THE BISHOP’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE, 2009
It is sometimes said that if you want to know the meaning of Easter you go to the Orthodox churches where at midnight every Easter they proclaim that ‘Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!’ If you want to know the meaning of Good Friday and the Passion of Christ you go to the churches of the Reformation, and stand before the Cross and know the cost of the saving love of God in Christ. But if you want to know the meaning of the Incarnation you can do no better than to be with Anglicans as Christmas is celebrated.
Like all generalisations it is far too neat – yet there is a sense in which Christmas is the Christian festival which can still speak powerfully to us and draw in, without their quite knowing why, those who rarely darken the doors of churches even in this secular age. The most widely known Anglican service is perhaps the service of Nine Lessons and Carols broadcast every Christmas Eve from King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. It is a service which is not found in the Book of Common Prayer, and was devised, building on an earlier service for Truro Cathedral, by Eric Milner White, Dean of King’s in the early part of the last century. The familiar carols and hymns that it uses are often from only a century earlier – such as ‘Once in royal David’s city’, or ‘God rest you merry, gentlemen’, or Christina Rossetti’s ‘In the bleak mid-winter’ - reminding us that the traditional Christmas, such as Christmas trees and Christmas cards, owes much to what the German Prince Albert brought to England when he married Queen Victoria. But other carols are far older and reach back into the popular piety of the Middle Ages, when Christians delighted to sing of the meaning of Christmas and the mystery of the incarnation.
As so often it is the amazing paradox that is at the heart of the praise and poetry, the paradox that God, the Creator of all, could choose in the freedom of his love and power to come down to where we are, ‘to take our nature upon him’, as the Christmas collect says, ‘and be born of a pure Virgin.’ To take one, not very familiar, example by Ben Jonson, a contemporary of Shakespeare:
I sing the birth was born tonight,
The author both of life and light,
The angels so did sound it,
And like the ravished shepherds said,
Who saw the light, and were afraid,
Yet searched, and true they found it.
What was that truth? Jonson tells us:
He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger.
The Word was now made flesh indeed,
And took on Him our nature.
And why? For what end and purpose?
What comfort by him doe we win?
Who made himself the price of sin,
To make us heirs of glory!
From beginning to end this was a work of love, by the God whose very being is love, who created us in love for himself, and who in love stoops down to the very lowest part of our need. As another poet, Christopher Smart, puts it:
God all bounteous, all creative,
Whom no ills from good dissuade,
Is incarnate, and a native,
Of the very world he made!
The God whom we know and worship and adore is not a distant God, not a God of ideas and abstractions, but a God who comes to us as one of us, who comes among us in the fragility of an unborn life, beginning as we begin as those formed in the hiddenness of our mother’s wombs – which is why Christians can never be casual about caring for that unborn life, can never treat abortion as no more than a matter of choice. God identifies with us from the very beginning, going, as Bishop Lancelot Andrewes once said, ‘to the very ground-sill of our nature.’ St Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth of how for Christians the power of God was know most paradoxically in the weakness of the cross, the crucified God was the one who saved – yet that foolishness of God, that weakness of God, is already there at Bethlehem in the child laid in the pricking straw of the manger, which devout Christians saw as foreshadowing the sharpness of the crown of thorns of the crucified.
Christmas speaks to us of a God who is love totally and completely, a God who loves us so recklessly and in so overwhelming a fashion, that he comes down to the lowest part of our need. He speaks to us as one of us, as our flesh and blood, which is why St John sums up the mystery of the incarnation as ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. And St John goes on to say that in that total self-giving of love, ‘we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.’ No wonder the shepherds on the cold hills outside Bethlehem were startled by the angelic armies of heaven singing ‘Glory to God in the highest, and one earth peace goodwill towards men!’ If that is indeed the truth of the God who made the vastness of the universe, and the richness of creation, and who also made you and me, every human being, in the image and likeness of his love, then to live by and from that love and grace which came to us at Bethlehem to take us by the hand, is to live by that which alone can sustain us and transform us, and transform the whole world, into that new creation which is our end, our purpose, and our very being. This is indeed our story and our song; this is our life and our mission to the world; this is the love we are called to live; and this is the eternal life which here and now we are given, as the Child of Bethlehem feeds us with his own life in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. ‘O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!’
It is in that faith and love that I wish you the true and joy and blessing of Christmas.
