All Saints Gazette: Share and Keep the Party Going
This Week at All Saints Amsterdam
Tuesday and Wednesday-Morning Prayer on Zoom—9:00
Thursday—Evening Prayer on Zoom—18:00
Sunday: Eucharist at Vrijburg—17:30
Links to online events on the church calendar!
This Sunday, the church will remember the Wedding at Cana in John 2, the “first of Jesus’ signs.” The wine runs out at a party, and he provides more when people trust him and give him what they have.
So much of the modern capitalist and imperialist structure of the world assumes that resources are unlimited and waste doesn’t matter. There will always be more oil, more coal, more wood, more water, more cobalt. And if the wood, oil, coal, or gas sources we know about are exhausted, we can find new ones. We can make “tough choices.” But things do run out, and there is a cost to extraction.
At the same time, we are taught to acquire and horde as though there will never be enough and every well might dry up. We protect and aggressively expand our resources, our territory, our trade routes. We have to liquidate under-performing assets and beloved people and programs. We have to make more, because what we were already living off of comfortably (some “we,” anyway) is somehow not enough.
Into this strange contradiction walks Jesus. Sure, this was ancient Rome and Palestine, so the economics were different. And he rescues the half-truth from the total lie. There will not always be enough to consume or extract, but there is always enough to share. God multiplies what we share and makes it more joyful.
Daily Prayer
Is there enough time? There is if you share. Give God a few minutes and see what happens. We’re always happy to give you a crash course in prayer, and most days a few of us do it together online. This week and next are a bit weird, so watch the WhatsApp group. Otherwise, morning prayer at 9:00 and evening prayer at 18:00, Monday to Friday. Scroll up for the links!
Eucharist
The paradigm and source of our shared abundance! Come worship with us on Sunday at 17:30 at Vrijburg! If you can, bring some food to share afterward, but come either way. There will be enough!
Money
Yep, we still need it. We know you do to. 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
Beloved Community and Anti-Racism
From the Convocation’s newsletter:
Beloved Community Presents their APL: “All Saints Are Welcome”
Saturday, February 22nd, 10:00-12:00
(Online)
Racial Justice Beloved Community, in partnership with EICS, presents a second session of their APL series "All Sinners Are Welcome", encouraging and teaching how to explore radical hospitality, self-reflection, and the pursuit of Beloved Community within the church.
Through panel discussion and interactive small group sessions we will discuss “Who is the Church For?”, examine “What Does Welcome Mean?”, and explore “Becoming Beloved Community.”
Here’s the link to register.
The ministry’s recent newsletter uses the occasion of the upcoming US holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to reflect on what Beloved Community means (King is the source of the phrase). I only have the reflection as a PDF, which I will post in the All Saints WhatsApp group, but it includes this image:
And here’s a question, especially for those of us with little or no connection to the US (i.e. most of us): Who are some non-US figures we can lift up as we pray for the grace to be a truly anti-racist church? What have you learned from them? You can share on WhatsApp! (We already know about Desmond Tutu 😀, but you can still tell us what you have learned from him.)
Episcopal 101 for Lent—also from the Convocation
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
There is enough!
Here’s a video of some church people being silly and singing a song that we might try on Sunday. Covid-era (suppressing an involuntary shudder at the sanitizer the hand sanitizer and toilet paper), but well done.
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
