CHAPLAIN'S LETTER
Sometimes dreams come true in amazing and unexpected ways. Ever since I came to the Netherlands seven years ago, and certainly since I became archdeacon here, I have been aware of what I call “the gaps on the map”. The places in the Netherlands where there is little or no Anglican presence. There were two main gaps on the map that I could see – the deep south round Maastricht, and the far north around Groningen.
Chaplaincies are expensive things to run, so with only a handful of people to support them, the chances of a new Chaplaincy in either the deep south or the far north were really quite slim. But I think the Lord had other ideas, which no-one could have envisaged. A couple of years ago a young couple from Canada moved to Maastricht to work. The husband worked in computers and education and his wife just happened to be an Anglican priest. Since then Jenni Pridmore has been faithfully building up a small, but vibrant and young congregation in a rented space in the centre of Maastricht which will soon, we hope, become a formal congregation within our Diocese. There is one dream beginning to come true.
But what about the other gap on the map - the far north?
Well a few months ago the Revd. Sam van Leer our Chaplain in the East Netherlands announced that he would be stepping down as Chaplain there so that he could accompany his wife to her new job as a hospital consultant in Groningen. So while Corretta earns the salary, Sam will look after the children and re-start his doctoral studies and see whether he can start Anglican services in the far north.
So on the 23rd October at our main morning service it will give me enormous pleasure on behalf of the Bishop, to commission Sam as an Honorary Associate Chaplain of Holy Trinity Utrecht with special responsibility for Groningen and Friesland, so that he can start his new missionary ministry in the far north, and incidentally take over some of our responsibilities for Scheemda. I suppose I have lived with these developments for so long now that one starts to take them for granted, but they are actually dreams come true and wonderful examples of how God provides when we don’t think we can. You may have other stories of God’s wonderful provision. If you have, why not send them in to the Newsletter so that we can share and encourage each other?
John de Wit
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
e-WASTE OR WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT continued
More study on e-Waste showed that there is not only the WEEE Directive but also the RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive that must be complied with by producers, importers, distributors and waste disposal firms. Trying to find information in English, I often consult UK websites, but there may be slight differences in which these directives are implemented in legislation in the various EU-countries. This is what I found in the UK NetRegs (a UK government agency) Guidance on Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) disposal for businesses.
Equipment covered by the WEEE Regulations
Businesses must comply with the WEEE Regulations if they manufacture, import, rebrand, distribute or dispose of EEE, such as household appliances, IT equipment, lighting equipment and power tools. They fall into the following categories:
- large household appliances, eg. fridges, radiators and air conditioning appliances;
- small household appliances, eg. sewing machines, toasters and clocks;
- IT and telecom equipment, eg. computers and their accessories, calculators and phones;
- consumer equipment, eg .TVs, radios and musical instruments
- lighting equipment, eg. fluorescent lamps and non-household luminaires;
- electrical and electronic tools, eg. drills, welding equipment and lawnmowers;
- toys, leisure and sports equipment, eg. electric train sets, video games and slot machines;
- medical devices, eg. dialysis machines, ventilators and radiotherapy equipment;
- monitoring and control instruments, eg. smoke detectors, thermostats and other instruments used in industrial installations;
- automatic dispensers, eg. drinks, food and money dispensers;
- display equipment;
- cooling appliances containing refrigerants;
- gas discharge lamps;
WEEE includes equipment that has a wind-up or solar mechanism, or that runs on batteries. However, on their own, solar panels, solar panel systems and batteries are currently not covered by the WEEE Regulations.
Obligations of electrical and electronic equipment producers
A manufacturer or importer of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) must:
- join an approved producer compliance scheme;
- pay for the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of your market share of household waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE);
- label all new electrical and electronic products with a crossed-out wheeled bin symbol and producer identification mark;
- make available information to WEEE treatment and reprocessing facilities about new products put on the UK market to help with effective treatment, reuse and recycling;
- give your producer registration number to distributors you supply equipment to;
- keep records for at least four years, including the amounts of EEE placed on the UK market, and sales to end users in other European Union member states;
Henny (for Green Awareness).
