Category: Congregation

Messages and updates for the congregation

Order your Christmas Cards!

Posted on by Dorothee Möller

As many of you know, last year our STB card-recycling project once again raised a total of 6,000 Euros (including a generous donation from the former Hon. British Consul Claus Budelmann.) The team is once again in full swing for 2024, preparing high quality Christmas and greetings cards for sale at the Bazaar, Victorian Christmas Market and various other church and local events. The Christmas greetings are in both English and German with motifs to suit all tastes! 

If you would like to order your Christmas cards online instead,  you can access the order form right here, right now: 

Christmas cards order form

Please pray for our confirmands

Posted on by Dorothee Möller

Bishop Robert will be taking the service on Sunday 17th November at 10.30, both preaching and presiding on this significant occasion.

We have three adult candidates, and seven juniors this year, and they have all been preparing since soon after Easter: meeting to learn more about God, the Bible, Christian doctrine, our Anglican church and liturgy. It has been a rich and joyful time, and we wish each one of them well as they take this next step forward in affirming their faith, and also receive the sacrament of their first holy communion. 

A reminder as the Confirmation becomes imminent, that no photography or video recording during services is permitted. Notices to this effect are displayed all around the church, but after a while, they do tend to become just ‘part of the wallpaper’! This is a general rule, and any potential exceptions must be discussed in advance with the Chaplain, along with receiving the permission of all those likely to be recorded. This applies to any recording, and whether or not you may intend to publish it on any sort of social media platform. When it comes to music, we are subject to performing rights and copyright considerations, and the Data protection and safeguarding rules are there to protect us all. So, please respect the privacy, property and wellbeing of others, most especially when you are in church. Thank you.

Our charity partnership with Hanseatic Help – could you organise our STB collections?

Posted on by Dorothee Möller

We have had two collections so far, and are keen to continue our links with this local charity, as part of our wider engagement in Hamburg.

This request is for someone to schedule the periodic collection dates. Then to arrange a car to deliver the items collected to the charity’s main building (old Fischmarkt area, close to church) during the week after each collection has taken place.

Please contact the Chaplain for further details or if you have any questions. 

The Arts Society of Hamburg presents the Church Record

Posted on by Dorothee Möller

Some of you will remember reading about the Church Recording project, organised by The Arts Society of Hamburg, whereby a small group of volunteers has recorded the contents and features of the inside of St Thomas à Becket in Hamburg to a high professional standard. The end result is a large, wonderfully bound book, which will be presented to the church after the morning service on Sunday 25 June.

This Record is the culmination of approximately 5 years’ work and its presentation has been delayed by Covid and by the church being closed in the winter as far as services were concerned. During the course of the research many interesting historic facts came to light as the team documented the memorials, metalwork, internal stonework, woodwork, textiles, pictures and documents.

We (the group of volunteers) very much hope that as many of you as possible will come along to this presentation and view the Record, which will thereafter be the property of the church.

A more detailed article will appear in the next Becket News giving you some background and history in respect of Church Recording.

Pat Pledger
(Co-ordinator of the Church Recording Team)

Invitation to sign up for the STB Lent course 2023

Posted on by Dorothee Möller

This year’s course will be based around the film ‘The Theory of Everything’ (2014, about Stephen Hawking.) As part of each group sessions we will watch clips from the film (technology permitting), but please do view the film in advance too if you wish. 

The course is organised to run over the five weeks of Lent, and will consist of 1. a group meeting each week in Zeughausmarkt, AND  2. a short daily Bible passage and reflection for you to undertake as individual devotion, for each day inbetween. All materials provided. 

The Lent course group sessions will be offered on Thursdays AND Sundays in Zeughausmarkt 22 (upstairs in the warm room), with a maximum of 8 places in each – ie 16 places in total. Pre-registration is required, please email chaplain (at) anglican-church-hamburg.de to register.

Calling all cake makers: ‘Carols and Cakes’

Posted on by Dorothee Möller

This year we will be having a new Christmas carols ‘sing along’, with the choir to lead us, and just as importantly, an interval for tea and home made cakes. Appropriately this offering is called ‘Carols and Cakes’, and it will take place on Sunday 4th December at 16.00.

So, first of all, please invite anyone who likes to have a good old sing at Christmas time to come – there will be opportunity to request your favourites.

And then, if you could make and bring along a cake, please get in touch with Wendy Sprock in advance, to let her know. Ideally we want large cakes that can simply be cut into slices/pieces. (No scones please.) And on the day, we will of course also need helpers to set up before the service, and to serve the refreshments too. Thank you. Please let Wendy know if you can bring a cake on 4th, as soon as you can.