Author: Jo Dawes

The General Synod of the Church of England has voted to pave the way for the legislative process to enable women to become bishops to be completed this year. The legislation now goes to the dioceses for approval. An audio interview about the latest approval of legislation with the Bishop of Rochester, James Langstaff, who chairs the steering committee on the issue, is available here.

The 50th Ecumenical St Ansgar Vespers take place on Monday, 3 February at 7pm in the Hauptkirche St. Petri. Organised by the ACKH (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christlicher Kirchen Hamburg), of which STB is a member, the service honours Ansgar, the first Bishop of Hamburg, and gives thanks for the bringing of the Gospel to this city. Further details on the ACKH website.

The Church Wanderers will be going once round the Außenalster on Saturday, 8 February, a short walk (7km) so as to be back in time for the Altobasso concert in the evening. Meet at Dammtor station by the exit facing the bus stops at 11 am and bring a packed lunch, though a visit to Bobby Reich for a bowl of soup may be tempting as well.

Please let Cicely know by midday on Friday, 7 February if you are planning to come: cicely-hollingsworth (at) t-online.de, tel: 040/86 07 90, mobile:0172 635 93 98.

BRIDFAS (The British Decorative and Fine Arts Society of Hamburg e.V.) welcomes guests to a lecture by Jon Cannon on English medieval cathedrals on Thursday, 20 February.

Entitled “A Thousand Years of History: Medieval Cathedrals”, the lecture uses the English cathedrals as “time machines” to the medieval period, tracing their story from the revolutionary birth of English Christianity in about 600AD, through the great rebuilding that followed the Conquest of 1066, to the decades around a century later when gothic was invented in an atmosphere of febrile change and political tension. See full details on the BRIDFAS website.

Venue is the DESY Hörsaal (Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg). Doors open at 7.30pm and the lecture begins at 8pm. Guests pay an entrance fee of €12 (students €5).

BRIDFAS is planning to start a Church Record for our church. This will be a joint project with volunteers from within the church community and members of BRIDFAS. If you're interested in getting involved, you can find out more by clicking on the logo on the right of the page or following this link.

With barely six months to go till the Commonwealth Games open in Glasgow, Pause for Thought focuses on running to win. Click on “Pause for Thought” on the left of the page or follow this link.

Traditionally the poetry of the 'Song of Songs' has been interpreted as expressions of the relationship between Israel and God or the soul and God. But why not discover it again as erotic poems similar to the Arcadian poetry of the Greco-Roman world? Ensemble Altobasso (Ralf Grobe – Bass, Elisabeth Schwanda – Recorder, Katrin Krauß – Recorder, Barbara Hofmann – Viol and Isolde Kittel-Zerer – Harpsichord) will be doing just that on Saturday, 8th February 2014 at 7pm in the church, performing music by Monteverdi, Buxtehude, Bach and others, including the premiere of a composition by Hans-Dieter Renken. Admission costs €18 (concessions €15).

Issue 57 of Becket News is out now. Click on the link to catch up with the latest news, reports and previews.

Becket News needs roving reporters
Your Becket News editor does a fantastic job of putting together each edition, finding photos and laying out the text. However, an editor's job is to edit, not write all the original material! There are many exciting things going on at STB of interest to BN readers, many of whom are not resident in Hamburg or can’t come to church as much as they would like. But readers can only find out what is going on if someone writes about it. This is an appeal to anyone who is responsible for an activity or feels they have something interesting to say to provide short articles for BN. A good tip is to do this immediately the event has taken place and not wait until the copy deadline – it really does help to reduce the workload of the editor and make the job more fun if he doesn’t have to keep chasing people at the last minute.

And while we're on the subject, your webmaster also would like to issue a plea to remember to send announcements of events for her to include on the website. The ideal is a short text with essential details and, if required, further information provided either as a PDF or link. Many people coming to STB for the first time say they are encouraged to do so by the ‘up-to-date’ website: the website is often the very first contact someone has with our church community, and it includes the latest edition of BN. But like the editor of BN, the webmaster’s role is to disseminate information, not to be the producer of it all.

The Church Wanderers' first walk of 2014 combined with a New Year's lunch at the Gasthof 'zum Falkenstein' will be on Saturday, 11 January.

Meeting point is Othmarschen station – exit Statthalter Platz – to catch the 286 bus to Blankenese departing at 10.52. If coming from town, you need to catch the S1 arr. Othmarschen at 10.47 (dep. Hbf 10.29, Stadthausbrücke 10.33 and Altona 10.41) and get off at the back of the train.

The exact route for the walk before lunch will be decided on the day. Those wanting to walk off their lunch afterwards can head through the woods to Blankenese, Sülldorf or Rissen. Others can catch the 286 back to Blankenese. Please note that there will be a replacement bus service between Blankenese and Othmarschen due to engineering works on the S1.

Please e-mail Cicely by Thursday, 9 January if you plan to come: cicely-hollingsworth (at) t-online.de.

A reminder that today (2 January) is the deadline for contributions to the next edition of Becket News. Please send to becketnews (at) aol.com.

Christians speak out and act on poverty and social justice because they have received the love of God and want to share it with others, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in his first annual New Year Message.