WIKI LEAKS FOR CHOIRS: MEMORABLE WALKS (VIII)
Don’t get your hopes up if you are an enthusiastic rambler. I spent many weekends up in the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales when I was a young student gaining work experience and joining the local rambler association on their excursions.
I know you don’t normally associate choristers with walking long distances. I bet you haven’t seen choristers in their frocks running the London marathon. No, you think that they only walk quite dignified up the aisle in church, holding a candle or more likely their musical scores.
Here is one for the memoirs: the day I sang for her Majesty the Queen in a typical Dutch fashion. It was the day my fellow choristers and myself from Utrecht followed the train of regimental bands and horsemen behind the carriages of her Majesty the Queen and her Royal Family during the opening of Parliament in The Hague back in 2003 – by far the longest procession in which I have ever taken place.
Two coach loads of choristers from Utrecht had been delivered in front of the County Hall of Zuid-Holland. The organizers of the choral festival Europe Cantat had the luminous idea to promote their festival which would take place in Utrecht next year. All they asked local volunteers to do was to dress in red and white proudly flying the colours for our home county. Now red and white is usually not found in men’s wardrobes, so that many men turned up dressed very casually: in red and white tracksuits, looking very much like athletes representing the English nation during the grand opening of the world athletic games. The music turned out to be less of a hurdle. During the coach trip we rehearsed the well known song from the Sound of Music, Edelweiss. The organizer’s great stroke of genius was to insert “Utrecht” into the lyrics of the song, dodging copyright issues. The conductor, a young upstart, wanted to do a quick rehearsal but the altos did not quite agree. They weren’t a happy Von Trapp family. Some altos surged forward to say that they could not hear the basses: could they not move up closer to the basses? “Of course. By all means,” the conductor said. He would live to regret it. Upon his signal the altos surged forward and told any male singer to identify himself as either a tenor or a bass and requested him to leave his seat. The fact that some basses managed to answer that question in a high pitched voice added greatly to the confusion.
Once inside the County Hall of Zuid-Holland we were invited to lunch, perhaps fearing that we could not get through the day on an empty stomach. During procession we were cheered by hundreds or perhaps thousands of people. Just when the Royal carriage turned the corner to the Houses of Parliament the assembled choristers sang their song in front of the press. It was all over within seconds, a well orchestrated publicity stunt that got us applause from the crowds. Never in the field of choral history was so little owed by so few to so many. The only thing left for us to do was to line the royal route to both Houses and stand at ease, while her Majesty addressed Parliament and the nation. Without proper instructions how to deal with security issues, we merely witnessed a scene which seemed harmless enough: a group of school boys who taunted a young policeman by taking off his cap. He was infuriated with them for the lack of respect. His superior officer quickly defused the situation by whisking him away. Cheers greeted the Queen as the Royal carriage passed by at almost an arm’s length. Never a staunch Royalist, I nevertheless stood to attention as her Majesty looked at the choristers as if she was inspecting the Guards.
Another one for the memoirs is the procession along Amsterdam’s high street, the Kalverstraat, and its neighboring alleyways. I joined one coach load of pilgrims from Soest to Amsterdam with my good friend Jan Wever. The procession marks the annual event to commemorate the “miracle” that occurred back on March the 15th in the year 1345. The Holy sacrament administered to a dying man did not perish in the flames as the custom was to burn the host once it was vomited out. Its legacy is that Amsterdam still is a somewhat unlikely place of pilgrimage today. I only burst into song during a communion service held in a church opposite the location where the “miracle” supposedly occurred. Because there was no choir, pilgrims took their seats in the choir pews and sang mostly from the heart. Following the service, the procession moved silently along the High Street watched on by crowds of party going Brits wondering what on earth we were doing there in that time of night. No fists were raised at us. No shouts of abuse were hurled at us. Tension only rose as the pilgrims moved into the Warmoesstraat with its sex shops, nightclubs and one or two opium dens, where some of the pilgrims turned into small groups of onlookers. I don’t wish to sound too dramatic, but I felt that this train of humble people aroused the same curiosity from spectators as the grand opening of the Parliamentary year.