+Geoffrey Gibraltar
GOD’S MISSION AND OURS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Continued
Matthew 28 and a global perspective
All that is part of what our Lord spells out for his disciples as he sends them out on their initial mission tour of his own people and his own context, but it is only the beginning of the biblical picture of mission that the gospels put before us. And that’s why I want to turn now to Matthew 28 to fill out the picture with just a few more considerations which may help to put what we’ve already said into a larger perspective of global mission, and more specifically the global mission of the crucified and risen Christ.
And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28.18 – end)
Mission has begun; the apostles have received their charge. And now in the light of the glorious, and terrifying and world-changing events of the first Easter, that a broad picture of the five points I started with, begins to be fleshed out in different ways at greater depth I’d like to draw out a few points from those short verses which may help us direct our thinking around mission.
The first has to do with the brief, plain word, go. Don’t wait for them to come; don’t wait for people to arrive; travel, look for opportunity. It’s another way of spelling out those first two points from Matthew 10: look for where God has started, tell people God is already active, but go. Mission is certainly not just the exercise of a kind of hyperactive communications strategy. But neither is it simply sitting, and hoping somebody might notice. God himself, in his mission with us, goes from heaven to earth, comes where we are and discovers who we are and what we need. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ says Jesus again and again in the gospels. He has come to ask that question, what’s your need? what is the gap, the emptiness in your existence that only the living word can supply? So go, ask those questions; go and discover; travel and look for those openings, look for God’s open door as people open up to you. Go and make disciples of all nations.
Making disciples is a matter of shaping people who are willing to go on learning from God. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t seem to talk about making members, recruiting people to sign up: he wants disciples. He wants members of his body, not members of an organization. And the members of the body are those who share in the action of the body - a disciple is a learner, somebody who puts themselves to school under God and God’s Messiah. So go and make learners; encourage people to embark on the journey of discovering what the gift of God is.
In mission when people see the new creation, the transformed reality that is set before them, they will need time to learn what it’s about. Don’t look for short cuts. Draw people in to the newness and mystery and excitement, and then let them
know that it’s a lifetime’s work to find your way into it. Take the time that is needed for people to learn and to grow to be disciples. Of course Christ asks from his disciples service, obedience, sacrifice, but all the time Christ asks us to continue learning, day by day taking up the cross, walking this path and discovering as we go.
This is perhaps connected with the third thing here. ‘Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ Something that has struck me more and more recently, is how in the gospels Jesus draws the disciples into his circle and activity without necessarily explaining to them ahead of time all that it’s going to imply, and when some of them realize what it’s going to imply, they don’t want to be there at all. (See John 6) But there is a dimension of mission that is trying to draw people in and immerse them in the mystery and the joy of newness, before you do all the topping and tailing of what they think they believe. Orthodox belief in its full sense doesn’t come before, but in the light of, the new life. And sometimes it’s necessary to give people time to grow into the full dimension of that.
Another of the mistakes we sometimes make in mission and evangelism is to present our faith as if it were first a set of requirements, whereas sometimes (as in Acts) we need to respond to people’s willingness to learn. And what always delights me in a situation like this is when somebody says, I’m not sure whether I can understand or say that yet, but I want to be somewhere where I can begin to understand it better. In response I’m very happy to say that we’ll take the time it needs and I hope and pray that in due course all will be clear; but meanwhile, be in the life of Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit so that you can see what the new world is like.
Belief, creed, doctrine are vastly important and indispensable but they are the deposit of the awareness of the new creation rather than the conditions of entry. This is why I said earlier that the Christ-shaped change that mission brings is something rather different from just a set of new beliefs. Truly new belief is a matter of understanding the reality that the creeds speak about that arises and is moulded by the Christ-shaped change. So mission requires a great deal of patience and a degree of awareness that people will move and discover at a different rate. And that immersion in that new creation, and being part of something before you’ve quite found the words or the ideas, is a reminder that the life of the Church - crystallized in the sacraments of baptism and the Holy Communion - is a life in which we are required constantly to return to doing things together, not just thinking the same thoughts, but being fed at the same table and understanding ourselves to be swimming in the same water. ©Rowan Williams 2009
A QUOTATION FOR CHRISTMAS
The Son came out from the Father to help us to come out from the world; he descended to us to enable us to ascend to him. - Anthony of Padua
COUNTDOWN TO COPENHAGEN
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES GLOBAL BLUEPRINT TO HELP DEVELOPING NATIONS FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE
[Most striking are the enormous sums required. However, to put these figures into perspective: the total EU budget for 2009 amounts to around €133.8 billion.]
