These are worship resources for The Presentation of Christ in the Temple. The resources are gathered from a variety of sources and, while assembled mainly for The Anglican Church of St Thomas the Apostle, Kefalas, on the island of Crete in Greece, others may find them useful.

A Note on the Feast

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple is appointed for February 2, 2021, although many churches observe it on the Sunday before. We shall observe it on Sunday, January 31, 2021. As the Book of Common Prayer (1662) notes, it is “commonly called The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin as it commemorates the coming of Joseph and Mary with Jesus to the Temple to offer the sacrifice required by the Torah after the birth of a male child. It is also known as Candlemas, as it is the day that candles are traditionally blessed for the coming year. In the lectionary of the Church of England’s Common Worship it also marks the end of the season of Epiphany; afterwards the Sundays are a countdown to Lent – although, as may be discussed next week, this may change for Anglican congregations in Greece. Finally, those of us from North America, and fans of Bill Murray movies, will also know it as Groundhog Day.

Readings

This coming Sunday we will use Malachi 3:1-4, Psalm 24:7-10, and Luke 2:22-40. Many churches will also use Hebrews 2.14-end.

Share

Please join us for an online Zoom-only service. You can join our Zoom Service of the Word by clicking this link or by entering the following into your Zoom application: Meeting ID: 850 4483 9927 Passcode: 010209.

The Order of Service is here for downloading, although all the parts needed by the congregation – hymns and responses – will be up on the screen.

You can always use the resources here to make your own service – just download the order of service, or read the readings and the prayers, interspersing them with the hymns and music below.

Reflect

I preached this sermon two years ago, and you can read it again, if you wish. If Fr Leonard Doolan sends me his prerecorded sermon for Sunday I will put that here.

Pray

Collect
Almighty and ever-living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

(or)

Lord Jesus Christ,
light of the nations and glory of Israel:
make your home among us,
and present us pure and holy
to your heavenly Father,
your God, and our God. Amen.

Biddings

I bid your prayers for the Church:

• for Robert Innes & David Hamid, our bishops;
• for Justin Welby our archbishop, Stephen Cottrell the Archbishop of York, and the General Synod of the Church of England;
• we remember our beloved in Christ in other denominations, especially the leadership in:
  • The Orthodox Church: Vartholomaĩos, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople; and Irinaios Athanasiadis, Archbishop of Crete; and the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece in Athens;
  • The Roman Catholic Church, especially Pope Francis, and the bishop for Crete, Petros Stefanou;
  • our relationship of full communion with the churches of the Porvoo agreement, especially The Church of Sweden, the Rev. Björn Kling, and Thomas Petersson, Bishop of Visby with oversight of the Church of Sweden Abroad;
  • the Greek Evangelical Church, the independent Greek Pentecostal churches, and the various Lutheran, Reformed, and other Protestant churches ministering to foreign populations;
• we pray especially for congregations that have been obliged to cease in-person services;
• for the churches and peoples of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Western Sahara, and Tunisia (World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer Cycle);
• in the Anglican Communion, we pray for the Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil (Anglican Cycle of Prayer);
• (from the Prayer Diary of the Diocese in Europe) pray for:
  • The Episcopal Church in Europe (TEC), Bishop Mark Edington; and
  • for our partnership with the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS).

I bid your prayers for the leaders and people of the nations; especially

• Katerini Sakellaropoulou, President of Greece, and
  • Kyriakos Mitsotakis the Prime Minister of Greece;
• Elizabeth, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and her other realms, and also in her role as Governor of the Church of England;
  • and Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of her British government;
• In the European Union,
  • Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission;
  • Charles Michel, President of the European Council; and
  • Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy;
• For the United Nations and its work, and its Secretary General, António Guterres;
• For the peoples of the United States, and for their new President, Joe Biden and their new Vice-President, Kamala Harris; the Congress and the federal courts; and the state governors, legislatures, and state court systems;
• the peoples of Belarus, Hong Kong, Russia, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, Bolivia, Nigeria, Brazil, and Thailand as they continue to demonstrate for democracy and justice;
• for the maintaining of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and between Russia and Ukraine, North and South Korea, and for a final, just resolution to their conflicts;
• for peace and justice between Palestinians and Israelis;
• for advocates of Indigenous rights and the adoption and implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
• prisoners and captives, especially the over one million Uygers being held in detention in China;
• the over 79.5 million refugees and nearly 4 million stateless person, remembering especially the crucial situation of Greece, and the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”);
• for a lessening of tensions between Turkey and Greece; and
• for peace in Yemen, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and Ethiopia.

I bid your prayers for the sick and suffering and all who minister to their needs;

• remembering the over twenty-five million active cases of the novel coronavirus, and mourning with the families of the over 2.1 million who have died in the pandemic;
• for the almost 1.9 million people in the UK with active cases of covid-19, the over 100,000 who have died of it there, and the over 5,922 active cases here in Greece, and the families of the over 5692 dead here;
• remembering those ill with other diseases, and those whose operations have been postponed;
• all those having issues with mental health;
• those suffering from addiction, and those in recovery;
• those who have been affected severely by the economic effects of the pandemic, especially in food services and tourism;
• and giving thanks for the efforts of researchers in finding vaccines, and for the rollout of vaccines across the world.

Intercessions
Let us pray to the Father through Christ who is our light and life.

Father, your Christ is acclaimed as the glory of Israel:
look in mercy on your Church, sharing his light.
Lord, have mercy.
All   Christ, have mercy.

Father, your Christ in his temple brings judgement on the world:
look in mercy on the nations, who long for his justice.
Lord, have mercy.
All   Christ, have mercy.

Father, your Christ, who was rich, for our sakes became poor:
look in mercy on the needy, suffering with him.
Lord, have mercy.
All   Christ, have mercy.

Father, your Christ is the one in whom faithful servants find their peace:
look in mercy on the departed, that they may see your salvation.
Lord, have mercy.
All   Christ, have mercy.

Father, your Christ is revealed as the one destined to be rejected:
look in mercy on us who now turn towards his passion.
Lord, have mercy.
All   Christ, have mercy.

Lord God, you kept faith with Simeon and Anna,
and showed them the infant King.
Give us grace to put all our trust in your promises,
and the patience to wait for their fulfilment;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All   Amen.

Sing

Hymn: Fling Wide the Gates

Fling wide the gates, unbar the ancient doors;
salute your king in his triumphant cause!
1 Now all the world belongs to Christ our Lord:
let all creation greet the living Word!
Chorus

2 Who has the right to worship him today?
All those who gladly serve him and obey.
Chorus

3 He comes to save all those who trust his name,
and will declare them free from guilt and shame.
Chorus

4 Who is the victor glorious from the fight?
He is our king, our life, our Lord, our right!
Chorus