May 2014

(nr. 143)

MAGAZINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN HAARLEM

Church The Anglican Church of St. Anna & St. Mary

Kinderhuissingel 74, 2013 AV HAARLEM

Priest-in-charge Vacant (if a locum priest is in residence the telephone number is 023 547 37 60, otherwise please contact the Secretary 020 645 71 03)

Reader Jaap Theunisz, Tel: 023 537 42 42 Rijksstraatweg 541-III, 2025 DE HAARLEM

Warden Martin van Bleek, Tel: 023 542 21 33 Pieter Kiesstraat 76, 2013 BK HAARLEM

Warden Annelies Dix-Swart, Tel: 023 529 12 06 Heemsteedse Dreef 175, 2101 KD HEEMSTEDE

Secretary Rob Uittenbosch, Tel: 020 645 71 03 Groenhof 260, 1186 GE AMSTELVEEN

e-mail: rob.uittenbosch@12move.nl

Organist & Martin van Bleek, Tel: 023 542 21 33

Choirmaster Pieter Kiesstraat 76, 2013 BK HAARLEM

Lifeline Editor Philip Whittaker, Tel: 0341 45 35 07 Schaapskamp 7, 3849 PS HIERDEN

e-mail: phwhittaker@cs.com

Website www.anglican-church-haarlem.nl

The Anglican Church in Haarlem (Anglican-Episcopal) is part of the NW Europe

Archdeaconry within the Diocese in Europe. It seeks to serve all English speaking

people in the Haarlem area.

All payments, donations, general, missions, subscriptions to Lifeline (€12.50/year),

please to: Bank nr: NL87 INGB 0000 5776 41, Church of England Haarlem

indicating purpose of payment (donation, mission, Lifeline, etc.)

Lifeline contains the official Haarlem chaplaincy news and various articles. However, the views expressed in these articles are not necessarily those of the Chaplaincy or the Editor.

All issues of Lifeline can be found on http://www.anglican-church-haarlem.nl/category/all/lifelines/

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Chaplaincy letter

Dear Friends

Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! rang out the Easter shout in our Church community in Haarlem, as in so many throughout the world, as we once again praised God for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

We went on to light our Easter candles thinking of the new light coming once more, and to renew again our baptismal vows before breaking bread and sharing wine together in our Eucharist. What a marvellous way to come out of the depths of Good Friday, yes with its beautiful music, when we thought of Jesus giving himself for us on that Cross of Calvary, and to start to look forward in these great fifty days as we prepare ourselves once more to allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be renewed in us at Pentecost.

It makes me ponder as I wonder what this will mean for our chaplaincy here in Haarlem – a locum priest leaves; another comes - but no continuity of priestly ministry in a small chaplaincy which needs stability to grow and to survive. Yet what a good time to think about the future – a time when as the Church we think about the risen Christ appearing to the disciples to encourage them and prepare them to be without him yet to have that great gift of the Spirit to be with them always.

There will be ups and downs as this chaplaincy of St Anna and St Mary think about and plan for the future, indeed this has already begun. We sat together at the Annual Meeting just a short while ago and heard the report of the ‘think tank’. Gert Dammer, Andrew Kearney and Martin van Bleek shared with us a vision for the future putting the chaplaincy on a sound financial footing which in time would not just allow for a chaplain on a small part stipend but would see this grow to a full stipend and perhaps even one in time including pension contributions. Not something which will happen overnight but a goal to aim for in the future. For this to happen there needs to be ‘ownership’ – ownership of a plan which all can accept and back, and to allow this to happen all church members must come and share their thoughts and concerns, and continue to feel a part of the decision making process. How good it is to know that the first of one of these meetings will be taking place as this magazine is published.