The European Commission has put forward its proposals on financial assistance to developing countries to help them combat climate change. This initiative aims to maximize the chances of concluding an ambitious global climate change agreement at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen this month. The sums involved are potentially significant, both ambitious and fair, but developed and economically advanced developing countries must also make a contribution.
By 2020 developing countries are likely to face annual costs of around €100 billion to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Much of the finance needed will have to come from domestic sources and an expanded international carbon market, but international public financing of some €22-50 billion a year is also likely to be necessary. The Commission proposes that industrialized nations and economically more advanced developing countries should provide this public financing in line with their responsibility for emissions and ability to pay. This could mean an EU contribution of some €2-15 billion a year by 2020, assuming an ambitious agreement is reached in Copenhagen, aimed at preventing global warming from reaching the dangerous levels – more than 2°C above the pre-industrial temperature - projected by the scientific community.
Three main sources of finance should play a role in meeting these needs. Domestic public and private finance in developing countries could cover 20-40 %, the international carbon market around 40 % and international public finance could contribute to the remainder. The Commission estimates that a well-designed, expanded international carbon market could generate financial flows to developing countries of as much as €38 billion a year by 2020. However, this assumes that, as the EU advocates, developed countries take on a collective 30% emission reduction target and that a sectoral crediting mechanism is introduced for advanced developing countries in place of the project-based Clean Development Mechanism.
The more ambitious the carbon market is, the less need there will be for international finance from public sources. International public finance should be provided not only by industrialized countries but also by economically more advanced developing nations. Each country's contribution should be based on an agreed scale reflecting its responsibility for emissions and its ability to pay. Depending on the relative weighting given to these criteria, the EU’s contribution would be between 10 and 30% of the global total.
The Commission estimates that developing countries could need €9-13 billion a year from international public financing in 2013, rising to €22-50 billion a year
by 2020. These figures would imply EU contributions of €900 million: €3.9 billion in 2013 and €2-15 billion a year by 2020.
Assuming a satisfactory Copenhagen deal, a fast start should be made to international public funding for developing countries. Some €5-7 billion of assistance a year is likely to be needed in 2010-2012. Based on the proposed common scale, the EU's contribution would be €500 million: 2.1 billion a year. However, the Commission proposes that the EU should consider increasing its contribution beyond this range.
From an EU News bulletin, September 2009, excerpted by
Henny for the Green Awareness Group
HINTS FOR THE CARE OF PLANTS IN WINTER
A GENERAL TIP
A plant in a pot has much less insulation for the roots than in the open ground, so pots left out of doors need to be protected from draughts and wind, using cardboard, newspaper etc. In a shed put pots on bricks to protect them from cold draughts under the door.
AMARYLLIS
When it has finished flowering set it aside in a cool room. Give it water and some fertilizer from time to time. About May, put it outside in a sheltered spot in shadow. Bring it back indoors in October and allow it to dry. Cut off any dead leaves and wait for the bulb to show some green, then put it in a warm room and water well. Give fertilizer occasionally. When the flowering is over, repeat the care. In this way the bulb will flower for several years, though perhaps not as abundantly as in the first year.
FUSCHIA, LANTANA, GERANIUM
Bring indoors around October. Leave to dry a little and prune to shape. In Spring (around March) give more water and fertilizer. In May these plants can go outdoors again, though they will not flower as early as in the first year.
SUMMER BULBS – LILIES ETC
I believe it is best to plant lilies in a large pot. In winter take the pot into a frost-free space, keeping the soil just moist until Spring. In March give some fertilizer and in April put the pot out in a sunny protected space – but return it to winter quarters if serious frost is threatened.
DAHLIAS
Dig the tubers up if frost is threatened, or at any rate in late October. Put them in a tray and allow the earth on them to dry. Then dust them off and wrap them lightly in newspaper and keep them in a cool, frost-free place. Inspect them sometimes and remove any suspect tubers. Plant them out again in May.
ROSES
If serious frost threatens, pack around the base with autumn leaves, and use fleece or a piece of netting to keep the leaves from blowing away. For standard roses, protect the stem from just below the graft upwards with fleece or a plastic bag. The base of a standard rose is usually a strong briar that can withstand frost.
