Sermon for Passion Sunday – 3rd April 2022: Isaiah 43, 16-21; Philippians 3, 4-14; John 12, 1-8.

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

In one of the many chapels in Cirencester Parish Church where I used to be the Vicar, there are four windows. The chapel is called the Catherine Chapel, though if my memory serves me correctly the chapel is dedicated to St. Catherine and St. Nicholas, but it was always referred to as the Catherine Chapel. Some of the altar hangings reflect this dedication, with embroidered so called ‘Catherine Wheels’ indicating one of the tools used in the martyrdom of St. Catherine. Although she was ultimately beheaded, she was initially placed on a wheel which broke. There is now a firework named after her – the Catherine Wheel.

The Catherine I am referring to is not of Genoa, or maybe the better known Catherine of Siena, but the much more historic Catherine of Alexandria. She is patron of, among other trades, wheelwrights, spinners, and millers.

Why is this chapel in Cirencester of relevance this morning? Well, because the four windows, which are also edged in the glass with wheels, show four scenes in the life of Lazarus, and his encounters with Christ. The gospels refer to Lazarus on several occasions and is a significant person in the gospel narratives. Perhaps we read these gospel encounters with too much familiarity, so it is valuable that our Sunday gospel today reminds us of Lazarus who was raised from the dead shortly before this gospel narrative is told by St. John.

READ MORE

Sermon preached on Mothering Sunday – 27th March 2022: John 19, 25-27

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

In the liturgical calendar of the Church of England the 4^th Sunday of Lent is always Mothering Sunday. This festival is unique to our church, and in parishes of our tradition flowers will be blessed and distributed, and in some congregations simnel cakes will be baked, shared and eaten. These are time-honoured traditions.

On this day the image of ‘mothers’ can be applied at several levels, so it is, in so many ways, inclusive of all sorts of human conditions and responses. We are directed towards thanksgiving for our mothers, or even, mothers, mothers; we can apply the image to our ‘holy Mother the church’ in her nurturing and caring of everyone; today can be reflective – for those for whom thinking of their mother is a bad memory, or those who never had a mother and therefore nothing to remember except that void in their lives; and it is a day when we can reflect on Blessed Mary, Mother of Our Lord.

The gospel reading for today is short and to the point.

‘Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.’ (John 19, 25-27)

READ MORE

Sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Lent – 20th March 2022: Isiah 55,, 1-9; Luke 13, 1-9; Corinthian 10, 1-13

Deacon Christine Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

May I speak in the name of the Living Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit AMEN

To quote Mark Twain ‘Some people are troubled by the things in the bible they can’t understand. The things that trouble me are the things I can understand.’ I know what he means. It is when we think we have grasped the meaning of scripture and life but do not swerve from that interpretation that we are in trouble. The difficulties we face on a global, European and personal level are unprecedented in most of our lives and bring to mind other troubling times. Our cry is where is God in the midst of suffering?

The passages that are set for today’s lectionary readings on this the third Sunday of Lent are encountered once every three years.  It would be easy to pass up on the gospel passage and wring one’s hands of it as many commentaries and books I own do and concentrate only on Isaiah but we will endeavour to look at all the readings and see how they interconnect, why they were set for today and what they may mean for us then and now.

READ MORE

Audio Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent – 13th March 2022

Fr  Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent – 13th March 2022 : Gen 15, 1-12, 17-18; Philemon 3, 17-4, 1; Luke 13, 31-end.

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

It is around the late 50s AD. We might be in the city of Rome, or maybe Caesarea or Ephesus, there is some doubt, but we are definitely in a prison. A slave is one of the prisoners. His name is Onesimus and by upbringing in the ancient world he was most likely a worshipper of the pagan gods. In his prison he has converted to the Christian Way. His prison companion is a man who was born in Tarsus and he is known to us as St. Paul. Onesimus has become a believer in Jesus.

Onesimus was as a slave in Colossae. His slave owner may have been someone called Archippus (Col 4, 12-16) or possibly someone called Philemon. Slave ownership was part of the normal order across the Roman Empire of the ancient world.

From prison Paul sends a letter to Philemon who has some sort of leadership of the church in the city of Laodicea in Asia Minor very near to the city of Colossae, to whom St. Paul also directed one of his letters – the Letter to the Colossians.

