All Saints Gazette: Constructing Wisdom, Love, and Strength
Greetings from All Saints! This week:
Morning and Evening Prayer on Zoom, every weekday at 9:00 and 18:00
No Eucharist on 26 January. Next service: 2 February
See the church calendar for links to online events
“…all the love and wisdom and strength we collectively construct and share during our gatherings…” Such was our worship and fellowship described by someone who wished they could have been present at a recent one.
In the Gospel reading for the coming Sunday (Luke 4:14-21. Note: we are not having a service), Jesus reads from Isaiah and says:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Jesus could read “me” and proclaim the scripture fulfilled because Jesus is “God from God, light from light, very God from very God.” But we share in what Jesus is by grace, including his relationship with the Holy Spirit and the One he called Father (who also has other names). So we apply this to ourselves not as a bunch of “I’s,” but as a we. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us. “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
There is no church that doesn’t have this, but I continue to be amazed by how you have it so transparently when you gather. And with that in mind, I extend two invitations.
I know you can’t always come to church without causing hardship for yourselves or someone else (and you get to be the judge of what counts as “hardship”). But do come when you can! You need us and we need you!
Think about how we keep constructing and sharing all this love and wisdom when we’re not together. Think big! We’ve got our WA group, we have morning and evening prayer, we have prayer on our own. Are you showing up for justice in your community or celebrating something in a way you could invite others from our church to join? Has God given you an encouraging or challenging word you might share with others? Are you naming All Saints, the Convocation, and our partner communities in your prayers? Can you make a weekly gift to the church, even if it seems small to you?
Even if it looks like a yes/no question, none of these are meant to elicit a “right” answer. In fact, can you help me come up with better questions? We share the wisdom and the love. We have the mind of Christ.
Oh, and as a bonus: authentic community kills fascism.
Pray Without Ceasing
Well, you can stop to breathe. In fact, your breath might just be prayer. But if there’s one thing the Anglican tradition is good at, it’s providing a form of prayer that taps into and unlocks God’s promises. We’ll lead you through it every weekday morning and evening. I think everyone’s back from their respective vacations now, so you should hopefully always find someone else there too if you click the Zoom link on the calendar page at 9:00 or 18:00, Monday to Friday.
Supporting Community
God’s gifts flow through our hands and what we construct together. Please consider making a monetary offering as part of your way of investing in the community you want. If you can’t give a lot, give a little. And please keep praying about pledging a certain amount when we have the infrastructure in place.
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.
Bank details
All Saints Amsterdam
IBAN NL32 TRIO 0320 8657 62
BIC TRIONL2U
European Institute of Christian Studies
Lenten APL: Episcopal 101
March 11 - April 1, 19:00-20:30
This Lent EICS will present a 4 week series on “Episcopal 101,” an online course meant to introduce newcomers or re-familiarize long-term members with core tenants, traditions and beliefs in the Episcopal Church. Each week will have a separate theme, and each requires individual registration. Each session is independent of the other, join 1 or all as you wish!
Individual registration links:
March 11: History
March 18: Polity and Mission
March 25: Liturgy and Sacraments
April 1: Anglican Temperament and Spirituality
What Episcopalians are Doing Elsewhere
Both for your own reflection and to know what else is happening in the Episcopal family, we offer you this sermon preached on Tuesday by Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde at the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Washington D.C. President Trump was in attendance, as is customary following US presidential inaugurations. (And thanks to Jeanine for directing me to this before it went viral.)
Bishop Budde is at the same time prophetic and gentle. Note the way in which she does not demand agreement, even about life-and-death matters. But she does point out that the stakes are not the same for everyone in political contests. She named the existence of queer (especially trans) people and immigrants, saying that they’re scared, and asking that the president show the “mercy” he has professed to believe in. And this, like Jesus’ parables, has already done more than could be said. Please also pray for Bishop Budde and her diocese, as she has received extremely cruel responses in some sectors of US media.
That’s all for Today! Want to talk to a priest? We want to talk to you too!
Website: https://allsaintsamsterdam.church
Mpho: mpho@allsaintsamsterdam.church
Kyle: kyle@allsaintsamsterdam.church
General: info@allsaintsamsterdam.church
Instagram: @allsaintsamsterdam.church
