The Anglican Church of

St. Thomas, Kefalas.

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We are the only Anglican church on Crete. However, all Christian denominations are welcome at our services. We are situated within the Apokoronas area of Crete, east of Chania, in the picturesque rural village of Kefalas.

 

We hope that this website will guide you around the Parish - our worship, events and organisations and contact points for any further information.

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The Cost of Discipleship 

Good Saturday morning, 

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It's not often that we read a whole book of the Bible in church, but that's what we will be doing tomorrow when we read the whole of Paul's Letter to Philemon. Of course, it's only 25 verses long, and was probably originally written on a single sheet of papyrus, kind of the 1st Century equivalent of a postcard.

 

In it Paul makes a demand of Philemon, the recipient of his letter. He asks that Philemon free a slave named Onesimus, who had run away to Paul. Now, slaves were not cheap, so this is a big ask of Philemon by Paul, yet he goes ahead to more or less politely to ask it. For Philemon, this is quite literally the cost of discipleship. 

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In 1937 the German Lutheran theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer published a book with this title. It was promptly translated into English and is now a classic of Christian theology.

 

The gist of his argument is the contrast between "cheap grace" and "costly grace". Cheap grace is the salvific action of Christ which nevertheless fails to transform the believer - the individual accepts Jesus as their Lord and saviour, but do not amend their lives and carry on in personal and structural sin.

 

Costly grace is that which does transform the believer, and in changing leads them to behaviours which costs them and may put them at odds with society. For Bonhoeffer this costly grace was his active opposition to the Nazi regime in Germany, which led to several years of imprisonment and his judicial murder by the SS in the closing days of World War II. While few of us are called to such a dramatic sacrifice, his example stands as a challenge to compromise and quiescence. He is honoured in the Church of England with a commemoration on 9 April and his statue is one of the several 20th Century Martyrs memorialised on the west front of Westminster Abbey. 

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So what is the cost of discipleship for us? We will mull this tomorrow, along with praising God and sharing in the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

Please join usou may join us at 11:00 am EEST, either in-person or via Zoom. To get into the Zoom room click here, or, if you prefer, you can type or copy https://zoom.us/j/91269383194 into your browser, or, sign in to your Zoom account and use the Meeting ID: 912 6938 3194; there is no passcode, just a waiting room as a security feature.
 

Below are the readings for Sunday. You can get the full text by clicking on the links, and if you click on "The Psalm and the Hymns" you can download a PDF of the lyrics and psalm texts for that day.

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7 September
The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Proper 18)
 The Psalm and the Hymns
Philemon 1-25
Psalm 1
Luke 14:25-33
 

​As always I pray that you and your loved ones have a blessèd week.​

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Bruce +

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Announcements!

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Online Study Group
 

Our online Study Group gathers again this Wednesday at 7:30 PM. We will conclude looking at the second core unit of Part Two - Engaging Others - How can we lead the way?, and moving on to the third core unit - How can we engage others? All are welcome! We meet for ninety minutes of discussion and prayer at  https://zoom.us/j/95398454424 (Zoom Meeting ID: 953 9845 4424); no passcode is needed.  

 

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Tombola

At the back of the church we have a box for tombola donations.

If you can donate a bottle or some other appropriate thing for a tombola raffle for our next fundraiser it would be most appreciated! 

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Thank you for supporting the ministry of St Thomas's.

Of course, you may also make a donation to the work of the church by using our new contactless "POS" reader with any debit or credit card.   ​​

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Safeguarding

in

the Anglican Church of St Thomas, Kefalas, Crete

If you see something that you think may be a safeguarding issue, you should speak to the
Chaplaincy Safeguarding Officer here on Crete or the Diocesan Safeguarding Team:

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Chaplaincy Safeguarding Officer:
Jan Lovell +30 69791 64716 jand.lovell@yahoo.com

and/or

Diocesan Safeguarding Team:

 For urgent enquiries during operational hours (9 am to 5 pm UK time, Monday to
Friday), please call: +44 (0)207 898 1159
For non-urgent enquiries contact: +44 (0) 7464 544715
For urgent enquiries outside operational hours call our
partners  Thirtyone:eight  on +44 (0) 303 003 1111. 
Email: europe.safeguarding@churchofengland.org
https://www.europe.anglican.org/resources/safeguarding-diocese-europe

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