Tuesday 13 June 2024

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I know that some of you missed Mission Sunday last week. After the service we had a very brief slide show (only 5 minutes) with brief details about the charities we support at St Ursula's. We give 10% of our income away to charities. If you would like to know more about the charities you can watch the brief presentation here.

House Groups
I am delighted that our House Groups in Bern have now started.
There are two groups in Bern: one meeting on Tuesday evenings and one on Thursday evenings.
There will also be a group meeting (monthly) in Thun. We do not have a start date for this group yet. If you haven't expressed an interest before, but would now like to know more about these house groups, please do let me know.

African Social Event, Saturday 6th July
We will be holding an African Social Event, Saturday 6th July, 11:30 -15:00. Here is a flyer.
The event will be organised by several members of our congregation from Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. Come and enjoy delicious food and music, and find out about life and faith in these countries. Entrance is free, but donations are welcome.
Everyone is welcome, but numbers may be limited,
If you would like to come you MUST let the office know by 30th June.

James Morgan's Ordination
James will be ordained deacon at Holy Trinity, Brussels on Sunday 30th June. Please pray for him as he prepares for this service and his subsequent training and ministry as a curate at St Ursula's, and for my role as training incumbent. Please also pray for Lilian and all the family.
We will welcome James as our curate on Sunday 7th July, when James will preach and we will have a celebratory glass of wine after the service.

Malcolm and Maggie Guite
When David and I are away in the summer (22nd July - 5th August), Canon Maggie Guite will be taking the services. While they are here Malcolm Guite (whose poems I often include at the end of my email messages) has offered to do a Songs and Sonnets Evening at St Ursula's, Friday 2nd August. I will send out more details about this in due course. I am delighted that Malcolm and Maggie (who are good friends of ours) will be coming to St Ursula's and I have no doubt you will enjoy their time with you and be greatly enriched by all they offer.

The Crucified God
Jürgen Moltmann, one of the most significant Protestant theologians of our time, died on Monday 3rd June, at the age of 98. Dr. Moltmann spent most of his career as a professor at the University of Tübingen. He wrote many influential books. His life long quest was to make sense of suffering in the light of his own experiences as a young teenage conscript in the Second World War. He writes:

'I remember in July 1943, watching bombs rain down all round me in my hometown, Hamburg. Eighty thousand people were killed in one week as a result of that bombing. Somehow, miraculously, I survived unscathed. To this day I do not know why I am not dead like my comrades. My question in that inferno was not 'why is God letting this happen?' but rather 'God where are you?'

His quest for an answer to that question eventually resulted, many years later, in his writing the book The Crucified God. In that book, he ponders Jesus' words on the cross: 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' He writes: 'on the cross, God is forsaken by God so that he can become the God of the God-forsaken'. This means that God is with us in the very depths of our suffering. In the face of great suffering, Moltmann suggests: 'only the suffering God can help.'

With love in Christ,
Helen