CHURCH INFORMATION

Forthcoming Services - see CALENDAR OF SERVICES

NEWS/INFORMATION - LATEST

Donation Envelopes
Donation Envelopes dated weekly from 4 July 2010 to 26 June 2011 are available at the back of the Church for those unable to come to Church o­n a regular basis but who would still like to make an offering - see GIVING for more information.

Children's activities and coffee after the service restored in the hall below the chapel (conditionally)

Restoration of service
The Goeres group have been refurbishing the hall and are willing to let us use it regularly o­n Sunday mornings, but o­n condition that it will be treated well, and finally cleared up so that it can be ready for commercial use o­n Monday morning.

Supervision of children
Most of the time this is not a problem, but occasionally we have failures of supervision which put our whole arrangement at risk. Within weeks of using the new crèche room a group of older children, who should not have been there in the first place, had written o­n the white board and the walls using indelible felt tip pens. (It must have been older children because the tinies could not have reached that far.) This happened three years ago, and was dealt with at the time, but it has not been forgotten by our hosts, and was commented upon, negatively, by other people whom we have approached to ask whether we might use their rooms.
So it is very important that children are properly supervised by leaders while the activities are taking place, and after the activities children must be supervised by parents. (The writing o­n the wall happened after the activities were over.)
Our concern is not o­nly for the property; sometimes there have been accidents, and more recently children have been reported to be climbing the stairway from the other side of the banister, which seems particularly risky.

A gentle word of warning
If it seems that parents are not able or are unwilling to supervise their children adequately, then for the sake of the church as a whole, and the continuation of the children’s programme, the chaplain may need to ask the parents concerned to take their child away that particular Sunday, or if necessary indicate that they should not bring their children until they are ready to respect the way we do things. (This is part of our existing Childsafe Policy which parents agree to in writing when they bring their children to church.)

It's not always the children ... so simple biscuits o­nly from now o­n
Although not too many adults have been spotted sliding down the banister recently, adults do have a habit of not noticing that they have stood o­n a piece of chocolate, or spilled the icing sugar o­n their cup cake, or ground the crumbs from a sticky biscuit into the carpet.
In order to prevent this problem we ask those who prepare coffee to serve o­nly plain biscuits from now o­n. Although some people lovingly prepare absolutely splendid offerings, which are really appreciated, very often it is o­n these Sundays that we have the greatest of difficulties in cleaning the carpet afterwards.

A vital aspect of church life
Our children’s activities and the opportunity to meet after church are two vital elements of our church life. Please help us to ensure that we can maintain these important features by taking care with children, and with the coffee and biscuits.

New Council Member
The Church council is pleased to announce the election of Felix Rusere as a new member of the Council. Felix will serve in this capacity for a period of three years and we welcome him into this position.

Help for Haiti
See National Disasters - how to help in LINKS

NEWS/INFORMATION - 2010

Ascension Day Walk 2010
Some photos are now in the PHOTO GALLERY.
The walk was split into two groups. If anyone has photos of the second group please email them to the webmaster.

Annual General Meeting
The 2010 AGM took place at 8pm o­n Tuesday 16 March in the Clubhaus Am Becheler, Bereldange.
Church Reports submitted to the AGM are viewable here. The draft Minutes of the meeting, including the Chaplain's report, will be available to read here in due course.

Chris Sibson
Chris Sibson died peacefully in the morning of Friday 22nd January, after a long illness. This was really sad news. We all miss him very deeply indeed.
The funeral service for Chris, led by our Chaplains Chris and Joan Lyon and accompanied by our choir and organist, took place in the Parish Church of Bertrange o­n Tuesday 26th January at 2.30pm.
"Remembering Chris" by Justin Loasby during the service can be read here.
Please remember Ruth, David and Robert in your prayers.

Flu epidemics
The Chaplains have received guidelines from the Diocesan Office for the giving of communion should flu rise to pandemic conditions within Luxembourg.
Should any people receiving communion prefer to receive in o­ne kind (i.e. bread o­nly), they are free to choose to do so.
While communion in both kinds is the norm in the Church of England, when it is received in o­ne kind o­nly the fullness of the Sacrament is nonetheless received.
The full guidelines issued for swine flu are available to read here.

Who's who in Church - at a glance
A compilation of photos of church officials - see also PHOTO GALLERY

Mid-Week Communion Service - discontinued
This service of Holy Communion at 12.30pm o­n Wednesday has been discontinued owing to the very small gathering and o­n some occasions no congregation.

NEWS/INFORMATION - 2009

New Organ
The new Johannus Monarke organ has been purchased and installed in the Konvikt chapel beside the existing organ which remains in place. The new organ (see PHOTO GALLERY), although apparently a fixture, can in fact be relocated to another building without great difficulty should that ever become necessary. An article written about it for "352" by Alan Carlisle, our Director of Music, is here.

Diocesan Pastoral Conference
There is a group photo of Bishop Geoffrey and all who attended the conference, including our chaplains, Chris and Joan, here and in the PHOTO GALLERY

Climate Change
In the run-up to the crucial UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December, churches of many denominations all over Europe have focused in the September-October period o­n the theme of "Creation in Crisis - a time for prayer and action", including a Climate Change Day of Prayer o­n 4 October. This was a particular theme of our services o­n Sundays 27 September, 4 October and 11 October, our Harvest Festival. o­n 4 October a selection from mainly good news environmental stories was read during the service.
The Environmental Footprint Group (EFG) met the Chaplain and Assistant Chaplain to discuss the theological basis of thinking about the environment, and worked in earlier weeks o­n ideas for these services. For further details of the work of the EFG, or if you would like to be involved, please contact Philippa Seymour .
See also REGULAR EVENTS, Diocesan Environmental Policy and Diocesan Environmental Newsletter. For further reflection o­n environmental issues you may be interested in reading a shortened version of a lecture delivered in Southwark Cathedral by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, entitled The Ark and the Covenant. This was seen in the Tablet and submitted by Steve McCarthy who says "You will see that towards the end of the article Rowan Williams refers to CRAGs (Carbon Reduction Action Groups) - a bit like Weightwatchers I believe - to create some solidarity in reducing our personal carbon footprint. A possible way forward in Luxembourg, or perhaps such groups already exist here?"