READ MORE

Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent – 6th March 2022: Deut 26, 1-11; Romans 10, 8-13; Luke 4, 1-13

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

For several years I had the privilege of travelling to the country of Cameroon in Central West Africa. I think I have been there to offer some teaching to the Readers and Clergy some five or six times. It is a beautiful country, perhaps best known now for its passion for football. However those of us who are old enough will remember Johnny Weissmuller, who played the role of Tarzan. This was filmed in Cameroon.

Flying either from Paris or from Brussels the flight to Douala took between five and six hours. If you were lucky enough to have a window seat you would see the extraordinary sight of the Sahara desert beneath you for at least a quarter of the journey time. It seemed to go on for ever and ever.

It always struck me as extraordinary that human beings would have the courage, the determination, and the physical stamina to cross this desert on foot, fleeing perhaps from an area of war, or drought, or persecution. Yet so many countless thousands of people have managed this perilous journey – preferring to face the physical dangers of the desert and personal and social uncertainties, than to stay suffering in their own countries. Whether it is over the Sahara desert, over stretches of water, or through unknown lands with unknown languages and cultures, the human spirit drives them on in search of a better life, a better chance for their children, or an improved economic outcome.

Greece is no stranger to people of this sort of courage – though often they arrive in an alien country, damaged, traumatized, and mourning the loss of loved ones, or with those left behind still with a place in their hearts.  There has always been migration. There will always be refugees. We put our heads in the sand if we think otherwise. Our prayers continue today for Ukrainians, for those made homeless, for those who have fled to Poland, Hungary, Moldova and other lands of safety.

READ MORE

Audio Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent – 6th March 2022:

Sermon for the 2nd Sunday before Lent – Genesis 24b-9, 15-25; Revelation 4

Deacon Chris Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

SMALL BOAT , BIG SEA

May God be on my lips and in all our hearts Amen

It has often been said  over the last two years that we are all in the same storm. Today is Social Justice day and last Sunday marked Racial Justice. This saying which is questionable given vaccine inequity, racial justice and poverty but are we all in the same boat? There were even poems written about this you can find them online. I don’t know how you feel about both or either these sayings. The implications are huge for each of us as we traverse this sea of pandemic both individually and collectively. It is not plain sailing, we often feel we are a small boat adrift in a big sea.

Now I have to confess that I am not good in boats as my husband and son will attest. Particularly in flimsy ones and when there is any rocking movement. I feel scared and unsafe. Here I cannot help but pause and stop to think of those risking their lives to cross waters to reach a better life here in Europe or across the English  Channel. I love the sea in all conditions but on my own terms, preferably from the safety of the beach or within my depth. We have really been feeling out of our depth, haven’t we and so the uncertainty continues? This week we heard of storms Dudley and Eunice wreaking havoc in UK and Northern Europe. There was a storm and earthquake in Lefkada and the ferry fire near Corfu with a rescue operation ongoing as we speak.

READ MORE

Sermon for the 3rd Sunday before Lent – 13th February 2022: Jer 17, 5-10; 1 Cor 15, 12-20; Luke 6, 17-26)

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens

Salt is a precious and essential commodity. In 1882 the British Government in London passed a Salt Tax in colonial India which prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, giving the British a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt, which it taxed heavily when selling on to the Indian population. In March to April 1930 Ghandi (who now has a lovely public memorial here in Athens outside the Indian Embassy) led thousands of Indians across 240 miles from where he lived to the Arabian Sea coastline, where there were great salt marshes.

There was brutal retaliation by the British forces in response to the protest and 60,000 people, including Ghandi, were arrested. It was a clever and simple way for the Indians to protest British rule in a non-violent way, though violence was used against them. Salt is a precious and essential commodity.

There is some disputed evidence that to the Romans salt was so precious that sometime Roman soldiers were paid not in cash, but with allocations of salt. The Latin word for salt is ‘sal’ and whether it is true that legionaries received salt in place of money, it is certainly true that the word ‘salarium’ has translated into English as the word ‘salary’, payment for work done. Salt is a precious and essential commodity.

READ MORE

Audio Sermon for the 3rd Sunday before Lent – 13th February 2022

Fr Leonard Doolan – St Paul’s Athens