This chaplaincy has much to offer to the life of the Anglican Church here in The Netherlands. It has a distinct contribution to make within its liturgy and not least its music, and this is something which must be built on. There is also a distinct ecumenical contribution to be made working with Fr Mattijs and the Old Catholic Community, showing that more can be achieved

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together than apart, as we saw during Holy Week. In time, we pray, a new chaplain will be appointed. It is likely, with the financial resources available at present, that this person will be retired or semi-retired and not Archangel Gabriel in the form of a married person in their forties with two children which all may prefer! Whoever may come will need support as they take up the reins of leadership into whatever God may will for his people of the Anglican Church here in Haarlem.

As Barbara and I leave you may we thank you for your many kindnesses to us. This is a special place and you will all remain in our hearts and in our prayers. May God bless you all.

Fr Alan

Lent Discussion Group 2014

This year the Lent Discussion Group followed the York course called “Build on the Rock - Faith, doubt - and Jesus” during the 5 weeks leading up to Easter. The course consisted of an introductory booklet with discussion questions and a CD plus script with interesting contributions by speakers from different church backgrounds. In total there were 10 participants, not all together, but an average of between 5 to 8 people each session. We were very pleased to welcome our locum chaplain Fr. Alan Woods and his wife Barbara. It was inspiring and encouraging to be able to discuss and share our faith together.

Diana Dammer

Vacancy matters

As you all know we have a vacancy once more here in Haarlem which

is likely to go on for at least nine months and during this time the

churchwardens are responsible, as the Bishop’s Officers, for ensuring

that the life and witness of the Chaplaincy continue as normally as

possible. We rely on locum priests and other local clergy to provide a

priestly ministry, but this does not mean we will always have a priest

we can call on immediately. The vacancy began on 1 March and as

you know Fr. Alan and Barbara Woods have been with us until Easter

Tuesday. We are very grateful for their ministry with us during the

time of Lent and Holy Week and their participation in the Lent

discussions.

Our next locum will be Fr.Tim Brooke together with his wife Gill and

we welcome Fr. Tim on Thursday 8 May and Gill on Wednesday

14 May. They will be with us until Wednesday 28 May.

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We are sure there will be times when parishioners feel they need some

pastoral care and are not sure where to turn. Obviously if there is a

locum priest there will be no problem and he may be contacted at the

Chaplaincy apartment on 023 5473760. However, during periods

when we are without a locum, if you have any requests please contact

Annelies Dix, Martin van Bleek or Jaap Theunisz. We will be able to

arrange visits, either to bring Holy Communion to you at home or just

be with you to pray or help in any other way. It is important to realise

that this can only happen if you ask, and we shall be pleased to try to

meet all requests. Although we may not have a permanent priest for

a while, it is crucial that your spiritual needs are met.

During the months of July and August we will not have a locum and will

rely on visiting clergy and our Reader Jaap Theunisz, who will take read

a Service of Evening Prayer on Sundays during the first half of August.

Our Archdeacon Canon Meurig Williams will be meeting with the Church

Council on Tuesday 7 May in order to finalise various Vacancy matters

so that we will be able to proceed with the search for and appointment

of a new chaplain.

At our AGM on 6 April Gert Dammer, Andrew Kearney and Martin van

Bleek presented the results of the Think Tank to those present and

unfolded the ideas for the future of Haarlem Church. There will be

another chance to hear about these plans as we will present the plan

for a second time after the service on 4 May. This session will last no

longer than an hour. There will also be an opportunity to ask

questions. We also hope to present some plans for the immediate

future which we can work on. If you were not able to be at the AGM,

this is an opportunity to hear about the plans first hand.

At this time we would also like to take the opportunity of

congratulating Jaap and Addy on their marriage which took place so

recently on 2 May in our church. The service was an ecumenical one,

with major contributions from both the Anglican and the Old Catholic

churches, together with readings by friends from other

denominations. We are sure they feel truly blessed.

Do get in touch with us if you have any queries or are in need of

pastoral care and we will do our best to help. In the meantime your

thoughts and prayers for the work of the Church Council and the

future of Haarlem Church are most necessary and much appreciated!

Annelies Dix & Martin van Bleek, Wardens

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Music Matters

The Lord is risen, He is risen indeed! Alleluia! With those words the Pascal candle was carried into church on Easter Sunday, a joyous service after the devotional service on Good Friday, with its poignant words and music.

