/227360090?pwd=eWY5bmp4SHU2T0VHQWhIalFkdDRLQT09

Meeting ID: 227 360 090           Password: 422061

Pray

Collect

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,
now and in all eternity. Amen.

(or)

God of glory,
by the raising of your Son
you have broken the chains of death and hell:
fill your Church with faith and hope;
for a new day has dawned
and the way to life stands open in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Intercessions

H1     In joy and hope let us pray to the Father.

That our risen Saviour may fill us with the joy of his glorious and life-giving resurrection
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

That isolated and persecuted churches
may find fresh strength in the good news of Easter,
remembering at this time to pray:
for the Peace of Jerusalem and thepeoples of the Holy Land,
including the people of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem
and its Archbishop Suheil Dawani;
our own bishops in Europe, Robert Innes and David Hamid,
and the Archbishops of the Church of England,  Justin Welby and John Sentamu;
giving thanks for the Lutheran Churches of the Porvoo Agreement in Europe;
and grateful for our partnership with the USPG (“United Society Partners in Gospel”):
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

That the one who was a servant of all may grant us humility
to be subject to one another in Christian love
and we pray especially for those experiencing great stress as they stay at home,
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

That the one who fed the multitudes
may provide for those who lack food, work or shelter,
remembering especially all those
who have been laid off or whose employment has been terminated,
and those who have little food security,
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

That the one who did not strike back with violence may cause
wars and famines to cease through all the world,
remembering especially the peoples of Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen,
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

That the healer of the sick may reveal the light of his presence to the sick,
the weak and the dying, to comfort and strengthen them,
praying especially for those afflicted with Covid-19,
and for the nurses, physicians and all health care staff who care for them,
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

That, according to his promises,
all who have died in the faith of the resurrection
may be raised on the last day,
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

That the fire of the Holy Spirit may descend upon us, his people,
so that we may bear faithful witness to the resurrection of Jesus,
we pray to the Father. Hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father,
you have delivered us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:
grant that, as his death has recalled us to life,
so his continual presence in us may raise us to eternal joy;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sing

And the premiere classical music radio station in the United States, WQXR in New York City, has the article “Top Choral Directors Share Their Favorite Easter Music” with links to even more music.