Margery for the Green Awareness Group
ARCHDEACONRY SYNOD 2009
Annual Synod fixes Luweero support
SYNOD RE-AFFIRMED ITS WISH TO DEVELOP A STRONGER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UGANDAN DIOCESE OF LUWEERO. THE ARCHDEACONRY STANDING COMMITTEE WILL SET UP A NEW LUWEERO GROUP WHICH WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE TO SYNOD.
It was agreed that we put the Luweero twinning as a line in our Archdeaconry budget and accounts. Further we authorized the archdeaconry standing committee to devote a proportion of our archdeaconry funds to the twinning link each year.
The Treasurer was delighted to report that the agreed budget for 2009 to the Common Fund of €14,899 had been met in full. Our finances are healthy and the treasurer saw no need to increase contributions from the chaplaincies for 2010 for the Common fund (the yearly contribution to the diocese).
Synod met at the Theological Pastoral Centre in Antwerp. On a beautiful autumn evening about seventy people from all corners of the Archdeaconry met not only to enact business but to enjoy each others company and to learn more about our archdeaconry and those who worship in our varied chaplaincies.
Our first guest was the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Antwerp who welcomed us to their diocesan retreat house and wished us all a good synod. A warm welcome was extended to Bishop Dick Schoon who is the relatively recently appointed Old Catholic Bishop of Haarlem. It has become a feature that we attend each others annual synod.
This year it was a particular pleasure to welcome back our own diocesan bishop Dr. Geoffrey Rowell and Father Kevin O’Brien, his chaplain, who had come hot foot from the Archdeaconry of Italy’s synod. We heard of several activities which were taking part in other parts of our vast diocese.
Our two key note speakers were Prof. Patrick Nullens who spoke about Ethics in the world of today there are both good and bad secular ethics. Dr. Ronald Michener spoke about three overarching moral paradigms in European history: pre-modernity, modernity and post modernity.
Together they have written the forthcoming book The Matrix of Christian Ethics (paternoster, 2010) The speakers are from the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Leuven.
There was a lively discussion on “Back to church Sunday”. Haarlem chaplaincy had taken the initiative of sending an invitation to every person who appears in the telephone book of Haarlem with an English name! It was a great success and several new people came to the church. Time will tell if they indeed become faithful parishioners!
Maryon
CHAMBER CHOIR THALETAS AND “A CEREMONY OF CAROLS”
Thaletas is a chamber choir from De Bilt with about 24 members, singing a capella and accompanied songs from the whole classical choir repertoire. The choir is named after a Cretan aulos-player, who was active in Sparta around 665 BC and who had an important influence on the musical theories of Pythagoras and his followers.
A Ceremony of Carols was composed by Benjamin Britten for a chamber choir accompanied by a harp. There are two versions, the original for a boys' choir and a later one for the usual SATB-choir. The accompaniment by a harp is rather unusual, but this is not Adeste fideles-type Christmas music around the hearth!
Britten composed this piece in 1942 on his voyage from the USA back to England. He travelled on a freighter and the voyage took thirty days because of the threat of German u-boats. During a stop at Halifax, Nova Scotia, he found a book with medieval poems which inspired him to write this work. Other influences include traditional English church- and Balinese gamelan-music, to which he was introduced in America. The music is very characteristic: When Britten wants you to feel the cold, the music is also icy, when he wants to enchant you, the music is enchanting. For many choristers this music is the piece for the annual Christmas concert.
The introduction is an old melody from the Christmas Vespers on a Latin text, the other texts are in middle-English. Many of the texts refer to the mysterious aspects of the Christmas story and the mediaeval perception of God and the world. The birth scenes refer to an icy English winter and not to the mild climate of Bethlehem. It is just as well that original sin exists as this reveals our need for Maria. The texts evoke a world that is no longer ours and the music is full of unusual harmonies and strange melodies.
THALETAS will perform the Ceremony of Carols in Holy Trinity Church on Saturday, 12 December at 8-00 pm. The admission fee will be €5.
ARCHDEACONRY RETREAT 2010
Venue: Bezinningscentrum Emmaus Helvoirt) 19-21 February 2010
Conductor The Reverend Father Kevin O’Brien, Chaplain to the Right Reverend Dr Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of the Diocese in Europe.
