On 5 January a cyclone hit the east coast of Madagascar, causing extensive damage in many places, especially in the settlement of Foulpointe which had already been devastated by a hurricane and fire the year before. Our church with its charitable associations ACAS and ACAMA is involved in supporting the Anglican community in Foulpointe so that the church building may be reconstructed, and homes built for the many church members who have literally lost the roofs over their heads. Foulpointe is the site where Anglican missionaries first set foot in Madagascar in 1863.
Worship Leader Voahangy Ramananjatovo writes:
“Nous sommes rentrés (de Madagascar) avec beaucoup de peine en laissant la famille et les malagasy là bas. Mais encouragés, car ils vivent avec beaucoup de difficultés: pollution manque d’hygiène, d’eau, malnourris, pauvreté extrême… et nous ici avons la chance de pouvoir partager, de prier pour que les malagasy vivent avec décence.”
On 17 March at 16.00h ACAMA, the charitable association of the Malgache Anglicans, is organising a Soirée Recreative at the Salle de Fêtes of the Muensterhof, 9 rue des Juifs, Strasbourg. All are invited to come and enjoy the company, music and good food of our Malgache church members and to give generously to support the community in Foulpointe.
Last year St. Alban’s charitable organisation, ACAS, was able to donate €500 to enable rebuilding of the Anglican church at Foulpointe to continue. These recent photos show what progress has been made – and how much still needs to be done.
We are meeting on the Tuesdays of Lent for an exploration of the essential meaning and purpose of Mark’s Gospel. Join us this Tuesday 6 March,19h00 – 20h30, at the chaplaincy flat, 12 avenue de la Forêt Noire (nearest tram stop Gallia, trams C, E, F, nearest bus stop Brant Université, bus n°. 10, 15a, 30, 72).
. ‘A Gospel of silences, of misunderstandings, of indirect and teasing communication,’ writes Rowan Williams in his book “Meeting God in Mark”, ‘but this is not for the sake of making things difficult in an arbitrary or unkind way. It is to remind us that if it’s the true God who is speaking and being spoken about in this book, this God… is at the ground of everything.’
Please join us for this fascinating study. We will finish by saying Compline together.
Sunday 25 February: Restart of Early Call Prayer Breakfast.
We begin at 8h45 chez les Cowley, 5 rue de Londres (Esplanade, trams C, E or F; bus L1) with coffee and croissants. Breakfast is followed by a Bible reflection and informal and silent prayers for the people and work of St Alban’s and the world. We finish in time to arrive early for the Sunday Eucharist. Praying together is a vital part of the life and mission of our church. Come join us.
Un temps de rencontre et de partage entre nos paroisses de voisinage
Dernier Appel!! Des groupes se forment avec la participation des différentes paroisses pour se retrouver autour d’une table (apéro, déjeuner, goûter …) afin de faire connaissance et d’avoir une occasion de partager la façon dont chacun(e) vit sa foi dans sa tradition d’église. Ça vous intéresse? Contactez Mark pour plus d’information. Groups are presently being formed, drawn from different neighbourhood churches, that would meet from time to time for a drink, a meal etc. to get to know one another and to share how we each live out our faith in our various church traditions. Interested? Contact Mark for more details.
Lent is a season of prayer, penitence and conversion in the life of the Church. Let us pray for one another, as we prepare for the Easter Feast.
Le Carême est une saison de prière, de pénitence et de conversion dans la vie de l’Église. Prions les uns pour les autres, alors que nous nous préparons pour la fête de Pâques.
Lent is an important season for the deepening of our faith. Beginning on Tuesday 20th February Fr. Mark and others will lead us through an exploration of the essential meaning and purpose of Mark’s Gospel. We will meet for five consecutive Tuesdays 19.00 – 20.30h at the new Chaplaincy flat, 12 ave. de la Forêt Noire (nearest tram stop Gallia, trams C, E, F, nearest bus stop Brant Université, bus n°. 10, 15a, 30, 72), ending with Compline. Rowan Williams’ book, Meeting God in Mark, will be our guide.
