Author: Jo Dawes

Today is the 90th birthday of Her Majesty The Queen.

Heavenly Father,
as we celebrate the ninetieth birthday of Her Majesty the Queen,
receive our heartfelt thanks
for all that you have given her in these ninety years
and for all that she has given to her people.
Continue, we pray, your loving purposes in her,
and as you gather us together in celebration,
unite us also in love and service to one another;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(A collect approved by Her Majesty for use in services celebrating her 90th birthday this year.)

The stories of Moses in the Bulrushes and the Prodigal Son were the starting points for Rupert Hoare’s sermon on Mothering Sunday, 6 March, a sermon considering parental love, compassion and the anguish of refugees. You can read the sermon online here.

Alleluia. Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

The spring flea market at St Thomas Becket is fast becoming a tradition as a counterpart to our winter bazaar. This year it will be on 30 April from 10 am to 4 pm, offering bric-a-brac, clothes, jewellery, sports items, second-hand English books, DVDs, videos, CDs and records, refreshments and more. It’s an event not to be missed. Download the flier (178 kB).

BRIDFAS raised €2000 for the church at the Dickens lecture on 17 March. What a tremendous result! A big thank you to the BRIDFAS team for all the work that went into the event and for their generosity.

BRIDFAS chairperson Pat Pledger says,”I was delighted with both the lecture and the turnout. We still have a large picture that was donated to us, so we are planning to auction it at one of our lectures”. The proceeds from the auction will also go to the church fund.

The Anglican Church of St Thomas Becket will hold its Annual General Meeting on 24 April after the 10.30 service. This is where we review reports for the year and elect the Church Wardens and Church Council members for the coming year. All those on the electoral roll are eligible to vote. If you’re not on the electoral roll and wish to be, please contact Norbert Schoen. If you wish to stand for elections, please approach one of the wardens or the CC secretary, Peter Alexander.

Tickets are selling fast for the fundraising lecture in church on “Dickens – the man and his life through his characters” on Thursday 17 March. BRIDFAS is hosting this event with lecturer Bertie Pearce, supported by well-known British actor in Hamburg, Mark Lyndon, in aid of the church. Tickets are still available in church or as detailed in this PDF invitation. Do come and bring your friends!

In this year’s Passiontide concert on Saturday 12 March 2016 at 6pm the “Englische Kirche” in Hamburg presents hymns from the “West Gallery Music” repertoire: Music from the 18th century sung and played in English parish churches. The organ wasn’t very common in that time and melody instruments helped the village choir to keep the pitch. The Anglican Choir together with singers from the Sacred Harp singing group invite you to the reading of Jesus’s suffering and death interspersed with hymns and psalms of the Georgian era. For further details see Calendar or our Facebook page.

The Wanderers’ March walk will be in and around the charming town of Glückstadt. We aim to walk through the historical old town, admire the Stadtkirche and the harbour and walk along the dike. On our return to the town centre, we’ll take a break for coffee and a snack before going back to the station to return to Hamburg in good time for those who plan to attend the Passion of Christ – 11 Lessons and West Gallery Hymns – at 6:00 p.m. at STB.

We meet at 8:45 in front of the Reise Centrum at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof to get our Schleswig-Holstein small group tickets together before catching the RB61 train to Itzehoe at 9:06.  We should reach Glückstadt at 9:50. Please let Nicki know by 10 p.m. on Friday 11 March if you plan to come: 04104 695537 or 0176 30 393 063.

We welcome Bishop Rupert Hoare as our new locum chaplain. Meanwhile Revd Tania Witter, who had been with us since January, has now returned to the UK. You can read her final sermon here. We are grateful to all our locum chaplains for looking after us so well while we seek to appoint a new permanent chaplain.