RETREAT SECRETARY Mrs Maryon P. Jägers email: maryon.jagers@planet.nl
Retreat forms will be sent to all Chaplains at the beginning of January 2010
PRAYER CHAIN
If you have any requests for the prayer chain, or if you feel called to take part in this ministry, please contact Anne Miechielsen
DINNER AT LAMBETH PALACE
This was an exciting visit, to be sure, as a sort of lady-in-waiting to Maryon who is a regular guest at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s annual Nikaean Club Dinner. The Nikaean Club, briefly, was founded in 1925 to exercise hospitality on behalf of The Archbishop of Canterbury. The club takes its name from the council of Nicea of 325. Its aim is to further relations with non Anglican Christian churches and to assist students from poorer countries wishing to study theology.
We arrived in London Gatwick on Wednesday 8th September and after an extensive walk and even a train ride to the terminal we hit the rush-hour for getting tickets for our onward journey. By train and tram we arrived in the early evening in Beckenham Kent where Maryon grew up, once a small village, now engulfed into greater London. There is still, however, plenty of beautiful country close by. The inn we were staying in that first night, was very cosy and the delicious carvery meal very welcome. It was fine and sunny the next day, and after a leisurely breakfast we took a bus to Kelsey Park. It is an extensive and beautifully kept park with a resident team of geese grass maintainers, and romantic water parts draped with weeping willow and with many varieties of water birds. We visited St. George’s church in the heart of the village where we were just in time to revive a wilting rose at the side of Maryon’s parent’s grave, in the peaceful churchyard, before catching the train to Victoria station.
Once on the streets of the big city we made our way first to the Diocesan office and were made very welcome by this intensely busy hub of the diocesan administration– and especially since those working there had been very much part of Maryon’s role with Synod for 25 years. Many introductions were made, too many to keep track of’ and I was aware of the very international nature of the life of the clergy. After tea, cookies and bonbons we eventually trotted across the road to St. Edward’s House, Great College Street, where we were to spend our second night. We were warmly welcomed by Father Peter, one of the two remaining monks of The Society of St. John the Evangelist, the oldest monastic community for men in the Anglican Church. It was founded by Fr. Richard Meux Benson in Cowley in Oxford in 1866, hence its name: “The Cowley Fathers”. Retreats and quiet days are the order of the monastery these days, and though simple, the accommodation was very comfortable and at GBP 40 per night and being situated beside Westminster Abbey and Parliament, thus walking distance of Lambeth Palace, had much to recommend it!
Preparation for the evening complete, we set off for Lambeth Palace and the pleasant walk over Westminster bridge affording an excellent view of the London Eye on that clear, sunny evening. The Palace is an imposing building, castle-like, with tower (Lollard’s Tower – used as a prison in the 17th century), impressive entrance of fine Tudor brick leading to the inner courtyard area. On one side it is dominated by a huge fig tree apparently planted by Cardinal Pole, possibly, in 1525. We swept up the staircase to the Guards Room where everyone gathered for drinks first of all and where one could imagine the many who had been
entertained there in the past by, for instance, Cardinal Wolsey and later the many royal members of the Tudors and Stuarts. There was a fairly even mix of black tie and cassocks to be seen and the ladies were also a smart mix of dress. I investigated a dark corridor hung with portraits hung and was approached by a small lady kindly enquiring if she could help me; she turned out to be the Archbishop’s wife! Roger Fry one of the our Diocese’s representatives on General Synod offered to take photos of Maryon and me by two of the imposing portraits of past Archbishops, Runcie and Cogan, which turned out well. Then dinner and we processed down grand stairways to the famous and historic Lambeth Palace Library where we received a table plan, 8 at each table, and one long High Table down one side where the Archbishop and his wife with the main guest of honour, the Rt. Revd. Dr. Wolfgang Huber, ex-chairman of the Evangelische Kirche in Germany, accompanied by his wife took central place.
It is a magnificent hall lined with huge tomes, partly covered to protect them for this occasion, lots of fine wood panelling and handsome leaded windows looking out over the courtyard. This is the official library of the Archbishop of Canterbury and principal holder of records for the history of the Church of England. Some of the books and manuscripts date back to the ninth century.
We all stood for the Latin grace and then on with the business of chatting with our table guests. Fortunately the lady on my right, who was a professor of theology at Cambridge, also worked with children’s groups at Sunday School. It was a lovely dinner prepared and served by outside caterers. Finally, after a short introduction by the Archbishop, the guest of honour gave quite a long speech which was well received – mostly to do with unification. The chairman, Dame Rosemary Spencer then rose to propose the Loyal toast. Dame Rosemary is the former British Ambassador to the Netherlands. There was much activity and lively chatting as people were leaving. Dr. Huber and his wife were being whisked off as they were departing for Korea the next day and just at that moment the Archbishop turned to greet Maryon and she was able to introduce me to him – that was an honour! He seemed much younger than I had imagined, warm and spontaneous.
