Wednesday 12 January 2022

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well and in good heart in these difficult times.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday, 16th. We will be providing Junior Church and Creche and we look forward to having our families with us. Please remember to bring your certificate and ID with you. (If you have not been vaccinated, you can instead bring an up to date negative test result.)

If you are not able to be with us at church, you can follow the service online at Service Resources at St Ursula's Church, Berne.
As always, we are very grateful to Hector, Martin and Art for all their hard work.

Lectio Divina
We meet every Thursday, 10.30am via zoom, to reflect quietly on a short passage of Scripture and then share our thoughts together. It is a time of spiritual refreshment and encouragement. Why not come and join us? Please let me know if you would like more details.

Sunday 23rd January, there will an Ecumenical Service at the Munster, at 10am. There will be NO service at St Ursula's that Sunday as everyone is encouraged to attend the ecumenical service. The liturgy will be in the Old Catholic tradition and the preacher will be a leader from The Salvation Army.

On Saturday 22nd January, 5.30pm, I will be taking a Eucharist at the Old Catholic Church in Olten (in English!). Anyone is welcome.

Study Sessions
We are starting up our online study sessions on Tuesday, 25th January, 7- 8.15pm.. beginning a series of sessions looking at the Creed. We spend 2 minutes saying the Creed every Sunday, but what does it all mean and what relevance does it have to us? These study sessions will usually be held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month. Everyone is welcome.

Memorial Service for Niklaus Weibel
This will be in church, 2.30pm, Friday 28th January. This is an opportunity to give thanks for Niklaus' life, to commend him to God, and to pray for Adoree and the family. We will need to know numbers, so if you would like to attend this service, please let the office know by Monday 24th January.

Philosophy and Faith
Isabelle Wienand, who teaches ethics and philosophy of medicine at the University of Basel, will lead an informal conversation on the relationship between Christian faith and philosophy after church on Sunday 30 January. This will be based on a short chapter from a book, in French, by the Catholic philosopher Denis Moreau. The meeting will be in Church House, with certificate required, and numbers are limited. If you'd like to read this chapter and take part in the conversation, please email David Marshall at revdem63@yahoo.co.uk.

Cross in the Garden
For several months now, we have had a large cross in the church garden. Thank you to Brian who made it. The council will make a decision soon whether to put up a more permanent cross, but first we would like to ask for feedback from the congregation. If you would like to express your view, please send a message to feedback@stursula.ch

Last Sunday we focused on the baptism of Christ. You might like to ponder this poem:

The Baptism of Christ
Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-one;
The river runs, the clouds are torn apart,
The Father speaks, the Spirit and the Son
Reveal to us the single loving heart
That beats behind the being of all things
And calls and keeps and kindles us to light.
The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings,
'You are my beloved, you are my delight!'
In that swift light and life, as water spills
And streams around the Man like quickening rain,
The voice that made the universe reveals
The God in Man who makes it new again.
He calls us too, to step into that river,
To die and rise and live and love forever.
(Malcolm Guite)

With love in Christ,
Helen