All Saints Gazetter, Innagural Edition
Welcome to the All Saints Gazette!
This is our new newsletter for All Saints Amsterdam! Feel free to share! If you didn't mean to subscribe (or just emailed us once about a delivery and don't know why you're getting a newsletter--sorry!), you can unsubscribe at the bottom.
Housekeeping
Church in the living room
Thank you to everyone who came to our living room liturgical experiment on Sunday. We were small but mighty! The mysteries we celebrate are the same as in the sanctuary, but we tell different truths about them. We'll try it again on January 7. To get in, you have to ring the rectory doorbell (left of the sanctuary entrance).
Children's church
Thanks also to everyone who brought supplies for children's church, which we deem a success! We will continue this as well, so tell your friends with kids that they are welcome. To be clear, children are welcome to stay in the sanctuary (or living room) if they want to. The children's activity is just another way for them to engage the holy mysteries and share their wisdom with us. We would like to get a rotation of volunteers to lead or assist with the activity. These need not be parents! (Nor are parents required to participate if their child does.) The only qualification is that you will need to do a short online training in preventing abuse. Interested? Get in touch with Kyle.
No Bible Study this Week; Lessons and Carols at Vrijburg
We will not have our usual Wednesday program at All Saints this week, but Mpho is leading a service of lessons and carols at Vrijburg, to which you are warmly welcome. It is a mix of Dutch and English.
Our next service: January 7
As was already announced, we will not be having services on Christmas Eve or Day. Our next liturgy will be on January 7, so mark your calendars! As it will be in the rectory living room, you will need to ring the bell to the left of the sanctuary to get in.
New ways to participate
Be part of children's church
See above, noting that if you're struggling with the winter darkness, playing with children is a good brain hack (see graphic below. It's on the internet, so it must be true).
Discovering abundance
From Epiphany to Lent, we will send a question each week that will invite you think about what gifts you have that you maybe didn't know about, what ways you're sharing them that you maybe didn't realize, and how you might like to share them differently. Make a quick video and send it to us. Every week we'll share a couple.
Giving
We will start inviting you to contributing financially to All Saints. No one has to. Ever. But the rewards are immense. Plus, it will let us do more stuff. Because The Episcopal Church is mainly based in the US and our Convocation is based in France, getting all the pieces in sync is taking longer than we hoped, but we will have a mechanism for this early in the new year.
All Saints People Elsewhere
Mpho shared a version of her sermon this week with the Sabeel Center in Jerusalem, which you can watch here. Kyle's note: very much worth your while if you missed it on Sunday.
Kyle shares weely-ish essays through Substack. Today's is about the "Father" language of much prayer, and the time a friend tried to get him to eat a horse. True story.
Did you see our new website, emails, and logo?
Website: https://allsaintsamsterdam.church/
Mpho: mpho@allsaintsamsterdam.church
Kyle: kyle@allsaintsamsterdam.church
General: info@allsaintsamsterdam.church
Don't want to get this newsletter anymore? You can unsubscribe. We're grateful for everyone who is part of All Saints for an evening, a season, or a lifetime!
The promised graphic:
