All Saints Gazette: Contempt for the World
This week at All Saints:
Every weekday, 9:00 and 18:00: Daily prayer on Zoom
Sunday, 17:30, Eucharist at Vrijburg with meal to follow.
Links for online events at church calendar.
The English name for this season, Lent, bears conspicuous resemblance to the Dutch word for spring, lente (also the older German word, Lenz). This is no accident. Lent happens to more or less coincide with spring in the northern hemisphere. The Romance languages all call it by some derivative of the Latin Quadragesima, and the other Germanic languages call it by some cognate of the Dutch Vastentijd (“fasting time”). But in England, Lent stuck, and I like that. It’s a time of penance, of identification with Jesus’ solidarity with the suffering world. But it’s also a time of growth, of lengthening days (Lent, lente, and Lenz are probably all cognate with “length”). It is the time of awakening of that which was dormant.
The fact that the time of deliberate self-denial is also the time of increased pleasure in the natural world speaks a deep truth. Since Mpho and I were with the other clergy of the Convocation in Assisi a few weeks ago, I have been sitting with a tension (at least to me) in the person of St. Francis. We think of him as the paradigm of joy and delight in the world. He talks to birds and composes a Canticle of the Creatures. But he’s also a figure of extreme penance. He fully participated in a very important movement in the 12th century that focused on the Crucifixion and sufferings of Christ as the key to Christian spirituality. Protestants don’t play it up, but of the most memorable moments in his biography is when he received the Stigmata.
Major themes in memories of Francis are poverty, humility, and contempt for the world. Most of us can imagine voluntary poverty as a practice of liberation and justice. We have Catholic Worker residents in our midst after all! Humility is a concept that is harder for modern people to pin down. And “contempt of the world” sounds almost pathological! Aren’t we supposed to be lovers of the world, partakers in God’s love for the world? Aren’t we supposed to seek to heal the world?
As the last week happens to have reminded us, spring can still be pretty cold (it’s still technically winter, after all). As it also happens, I couldn’t do laundry last week because of plumbing work. So while we have been working to clear the backlog, I had the choice between pants from Norway that would have been total overkill, and my summer hiking pants, which I picked. And as I have been riding my bike along the sloten and through such woods as remain in Zuid-Holland, I was cold. And I was about to start ruining the rides with self-pity, when I remembered Francis. After renouncing his possessions (down to his last article of clothing), he usually wore whatever was given to him, which was often thin. And it was while being cold that he wandered through the woods singing troubadour love songs to God.
Well, it wasn’t exactly the fast that I chose, but what if I decided that my maladaptive wardrobe was a brief Lenten fast? What if I were to welcome the discomfort, at least for the time? Well, I did. And you know what? This place is beautiful! I love daffodils and waterfowl. I miss the forests of Upstate New York, Norway, and Germany, but there are trees here too! And if I felt a little colder than I would have liked, there is a way it can even be a pleasant sensation, at least for a short period. By renouncing my rather narrowly imagined idea of comfort for a short time, I discovered a pleasure in the world that would have been denied to me, a way of letting the world be itself, and praising God for what it is. This is one of the meanings of Lent: an indifference to the world that is the proper love of the world, and thus of God.
Now since I have come dangerously close to making a display of my piety and do not wish you to think of me as anything more than a rank amateur in the ways of spirituality, let me also tell you that I was a total jerk to my kids later that same day.
See you in church?
The service booklet is accessed through a tablet or smartphone. If you have an extra one you could share, please bring it! Likewise, if you can, please bring a dish to share (consideration of common dietary restrictions appreciated where possible, with the understanding that it isn’t always).
Have you got April on your calendar?
On 6 April, we will welcome Jocelyn Phelps. Jocelyn is a member of the cathedral congregation in Paris and a stalwart of the Convocation, who is also a professional organizational coach. From the perspective of faith and professional expertise, she will help us learn what gifts and talents we have, what visions we have, and how we can concretely use them for a project or two. The approximate time is 15:00-17:00, with something more concrete announced when we are sure of space availability.
Migrating to Signal
As a rather low-cost form of activism and solidarity, we are going to move our church communications from WhatsApp to Signal in the coming weeks. While it has been proposed that “platform decay” (a less refined term is more often used) is a law of nature in the digital age, Signal has more credible privacy protections and is not yet known to be doing anything terrible. We won’t spring it on you just yet, but start getting used to the idea, and consider installing the app.
Palm Sunday Liturgy in Kempen
Palm Sunday (April 13) would normally be an off week for us this year, but we have signed up to hold a service in Kempen. The Protestant church there has taken in a family at risk of deportation. Our liturgy will be part of a round-the-clock service that has been going on there in order to prevent the police from entering (which they cannot do during a service under Dutch law). Our slot is from 18:00-20:00. We are hoping to organize a carpool. So: please let Mpho know if you
want to come
have a car (that you or someone else can drive)
could drive (your own car, or someone else’s)
If you’re volunteering a car, please mention how many people you can take (and if it’s for someone else to drive: whether it’s manual or automatic). And if you’re volunteering to drive but don’t have a car, let us know what sorts of car you can drive.
Upcoming Convocation Offerings
Anglican Summer School
The Convocation and a couple friends sponsor this summer class in Utrecht for those wanting to learn more about Anglican Christianity, particularly here in Europe. More information and sign up here!
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 18: Polity and Mission
March 25: Liturgy and Sacraments
April 1: Anglican Temperament and Spirituality
Retreats and Programs at Santa Maria a Ferrano
Santa Maria a Ferrano, a retreat center in Italy that is connected to the Convocation, has published their 2025 program. Thomas and Paola, the couple that runs it, are wonderful people from whom I have learned much. Check out their website and let me know if you’d like me to forward their recent fliers to you.
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
Lenten Recipes
Y’all aren’t cooperating, so here’s another one from me: Coconut-Ginger Chickpea Soup (a bit more involved than the last one, but worth the effort if you have the time).
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
