Convocation Newsletter
(COVID-19 special edition #6)
April 24, 2020
|
|
A Newsletter for Members and Friends of the Convocation of
Episcopal Churches in Europe
|
|
Eastertide in a time of pandemic...
|
|
Third Sunday of Easter
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
In Time of of Great Sickness and Mortality....
O most mighty and merciful God, in this time of grievous sickness, we flee unto thee for succor. Deliver us, we beseech thee, from our peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick; prosper the means made use of for their cure; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom which leadeth to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
.
(1928 BCP, 45)
See Bishop Edington's Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter
-
here
|
|
A Pastoral Note from the Bishop
|
|
“Will we have to wear masks?”
The time is nearing that our churches will be able to open for worship. It will not happen everywhere at once; it will happen at different times in different places. But even when it happens, one thing is already clear: We are not going back to the same church we left before the pandemic changed everything.
So many questions have arisen in this moment—but the one I hear most often is, “Will we have to wear masks?”
It is hard not to sense a bit of irony, perhaps even poetic justice, in the sudden wisdom of wearing masks. There is even a Christian affirmation in the reasons we are taught we should do this; a mask will not protect us from others, but it may help protect others from us, especially if we have unknowingly become infected with the virus—and that is an act of Christian care.
Yet of course, we have for years feared masks. We have been suspicious of the motives and loyalties of those who wear them—especially when they are the veils of faithful women in Muslim communities.
Americans of a certain age will remember reading in high school Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “
The Minister’s Black Veil
.” In that unsettling narrative, the Reverend Mr. Hooper, the parson of Milford, appears one Sunday morning—and, thence on, for the rest of his life—with a black veil shrouding his face. His congregation wonders about it; they speculate that he has gone mad, that he is hiding something about his own secret sins. Over the months and years that follow, they come to see in his veil a signification of their own darkness, which they come to confront more fully. Paradoxically, he becomes more effective in his ministry; seekers come to him, penitent sinners seek absolution from him, his influence grows. Yet he loses his fiancée over his choice to remain behind his mask; and finally he dies beneath it.
Hawthorne causes his readers to question—what are the veils we live behind, that we wear to obscure our true selves from those we share this life with?
I am troubled by the thought of any of us having to appear in church obscured by our masks. I acknowledge, however, the possibility that doing so may be necessary. I do not want to be a modern-day rendition of Pastor Hooper, and I doubt many of my colleagues in ministry do as well.
But there is something gently instructive here, caught up in just the reason why this practice is recommended to us. As Hawthorne intimated, the veil is less about protecting us from others than it is about shielding others from us. By his example, Hawthorne’s pastor was posing a question to the faithful people in his community—what are you seeking to hide from others, or from God, in order to make your way through life? Can one live with integrity behind such a mask?
In our moment, we set a different example. De we care enough about those we share this life with to obscure ourselves, if that might help protect them? Would we put vanity before community? Could we live with integrity in that way?
In his beautiful retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth, C. S. Lewis places this plea on the lips of his narrator: “How can [the gods] meet us till we have faces?” We fear that behind these masks we will be lost to the world—to those we love, to our community, even to God. But nothing has the power to do that—as Saint Paul taught the Romans.
Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers—nor viruses, nor masks, nor fear, nor distance—can separate us from the love of God.
That reality is happening, in all places and at the same time—now, in Easter. No matter what.
Blessings,
|
|
See Bishop Edington's Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter
-
here
|
|
Please send us
Alleluias!
We’re continuing with our daily Alleluia on the Convocation’s Facebook page (
https://www.facebook.com/EpiscopalEurope/
). Please contribute a drawing, a picture, or just a selfie with an
“Alleluia”
— and we’ll share it with the world! Heaven knows we need to keep up the supply of Easter joy as we move cautiously back out of our isolation.
|
|
Convocation COVID-19 Webpage
Information in one place
|
|
|
|
Convocation COVID-19 Response
|
Please visit our
webpage
dedicated to our COVID-19 response, as well as other resources.
|
|
Congregational Plans for reopening churches
- see the Bishop and Council of Advice directives
on
Regathering the Church Prayerfully and Intentionally
here
|
|
Grant Applications for 2021 Now Available!
|
|
Grant Applications for 2021 Now Available!
