Convocation Newsletter
(COVID-19 special edition #8)
May 8, 2020
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A Newsletter for Members and Friends of the Convocation of
Episcopal Churches in Europe
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Eastertide in a time of pandemic...
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Fifth Sunday of Easter
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his
steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
May 8 - is the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe and a national holiday in many countries. On Anglican/Episcopal calendars, May 8 is also the Feast of Dame
Julian of Norwich
.
For Peace
Almighty God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquillity your dominion may increase until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, 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)
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This Week's Message from Bishop Edington
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The Way to the Mansion
Sunday’s reading from John’s gospel brings around the sixth of seven “I am” statements by which Jesus discloses to his followers who he is and why he has come: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Taken as a whole, however, the reading itself contains a somewhat
vexing tension
—one we can decide either to ignore entirely, or confront fully.
The tension is bound up in the two very different ideas we are given about the expansiveness of God’s purpose in coming among us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Remember the scene: Jesus is gathered with his disciples at that last meal. The room is tense. There is a foreboding feeling in the air. Trouble is afoot; the community they have created together for three years is about to be torn asunder by betrayal, violence, and death.
They want to know the way out of their worry. They want to know the way to assurance, to safety, to the abundant life Jesus had spoken of.
And Jesus tells them. He says that he is the way. And he says something far more: “No one comes to the Father”—that is, no one can find their way to that assurance, that safety, that abundance—“except through me.”
If you understand that phrase the way it is often preached—especially among preachers in America—you understand it as an exclusive statement about belief. It is saying that belief in Christ is the only path to assurance, and safety, and abundance—and, in the end, salvation.
Being able to make that claim is, in the end, a claim of power. It places in a position of considerable power those who take it upon themselves to judge what is the sufficient standard of belief in Christ. It becomes, on this kind of thinking, a particular way of praying, or a particular way of reading and understanding the Bible, or a particular way of speaking about Christ to others.
But then we have to hold against that what comes just before it; a statement of almost limitless expansiveness.
“In my Father’s house”
—that place of assurance and safety and abundance—
“there are many dwelling places.”
Indeed, the words of the Authorized Version render this something like a conundrum in English: “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” It is something like saying, “In this stone are many mountains.” A smaller idea contains a vast one.
The old African-American spiritual
expresses this welcoming expansiveness joyfully:
Plenty good room, plenty good room,
Plenty good room in my father’s kingdom;
Plenty good room, plenty good room,
Just choose your seat and sit down.
How can we reconcile this? If belief in Christ is the only way, what will it matter if there is room for everyone?
We are all living through days in which we seek just what Jesus’s friends most wanted—
assurance, and safety, and abundance.
We want the assurance that this disease now stalking all humanity will be ended. We want to be safe from its reach. We want to much to return to the abundance of our past lives—the abundance of contact, of friendships, of choices of how to spend our time.
It is just possible that there is a way to reconcile these two ideas, a way of listening to those words of Jesus in a new way that knits these two things together. But it would mean a shift in our understanding of what it means to be disciples, and what it means to be people of faith.
Imagine for a moment that when Jesus teaches us that path—“no one comes to the Father except through me”—he is not talking about belief.
Imagine instead that he is talking about behavior. That would be a very different thing.
For one thing, it would take away from us, as mere disciples, the power of judgment over others, the idea that we are somehow suited to judge the sufficiency of others’ faith. Instead, it would give to all people, no matter their grasp of faith or their way of expressing it, the same standard—simply of whether our behavior follows the example of Christ.
Then, we would recognize those who were on that path not because of what they professed with their lips, or even what building they worship in. Instead,
we’d recognize a fellow-disciple simply by asking whether their way of acting in the world looked like the example of Christ—forgiving, and loving, and reaching beyond the barriers of social divisions to see the humanity of all people, everywhere, regardless of any other consideration.
A virus is an egalitarian thing
. It affects rich and poor, young and old. It has no regard for the boundaries of race or class or ethnicity or language that we lazily allow to make our meaning for us.
