News

Itching Ears was the title of Bishop Geoffrey's sermon at the Confirmation Eucharist 17th October. He has kindly provided a copy of the text for the website which can be accessed
here.

God, the giver of life,

Whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church:

By the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ

and make us eager to do your will

that we may share with the whole creation

the joys of eternal life;

through Jesus Christ your Soh our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen

The collect prayed at the Confirmation Service.

This month's Pause for Thought has generated another contribution. Click here for a Response to “On transforming Unjust Structures” inspired by the the article in Becket News.

Any one else is welcome to send in their Thoughts!

Bishop David reports on his Blog that Canon Ann Turner (Antwerp) and Mrs Madeleine Holmes (Aquitaine) have been elected to represent the Diocese in the House of Laity and the Revd Canon Ian Hutchinson Cervantes (Madrid) and the Revd Canon Debbie Flach (Lille) in the House of Clergy.

We thank them for their willingness to serve and offer our prayers of support for this challenging task.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is currently on a 16 day tour of India visitng congregations and development initiatives of the Church of North India, the Church of South India and the Mar Thoma Church.

In Kolkata he preached a sermon abput the Millennium Development Goals at St Paul's Cathedral – reported in the Guardian.

“Fasting is about more than going without food – it is connecting with reality and noticing the suffering of your neighbour” – food for thought!

A full text of the sermon and further reports about the trip can be found on the Archbishop's website.

The autumn edition of the Newsletter from the Diocese of Jerusalem is available here.

This edition of the Newsletter reports on a number of medical initiatives including the New Anglican Cardio-Vascular Diabetes Clinic in Ramallah, West Bank and Educational Ministry in Jordan and Lebanon.

The “Services” flyer with a review of the Harvest Weekend has been posted on the 'Services' page.

And new 'Pause for Thought' for readers to consider has been added (by a different author than usual).

The Wanderers are venturing further afield Saturday 9 October with a walk into Timmendorf, along the promenade, over the cliffs (Brodtener Ufer) to Travemünde. Well-made paths, mainly flat, a few gentle inclines.

Please refer to 'Wanderers' page for further details.

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.