Wednesday 19 March 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It has been good to meet together for Morning Prayer online with some of you over these last couple of weeks. Anyone is welcome to join us. The details are below.

Morning Prayer (online)
During Lent, we are saying Morning Prayer together at 8.30am, Monday - Thursday, via Zoom. If you would like to know more about this, please do ask me. There is a Zoom link.

Spring Sale
Our Spring Sale is THIS Saturday, 22nd March, 10am - 2pm. This will include our book stall, British food stall, and cake stall. The cafe will be open for coffee, cakes and snacks. Home baked cakes are very welcome! Do come along and bring your friends.
You can find more information here.

Earth Hour
Also this Saturday...22nd March, 8.30pm - 9.30pm, is Earth Hour. People all over the world will be switching off electric lights and other electrical equipment to raise awareness of climate change.
We will be offering an Earth Hour Liturgy in church (by candlelight) which will include readings, Taize songs, time for prayer, and sharing our Eco actions this Lent. Please arrive by 8.20pm that evening so that you are seated with a candle etc before the lights are switched off!
I will send out the liturgy on Saturday morning in case anyone wants to do it at home.
If you want to know more about the history of Earth Hour you can find more information here.

Lent Eco Challenge
The Eco Group is offering a Lent Eco Challenge. The details of this are in our recent Eco newsletter. If you would like to know more about this and other activities/resources, do sign up to the Eco Newsletter, here.

St Ursula's Annual General Meeting, THIS Sunday, 23rd March
After our service this Sunday, we will hold our AGM. This is a very important meeting when we elect our Church Wardens and Council members. We also review the past year and look ahead to the coming year. Please do attend this meeting if you can.

 Looking further ahead...
Archdeaconry Chrism Service
On Monday 14th April, 11.30am, the Anglican Chaplains of Switzerland will gather for a Eucharist at St Ursula's to renew their ordination vows. The service also includes the blessing of the oils used in baptism, confirmation and for healing. The service will be led by our new Suffragan Bishop, Andrew Norman. You are welcome to attend the service, but please do let me know if you would like to come by Monday 7th April.

For Reflection: Less is More
I leave you with some words of Pope Francs from his Encyclical Letter on Caring for our Common Home. I will read this passage at the Earth Hour Liturgy on Saturday:

'Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption. We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religious traditions and also in the Bible. It is the conviction that "less is more". A constant flood of new consumer goods can baffle the heart and prevent us from cherishing each thing and each moment. To be serenely present to each reality, however small it may be, opens us to much greater horizons of understanding and personal fulfilment. Christian spirituality proposes a growth marked by moderation and the capacity to be happy with little. It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack. This implies avoiding the dynamic of dominion and the mere accumulation of pleasures.'

With love in Christ,
Helen