All Saints Gazette: Christ within me!
This week at All Saints:
The usual daily office every weekday at 9:00 and 18:00
No service this Sunday or next.
Next Service: 6 April, 17:30, Vrijburg (coaching session before at 15:00, meal after)
See church calendar for links to online events.
The icon you see here is from an Orthodox monastery in Scotland on the island of Mull. They do a lot of icons of Celtic saints, with a rather contemporary style. Here is, in part, what they say about this one (the opening citation is from the prayer known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate):
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ to my right, Christ to my left.
CHRIST WITHIN ME.
…This icon is precisely about that last line: the fulfillment of it all, the calling of all creation, the true self of each of us: my Creator within my being…Press your hands against your heart and feel Christ. He is already there, His Kingdom has always been there. Not as a metaphor, not as a symbol, but Christ-God Himself, as real as His Body and Blood.
There is an intense relation between the socio-political aspects of Christian discipleship and the disciplines of prayer, worship, and contemplation. You could call it a form of “self-care,” in the parlance of our times. I don’t think the term quite fits though. In a world as distorted as this—and we ourselves are distorted—our discipleship always has an aspect of self-denial, “walking in the way of the cross,” as the Friday morning collect puts it. Some say that this is the fundamental character of Christian discipleship, though that has never set quite right with me either. But in order to participate in God’s transformation of the world, God’s coming revolution, we must open ourselves to that transformation and ask how we can each learn to live that revolutionized life already, even as we poke at the weak points of the structures of oppression that determine so much of our lives. It is “self-denial” or “self-care” to the extent that we discover Christ within us, underneath the myriad experiences, thoughts, and drives with which we mistakenly identify ourselves. There we find our true self, if “self” we care to call it.
Come Get Coached! April 6, 15:00 to 17:00, Vrijburg
As you may have noticed, we have some really neat people with a lot of gifts and skills at All Saints. (Yes, you’re one of them!) What all do we have? What do we want to do with it? And what are some first steps? Before our next service on 6 April, we will gather with Jocelyn Phelps, an organizational coach who is a member of the Cathedral congregation in Paris and a pillar of our Convocation. We have the room from 15:00 to 17:00, so plan to make an afternoon of it!
Coaching, pt. 2
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a gender-nonconforming day-dreamer who grew up in the US in the 80s and 90s, I have a complicated relationship to sports. So I was not exactly thrilled when my old diocese introduced “coaching” as its new Biggest Next Big Thing since the Last Biggest Next Big Thing. Fortunately, the thing itself is more than the metaphor. When done well, it’s not about going from bad to good enough. It’s about discovering what you already have and deciding how to use it, and it respects you as the expert. It’s a tool, and we think it’s worth trying out to see if it’s a good tool for us. If it is, we’ll use it. If it isn’t, we’ll say thank you and move on. Either way, nobody is going to yell at you to hustle!
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 25: Liturgy and Sacraments
April 1: Anglican Temperament and Spirituality
Church Planting Support from The Episcopal Church
Many of us are apprehensive about recent staffing changes in The Episcopal Church, including eliminating people responsible for supporting church plants. But the commitment and (we think?) the funding for church plants are still in place, according to this article from the Episcopal News Service. It is admittedly uncomfortable to have the previous structure removed without knowing anything about the new structure. I’m going to encourage us to give the new PB the benefit of the doubt and to pray for him. But we do hope to know some things more concretely soon.
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
This week, Sophie was kind enough to share the recipe for her chickpea curry that has been called “heerlijk” when it has made appearances at our potlucks. She notes that if you don’t have a blender or food processor, you can just cut things up small. I’m going to go see if I have everything to make this tonight!
Do you have any (relatively) simple Lent-friendly recipes (“Lent-friendly” allows for some interpretation, but might mean vegan, and maybe the sort of thing you let simmer while you go say evening prayer)? Send them along!
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
