All Saints Gazette: Who's your friend?
Coming up
Morning prayer: Mon through Fri, 09:00 on Zoom
Sunday gatherings at Vrijburg
October 19, 18:00: Eucharist by Mpho
October 26, 18:00: Evening prayer by Zinzy
What else? Check our church calendar
Pro tip: plotting to take that cool friend to church some day? Forward this email to them!
New here? We’re All Saints, a young, radically inclusive Christian community figuring out how to live and love like Jesus. This newsletter may seem a little in-crowd, but no worries. Learn about us on our website, discover what radical inclusion means to us, and join us this Sunday at 18:00 if you can!
Who’s your friend?
That neighbour who looked pleasantly surprised when you said you go to church. That coworker at the coffee machine who has asked you why you call yourself a believer. Your friend who also left the old church, the one you haven’t spoken to in months. Your lesbian friend who thinks acceptance in a church is a myth. The person you would actually enjoy bringing to All Saints some time, if only you could find the right time.
The right time is now.
All Saints Amsterdam was founded with the idea that there are, in fact, people scattered all across the city, expats, English speakers, locals, who appreciate a good liturgy, Christianity as an act of radical love, and who don’t feel there is a place in church for their questions, doubts, curiosities.
We firmly believe those people can find us on the Internet. We also believe that we can find them. Why? Because birds of a feather flock together! Now that we’re settling into weekly services, we have an opportunity to gather, rest and recharge together even when we missed last week’s service.
Bring a friend. Ask them to hang around for the potluck. We would love to meet them.
Community prayer
Whenever we gather, we pray for all sorts of things, and often for the people in our lives. There’s power in saying a name, offering an intention and a hope for that person’s well-being. But we’ll never know all the names.
If you take a moment this week to settle into quiet time with God, remember that there are people in our community who are battling hardship, disease, trauma, even when we don’t say their names out loud.
While you’re at it, please include this litany of affirmation, written as part of Racial Justice, Beloved Community, of which pastor Mpho is the church’s canon.
If we love All Saints as much as we say we do, we need to step up and make it come alive.
Want to participate in the unique act of building a new church community by leading one of our evening prayers on a Sunday? Preparation is minimal, the warm fuzzy feeling of community-making endless. Send Mpho an email or message, and she’ll help you with liturgy and music.
Faith, faith is a verb. Faith is a doing word.
Julia Bell, who led us in worship two weeks ago, had a really good point when she said that faith is a verb. It was a special day for that truth to make it to our table, because she and a few others had just gotten back from a protest.
Together with 250,000 other people attending Amnesty’s Red Line protest, they stood on Museumplein to speak out against the Dutch complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
Hans Schraven, All Saints friend from its infancy (and our spectacular treasurer), also took to the street — once again — for what he believes is right.
✊🏽 Are there any protests or other forms of activism that you think we should be involved in? Give us a shout!
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After we work, we jam
I asked Hans what he listens to in order to get into a prayerful posture, or a spiritual mood. “Being an elderly white anarchist hippie, I’d have to say:”
“And of course, this one:”
It’s important to take a break from all that activism and volunteering from time to time. What better way to do that than with nice tunes playing in the background? Have you taken Mpho’s Jams for a spin yet? Make sure to check it out on YouTube.
We need you because you need us
All Saints is a young community relying on the contributions of the people who spend time with us. Please consider sharing what you can so that we can continue to be there for each other, and grow into the community we know we can become.
Want to talk to a priest? We want to talk to you too!
Email us | Email Mpho | Email Kyle (on leave)