And finally a scene worth remembering was shortly before the beginning of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols last year. The choristers of Holy Trinity tried to light their candles shivering out in the cold upon entering through the lych-gate. What followed was almost a scene from the Hollywood Christmas movie “Home Alone” as suddenly a car pulling a row of snow sledges sped along with one kid yelling “heh, you monks” at us.
Arnold.
STUDENT MINISTRY DURING INTRODUCTION TIME
This year for the first time, Holy Trinity was present during the introduction time for new students, commonly known as the ‘UIT-week’. As part of IPSU we were to do our part in welcoming students into the city. These days provided a chance to present ourselves as student chaplaincy and churches.
Thankfully the weather was quite nice this week, when we opened the Janskerk and made a nice ‘lounge’ with sofa’s from Emmaus, a second-hand shop.
We were there on Tuesday and Thursday but unfortunately not many students showed up. We had a nice time together though and the many cakes you baked all went somewhere! I’m very thankful for Harry being there and helping out, and what he thought of it can be found elsewhere in this newsletter.
On Wednesday there was an information market on the ‘Uithof’, the big campus of the University and Hogeschool. We had a stand there, which was quite popular. That partly had to do with the ‘tosti’s’ we baked (a toasted ham and cheese sandwich) and the scones we served (thank you, unnamed baker!). One of my colleagues, Christiane (the Lutheran minister) had thought of another activity which got much attention. A large poster announced that students could ‘send their wish to heaven’. In order to achieve this we had balloons and filled them with helium. You then wrote your wish on a small card and attached it to the balloon. All that remained was letting it go towards heaven! For some students this really was a moment of reflection. What do I wish for and why? It also led to some good (and some funny!) conversations.
In September lot’s of (International) Students have come to Utrecht and started their studies here. Please pray for them and for the work of IPSU among them.
With many thanks and blessings! Annelies, Student Pastor
ACTIVITIES FOR (INTERNATIONAL) STUDENTS IN UTRECHT
Christianity in the Netherlands
There is a saying: when you have two Dutchmen, you have a church, when you have three Dutchmen you have a division in the church.
Christianity in the Netherlands has many faces. You probably already noticed the many churches in Utrecht, which seem to belong to almost as many denominations. Christianity in the Netherlands is predominantly reformed and heavily influenced by the Reformation. But other strands of Christendom have their places as well. Do you want to find out more? Come to this informative evening for an introduction to the Dutch culture from a different angle.
When? Wednesday 12 October, 7.30pm (19.30 hr).
Where? ‘Tuinzaal’ (Garden Hall) at Grave van Solmsstraat 4 (office of the Student Chaplaincy).
For whom? All English-speaking students and graduates.
Church hopping
Church hopping might not be the wisest practice. Nonetheless, it is something that we do to find a church which suits us when we move to a new city. And it is much more fun to do it together! IPSU would like to start a group of ‘church hoppers’: students who would like to go and explore churches in Utrecht. We will attend services at several English-speaking churches, such as Crossroads International Church, Holy Trinity Anglican Church and International Christian Fellowship. Afterwards we can talk about our experiences over some lunch or a drink in a pub.
When? Sundays in the autumn of 2011 (starting in October)
Where? Several English-speaking churches in Utrecht.
For whom? All English-speaking students and graduates.
CTC CHILDRENS TRINITY CLUB CORNER
Hi there! Here we are in that most Autumnal of months, October, when leaves are falling faster and faster and the landscape changes into a panaoply of copper, russet and red and CTC and the Teenage Group are well into the swing of things.
CTC began already in August and the first Youth Group session begins the 3rd Sunday of September. The crèche is underway with parents taking it in turns to care for the littlest ones during the service and join the main congregation together with CTC and the Teenage Group in time for The Peace; well it usually works out that way. It is always a joyful moment when the children and leaders troop into church often waving pieces of artwork they’ve managed to do in that short time, after the main Bible theme has been worked on together; and it’s a valuable moment – that being reunited in church. The warmth and reaching-out that the people around them are radiating at that moment must be one of the most important signs of God’s grace resting upon us. These seemingly hidden signals are sending a deeper message to the children amongst us.
