Author: Jo Dawes

Thank you everyone, who worked so hard for our Ghana Event and Harvest Festival on 2nd-3rd October.

The Church was decorated with Ghanan banners and cloths, African animals and birds, hens and village utensils. We enjoyed the singing and dancing in church to different rhythms and different beats.
It was good to welcome visitors from other congrgations and to make contact with people who came in, not knowing quite what to expect. But everyone seemed to enjoy being caught up into the vitality and exuberance of the weekend.

It was a suitable cllimax to our Creation Month. We thanked God for the wonders of the world and tried to affirm our determination to respect this planet and its peoples.
Give us, Lord, the energy, time and means to do what you want us to do!

The Autumn 2010 Edition of Becket News is ready for printing, but can already be downloaded here. The download version is much more colourful in any case!

It includes reviews of the summer activities including the Church Outing, as well as details of events in the run up to Christmas and announcement of a very special birthday!

We hope that it is of interest to readers near and far!

Gute Lektüre

Aside from supporting our own mission charities – don't miss the Ghana Event 2nd October 15:00-18:00 – you can beforehand purchase secondhand clothes from 9.00 – 13.00 hrs same day in the Church Mariä- Himmelfahrt, Hamburg-Rahlstedt, Oldenfelder Str. 23 (train station Hamburg Rahlstedt). Good quality secondhand clothes for ladies and gents at give away prices from 1 Euro!

Please follow the signs. All the money earned will go to a Mission project of Pater Hillen in South-Africa.

Monday 20th Sept. 18:00 – Archdeacon Jonathan LLoyd meets the Church Council.

Sunday 26th Sept. – Parish Eucharist with Baptism (3 children).
Deadline for Becket News!

Harvest Festival Weekend 2nd-3rd October:

• Ghana Event 2nd October 15:00-18:00 in aid of mission projects.
  

• Harvest Festival Eucharist 3rd October 10:30 Harvest Gifts based on Bring and Buy.

Sunday 10th October 10:30 Eucharist with Baptism of two Confirmation Candidates.

Sunday 17th October 10:30 Bishop Geoffrey comes to Confirm our Candidates.

Early notification for the October walk to take place 9th October and will be an outing to Timmendorfer Strand. Not to be missed! Details under Wanderers.

Pope Benedict's state visit to the UK 16-19 Sept. seems to have gone rather well and certainly better than many critics may have wished. Much of the focus of what he had to say was on the role of faith in secular society – the bottom line being 'marginalise it at your peril'!

On Friday 17 Sept. the Pope joined the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for a ecumenical Evening Prayer service and they prayed together at the Shrine of St Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey. (St Edward is a Saint in both churches, martyred before the reformation). The text of the Archbishop's address can be found here. The Archbishop then gave an interview with Vatican Radio about relations with the Roman Catholic Church which can be read and heard here.

The highlight of the visit was the Beatification of Cardinal John Newman. In his homily the Pope made reference that today is also the date chosen to commerate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and paid tribute to those who sacrificed their lives “to rid the world of an evil ideology.” His homily and the other speeches from the visit can be read on the official Papal Visit Website.

The Bishop in Europe, Geoffrey Rowell, is something of an expert on John Newman and participated in the Radio 4 Sunday Programme which discussed the visit. The broadcast can be heard on the BBC iPlayer until 26th September.

Bishop David gives some reflections on the ecumenical aspects of the visit in his Eurobishop blog entries for 17th and 19th September.

Oops… Your webmaster almost missed this note because this year St Thomas Becket Church is having a year off.

But otherwise 140 or so churches will be open between 19-24 hours. A wide range of activities is on offer. Full programme is available on the Nacht der Kirchen website.

The deadline for articles for the autumn edition of Becket News is approaching fast. This deadline is a strict one, so please help the editor by sending contributions asap and not later than 26 September.
Becket News has via the website, a worldwide readership. Many people who have had contact with the church in Hamburg appreciate the opportunity BN gives to keep in touch – and we welcome articles from near and far.

Please email to becketnews(at)aol.com. Many thanks!

St Thomas Becket Church is part of the Diocese in Europe, which actually takes a fairly extensive view of where Europe begins and ends! Four times a year the Diocese Communications team puts together a colourful and informative magazine 'The European Anglican' (TEA) to provide interesting perspectives from all corners of the Diocese. The Autumn Edition of TEA is available here, or as a hardcopy in church.

For almost daily updates on what is going on, do visit Bishop David's Eurobishop blog.

A reminder to those coming to church during September that we are collecting things for a Harvest Festival Bring and Buy sale. During September you can bring non-perishable goods and leave them in church marked with the price you paid. These will then be sold after the Harvest Eucharist 3 October.

On the day before, 2 October, there will be a special Ghana Event.

The proceeds from both events will go to the mission projects being supported.