Strangely, it may be that one thing we are meant to be learning in these days is that this is just how Christian witness and community is supposed to work. It’s supposed to be just that way—utterly egalitarian, refusing to outcast anyone, equally affirming and embracing of all.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life”—
behaving like the man who said those words is a good deal more demanding than simply saying we believe something about him. But anyone can do it
—and many whom we might least expect would will be among the last who take the first seats in that expansive mansion.
Blessings,
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See Bishop Edington's Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter
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here
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Join the Conversation, Wednesday, May 13
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“Covid, Community, and a Changed Church”
A Conversation with the Reverend Professor Gina Radford
, Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England and Team Vicar, Dart and Avon Mission Community, Diocese of Exeter (Church of England)
Few people are better qualified to speak to our present moment than Gina Radford. After qualifying in medicine at the Royal Free Hospital, Dr. Radford trained as a GP and became Director of Public Health in South West Devon. From there she became head of the Public Health Development Union at the Department of Health, where, among other things, she was responsible for the establishment of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. In 2013, she helped lead the UK’s national response to the emergence of Ebola, and in January of 2015 was appointed Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, a post she held until June of 2019.
A lifelong Christian, Dr. Radford was ordained to the priesthood in the Church of England in 2016. She now serves as Team Vicar for South Brent and Rattery in the Diocese of Exeter as Team Vicar.
The forum will take the form of a conversation between Professor Radford and Bishop Edington, with questions welcomed from registered participants. To register, click on the image above or
go to this link
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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.
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Upcoming Youth Commission Event:
PENTECOST PROJECT 2020
The Convocation Youth are invited to submit creative ideas for a project we are calling “
Pentecost Project 2020
”. We are going to tell the story of
Pentecost
and we need your help!
Check out the attachment for all the details. You can create a short video, drawing, claymation, lego scene…anything that helps tell the story of
Pentecost
. We’ve broken down the reading into different parts and you can choose what part you want to focus on. Or you can submit something for every part! For any questions, email
Youthcommission@tec-europe.org
We can’t wait to see what creative ways we can tell the story of
Pentecost!
Pentecost Project
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Online Alleluia!
The Youth met online for bible study and enjoyed an
Alleluia
moment!
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A useful resources from the Youth Commission:
FAITH AT HOME - RESOURCES FOR ALL AGES
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DOWNLOAD
For more information on youth events and registration, please visit the Youth Ministry webpage
HERE
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A Message from the Presiding Bishop
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Online Worship in the Convocation
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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
- All Saints' Waterloo, BELGIUM (or on Facebook)
- 21h00 Compline
- 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.
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Convocation COVID-19 Webpage
Information in one place
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Convocation COVID-19 Response
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Please visit our
webpage
dedicated to our COVID-19 response, as well as other resources.
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Grant Applications for 2021 Now Available!
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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)
.
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Upcoming Convocation Events
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CANCELED OR POSTPONED EVENTS
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- May 7-10: TEC-ELKB Dialogue Meeting - Augsburg, Germany - On-line. Live meeting Moved to October
- July 5-12 Episcopal Youth Event - postponed to 2021 - info
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- June 21: Consecration of the new Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht - POSTPONED
- July 19: U.S. Bishops visiting Convocation Parishes and Missions - CANCELED
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Spring 2020
- 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 Pentecost Project 2020 online Youth Event - link HERE
- 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 29 - July 2: Clericus
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Fall 2020
- October 22-25: 2020 Convocation Convention in Nice, France
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About five years ago, Canon Jerre Skipper began the work of expanding the Episcopal Asset Map to include our congregations and ministries in Europe to the church-wide resource.
All of the parishes, established missions, and other ministries are on the Asset Map. Much more information needs to be added. Please consider updating the Episcopal Asset Map entry for your church or ministry. If you need help contact the
archdeacon
.
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Convocation Communications Committee
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Trinité Magazine
Spring 2020 issue
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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.
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- 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
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Did you miss Church?
Check out an on-line sermon:
See Bishop Edington's Sermon for Easter 2
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here
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Other pulpits in the Convocation:
Check other congregational webpages
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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 :
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Regarding Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse
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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:
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Read the latest on what's going on in the wider church
and much more....
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"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
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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
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