Church Fair 2009 - see PAST EVENTS

Interfaith – ING Marathon
Joan, our Assistant Chaplain, ran as part of o­ne of the 4 person Interfaith Teams in the ING Marathon in Luxembourg o­n Saturday, 23 May 2009.
The Interfaith group (clergy of different faiths from all over Europe) is collecting donations for a project in Romania entitled “Healing of Memories”. The project works for reconciliation between different ethnic and religious groups in Romania. Donations from members of our congregation amounted to 311 euros.
Joan much appreciated the encouragement she received as she flew along the route – see PHOTO GALLERY / ING Marathon May 2009 for pictures of Joan, the Interfaith Teams and a 98 year old Sikh participant!

The Lyons and the Lambs
Article in Le Jeudi o­n 12 February 2009 - click here.

NEWS/INFORMATION - 2008

50th Anniversary celebrations - see PAST EVENTS.

Guest Preacher - Sunday, 23rd November 2008
At the 11am service o­n Sunday, 23rd November 2008, Father Michael Lapsley SSM, Director of the Institute for Healing of Memories, Cape Town, was our inspirational guest preacher - see PHOTO GALLERY.
Before this o­n Friday, 21st November, Father Lapsley held a conference entitled “Healing the aftermath of terror and tyranny” in the Jean Monnet building.

Council of Christian Churches in Luxembourg
Articles published o­n the Council's website (see Links) include several emanating from this Chaplaincy. Recent articles by the Rev'd Chris Lyon are "The English-Speaking Church Community 1958 - The Anglican Church of Luxembourg 2008" and "50 years of rejoicing in the questions".

Confirmations in 2008
At a special 9.30am service o­n Sunday 21st September 2008 Claire McAllister and Banji Lowo were confirmed by Bishop Geoffrey in time to take communion at the Anniversary service which followed at 11am.
On Sunday 6th April 2008 seven confirmation candidates were confirmed by Bishop David Hamid in a very personal and moving service. Bishop David's sermon is here for those who missed it.
Photos of all the confirmands with the Bishop and Chaplain are in the PHOTO GALLERY for April and September.

Wedding of Svetla and Charles
The wedding of Svetla Stoeva and Charles Macdonald (former Young Adults' Group members) took place o­n 1st March 2008 at St Francis Bay, South Africa and was conducted by our Assistant Chaplain, the Rev'd Joan Lyon - see PHOTO GALLERY.

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AT CHURCH

3-5 'All Stars', 6-8 'Comets', 9+ 'Galaxies': These three groups start in the chapel with their families and then go downstairs to the hall with the Sunday School Leaders and Helpers. The Leaders and Helpers bring them back into the chapel to join their families in time for communion. At this point the children are the responsibility of their parents.

Sunday School Library
Please encourage your child to continue their Christian Education at home with you by helping them select books from our Sunday School Library. It is available every Sunday morning downstairs during the refreshment time.

Sunday 26th September 2010
- End of Month Congregational Lunch at 1pm - see REGULAR EVENTS

OCTOBER

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NON-CHURCH CHARITY EVENTS

IOP Orphanage Fund-Raising Evening
A presentation was given in the Salle Maria Rheinsheim, Konvikt Centre, o­n 22 October 2009 by Alexandra Thompson, a church member, and Tom Clarke, who spent two months in the summer working at the Orphanage in Tanzania. It was a great evening with over 100 people who enjoyed food, handcrafts, photos and an excellent presentation from both Alexandra and Tom. Proceeds go to the Orphanage. Photos in the PHOTO GALLERY.

"Down Right Kenya" was an epic bicycle rally which passed through Luxembourg en route from England to Kenya - 10 cyclists, 10,000km, goal £60,000 for educational project Harambee Schools Kenya. They were with us o­n Sunday, 28 September 2008 to display their cycling gear and there was an evening reception o­n Monday, 29 Sept in the Salle Maria-Rheinsheim at which the team gave an interesting presentation and answered questions, and were wished well in their endeavour by the British Ambassador, Peter Bateman - see photo. See Andrew Edmondston-Low's account of their Luxembourg visit and a map of their journey here.
The teams arrived safely at their destination in Kenya which you can read about here and see some excellent photos to prove it.

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CHORAL & MUSIC NEWS

Hymns for August

- to be announced here

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New Organ
The new Johannus Monarke organ has now been purchased and installed in the Konvikt chapel beside the existing organ which remains in place. The new organ (see PHOTO GALLERY), although apparently a fixture, can in fact be relocated to another building without great difficulty should that ever become necessary. An article written about it for "352" by Alan Carlisle, our Director of Music, is here.

Archidiaconal Choir Festival 2008
The annual Archidiaconal Choir Festival took place in 2008 in Luxembourg, at the Parish Church in Howald o­n Saturday, 31 May. During the day choir members from various Benelux churches, plus Düsseldorf, practised together under the able leadership of Matthew Owens, Director of Music at Wells Cathedral.

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Senior Choir
If you enjoy music and value the contribution that our Choir makes to our worship, then please consider joining it! We are looking especially for sopranos and contraltos, but extra singers in all sections would be very welcome.

Junior Choir
If you are aged 9 or over and would like to join the Junior Choir, please speak to any member of the Choir, write to Edward Seymour or leave a message o­n 35 90 97.