The Finance Committee of the Convocation has decided to extend the deadline for applications for next year’s grants to May 31, 2020. Instructions to guide grant-writers may be found at
this link
, and the application form may be found at
this link
.
|
|
Online Alleluia!
The Youth met online for bible study and enjoyed an
Alleluia
moment!
|
|
A useful resources from the Youth Commission:
FAITH AT HOME - RESOURCES FOR ALL AGES
-
DOWNLOAD
For more information on youth events and registration, please visit the Youth Ministry webpage
HERE
|
|
Dear fellow Convocation Ministers and Wardens,
Alleluia, He is risen indeed! As we celebrate Easter this year we are more aware than ever of the importance and need for live music, dance and art outside of our own 4 walls. Our churches supply us not only with a building for worship, but a building full of art, whether it be church music, altars, windows, sculptures, performances and the list goes on.
I am writing today to remind you all that the
Whalon Fund for the Creative Arts (WFCA
) is now taking grant applications for 2021. Please see below for more information as well as links to our webpage, fund guidelines and application.
Please also forward this information to all your committee leaders that would be interested in this fund (Fine Arts committees, Vestries, Choir/Music directors, Sunday School teachers etc.).
We wish you a blessed Eastertide.
WFCA Committee
Parishes and missions in the Convocation are invited to submit grant proposals to support their work. Grants will be made for up to €500. Grant applications are due by
June 1, 2020.
LINKS
Fund Guidelines - see
here
Application form - download
here
If you would like more information or would like to give to the WFCA please see our
Webpage (click here)
.
|
|
“‘…All of us are witnesses’: The New Testament Witness to the Risen Jesus”, Part 2
Zoom
,
Sunday, 26 April
, 9:45am
“This Jesus God raised up,” declares Peter on the Day of Pentecost, “and of that all of us are witnesses.” Jesus’ resurrection is – and always has been – one of the central claims of the Christian faith. Indeed, the church itself began as “a resurrection movement”. On this second Sunday after Easter, we explore the accounts of encounters with the risen Jesus in the Gospel according to John. What did these meetings with the Risen Lord mean to His disciples then and what they mean to us today? A close reading of the New Testament texts that describe that first Eastertide can help us understand why the first Christians believed news of
Jesus’
resurrection is good news for the
whole world
.
Please email Cathedral Forum c/o Bill Thompson at
william.tompson@gmail.com
to get your Zoom invitation.
|
|
Online Worship in the Convocation
|
|
Online Worship Opportunities for Sundays and Weekdays
With all our church buildings closed to public worship, many of our parishes and missions have moved their Sunday and weekday Worship online. Consider taking part in worship with your sisters and brothers in Christ across Europe.
All times are (Central European Summer Time (CEST).
Worship on Sundays and during the week:
Sundays
Mondays
Tuesdays
Wednesdays
- American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Paris, FRANCE **
- 9:00 a.m. Morning prayer live-streamed - here
- Compline available each day on YouTube - here
- Christ the King, Frankfurt, GERMANY - link
- 19:00 Compline
- Emmanuel Church, Geneva, SWITZERLAND
- 12:30 p.m. Noonday Prayer - Link
- Resurrection, Orvieto, ITALY
- Morning Prayer at 9:30 a.m. (in Spanish)
- St. Augustine, Wiesbaden, GERMANY
- Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. "Word and Worship" - link
- St. Boniface, Augsburg, GERMANY
- 12:00 noon - Noonday Prayer
- St. James, Florence, ITALY
- Evening Prayer at 6:00 p.m.