Kristen Postma, introduced for the first time in last month’s Newsletter, has now begun as CTC leader and says this of herself:
My name is Kristen Postma and I am happy to start assisting with CTC. I am an American married to a Dutch man, Martiijn, and have been living in Holland for 18 years. Over the years we have been very thankful for the role Holy Trinity has played in our lives and that of our children’s. When I heard they could use assistance leading the Childrens Trinity Club I thought it would be an obvious way I could “give back”.
As a former teacher, and mother of 5, I felt like I would be capable of the task!
CTC’s new Team Leader, Gonny, reports that the Childrens groups will be following the story of Nehemiah (with ‘Zeg Het Maar’)from the point that he was sent to Jerusalem, including the rebuilding of the city up to the Dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. In this piece from earlier teaching material Nehemiah’s challenge and how he responds to it is brought into meaningful context:
‘Nehemiah was a man in a particularly priviledged position at the court of the King (Nehemiah 1:11) When fellow Jews report the state of Jerusalem (1:2,3) Nehemiah’s reaction was to respond – for however comfortable circumstances were for the Jews at that time, Jerusalem remained their true home, the focal point for Jewish hopes (Psalm 137:4-6) “Following his prayer, which is also a petition that God will use him in answering the prayer, Nehemiah goes about his regular duties but making the most of an opportunity to act – coupled with further prayer. His request was a risky affair since ancient kings could rule by whim and refusal of his request could have meant not only an abandonment of his hopes but execution. Compassion was not enough; prayer and fasting were not enough, Nehemiah went further and made himself fully available to God’; and how he did that will be followed on the foot by CTC throughout the remaining weeks of September.
CTC will be held every Sunday (in the Parsonage coffee room) except the first Sunday of the month which is All Age Worship – all together in church!
This was all for this month with only a request that we pray for CTC – for the children and the leaders – for a blessed and growing-in-faith time together.
Nicky for CTC
FROM YOUR EDITOR
Having introduced myself last month I thought I would share with you this month a little about my interests. I am a member of the Mothers Union, this is a world-wide society whose aim is the advancement of the Christian religion in the sphere of marriage and family life. It has five objects:
To uphold Christs teaching on the nature of marriage and to promote its wider understanding.
To encourage parents to bring up their children in the faith and life of the Church.
To maintain a world-wide fellowship of Christians, united in prayer, worship and service.
To promote conditions in society favourable to stable family life and the protection of children.
To help those whose family life has met with adversity.
I am what the Union call a Lone-member here in Utrecht as there are no other members with whom I can meet and share regularly, but that does not stop me supporting the Union in what ever way I can through the computer and regular periodicals I receive from the Mothers Union Central Office in London.
The Mothers Union is now world-wide and there are members in more than 20 countries all working together to improve family life
One subject that is being worked on at the moment by members of the Mothers Union is The commercialisation and premature sexualisation. of childhood. Many parents feel their children are under pressure to become consumers and that the world they live in is a more sexualized place than when their parents were growing up. The Mothers Union have come up with several recommendations to suggest to the government to help to control this increasing problem. These recommendations have been published in The Bailey Review available to all MPs. And anyone interested in following this subject can read further on the website www.byebuychildhood.org.
That is all for this month, I can share more about the Mothers Union in a later edition.
Judy Miller.
LET THEM EAT CAKE
It’s a long time ago that I was a fresher – in Liverpool University, first year students, freshmen elsewhere, were called ‘freshers’, no doubt an early attempt at inclusive language although I don’t suppose for a moment it was a conscious attempt to avoid insulting the ladies, unlike my time in Amsterdam University many, many years later when we not even allowed to talk about ‘manning’ a project. In any case, it’s a long time since I was a fresher and experienced the excitement of my first days at university. As I remember, there was a positively carnival atmosphere with stalls set up all around the Guild (Liverpool had to be different and the union building was therefore ‘The Guild’). The place was heaving with young, impressionable students, fresh from high school and looking either utterly bewildered or putting on an air of sophisticated complacency, which I suspect was intended to mask bewilderment! I belonged quite definitely to the former group. I don’t know if you have ever been to the food court in an American mall. If so, you will remember how every food outlet actively, even aggressively tries to tempt you with samples of their wares; well the stalls in the Guild were a bit like that. I succumbed to the Dramatic Society (I don’t think I ever attended a single meeting), to the Gilbert and Sullivan Society (much the same) and to the Anglican Society.
