These are worship resources for The Second Sunday Before Lent, 2021. 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.

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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.

We at the Anglican Church of St Thomas, Crete, will not actually be using the readings for the Second Sunday Before Lent on February 7, but another set of readings. Likewise, the music appointed will be different from what is listed below. The Order of Service for this alternate set of readings and hymns can be downloaded here, although all the parts needed by the congregation – hymns and responses – will be up on the screen.

Read

The readings appointed for the Second Sunday of Lent are Proverbs 8.1, 22-31, Psalm 104.26-end, Colossians 1.15-20, and John 1.1-14.

Reflect

My sermon from Christmas 2019 refers to the gospel reading and the reading from Proverbs, so you may want to have a look at that.

Fr Leonard Doolan of the Anglican/Episcopal Church of St Paul, Athens, has sent me his pre-recorded sermon which will be preached live on February 7, 2021.

Pray

Collect
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever. Amen.

(or)

Almighty God,
give us reverence for all creation
and respect for every person,
that we may mirror your likeness
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Intercession
That this day may be holy, good and joyful:
All  we pray to you, O Lord.

That we may offer to you our worship and our work:
All  we pray to you, O Lord.

That we may strive for the well-being of all creation:
All  we pray to you, O Lord.

That in the pleasures and pains of life,
we may know the love of Christ and be thankful:
All  we pray to you, O Lord.

That we may be bound together by your Holy Spirit,
in communion with Thomas and with all your saints,
entrusting one another and all our life to Christ:
All  we pray to you, O Lord.

Let us commend ourselves, and all for whom we pray,
to the mercy and protection of God.

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, and give thanks that we are able to gather over the internet;
• for the churches and peoples of Andorra, Italy, Malta, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, and Vatican City (World Council of Churches Ecumenical Prayer Cycle);
• in the Anglican Communion, we pray for the The Anglican Church of Burundi (Anglican Cycle of Prayer);
• (from the Prayer Diary of the Diocese in Europe) pray for:
  • the Greek Orthodox Church and for Leonard Doolan, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Apokrisiarios to the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece; and
  • the Ministry Team: Pray for: William Gulliford (DDO); Ulla Monberg (Director of Ministerial Development); Pauline Williams (Ministry Team Administration); those training for ordained ministry.

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 Myanmar, 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 2.3 million who have died in the pandemic;
• for the 1.9 million people in the UK with active cases of covid-19, the over 110,000 who have died of it there, and the over 9,289 active cases here in Greece, and the families of the over 5903 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.

Sing