Then down to the crypt which Maryon had wanted to show me – and the oldest part of Lambeth Palace with a small door dating back to the 10th c. It was completely restored a few years ago and opened by the Prince of Wales. In this low-vaulted chapel in the bowels of the Palace a candle burned continually during the time that Terry Waite was held captive in Bagdad - fascinating.
Back over the bridge we went, returning to the Monastery and slipping in quietly carefully keeping the silence and making ourselves a cup of tea before retiring after this very special evening. The Eucharist was at 07.30 the next morning followed by a very peaceful breakfast. The rest of the day we wandered around the Westminster area until it was time to head for Gatwick again.
Nicky
CTC CHILDRENS TRINITY CLUB CORNER
Hi there! As promised, and without further ado, we present the ‘profiles’ of our CTC leaders, an initiative of Danielle, the guiding force of our children’s’ groups. The idea initially was to do this in the form of an interview however, after very little prompting, Ingrid, Edwin, Jan, and of course, Danielle produced their own pieces – enjoy!
INGRID ROESTENBERG
I am South African, married to a Dutch guy named Edwin. I studied International Law and now I work at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. I am a legal assistant on a defence team (Simatovic Defence). I started attending Holy Trinity in 1997, but previous to this I was a Sunday School Teacher in South Africa. I wanted to continue teaching kids about God, because I love to share a piece of what I have learnt about Christ through my own trials and experiences in this life, and hopefully get some kids committed to loving and following God through their own journeys as they grow and develop.
EDWIN MULDER
I am the father of Nathalie and Tyrza. Tyrza is 10 years old and still following Sunday School (CTC). Besides my role within CTC I sing bass with the Holy Trinity Choir.
I come from the Catholic Apostolic Church and, from birth onwards, have been involved with Holy Trinity Church in Utrecht. I was baptized in the Anglican Church by Fr Beukes, confirmed and married in Holy Trinity church, Utrecht.
Because of the lack of teachers and because of the joy of working with children (they are open and honest) I was willing to participate with the Children’s Trinity Club. It’s a pity that we run short of time at nearly every session, but that’s a challenge as well!
I hope, with the strength of the Holy Spirit and the confidence of the Lord, that we can give these children the love of God and the hope that He will take care of us, till the day that He comes back in glory, so that we can live in His loving surrounding where there is no hatred or sickness but only his love.
JAN VAN DER KOOI
I was brought up in a schoolmaster’s family; my Dad was Headmaster of an Elementary School in Utrecht (Hervormde Gemeente School) and he was also a Sunday School teacher.
On various occasions I was involved in teaching – both adults and children - passing on knowledge of specific subjects; music, sports, and also languages. I had a lot to do with children, particularly as music teacher of various music groups throughout my life.
My specific professional job in international trade and tourism does not actually connect with Sunday School work, but my studies and experience acquired during travelling and staying abroad, have given me plenty of material from which to draw upon – in telling stories for instance.
I have been a member of the Anglican church since 1968 – both in England and in Milan (All Saints Church – for quite a few years).
I greatly enjoy working with children and intend gradually to increase my application to this interesting work!
DANIELLE LOS
(Fortunately our very modest CTC Team Leader was coaxed to say a few words about herself.)
Born in Utrecht and actually christened in the Dom Kerk – “how much more Utrechts can you be!” exclaims Danielle, who has been coming to Holy Trinity, Utrecht for about 20 years – since the beginning of her marriage to Adrian. They have 4 children; Megan (16), Raquel (14), Joost (12) and Arwen (5).
She worked as a teacher kleuter/basisschool until quite recently, but manages to find time now for working in her ‘volkstuin’ and for handcrafts such as knitting and sewing which is a favourite hobby of Danielle. She remembers being asked if she would like to help out with Sunday School when Megan was about 2. Then a few years later, when the then Sunday School leader left, Danielle took on the challenge and has been ‘carrying the torch’ ever since.
The most important message that Danielle tries to bring across to the children is the word of God and how they can “live” that in their lives; that they can get to know God – as she puts it. And for the younger children – the message that God loves them is the most important “thread” running through all their activities. Also getting along together in the group is an important part of CTC sessions. Danielle’s commitment to these aims is clearly her great strength and thankfully she now feels supported by a strong team.
