News

“Following from the Primates’ Meeting and their communiqué, my office has already received enquiries from clergy and members of the Episcopal Church about whether they are welcome in our Diocese in Europe,” writes Bishop David Hamid. “We need to reaffirm in a strong way our commitment to live and serve the Lord together in this relationship we have developed of loving communion within the Church. The strategy document of the Diocese in Europe is called ‘Walking Together in Faith’. A key part of the strategy is valuing and sustaining a culture of welcome, invitation and hospitality.” Read Bishop David’s full response to the communiqué from the Primates’ Meeting here.

The Community of St Anselm, the new religious community of 36 young men and women from around the world, are in Canterbury this week to pray for the Primates of the Anglican Communion as they continue their deliberations. You can read the full story on the ACNS website.

The Church Recording group would like to hear from any member of the church community who might be looking after any church items. A lovely vase, which had been left with somebody for safekeeping, turned up some months ago, and there might be other things. As the project’s recording the interior of the church, all such things are relevant and of interest to the recording group. Likewise if anyone has any interesting historical information that might be of use in this project, please contact the project coordinator, Pat Pledger of BRIDFAS.

The Anglican mission agency Mothers’ Union is celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2016. Throughout the year it will hold a number of events to mark 14 decades of “faithful outreach to families of all faiths and none”. Read more about the anniversary on the MU website or, better still, find out how you can get involved by contacting our own MU branch in Hamburg.

Our January walk is a short circular one (probably 7 km at the most) round the Außenmühlenteich in the Harburger Stadtpark. Meet outside the Reisezentrum at the Hauptbahnhof on Saturday 16 January at approx. 9:45 in order to catch the S31 (Harburg Rathaus) which arrives at Harburg Station at 10:15 where the walk starts. If you plan to join in, please let Nicki Schiller know by Thursday 14 – tel 04104 695537 or 0176 30 393 063.

A daily prayer for Christian unity as the Primates meet in Canterbury this week to reflect and pray together concerning the future of the Anglican Communion:

Lord Jesus,
who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin,
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.

Composed by members of the Chemin Neuf community from the prayer of the abbot Paul Couturier.

You can find information about the meeting on the Primates 2016 website.

You are all welcome to our Christingle service and Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and to our Christmas Day service of Holy Communion. You can find details below under dates to note or here.

The new Becket News is here, a little earlier than usual to include details of Christmas services at St Thomas Becket. In addition to regular content, our roving reporters have been off to Australia and Ethiopia. Read how they fared online or pick up your copy in church.

Two more days till our Carol Service in Hamburg this Saturday, 12 December at 6pm. Everyone is invited to come, stop, listen, sing and pray.

 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said that the “Just War” criteria have been met to justify military action against Daesh (IS, ISIL, ISIS) in Syria, reports ACNS, but he warned that merely bombing Daesh targets would “confirm their dreadful belief that what they are doing is the will of God.” He called for a holistic approach to tackling Daesh, which should include a “global theological component”. Read the full story on the ACNS website.