November 2018 at 14:00
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ST ALBAN’S CHURCH COPENHAGEN MAGAZINE FOR THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN DENMARK 2018 www.st-albans.dk November – December Alban’s is a bi-monthly magazine printed by: JESPERSEN TRYK, Ved Langebro 1, 2300 København S. Email: [email protected] Copies are available in church and it is available to view on our website: www.st-albans.dk Maria Kvan Mortensen kindly distributes it by post to members of our community who cannot access it electronically. Editor: Beverly Lloyd-Roberts Managing Editor: Revd Smitha Prasadam, Nigel Rowley Photographers: As stated. Article authors: As stated. Contributions, articles and photographs are gratefully received. Saint Alban's Church follows the Danish copyright law. If we have unintentionally published something without permission, please contact us. Cover photo: St Alban’s Church, autumn 2018 by Bev Lloyd-Roberts Printed by Jespersen Tryk + Digital ~ 2 ~ Worship in November / December St Alban’s Church, Copenhagen NOVEMBER Sunday 4 10:30 Sung Eucharist at All Saints Wednesday 7 10:30 Holy Communion Saturday 10 11:00 Prayer Vigil on centenary of WW1 Sunday 11 09:00 Holy Communion on Remembrance Sun 10:30 Service of Commemoration & Bell Peal 12:15 Wreath laying at Bispebjerg Cemetery 14:00 “2nd” Sunday: Taize service for Peace Wednesday 14 10:30 Holy Communion Sunday 18 10:30 Sung Eucharist Wednesday 21 10:30 Holy Communion Sunday 25 10:30 Sung Eucharist at Christ the King with Archdeacon Colin Williams Licensing Peter Prasadam as Lay Reader Wednesday 28 10:30 Holy Communion DECEMBER Sunday 2 10:30 Sung Eucharist on Advent Sunday Wednesday 5 10:30 Holy Communion Sunday 9 10:30 Sung Eucharist for Advent 2 16:00 Carol Service Monday 10 19:00 Carol Service Wednesday 12 10:30 Holy Communion Saturday 15 16:00 Carols and Poetry Sunday 16 10:30 Sung Eucharist for Advent 3 Wednesday 19 10:30 Holy Communion Sunday 23 10:30 Sung Eucharist for Advent 4 Christmas Eve 12:00 Children’s Nativity with Carols 23:30 Midnight Mass Christmas Day 10:30 Festival Eucharist Sunday 30 10:30 Sung Eucharist for Christmas 1 ~ 3 ~ “Second” Sunday Services As its title suggests, the “Second Sunday Service” is held on the Second Sunday of each month. Services are at 14:00 Different styles of worship will be undertaken each time. More detailed information on these services are on the notice boards and the website closer to the time of the service. Useful Information • If you use a hearing aid, please use the T-switch to connect to the loop system. • Coffee and tea are served after most Sunday services. • On days when there is a Sunday school, it starts at 10:25. Children wishing to join are asked to meet at 10:25 by the Font. St Alban’s Church in Jutland We also have an English-speaking congregation in Aarhus, Jutland, which meets at 18:00 on the last Sunday of the month (except July), in a church we gratefully borrow from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark. Our Chaplain, Revd Smitha Prasadam of Saint Alban’s, Copenhagen, will normally lead the services. The dates for the next coming months are: Aarhus – at Møllevangskirken, Møllevangs Allé 49, 8210 Aarhus V 25 November – Holy Communion at 18:00 16 December – Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at 18:00 Refreshments are served in Sognegården after the service. Everyone is welcome. Further details are available from Angela Hansen at cont [email protected] Jelling The social arrangements, “Eat and Sing”, in Jelling continue to be held each first Thursday of the month at 17:30 and further details can be found on our website. ~ 4 ~ Message from the Chaplain In November we stand at the end of one year while December sees us at the Advent of the next – liturgically speaking. With the grand sweep of All Hallows, All Souls, Remembrance and Christ the King: we journey to Bethlehem recalling a baby destined to be the salvation of the world. From greyness to glory; from blindness to sight; from death to new birth. The pages of this magazine show the extent to which healing and reconciliation is needed in our individual and corporate lives. Historical hurts from the ravages of war, deep sorrow at the death of loved ones whose lives filled and enriched ours. Reconciliation and healing do not happen however, without our permission and say-so. If we come with bitterness, we need to be persuaded by Jesus’ sweetness, If we come with anger, we ask God to pacify us with patience If we come with pain, we ask to be soothed by Christ’s tenderness Bartimaeus, a road-side beggar cries: “Have