She added one exciting “hot off the press” item of news: there will be a YOUTH GROUP – guided by Pam de Wit – beginning in January and intending to meet once a month.
A big “thank you” for your contributions CTC leaders amidst your busy lives!
A joyous Christmas to you all – and to all of CTC – children and team!
Nicky for CTC
A PRETTY GOOD MIRACLE
Many of us have wonderful childhood memories of Christmas. For some of us, it was the wonderful Midnight Communion of Christmas Eve, when we visited our candle-lit country church nestled among snowy fields, under a starlit sky.
Special memories of Christmas can move us to tears. Perhaps it is when certain carols are sung, or tables are laden for meals. Faces glowing by candlelight during ‘Silent Night’ is hard to beat. Christmas is indeed full of wonderful emotions, yet there is so much more to this special day. For the warm emotions are built on rock-solid truths that will stand for ever. For the events were historic, and the miracles really happened.
To the normal, logical, rational, 21st century mind it is all bizarre. An angel came to a girl who was not even married telling her she was going to have a baby. To cap it all, the “father” was not her boy-friend but the Holy Spirit. The girl – Mary – not only
bought the story but then told her cousin Elizabeth who was promptly filled with the Holy Spirit. She then told Mary she was unbelievably blessed. Mary then sang an amazing song that people have been singing ever since.
It gets still more crazy and complicated because Elizabeth’s husband had had an extraordinary meeting with an angel and been struck dumb ever since. It was only when the baby was born and he wrote down: “His name is John”, that he got his voice back. He started praising God.
The miracles heap up with the birth of Mary’s child. Shepherds in a field saw the sky full of angels who told them to go and see a baby in nearby Bethlehem. They believed it was God telling them to go. They came back praising God. Others went too, some of them poor, others very rich – but they all came away praising God and wanting to tell others.
These were supernatural stories of people meeting Jesus and believing in him. Their lives were radically changed. Amazingly, Jesus continues to do the same today. In John 1:12 we read that for those who did receive him and believe in him “he gave them the right to become God’s Children.”
Let’s all of us make this Christmas a chance to receive him and believe in him. That in itself is a pretty good miracle.
WHAT IS CHRISTMAS?
Cynthia sent in the following poem which puts the real meaning of the Christmas season into perspective. Thanks Cynthia!
What is Christmas?
Is it just a day at the end of the year?
A Gay Holiday filled with cheer?
A Season for presents - both taking and giving?
A Time to indulge in the pleasures of living?
Are we lost in a meaningless much muddled daze,
That covers our minds like a grey Autumn haze ?
Have we closed our hearts to God and His love?
And turned our eyes from The Bright Star Above?
Oh! Father in Heaven, renew and restore the real true meaning of Christmas once more.
So we can feel in our hearts again that "Peace on Earth Good Will to Men "
Is still a promise that man can claim,
If he but seeks it in Thy Name.
HOLY WHAT?
I knew I had been in the military too long when my five-year-old daughter sang her version of ‘Silent Night’. It went like this: "Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright, Round yon virgin mother and child, Holy infantry, tender and mild ..."
CHRISTMAS PARTY
As you may already have heard from your local area representative, we will be holding a party on Friday December 18 in the Parsonage, starting at 7 pm. There will be carol singing, mulled wine, finger food, mince pies, entertainment and a raffle! Why not come along and join in the pre-Christmas fun!
AND FOR OUR YOUNGER READERS ...
Plak de tekening op een stuk karton, knip het heel voorzichtig uit, kleur het mooi in en versier het met glitter of zo iets en dan kan je het in de kerstboom hangen!
Lees ook Mattheus 1:18-25 en Lukas 1:16-2:20
IT NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS
'Murphy's Law' states: what can go wrong, will go wrong and at the most inconvenient time. After last month I'm beginning to think that Murphy was really a bit of an optimist. It all started when Harry lifted the phone to make an outgoing call and discovered that it wasn't working. As I once, in the distant past, served an apprenticeship in telephone engineering I got landed with the problem. Within a few minutes I had established that the fault was outside our house and he then called the telephone company. The dear lady warned us that if the fault was inside our house we would have to pay for the repair. On my recommendation we confidently asked for the man to be sent out. He arrived and found that the man who cleaned the ditches round our way had pulled up the cable. While discovering this he gave the cable another tug and disconnected the Internet connection too. However he assured us that the cable repair guy would be along in a couple of days to fix it all up, at no charge to us. This was encouraging news, but we were left with only mobile phones and having to sit in the corridor between the front house and the back one to use our tenant's WiFi link to get onto the Internet.
