Sermon preached for All Saints Sunday – 31st October 2021

Deacon Chris Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

 

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

In one of his daily reflections Pope Francis said recently: ‘ Allow me to say we are all saints then we become sinners but fundamentally we are all saints.’ Now how hard is that to take on board not only for ourselves but for others. Let me repeat it:

Recently, there was a meeting of nowadays saints at Archdeaconry Synod in Corfu. We had failed to gather last year and some clergy and lay representatives were or felt unable to attend earlier in the month, but about 35 of us met face to face, albeit keeping health and safety precautions. And what a joy it was to be together again. That joyous feeling was palpable. It was our Archdeacon Leslie’s first Synod of the East but he had come almost directly from the Nordic and Baltic Synod. Bishop Robert and his wife Helen had come from the Northern countries’ Synod previously held in Belgium. A cluster of synods and saints whose members lay and clergy keep the Diocese in Europe churches going especially in these strange times we are living in.

Conversation, sharing food and fun were flowing along with the wine or water. Not even the rain could dampen our spirits. At our last meal I had a fun chat with an old friend with Archdeacon Leslie and his wife Julie joining in. We were talking about Canons of our Diocese both Lay and clergy and the Cathedral chapter and the stalls they occupy each one named after saints. This particular lay canon and Reader was installed in Brussels but her seat is in fact in the Pro Cathedral in Malta so she was regaling us with the story of her installation along with others and the fact that she could not remember the name of said saint but knew it was Agnes or Agatha. The Archdeacon promised to look into it. As I have said before All saints is a feast for telling stories.

Henri Nouwen says : ‘All the great saints I have read about have been people who were so passionately in love with God that they were completely free to to love others in a deep, effective way without any strings attached. We are touching here on the source of much suffering in our contemporary society. We have such a need for love that we often expect from our fellow human beings something that only God can give.’

In our gospel passage we hear how Jesus’ close friends Martha and Mary know that Jesus alone could have saved their brother Lazarus from death. There is a lot of love in this passage. God is love. At heart, we know that Jesus gives us eternal life through his death and resurrection and we need to remember that when grief assails us.

A wave of such national grief hit Greece this week when we learnt of the death of Fofi, Fotini, Gennimata the leader of the socialist and one of the opposition parties. For those of us who have been in Greece a long time or who remember back to the late nineties we can cast our minds back to her parents who she lost within 7 months of each other from cancer and particularly to her father, a politician Yiorgos Gennimatas. His legacy includes the Gennimatas hospital here in Athens named after him.

As a woman I admired the way Fofi, as the media call people in the news by their first names, as though they have by dint of dying or some other affliction one of our greatest friends, juggled all the different roles in her life:

wife and mother to three children, her marriages and fertility issues. her political career, her professionalism and Leader of Kinal party, kinima allagis, the spin off from PASOK, since 2015. She was brave in her battle with cancer and her protection of private life.

Her quick demise was a shock and as one can expect, as one is supposed to speak no ill of the dead, tributes poured in across all political parties. There was an outpouring of grief and love. In political terms, long may it last.

 

John’s gospel is, we are often told, the ‘spiritual gospel.’ Many people think it is the product of years of reflection and thought which over time became honed and written down now in the form that we now have. There is something about the reflective quality that makes you feel as though it contains theology that has been long savoured, prayed about and reflected upon.  This passage reflects the glory of God and Jesus’ humanity and divinity shine through that. Verse 38 reads in Greek: iousis  oun palin embrimmenos  en eautou  erchetai sto mnimneio. Jesus had already wept before reaching the tomb now we read he is deeply moved in himself, our translation says greatly disturbed.

We are living through a time between our readings where we reflect on the words from the book of Wisdom, take the gospel miracle to heart as part of Jesus’ own life and resurrection and look forward to that wonderful vision described in Revelation used as a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.’ We are spoilt for choice for all these readings and I suggest you take the time to reread them as we enter this season of Remembrance, starting today with All Saints and then moving through All Souls when we remember our loved ones and those who have contributed so much to this community and their legacy parakatathiki, a new word I learnt this week.

 

The Collect for today’s feast sums it all up: Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your son Christ our Lord; grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints  in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those inexpressible joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you.

Years ago you would never have heard the word Halloween All hallows Eve in the church calendar pass the lips of children in the UK or here in Greece. Now it is celebrated here by younger families not just expat Americans. I encourage you to allow the secular feast Halloween has become, to spark some meditation on the communion of saints, the realities of evil, grace and  human and divine love.

As we enter this season of Remembrance and celebrate the great feasts of all saints and all Souls, followed by Remembrance Sunday, we pause to remember the saints above women and men, their lived example and their legacies; they cheer us on and give us a glimpse of that further shore we heard of in the passage from  Revelation. We remember their and our own sacred stories and those who have played a role in our own Christian journey and helped knit us together in this community in all our rich diversity. Let us strive to be a true communion of saints, koinonia, who truly love God and each other.

 

AMEN