Monday 6 January 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope this new year has begun well for you all. Let us remember that God is with us through all the joys and challenges that may lie ahead.

Tuesday 7th January, Thun Service
This Tuesday, TOMORROW, at 6pm, we will have our monthly Eucharist in Thun, at Chapelle Romande, Frutigenstrasse 22 (which is very near Thun station). Everyone is welcome.

Sunday, 12th January, All Age Eucharist with baptism
On Sunday, it is the festival of the Baptism of Christ.
We will also be baptising Summer.
Please pray for her parents, Marc and Zhanna, and her godmother, Charlotte.
This will be a very joyful occasion. Please join us and welcome Summer into the fellowship of the church.

Sunday 19th January, Open Forum
After the service on 19th January we will have an Open Forum on
Caring for the Environment: Practical Steps. This will be an opportunity to meet our new Eco Group, listen to personal stories and examples, share ideas and practical suggestions and ask questions.
There is more information in this link.

Saturday 25th January: St Ursula's Pop Up Market, 10:00 - 12:00
Why not book a stall at our Pop Up Market and sell second hand books, clothes and household items, gifts and accessories? Booking the stall costs 30CHF (going to St Ursula's funds), but the profit from what you sell is yours. This is a good way of decluttering. It is also more sustainable for the environment for us to buy second hand goods rather than new ones.
Alongside the stalls, there will be home baked goods on sale.
There is more information in this link.

Sunday 26th January: Ecumenical Service
On 26th January, there will be an ecumenical service in Bern, to mark the week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Usually this service is held in the Munster, but please note, this year it will be held in the French Church, Zeughausgasse 8, 3011 Bern (because there is scaffolding up in the Munster).
Please do come along to this ecumenical service as we worship with Christians of other traditions.
NB there will be no service at St Ursula's that Sunday.

A Prayer for our Journey
A new year has just begun. Let us pray for our journey of faith throughout this year. We do not travel alone, but together with all God's people. As Summer is baptised on Sunday, we remember our own baptism, and pray that God will strengthen us by his Spirit as we travel in faith together.

May God, who has received us by baptism into his Church,
pour upon us the riches of his grace,
that within the company of Christ's pilgrim people
we may daily be renewed by his anointing Spirit
and come to the inheritance of the saints in glory.
Amen.

With love in Christ,
Helen