The World Day of Prayer is over one hundred years old and is celebrated in almost all the countries of the world. This year it has been prepared by women from Surinam, and their motto is: “Voilà, cela était très bon!”.
On Friday 2 March at 15h an ecumenical service will take place at the Église méthodiste SION, Place Benjamin Zix in La Petite France (Bus n° 10, Arrêt St Thomas-Finkwiller, Tram A ou D, Arrêt Grand’rue). This service in Strasbourg has been prepared by women from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran and Reformed churches and from the Salvation Army.
All women and men are welcome to attend the service and stay on afterwards for a “verre d’amitié” to meet fellow-Christians from other churches.
Trois soirées de conférence de d’échange en collaboration avec d’autres églises du voisinage: les paroisses catholique de l’Esplanade, de St-Maurice et St-Bernard et la paroisse protestante de St-Matthieu.
Jeudi 15 février: Dieu est-il juste ? La justice selon la Bible.
Jeudi 22 février: Juger selon la justice ?
Jeudi 22 mars: Juger, restaurer, guérir: la justice restaurative.
For over forty years every springtime, members of the Anglican chaplaincies in Heidelberg, Strasbourg and on occasions Stuttgart meet at the Protestant retreat centre “Liebfrauenberg” in Alsace for a residential study weekend with a special topic and speaker. This is an opportunity in Lent for some serious study of aspects of our Christian faith, as well a chance to meet old friends and make new ones, to worship, walk, talk, enjoy leisurely meals, relax and have a break. There is even a trip to a nearby village on Saturday evening for tarte flambée. Families are welcome. If there are at least four children there will be a programme for them.
Our Topic this year – Prayer
Our Speaker The Rev’d Paul Skirrow writes: “‘The study content for this weekend will be in four parts:
Why do we pray? How do we pray? (two sessions) What do we pray?
Some find prayer difficult; a nightmare, a struggle, a chore … yet in working at it we can find it a wonderful, life-giving gift from God. Hard or easy prayer unites us with God, with each other and with God’s world. Prayer can happen in many forms, and we cannot claim that one is better than the other. Meditation; contemplation; spiritual exercises; formal prayer from prayer books; prayer using words; images and symbols; prayer which demands self-emptying of words and ideas – the possibilities are endless. Some of these options will be examined and tried during the weekend. We will gather for morning and evening prayers/compline each day and will celebrate the Eucharist on Saturday and Sunday.”
Anny’s wonderful talents have given us this year an excellent charity calendar and under her wise management, the bredele baking team has had its best production year so far.
With grateful thanks to all those lovely people who participated recently in the baking and/or packaging sessions, I’d like to confirm that our best crop of Bredele yet will be available for sale after Church on the Sundays in Advent while stocks last.
There have been some minor breakages and so today during the packaging session we tasted the quality of the varieties (well somebody has to!!) and we could confirm that the biscuits are absolutely delicious this year.
So do come with a generous heart and help ACAS, your church charity association, with plentiful purchases.
The baking team at work – and the result.
PS: Bredele, for newcomers, are spicy tasty biscuits that are baked during Advent in Alsace and are an indispensible ingredient of an Alsatian Christmas. Anny Samuels is an accomplished Bredele artist.
I am pleased to invite you to the next women’s bible study and end of year pot luck dinner on Friday 8 December. A big thank you to Murielle Richardson who is hosting us at their home – 16 rue St Louis, 1st floor. (Bus 10 ‘St Thomas’, Tram ‘Porte de l’hôpital’ or ‘Grand’Rue’). Please bring along a main dish or dessert/drink.
We will begin with an amusing but not serious quiz (we all get to ask a question, I will supply them). We will then listen to a couple of personal testimonies and briefly reflect on some of the studies we’ve done in 2017.
It promises to be a fun and relaxing evening so I hope to see as many women come along. Feel free to bring a friend along too.
