Convocation Newsletter
March 21, 2020
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A Newsletter for Members and Friends of the Convocation of
Episcopal Churches in Europe
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Lent in the time of a pandemic....
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Third Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and 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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Online Worship in the Convocation
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Worship services and meetings in all of our congregations
have been
canceled
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of the parishes and missions in the Convocation have moved their Sunday Worship online. Consider taking part in worship with your sisters and brothers in Christ across Europe. (All times are in Central European Time)
France
Belgium
Switzerland
Italy
Germany
Bishop Edington's Sermon for Lent IV is
here
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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Perhaps for the first time in our long history, not one of our churches in Europe will be open for worship this coming Sunday. It is not war that has caused this; it is a virus that is ravaging the planet, causing tremendous worry and great suffering.
We are homeless for a while, unable to join together in the embrace of our buildings for fellowship and prayer. That is a great loss, and we feel in keenly.
But we are not without the church—not ever. We have always said, and it is no less true for our saying it, that the church is the people of God, and not the house in which they dwell; and so we are still the church, even if we cannot be
in
the church.
But we are not without resources.
The entire Book of Common Prayer has been made available online
(you can find it
at this link
, and I commend to you an exploration of the services for individual and family worship that have been found in our prayer books since Thomas Cranmer first assembled the work. As Anglicans, our great inheritance is the offices of Morning and Evening Prayer, and the 1979 Prayer Book gave us as well the gifts of a Noonday office and Compline.
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These are resources well with discovering in this time of enforced contemplation and quiet, and I commend to you the idea of taking up a small discipline of opening the Prayer Book for just a few minutes every day. It will reward you richly, and serve as ready and unwavering companion, even when the perils of the world seem set to overtake us.
I am also very pleased to share with you
a Companion of brief reflections for the days ahead
,
leading to what we hope will be the lifting on April 17 of the restrictions on travel within and into the European Union. The writers of these reflections are from all around our Convocation—and you will find their insights a source of help and rekindled community for these days of isolation.
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The sermon I was to have preached at the cathedral this forthcoming Sunday will not, needless to say, take place there; but you find a version of it
at this link
. I encourage you to explore the compendium of online services now being offered around the Convocation in these days of distancing; please visit a community other than your own, and join with others in the Convocation in offering praise to the God who conquers death—and who inspires the hearts of those who care for the ill as well as the minds of those who seek treatments and a cure.
Blessings,
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A Convocation Companion
Prayers for the Days of Isolation
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At the request of Bishop Edington, clergy and lay leaders of the Convocation have compiled "A Convocation Companion" of prayers and devotions based on the Daily Office readings from March 22 to April 17, 2020....
A Convocation Companion
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"On the day that a thirty-day ban on travel into the European Union was announced—a span of time with no regard whatsoever for our annual passage from the penitence of Lent to the joys of Easter—I found myself particularly in need of the support and encouragement of companions along this pilgrimage of faith. So I quickly wrote to a number of them with a simple request: Might we together create a series of reflections to share with everyone in our community of churches in Europe—even with the whole church—as a way of providing our isolated friends some sort of companionship for these days ahead?
"As it is set before you, it is not a seasonal reader for the days of Lent; it is rather a companion for all of us for these thirty days of being cut off from the world and, in some sense, from each other. The authors have all responded to a very simple prompt—to read through the lessons appointed for the Daily Office of each of these days, and offer a short reflection on a specific verse that spoke to them. They have done so with prayerful elegance, and I take this opportunity formally to express to them my deep gratitude for keeping me company. I hope you find companionship for these days in their words, too."
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- For questions on recording worship attendance for virtual services, click 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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Upcoming Convocation Events
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Spring 2020
- March 21: Clergy/Wardens Zoom Gathering with Bishop
- April 4: Clergy Morning Prayer
- April 17-19: VOCARE Young Adults Weekend, Berlin, Germany - CANCELED
- April 24-26: Clergy Spouses Retreat, Pallottihaus, Vienna, AT
- May 2: Clergy Morning Prayer
- May 7-10: TEC-ELKB Dialogue Meeting - Augsburg, Germany - MOVED ON-LINE
- May 16 - Finance Committee Meeting - Convocation Office
- 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
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- 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
- July 19: US Bishops visiting Convocation Parishes and Missions
- July 22 - August 2: Lambeth Conference, Canterbury UK
Fall 2020
- October 22-25: 2020 Convocation Convention in Nice, France
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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
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Convocation Communications Committee
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At its Winter meeting the Council of Advice chartered the new Convocation Communications Committee (CCC), which had been established by the Bishop in the Fall 2019.
The role of the CCC will be to coordinate and enhance the communications capabilities and capacities of the Convocation. Special emphasis will be 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 will also get 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 will also now be featured with four pages in the cathedral's semi-annual publication
Trinité, covering Convocation events.
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Did you miss Church?
Check out an on-line sermon:
Other pulpits in the Convocation:
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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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