It was a joy to have Fr. Alan Woods and his wife Barbara with us during Lent and Holy Week. On Good Friday we used a more modern version of the Cross of Christ, the RSCM service with its readings and music for Good Friday. This year we introduced the moving anthem ‘All go unto one place’ by Samuel S. Wesley. Other music included The Reproaches by John Sanders and a version of ‘Ubi caritas’ by John Barnard. The readings led us through the Passion story leading up to the crucifixion. Although it turned out to be a long service, the atmosphere was such that no-one noticed the passage of time.

The evening before we had taken part in the Maundy Thursday service with the Old Catholic congregation with Fr. Alan celebrating the Eucharist. At the end of the service the sanctuary was stripped and after the final Gospel read by the light of one candle all of us left in silence.

Our Easter Eucharist was a joyous service celebrating the resurrection. Fr. Alan introduced various new elements into our Easter service, including the renewal of our baptismal vows from the font. At the end of the service all the members of the congregation received the now traditional Cadbury’s cream egg (provided by A Taste of Home on the Gedempte Oude Gracht)! For both services Fr. Alan and Barbara had prepared a service booklet which was appreciated by the congregation, and which we can use in the years to come.

A big thank you to all the choir members and James Pollard for their hard work in preparing for these services.

On Saturday 10 May we join members of other choirs in the Archdeaconry for the annual Choral Festival at Holy Trinity Brussels. This is a theme service celebrating the Holy Trinity, and will be conducted by Matthew Beetschen from Dunblane cathedral, who is also RSCM Area Chairman for Scotland. As advance notice, Haarlem will be hosting the 2015 Choral Festival, which will be a Choral Evensong.

On Sundays 29 June and 31 August we will be singing Choral Evensong in our own church.

As part of the European Cathedral Singers we will be singing the services in Gloucester Cathedral from 4 - 10 August. If you are in the neighbourhood please join us there for a service. Thursday will be our day off. We have already heard from various people that they will be in the area!

Also with the European Cathedral Singers we will sing our annual Choral Evensong in the Grote of St. Bavokerk on Sunday evening 24 August at 7 pm.

More news of the summer activities in the next issue of Lifeline.

Martin A. van Bleek, Organist and choirmaster

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Back to Haarlem Fr. Tim Brooke

I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone in Haarlem again. Our stay in April - May 2011 was one of the best locum-visits we have

ever had. This time I am with you from 8 to 28 May.

I am sorry that our stay this time cannot be longer. One of the challenges of belonging to a musical (except me) family is to provide a

two-person fan-club for our children whenever possible. The weekend before I arrive we hear our son Peter singing in one of the first operas

written, and the weekend after our daughter Anna is taking part in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

My wife Gill will not be joining me until 14 May as she has taken on a

new voluntary job as membership secretary of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral, where we worship, and she has to attend their eightieth

anniversary dinner.

Our biggest adventure since we were last here was a visit to Tanzania

in 2012 to see a very worthwhile project to support nurses on

motorbikes in a remote part of the country where I used to be teacher. It involved our travelling nearly a thousand miles on a wide variety of

buses! Since then I have been giving slide presentations to mainly Rotary Clubs to raise funds for the cost of fuel and maintenance of

these bikes. The project is now almost ten years old.

Most health-care in rural areas in Africa is delivered not by doctors but

by nurses. They need to get out to villages, and since four -wheel drive

vehicles are expensive and bicycles are too slow, motorbikes are ideal. The local Anglican Church has six, paid for by supporters in Britain. Gill

and I went to meet the riders. Magdalena was one of them: ‘I was the first woman in the area to ride a motorcycle’, she told us. ‘A lot of

people know me because of the motorcycle. They know I come from

the Diocese. They believe in me’. She added: ‘The ladies are very happy to see a woman riding a motorcycle. They were thinking it is

only men who can ride’. She rings ahead on her mobile phone to say she is coming. After she has treated the urgent cases, she deals with

any with problems and holds sessions on health education, how to

prevent malaria, HIV/AIDS, and diarrhoea, nutrition of children thrive, and teaching mothers how to cook porridge, with cashew or

groundnuts, oil and green vegetables. If children have this sort of food, they don’t get ill because they have immunity.

