Thursday 5 May 2022

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is very good to be back here in Bern after a very enjoyable time away in the UK. David and I were able to see lots of family and friends, celebrate two birthdays and our wedding anniversary, and do three good hikes in the Lake District in sunny weather! It was a wonderful break and I am very grateful to Elizabeth Bussmann for taking the services and to Martin and Sue and others who kept things going while I was away.

I look forward to seeing many of you on Sunday, 8th May. We are privileged, this Sunday, to have Mary Hawes with us. Mary is the Children and Youth Adviser for the Church of England. She is leading a day at St Ursula's on children's work this Saturday and she will also be preaching and giving a children's talk on Sunday.

Online Provision
If you can't join us in person on Sunday, you will be able to find the text of the service online here: Service Resources at St Ursula's Church, Berne. There will also be an audio recording of the sermon taken during the service and put on the website afterwards here: https://www.stursula.ch/Sermons/index.

Peace Prayers in the Haus der Religionen
On Sunday, May 8th, 5pm there will be special prayers for peace for Ukraine. A Greek Catholic priest from Ukraine will be taking part in the prayers. Everyone is welcome.

Hosting Ukrainian Refugees
I know that some members of the congregation have registered to host refugees if that is needed. If anyone else is interested in doing this, you can find out more details here: https://campax.org/standwithukraine-infos-fur-helfende/

Coffee
Many of us have missed having coffee together after the Sunday service. We would like to re-introduce it. However, we are very short of volunteers to do this. So if you appreciate having coffee after the service, please consider joining a team of volunteers to organise it. If we don't get any volunteers we will not be able to offer coffee. If you would like to do this, please email the office and give your name.

After Church Discussion
After the service on 15th May, there will be an opportunity to reflect on the readings and the sermon and what they have to say to us today as individuals and as a church. Everyone is welcome.

Rejoice and Be Thankful
I have been thinking a lot in recent times about the call to rejoice in the Lord always, to find joy in the love of God no matter what external circumstances we face, and to discipline ourselves to be thankful for all his gifts. I often go back to a joyful poem of thankfulness for the gift of life, written by E.E. Cummings. He uses language in a striking way, sometimes putting words in a strange order, to get our attention. The whole poem is one of awe and wonder.

'i thank You God for most this amazing'

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any - lifted from the no
of all nothing - human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

With love in Christ,
Helen