Wednesday 26 July 2023

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

It was good to be back in church last Sunday and to see many of you. I hope to catch up with more of you this coming Sunday. David and I very much enjoyed our break in the UK seeing family and friends. I am very thankful to Revd David Williams for taking the services while we were away. Thank you for making David and Gaynor so welcome; they very much enjoyed their time in Bern.

I hope that many of you are able to enjoy a break over these summer months.

Lectio Divina
On Thursday mornings, 10:30-11:15am a group of us meet online to meditate on a short Bible passage and share our reflections. This is a personal engagement with Scripture rather than a discussion. It is a wonderful opportunity for silence and stillness, nourishment and encouragement. Those who regularly take part in this value it immensely. Perhaps some of you have a bit more time over this holiday period and would like to join us? Ask Helen for the link.

Online Bible Studies
We hope to start these up again on Tuesday 22nd August, 19:00-20:00, via zoom. More details to follow in due course

Children's Activity Day, 'Creation Fun' 26th August
On Saturday, 26th August, we will be running a children's activity day on the theme of creation. This is organised jointly by St Ursula's and the Anglican Chaplaincy in Zurich. It will be held here at St Ursula's, 10:30am-3:00pm. We welcome children aged 3-16. Children under 6 will need to have a parent with them.

NB. The official date for registation has now passed and we have a good number of children attending. However if anyone is very keen for their child to attend, please do let me know.

There are many different events and activities coming up later in August and September which are outlined in the church magazine which will be produced this week. Please do pray for these events. Please especially pray for Laetiticia, Leo, Nico and Chloe who will be baptised on Sunday 13th August, for Revd Claire Finlay who will be on placement with us from 19th August, for our children's Activity Day on 26th August, our Council Day Away on 3rd September, and our Confirmation service on 10th September. I will give more details about these upcoming events in my email messages in due course.

The Sacrament of the Present Moment
I have recently been re-reading a spiritual classic called Abandonment to Divine Providence written by the early 18th century French Jesuit, Jean-Pierre de Caussade. He teaches that we need to be open to God's will and God's grace in our lives at every moment. Rather than looking for special spiritual experiences, we need to recognise that God's grace is at work in the most ordinary, and even tedious, situations, and that we are called to abandon ourselves to his will.

He says:

'God speaks to every individual through what happens to them moment by moment...The events of each moment are stamped with the will of God...we find all that is necessary in the present moment.'

'We are bored with the small happenings around us, yet it is these trivialities – as we consider them – which would do marvels for us if only we did not despise them.'

'If we have abandoned ourselves to God, there is only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment.'

'The simplest sermons, the most ordinary conversations and the most trivial books can become, through God's will, sources of knowledge and wisdom. This is why self-abandoned souls always carefully gather up the crumbs which the proud tread underfoot, for everything is precious to them and there is nothing which does not enrich them.'

May we respond to God's love in Christ through the joys, struggles, duties and demands which come to us in each present moment.

With love in Christ,
Helen