At the end of our trip we spent a couple of days on the coast of the Indian Ocean so that we could visit a nearby island with the famous

ruins of the Kilwa World Heritage Site. To get to them we had our first

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trip in a dhow: the difference between a dhow and a sailing boat back

home is that the 'boom' is at the top of the sail rather than the bottom - it may make it difficult to tack, but at least you don't get hit on the

head! We saw the impressive medieval domed mosques and big Omani

fortress, and came to the shore just as the sun was setting. Our dhow was waiting, nestling in the dusk in the midst of tall mangrove trees.

We had to wade out to it in shallow water over white sand. Just one of the magic moments that Africa offers!

Change of Bank Accounts!

As you may know the church has for many years had two bank accounts, with ABN AMRO and ING. After auditing the accounts for 2012 our auditor Jane Kelman advised us to use just one bank account in order to cut costs. We have therefore decided to phase out the ABN AMRO account sometime after the summer, being the more expensive of the two.

In order to facilitate an easy exit from ABN AMRO it would help if you would please arrange to stop transferring any payments, donations and standing orders to the ABN AMRO account and in future use only the Church’s ING account. This ING account number is stated on the front page of Lifeline, namely:

NL87INGB0000577641 - Church of England Haarlem

Thank you for your co-operation! Martin van Bleek, acting treasurer

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

The annual Barbecue this year will be on Saturday 30 August from 16.00, at the home of Ann & Rene van Egmond

Inspiration

If there is anything I really need it is the Sunday Eucharist;

I cannot miss this weekly rendez-vous with God;

I do not know what else happens to me during the service;

it is an hour when I don’t ask questions – it is faith.

Being together with the Priest and others is fine,

but the most real contact is with God;

I cannot miss this meeting.

Herman van Rompuy

(with thanks to:

Marga B. for this and other items Regine Willemsen for translation)

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From Ms Miscellaneous - Joyful Eastertide!

My birthday was sort of peculiar this year. It fell on Holy Saturday, right in between the grief over Jesus dying the day before and the joy of His resurrection the day after.

I only decided the week before that I was going to have a small party after all. My grandmother taught me that every ‘given’ year should be celebrated; so I did. My daughter Asun and I made cakes (apple, brownie and mon chou) for the guests. But then my son Ruben pointed out that we ourselves were abstaining from sweets in Lent, and since Holy Saturday is still Lent … He had a good point there! So he then offered to make fruit sticks. On Saturday morning Ruben and Asun went to work with strawberries, banana, apple, kiwi, pineapple and grapes and made a full dish of colourful sticks. Such a pretty sight! And they tasted good too! In fact, they were so good that Asun and Ruben had to replenish the stock twice that day, because our guests joined in the consumption as well…

And inspired by Ruben’s idea, I made punch, with lots of fresh fruit but without the alcohol. This also turned out to be well liked by the guests; it even seemed to have a placebo effect, several asking me what spirits I had put in it, and were highly surprised when it explained that I had only used my ‘birthday spirits’…

After dismissing my guests with a bowl of vegetable soup, Asun, my mother and I went to Haarlem for the Old-Catholic Easter wake - as far as I am concerned a highlight of the year. It was a beautiful service, as always.

This year during Lent I used the Old-Catholic 40 day guide and made a ‘haiku’

1 every day, inspired by that day’s texts. Following the

Easter wake I made this one: Your light is shining

And Your waters are flowing I am born again

And since it was the closure of my birthday I really felt reborn and ready to leave this year’s tough Lent and intense Holy Week behind, and to rejoice in the feast of Easter and our Saviour’s resurrection.