About this point my body began to rebel against the anticoagulants the medical profession had been feeding me since last Christmas. This took the form of 'internal bleeding'. Now when you say that fast, it doesn't sound very messy, however the blood may be lost internally but it eventually works its way out and that is when the mess starts. Naturally I ended up in the hospital where they immediately asked for the telephone number to be called in case of an emergency. I did a quick calculation and reckoned that I'd probably not pop my clogs before the phone line was repaired, gave the house number and settled in to my temporary home.
I was on a floor with four rooms each containing four beds. All of the occupants of the beds had, like me, gastrointestinal problems. So between the sixteen of us we had exactly three toilets: one for invalids which was roomy and had its own shower, one for ladies which was adequate and one tiny one for men which, if you had a drip stand, was almost impossible to use. To add to the fun the last few rooms on the floor were given over to 'palliative care' and I always had the feeling that this was too close for comfort. However having now incarcerated me they wanted to 'go in and have a look'. But first I must be empty, so they began feeding me litre jugs of an interestingly powerful laxative. This they mixed with discreet attempts to find out if 'it was coming out clear yet?' Sadly I could only report that it had changed from bright red to pink. In any event they went in with an endoscope, starting about Maastricht and heading for Groningen, if you get my meaning. They found nothing nasty and just gave me two units of blood to make up for the loss. They kept feeding me the anticoagulants, and surprise, surprise, I kept on bleeding. So they went in again. This time the cowboy on the other end of the endoscope went wild with the compressed air that they use to 'inflate' their victim. Honestly the man is wasted in medicine, he should be working for McDonald's blowing up kiddies' balloons. This time I came back like the Michelin man and all that air had to come out. So if I thought that it was messy before, I
soon learned I was wrong. Why do all toilets have to be white? Red shows up beautifully against white and with my new pneumatic assistance the place was more red than white when I was finished. Naturally I had to try to clean everything up and I could just imagine the CSI forensic types coming along with their luminal and UV light to examine the blood splatter patterns. Eventually, after about two weeks I was able to convince them to put me on a less aggressive anticoagulant and I got sent home.
Of course by now I had missed Synod and, as I had intended to pick up some new jam jars, we took a trip down to Antwerp. To be honest, this was a bit of a mistake on my part as I wasn't really fit for the trip. So when we got back I just wanted to go to bed. Alas we discovered that we now had very little electricity. Our house was once a farm and as such has a 'heavy duty' three phase supply. This is like three almost separate supplies. I went to check the fuses and found many blown but, even after they were replaced, only one of the three phases worked. Harry called the electricity company, who like the telephone company, warned us that if the fault was in our house we would have to pay, then they sent out the man. He tested our cable head and announced that the fault was outside and then disappeared. He came back later telling us that he had replaced two fuses and everything should now be working. Well, not quite, we now had two phases but the third was still AWOL. He did a bit of jury rigging and left us with most things working and the promise that they would be back in the morning.
Next day dawned to find our yard filled with electricity company vans, with diggers on trailers parked outside and a distinct dearth of electricity. About noon I wandered out to get a progress report and was told that the cable running under the river was faulty and we would be put on a diesel generator until a new cable could be fitted. Great, we had electricity again, true a lot of equipment was faulty thanks to the power out, but we had heat and light. Now the mains electricity in Europe is fifty cycle, that means it reverses direction twice every cycle or one hundred times a second. All the generators on the entire electric grid work at EXACTLY fifty cycles. However little diesel generators tend to work at approximately fifty cycles, in our case about fifty one and a half. All clocks that run on the mains keep time by counting the cycles, and if there is an error it soon adds up. So half the clocks in the house started gaining like crazy while our one clockwork driven chiming clock decided that now would be the perfect time to stop. To add to the fun the local clock repairer had just broken his wrist and couldn't fix it for a couple of months. After a few days we noticed that the more subtle electric clocks were also gaining time, like the ones on the VCR and the central heating. That, plus the noise of a diesel generator running night and day just outside our bedroom completes the picture of bliss. Eventually the Gemeente came up with the permission to drill under the river, a new cable was fitted, we rejoined the national grid and the clocks went back to telling the real time.
However, last night I couldn't get to sleep and I realised it was because I was missing the reassuring throb of the diesel generator.
Jamie
Services at Holy Trinity Church, Utrecht
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