- St. Paul's Within the Walls, Rome, ITALY
- Morning Prayer, Rite II at 12:00 Noon
Thursdays
- American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Paris, FRANCE **
- 9:00 a.m. Morning prayer live-streamed - here
- Compline available each day on YouTube - here
- Ascension, Munich, GERMANY -
- 8:00 p.m. Compline - link
- Resurrection, Orvieto, ITALY
- Morning Prayer at 9:30 a.m. (in Spanish)
- St. Boniface, Augsburg, GERMANY
- 12:00 noon - Noonday Prayer
- St. Paul's Within the Walls, Rome, ITALY
- Contemplative Prayer at 12:00 Noon
Fridays
Saturdays
**
All live-streamed services are posted to the Cathedral
YouTube
and
Facebook
and may be accessed at any time.
|
|
Upcoming Convocation Events
|
|
CANCELED OR POSTPONED EVENTS
|
|
- April 24-26: Clergy Spouses Retreat, Pallottihaus, Vienna, AT - CANCELED
- May 7-10: TEC-ELKB Dialogue Meeting - Augsburg, Germany - MOVED TO OCTOBER
|
|
- July 5-12 Episcopal Youth Event - postponed to 2021 - info
- July 19: U.S. Bishops visiting Convocation Parishes and Missions - CANCELED
|
|
|
Spring 2020
- May 2: Clergy Morning Prayer
- May 16 - Finance Committee Meeting - Moved online
- May 23-24: Visitation in St. James the Less Mission, Nuremberg, Germany
- May 30: Visitation at Church of the Resurrection, Orvieto, Italy
- May 31: Visitation at St. Paul's Within the Walls, Rome, Italy
- June 1-5: Bishops Meeting: "Living our Vows"
- June 8: Clergy Morning Prayer
- June 21: Consecration of the new Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht
|
|
- June 22-23: AOCICC Meeting, Prague Czechia
- June 29 - July 2: Clericus
Fall 2020
- October 22-25: 2020 Convocation Convention in Nice, France
|
|
|
Convocation Communications Committee
|
|
Trinité Magazine
Spring 2020 issue
|
|
The Convocation Communications Committee (CCC) coordinates the communications of the Convocation. Special emphasis is given to Social Media, and close coordination with the parishes and missions of the Convocation. Existing modes of communication such as newsletters and the website are getting a facelift.
Members are: Thomas Girty (Paris), chair; Felicity Handford, Marc Smets-Tolley (both Waterloo), Walter Baer (Paris), Audrey Shankles (Wiesbaden), Helena Mbele-Mbong (Geneva), and Ellen Hampton (Paris), ex-officio. Others are being added.
The Convocation is now also featured with four pages in the cathedral's semi-annual publication
Trinité
, covering Convocation events.
|
|
|
|
- For questions on recording worship attendance for virtual services, click here
- An article in the Anglican Church of Canada's ANGLICAN JOURNAL about our churches during this COVID-19 crisis - here
- Download the Book of Common Prayer - here
- Some prayer resources during time the pandemic, click here
- Some frightening historical information about the church response to the 1918 flu pandemic, click here
|
|
Did you miss Church?
Check out an on-line sermon:
See Bishop Edington's Sermon for Easter 2
-
here
|
|
Other pulpits in the Convocation:
Check other congregational webpages
|
|
A la radio : le Magazine Anglican
Le « Magazine Anglican », animé par Laurence Moachon, paroissienne de la Cathédrale de la Sainte Trinité à Paris.
À propos du Magazine Anglican :
Depuis septembre 2012, Laurence Moachon présente le 4e samedi du mois, le Magazine Anglican. Avec l’objectif de faire mieux connaître la tradition anglicane au public français, elle traite de sujets d’actualité culturelle, historique, liturgique ou ecclésiologique dans la Convocation et la Communion Anglicane.
ÉCOUTEZ OU TÉLÉCHARGEZ LE MAGAZINE ANGLICAN sur :
|
|
Regarding Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse
|
|
Important information on the lifting of the Statute of Limitation regarding clergy sexual abuse...
Let it be known that for three years in the Episcopal Church there is no statute of limitation on clergy sexual abuse. Every diocese has a confidential way to make a report. In Europe here is ours:
|
|
Read the latest on what's going on in the wider church
and much more....
|
|
"Go forth for God; go to the world in peace; be of good courage, armed with heavenly grace, in God's good Spirit daily to increase, till in his kingdom we behold his face."
Hymn 347 - Holy Eucharist; Music: Litton
|
|
The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe | 23 avenue George V, 75008 Paris, France
+33 (0) 1 53 23 84 06 | office@tec-europe.orgl | www.tec-europe.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
