All Saints Gazette: Anointing, Coaching, and Some Óscar Romero
This week at All Saints:
Weekdays at 9:00 and 18:00: Morning and Evening Prayer on Zoom
Sunday, 6 April:
15:00, Open Forum at Vrijburg
17:30, Eucharist at Vrijburg, meal afterward.
Anointing with oil plays a pretty big role in Christian symbolism. For one thing, we call Jesus “Christ,” and “Christ” (χριστός) is just the Greek word for “anointed” (i.e. one who has had oil put on them). The primary reference is probably to the inauguration of kings in ancient Israel (see 1 Sam. 16, for example). In The Episcopal Church, holy oil shows up at two key moments. After we baptize someone, we anoint them (when possible) with a special oil that has been blessed by the bishop. And when someone is sick, we anoint them with healing oil (often also blessed by the bishop, though a priest can do it in a pinch). We have both of these oils on hand at All Saints.
I used to wonder what anointing for healing was all about. There are times when it is done in the Bible, for example in the parable of the Good Samaritan. And in this coming Sunday’s reading, Mary anoints Jesus, which Jesus says is in anticipation of his burial. This is admittedly a morbid take on an affectionate gesture, but it proves true, a sort of anointing in advance of an injury. But then when we lived in Palestine for three months, we visited the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. Rasmus fell and bump his head. We saw a bump starting to form, but then the woman who was hosting our event took some olive oil and applied to the injured spot. The swelling stopped. It seems that in giving us our semi-sacrament of anointing the sick, God has taken a healing property of oil that women in the region have long known, and given it an additional meaning.
This week’s Gospel reading features a woman in that region anointing Jesus. Whatever the symbolic resonances, it literally made him “christ.”
Eucharist and Open Forum
If you’ve ever thought “I wish our church would…” then the the thing to come to is on Sunday at 15:00 on the first floor of Vrijburg. Jocelyn Phelps is going to lead us in a coaching exercise called Open Forum We’re going to see if we can find some patterns in those wishes, and if we can pick out a few ambitious but manageable ways to realize a couple of them. I would really like a good turn out for this one, so please come if you can! Eucharist afterward at 17:00 (upstairs in the usual room), with a meal to follow. Bring whatever contributions you can!
Palm Sunday in Kempen
We’re having a Palm Sunday service this year! It will be in Kampen at the Protestant Church, where we are taking the 18:00 to 20:00 slot in the 24/7 liturgy that makes it impossible for authorities to enter and detain a migrant family that has taken refuge there. This will include an Agape Meal (think our usual potluck dinner, but as part of the service) and a reading of the Passion Story, for which we will need some volunteers. Meet us at the church at 18:00 if you can get there on your own, or let us know if you’d like to get in on a car pool (or if you have a car you can take people in, or can drive someone else’s car).
Upcoming Convocation Offering: Anglican Summer School
Whether you’ve been an Anglican/Episcopalian for yours or you had never heard of it before coming to All Saints and are wondering what planet you’ve landed on, the Convocation has a program that may be of interest: the Anglican Summer School in Utrecht is not just about what Anglicanism is, but what it means that we are a bunch of nationally mixed communities in continental Europe following a form of Christianity that developed in England, in a church based in the US, alongside three other Anglican churches. And if you figure it out, please explain it to me! More information and sign up here!
Keep a good thing going!
The bishop’s committee is having extra meetings to get statues and things done so we can get ANBI. In the meantime, please invest what you can in the community you want, and try putting in just a little more than you first feel comfortable with (without causing yourself hardship, of course). There is enough if we share! Please hold our upcoming pledge drive in your prayers, in addition to supporting us as you are presently able.
Use the QR code or this link, or make a transfer through your banking app (the latter saves us a few cents). Please consider making your offering recurring, and pray about what you are called to pledge when we have our winter pledge drive.
Bank details
All Saints Amsterdam
IBAN NL32 TRIO 0320 8657 62
BIC TRIONL2U
Óscar Romero, presente
24 March was the anniversary of the assassination of Monsignor Óscar Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador, who evolved from a mild-mannered conservative-tending company man to a friend and advocate of the people and the Gospel who told his country’s army to disobey their government in order to obey God. His ministry is often considered the beginning of the movement known as Liberation Theology, and is on my mind because of my own country’s present treatment of Salvadorans and Salvadoran Americans. I offer you two things here. The first is a short story in the genre of narrative journalism by the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano. My quick translation follows his Spanish text. The second is a song by the Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez that I encountered at a service commemorating St. Óscar a number of years ago.
1980, San Salvador [by Eduardo Galeano, my translation]
La ofrenda
Hasta hace un par de años, sólo se entendía con Dios. Ahora habla con todos y por todos. Cada hijo del pueblo atormentado por los poderosos es el hijo de Dios crucificado; y en el pueblo Dios resucita después de cada crimen que los poderosos cometen. Monseñor Romero, arzobispo de El Salvador, abremundo, rompemundo, nada tiene que ver ahora con aquel titubeante pastor de almas que los poderosos aplaudían. Ahora el pueblo interrumpe con ovaciones sus homilías que acusan al terrorismo de Estado.
Ayer, domingo, el arzobispo exhortó a los policías y a los soldados a desobedecer la orden de matar a sus hermanos campesinos. En nombre de Cristo, Romero dijo al pueblo salvadoreño: Levántate y anda.
Hoy, lunes, el asesino llega a la iglesia escoltado por dos patrulleros policiales. Entra y espera, escondido detrás de una columna. Romero está celebrando misa. Cuando abre los brazos y ofrece el pan y el vino, cuerpo y sangre del pueblo, el asesino aprieta el gatillo.
The Offering
Until just a few years ago, he only conversed with God. Now, he speaks to everyone and for everyone. Every child of the people, tortured by the powerful, is the crucified Son of God. And in the people, God brings back to life after every crime that the powerful commit. Monsignor Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador, with open, brazen mouth, has nothing more to do with the hesitant pastor of souls whom the powerful applaud. Now the people interrupt his homilies with applause when he denounces the state’s terrorism.
Yesterday, Sunday, the archbishop commanded the police and soldiers to disobey the orders to kill their siblings, the peasants. In the name of Christ, Romero said to the Salvadoran people, get up and walk.
Today, Monday, the assassin arrives at the church escorted by two policemen. He enters and he waits, hidden behind a column. When he spreads his arms and offers the bread and wine, the body and blood of Christ, the assassin squeezes the trigger.
I am grateful to the Rev. Stacy Alan for many, many things, among them sharing this story and this song with me.
That’s all for Today! Want to talk to a priest? We want to talk to you too!
Website: https://allsaintsamsterdam.church
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