27 February
Dear Friends,
Today a film crew were at our church – they were recording part of a big 30 hour-long documentary on Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation in the 2nd World War, and they wanted to feature our church. The producer is Steve McQueen, famous for his ’12 Years a Slave’ film. We were reminded of those terrible days of occupation and how the church was closed to its usual services and taken over by the Nazi garrison.
19 February
Dear Friends,
Here we are in the season of Lent, a time traditionally of fasting and when people ‘give things up’ – whether it’s chocolate or caffeine or some other ingredient of life which we enjoy. This year it seems a bit strange to be thinking in terms of giving up when so much has already been given up due to Covid-19. Life has been stripped enough of things that are pleasurable – we may be reluctant to give up more. The aim, however, of Lent is not just to give things up for the sake of it, but to try to draw a little closer to God – to deepen our spiritual life. And that is something that we can do, even in Covid.
13 February
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you and I hope you are enjoying the snow and ice and staying upright!
This coming week we embark on the season of Lent, the 6 week period that recalls Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness and that leads up to holy Week and Easter.
7 February
Greetings to you at the end of another week. I hope you have had a good week and kept safe.
A couple of things for your attention:
Firstly, good news: we have a new website!
31 January
Dear Friends,
Some of you will have been aware that last Wednesday, January 27th, was Holocaust Memorial Day, and we will be bearing this in mind in our prayers on Sunday. I notice that the theme for the Day this year was ‘Be the Light in the Darkness’ and here are some words from their website:
‘The utterly unprecedented times through which we are living currently are showing the very best of which humanity is capable but also… the much darker side of our world as well.
We can all stand in solidarity. We can choose to be the light in the darkness in a variety of ways and places – at home, in public, and online.’
24 January
Greetings to you at the end of this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity! Most years we mark this week with a service or some kind of gathering with the Lutheran, Mennonite and Roman Catholic churches on The Spui and Singel. This year, of course, we cannot do that but I draw your attention again to the prayer, below, that all 4 churches used in their worship last Sunday and will use again this Sunday.
17 January
Greetings to you once again and I hope this finds you well in the continued constraints of COVID-19. Due to the continuing danger churches are now being strongly urged not to have any ‘live’ singing at all in their services, and this means that this coming Sunday we will not be able to have the usual small group of singers to lead us. We may possibly have to make do with just the words of hymns on the screen and music accompaniment – if so, it simply means that you will all have to sing louder at home!
10 January
Greetings to you once again and I hope this finds you well.
This week we find ourselves in the season of the Christian year known as ‘Epiphany’ – a word which means ‘unveiling’ or ‘revealing’. The idea is that the passages of Scripture that we follow in this time reveal something of the truth of who the baby born in Bethlehem is. This Sunday the Gospel reading (which we will not be considering) describes the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.
03 January
Greetings to you in this first pastoral letter of 2021. I do hope that despite the restraints and limitations of COVID you managed to have a good Christmas.
In many of the greetings and messages I have received over the Christmas period people have commented that 2020 was a terrible year and expressed the hope that 2021 will be better.