mercy on me!” Within earshot of Jesus, he throws off his garments and run towards the place of restoration and clear sight. We are called to render our own garments of arrogance, self-sufficiency, animosity, rage and sorrow to meet one who comes as vulnerable as a new born baby. One who comes as the Prince of Peace With me, you may like to use this reflection in the coming weeks “Open our eyes Lord especially if they are half shut because we are tired of looking Or half open because we fear to see too much ~ 5 ~ Or bleared with tears because yesterday and today and tomorrow are filled with pain Or contracted because we only look at what we want to see Open our eyes Lord to gently scan the life we lead, the home we have and the world we live in – to find – among the gremlins and the greyness – signs of hope that we can hold onto Give us, whose eyes are dimmed by familiarity – a bigger vision of what you can do- Even with hopeless cases and lost causes – and with people of limited ability Show us the world as in your sight – riddled by debt, deceit and disbelief: Yet also - shot through with possibility for recovery, renewal and redemption And, lest we fail to distinguish vision from fantasy today, tomorrow and this week- Open our eyes to one person, one place, one event – Where we – even for one moment being prophetic – might identify and wean a potential in the waiting In all our fears and frailties, visions and divisions, occupations and preoccupations Open our eyes in yearning for Jesus In this church, in this community, in our streets To help, to heal, to comfort, to confront and even to convert Knowing that we can “stand up and raise our heads for our redemption is near. “Maranatha!” - Come Lord Jesus, Come! ~ 6 ~ Deanery Synod 2018 This year's Deanery Synod was held in Reykjavik, hosted by Revd Bjarni Thor Bjarnasson in the Parish Hall of Reykjavik Cathedral. There were representatives from 6 of our 7 countries (sadly nobody was available from Estonia) along with Archdeacon Colin, Bishop David and his Chaplain, Frances Hiller, Liz Hudson, Communications Consultant for the Diocese and Canon Ulla Monberg, Director of Ministerial Development for the Diocese. Our Area Dean, Revd Nick Howe, welcomed everyone on Friday 14 September at 16:00, but there was a special welcome to Smitha, our Chaplain, since she was the only "new" member of the Deanery. Archdeacon Colin said a prayer. ~ 7 ~ The Synod started with a presentation, A Christian pragmatic response to climate change, by Dr. Solveig Anna Boasdottir, Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Iceland. This was most interesting and we hope to receive a bibliography from her, since there were many relevant books and papers which she mentioned. Next was tea, coffee and cake, followed by a group photo. Then we walked to the Cathedral to share in Evening Prayer led by our own Victoria. After this, we met up at Hallgrimskyrka and walked from there to the residence of the Rt Revd Bishop of Iceland, Agnes M. Sigurdardottir, for a dinner reception. It was extremely generous of her to invite around 40 virtual strangers to her home and she made us very welcome. Another group photo was taken while we were there. On Saturday we started with Morning Prayer at the Cathedral, led by Susan Boyd (our Diocesan rep and Safeguarding Trainer). This was followed by Bible Study on Justice, using Micah chapter 6 and Matthew's parable of the workers, led by Revd Jana Jeruma- Grinberga (Chaplain in Riga). Then it was time for the Lay Chapter meeting. We started with a quick round of introductions from which it transpired that there is a lot of fundraising going on around the Deanery. Then it was time to elect a new Deanery Secretary (there was no secretary last year, so we were hoping to find one this time). Our own ~ 8 ~ John Mills volunteered for the rest of the triennium (this year and next) and we were all very grateful. And a new Lay Chair will be required from next year, since Nigel Rowley has stood down from the Diocesan Synod and will therefore not be part of the Deanery Synod next year. Linda White from Trondheim in Norway volunteered and again we were all very grateful. The next item on the agenda was GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) and Nigel tried to use a presentation from Diocesan Synod. However, the technical side of things didn't work, so we are looking forward to receiving this presentation after the event. The general feeling is that we have all started work on this but are by no means finished. The Diocese tells us that what we really need is a plan, even if we haven't completed it.