All Saints Gazette, Last Pre-Lent edition, 2024
Greetings from All Saints Amsterdam
Mpho and Kyle are glad to be back from the clergy conference in Rome. We missed you, but the food and weather were some consolation. We met many wonderful people, learned from their wisdom, and saw some beautiful things. We also saw....this:
There are several important announcements this week, so please take note. The most timely thing is that there is no Bible study this week because the Old Catholic parish needs its space for Ash Wednesday. But we are welcome to attend their service, which is at 7:30 (it is in Dutch). Kyle and Mpho will be there. Another Ash Wednesday option is our province's online Stations of the Cross (see below). Worship is at the usual time this Sunday: 6:00 at the Old Catholic rectory.Two other big things:
New location!
Starting on March 3, (i.e. NOT this week) we will have our worship at Diepenbrockstraat 46, 1077 WE Amsterdam. Our host is Vrijburg, a Remonstrantist congregation which some of us already know. We are grateful for the hospitality of the Old Catholic parish, but they will now have a new priest living in their rectory, who would understandably not like us in his living room. Many of us will miss the location where our church first gathered. But to make a virtue of a necessity, we believe part of our unique calling at All Saints is to really live into the truth that the church is a people, and our location is wherever any two of us happen to be at any moment. As a bonus, this new location will save us a considerable amount of money and offers us more flexibility.
Mark your calendar: Bishop's Visitation on June 2
For those who are new to The Episcopal Church, it's always a special occasion when the bishop comes. Bishop Mark represents our whole international community of churches, and his visit conveys a special blessing for us. He is also eager to meet us, hear our stories, and help the Convocation know how to support us. Please plan to be there, and bring a friend!
Housekeeping
Readers, Intercessors, Children's Activity
It is always helpful to have these roles planned in advance, so please sign up to help if you are planning to join us on Sunday. The document is here. Kyle is planning the children's activity this week, but could use an assistant.
Music
We usually send out videos of the songs when plan to sing a few days in advance over the All Saints WhatsApp community. If you have an instrument you'd like to play along with one or more of our songs, bring it!
Bible Study in Lent
Starting next week, we are going to do an experiment with holding our Bible study on Zoom. Please try it out and let us know what you think. A link will go out with next week's letter.
Roving Priest
Also starting next week, Kyle will be spending most of the day on Thursdays in Amsterdam. An hour or two will be in a per-determined place, but he is also happy to come see you somewhere else. Want to show him your neighborhood? Do you want your apartment blessed? Get in touch!
Province II Stations of the Cross
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is part of Province II (The International Atlantic Province) of The Episcopal Church, and we are invited to join many others on Ash Wednesday, 14 Feb, at 16:00 CET (tomorrow), in a session in which the Province will present a Slave Trade Lament and Repentance online featuring prayers, collects, and reflections.
There will be a video introduction by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and elements will be contributed by the dioceses across the Province, including the Convocation. If you look carefully you might be able to recognize some members of our RJBC ministry initiative team. Details are available on the Province II website: https://www.province2.org/
Correction to last week's newsletter
Jes Villa is a member of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe's Committee on Mission Congregations and the liaison to our church. He is not the chair of that committee, as was incorrectly stated in last week's newsletter. We are no less grateful for his visit!
All Saints People Elsewhere
Verena was interviewed by the students of the religious studies program at Leiden. The interview has several good stories, and you can read it here.
A couple highlights:
On Western perceptions of Southeast Asian Islam: "They implied that the Indonesian Muslims were kind of Muslim, but also kind of not. When we say that, we're implying that there is a 'pure Islam' in the Middle East, while Middle Eastern Islam is also influenced by various cultural things. That impacted Muslim self--perceptions. I like to call this colonial gaslighting...tell somebody they're not what they say they are because they're not doing it 'the right way'. Who are we to tell anybody what they're doing right doing it “the right way”.
On Memory: "...memory is something very alive. It's a force, a power of its own. And if you remember, you activate this force that is very real and out there and that can do things to you. It's not you. It's something else that is acting upon you and others."
Do you have any experiences of colonial gaslighting? Or of memory as something alive? Tell us about them, perhaps on the WhatsApp chat!
The videos are back!
Just in time for Lent, here's the best ever telling of the story of John the Baptist's call to give up yer aul sins. (The audio is from interviews done in Dublin classrooms in the 1960s, animation is from 2001.)
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