I wish you all a joyful Eastertide! Veronique Ruiz

☺☻☺☻☺☻☺ 1 A haiku is a Japanese poetic form that comprises three sentences of 5–7–5 syllables. The real

haiku usually are about nature or the seasons and in the last sentence have a change of

atmosphere. My ‘haiku’ just follow the 5-7-5 form, which allows me to formulate things in a

very condensed way.

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Personal persuasion

Along with all Christians during Passiontide, I have been confronted once again with the question of what my faith means to me in reality. I was brought up by unassuming, loving, God-fearing parents, on the simple principle that the Bible is the Word of God, that everything therein ‘is written for our learning’, and all of which tells of the eternal and unchangeable nature and purposes of God in creation and for man, past, present and future, and how God wishes us to lead our lives.

Much of Scripture is difficult to understand at face value, or at least seems irrelevant to us now, but I was taught that what I could not understand was due to my own limited knowledge and understanding, or had not yet been revealed to man by God.

The more I learnt, the more the whole Bible became one complete, deep, logical and consistent whole, and the idea that we can dismiss parts or details as mistakes, or no longer relevant, or flexible, was not an option. This is clearly written and demonstrated throughout the Bible. Christ Himself endorsed ‘all the law and the Prophets’ and His chosen Apostles confirmed these in no uncertain terms.

Three properties of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) which underlay the whole teaching of the Bible, and which we confess in every service of worship, are that God is Almighty, He is unchangeable, and He is total Love. If we truly believe this, how can we believe that He would allow us to be misled by inaccurate Scriptures? It is surely everything or nothing?

But if we accept this, it does place certain demands on our behaviour towards God and neighbour, and certain constraints on our actions and lifestyle, whether we fully understand the reasons for them or not. From beginning to end in the Bible, for God’s chosen people there are only two options, God’s way or the world’s. When Christ appears I want to be found with my lamp full, and not be ashamed before Him. Surely I cannot offer Him less, having seen what He was willing to sacrifice and to suffer out of love for me.

This is what I was taught and I believe it with my whole being.

Philip Whittaker

Big Bang? So first there was nothing, and that exploded ?

visjeposters

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Should you require further information about a service or event

please contact our secretary Rob Uittenbosch (020 6457103)

Sunday 4 May

3rd Sunday of Easter

14.30 Choral Eucharist

Retiring collection of Mission

Wednesday 7 May 19.30 Healing service and Compline

Saturday 10 May 16.00 Choral Festival Service in Holy

Trinity Church, Brussels

Sunday 11 May

4th Sunday of Easter

14.30 Sung Eucharist with hymns

Tuesday 13 May 10.00 Coffee morning at the home of

Hilary Selles, Hofduynlaan 39

2182 AH Hillegom 0252 533360

Sunday 18 May

5th Sunday of Easter

14.30 Morning Prayer and Eucharist

Sunday 25 May

6th Sunday of Easter

14.30 Eucharist (said)

Thursday 29 May

Ascension Day

10.00 Old Catholic Eucharist on

Ascension Day (in Dutch)

Sunday 1 June

7th Sunday of Easter

14.30 Sung Eucharist with hymns

Sunday 8 June

Pentecost

14.30 Choral Eucharist on Whit Sunday

Retiring collection for Mission

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Tuesday 10 June 10.00 Coffee morning at the home of

Ann van Egmond Ringmus 21,

1965 EE Heemskerk 0251 25218

Wednesday 11 June 19.30 Healing Service and Compline

Sunday 15 June

Trinity Sunday

14.30 Evening Prayer and Eucharist

Sunday 22 June

Trinity 1

14.30 Eucharist (said)

Sunday 29 June

Trinity 2

St.Peter & St.Paul

14.30 Choral Evensong

Sunday 6 July

Trinity 3

14.30 Choral Eucharist

Retiring collection for Mission

Advance notice:

Saturday 30 August

Barbecue at the home of

Ann & Rene van Egmond,

starting at 16.00

(van ‘taalvoutjes’

by van Dale)

LIFELINE

MAGAZINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH HAARLEM

afzender: Schaapskamp 7, 3849 PS HIERDEN

(ISSN 0920 – 6914)