The Ang Soc was very different from the others and the chaplaincy provided a haven of peace in the middle of the hurly burly of student life. I was not the only capture that day, nor indeed the only medic who fell prey to the temptations of Anglican chaplaincy life. It was all great fun and the chaplaincy became a lifeline during my time at university.
So, when Annelies asked for volunteers to man the pumps during the Utrecht equivalent of freshers’ week, I was happy to put my name on the list. She also asked for cakes (bait to lure the poor lambs into the fold). Now my skills as a baker are very varied. My earliest attempts were making pastry with Auntie Flo (she was no relation, but a good friend and neighbour of my parents and in those days, we children were encouraged to absorb such people into the family, hence ‘Auntie’). She taught me how to mix the dough with my hands and get it to the right consistency. It might have been an even better idea to get me to scrub my hands first, rather than just rinse then, because poor old Uncle Bert (Flo’s husband) was faced with a very grey piece of pastry, probably as hard as rock, but which he ate with well-faked relish.
Once I found myself running a household in Amsterdam, I decided to branch out from the grey pastry period and try something a bit more adventurous. A fruit cake seemed like a good start, although it might have helped if I had examined the manual for my little grill-oven before attempting this. The cake looked lovely on top, almost overdone, but when I tipped it out of the baking tin I realised I had grilled it! I had forgotten to put on the bottom element in the oven and everything.
under the crust was raw. Then there is the tale of the lemon meringue pie, a true culinary disaster and for the telling of which the world is not yet ready!
But, (there, I started a paragraph with a preposition and would have been soundly thrashed by my English master at High School), by the time Annelies got round to asking for cakes, I had a few recipes pretty well sorted. The Sunday before the introduction week, the table in the Parsonage kitchen was positively heaving will all kinds of delicious masterpieces and I was very much looking forward to enticing new students into the flock. So off I went to Utrecht and headed for the Jan’s church.
There were three of us lounging around on furniture borrowed from a second hand shop, and available for purchase by any student wanting to set up in a new place. The coffee was hot and the cakes were plentiful. If only the same could have been said of the students! Apparently, they were all doing workshops that day, so very few of them actually made it into town. Even the sports club across the road was making heavy weather of it, and they had a bar, games and a disco! After a while, one or two lost souls appeared and seemed more attracted to beer and games than to coffee and cake, but we smiled, welcomingly. After a while, I began to see it all as a sort of allegory: the spiritual and the temporal on either side of the great divide (the busy street between us) across which they dared not venture. Still, we had a great time discussing this, that and nothing at all, drinking lots of coffee and positively swooning at the quality of the cake!
The next day was apparently much busier, but that was not held in town. Annelies and the other student pastors were very busy introducing themselves to the students and making excellent use of the ‘bait’ provided by HTC.
My next session was back at the Jan’s church the following day. This time we had poor weather to contend with. The sport’s club with its bar and disco was conspicuous by its absence which meant that it was all much quieter. Despite these possible setbacks there were more people about, although not all of them were students. We welcomed several groups of people and grateful use was made of the cakes. One or two groups of ‘mentors’ arrived, looking utterly worn out after several days of shepherding new students around the city and the university. They flopped down on the sofas and chairs (still unsold) and seemed to look on us as a haven in the middle of their chaos. Hopefully they passed this message on to the students in their care. They were at least interested in what the student pastorate had to offer.
I must confess that I was beginning to feel very old by the end of the day. Not that I was exhausted or anything like that. It’s just that as a retired old codger, beyond the end of his career, I found myself surrounded by bright, hopeful young folk, just starting theirs. To be honest, I’ve always been a bit too conservative for my age. While I was at high school, I worked part time in a tailor’s shop. One of the regular sales staff ran a rock group in his spare time. One Saturday he looked at me in my pin-striped suit and grey waistcoat and said, ‘do you know Harry, you’re so without it, you’re actually really with it!’ I felt really chuffed!
Harry
Services at Holy Trinity Church, Utrecht
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