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THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN JERUSALEM AND THE MIDDLE EAST |
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Telephone: Telefax: Email: FROM: |
NICOSIA 22671220 NICOSIA 22674553 georgia@spidernet.com.cy THE DIOCESAN OFFICE |
2 Grigori Afxentiou P O Box 22075 NICOSIA 1517 Cyprus |
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| FROM THE BISHOP |
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There's the event;
and then there's what it signifies. (Think, for example, of how a
wedding relates to a marriage.) There's the birth; and then there's the mystery of incarnation. The shepherds out on the hillside first saw a messenger-angel and then were surrounded by a blinding light. It says they were terrified. The messenger spoke and said there had been a birth, and that if they looked they would find a newborn child. He also said the infant was the long-awaited anointed messiah, and he used the word saviour. But I think they were dazzled by the event, not least when it seemed to them that the whole night sky and hillside were filled with angels, praising God and promising peace. They went, they saw, and they told people, passing on what they'd been told as well as what they'd seen, but scarcely beginning to take it in. Perhaps, like Mary the mother who had had a whole pregnancy during which to think what it signified and where it would lead, they too started to ponder these things in their heart, for the whole course of their lives. |
| So that
was the event. It would of course lead to the cross, apparently a
wholly other event. But the pregnancy, the birth, the life, and the death are just one event, because they signify one meaning: incarnation, the enfleshing, the being-human of God. When St John's Gospel talks of the Word, it means "God's expressed self", eternal, but in Jesus Christ (from womb to tomb) historically particularized. "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. The Word became flesh and lived among us. We beheld his glory." Glory is the key. God's glory redefines glory. The messenger-angels on the hillside said "Glory to God in the highest" and their counter-intuitive message was that there was glory in the pregnancy (not Joseph's child! a girl living in a backwater!), glory in the birth (not in a royal house or hall! in a stinking byre for animals!), glory in the life (opposed by the experts! hated by the authorities!), and glory in the death (ridiculed and jeered! humiliated through the streets! a judicial execution willed by the malicious and permitted by the weak!). So when I link the event of the birth to the event of the cross, I'm saying not only that it was really all one event, but that it all signified one revelation of glory, for those with eyes and hearts to see and feel and know that God's glory is something else. And the raising of Christ was the vindication of that something else glory. The angel-messengers, as well as singing "Glory", had said that the one born in Bethlehem that night was not just Anointed, not just King, but universal Saviour. And how would such a Saviour save? By living life as life should most truly and most deeply be lived, and by dying as death should most trustingly and most lovingly be embraced. He saved by transforming human notions of how we rate life and how we rate death. So, Christmas event and Christmas meaning: the mystery of incarnation is the glory of humanity and creation. His incarnation spills over from being something about him alone. It redefines us. It saves us. It glorifies us. As Holy Advent moves into Nativity and Epiphany I wish everyone in our extraordinary diocese all the extraordinary blessing and all the extraordinary meaning of these events, feasts, and seasons. + Michael Cyprus & the Gulf Advent 2009 |
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| St. Christopher's Cathedral, Bahrain | ||
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Chris Butt was installed
as Dean by Bishop Michael in a joyful service in the Cathedral on Sunday 18th October. At the same time Bill Schwartz was formally recognized and collated as Archdeacon of the Gulf. Six members of St Matthew’s Church, Wigmore, part of the Parish of South Gillingham where Chris had been Team Rector, flew out to support Chris and Tricia in their new ministry and were impressed by the warmth of welcome and hospitality of the Cathedral family. |
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| As usual, St
Christopher’s and Awali Anglican Church were involved in the Bahrain
Relay Marathon as the Holy Strollers- the Hacmonites - with more
than 150 other teams and as you can see were presented with the No 1
plaque at the end of the race. This reflected the number the team
were wearing rather than the position in the race, but a good time was had by all participants. |
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The Revd Stephen
Thanapaul, who held the fort through the interregnum, is now able to
concentrate on his main ministry with Mission to Seafarers. He
spends up to 30 hours each week visiting the five ports: visiting
seafarers on board ships; responding to welfare needs as they arise;
distributing, where appropriate, Bibles through the support of
Gideons and Devotional Daily Bread notes from the Bible Society; and providing a Library facility. He reports back to the Cathedral and to Bahrain International Seafarers Society and is encouraging both the cathedral congregation and the Tamil Church of South India to have a prayerful and supportive interest. This Advent, several congregations are providing Christmas socks with gifts for seafarers away from home over Christmas. |
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Chris and Tricia Butt held an Open House in the Deanery on Saturday 14th November and it was lovely to see people from different congregations meeting together. Sixty-five people came and it gave Chris and Tricia an opportunity to meet more people individually and continue to put names to increasingly familiar faces. |
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The children of St
Christopher’s –a cast of thirty-two children were actively involved
in rehearsing for a Nativity play –
Jump for Joy
- which was presented both at the Friday morning congregation on
Friday 11th December and, by request, two days later to the Sunday
evening congregation. Three generations of the Axtell family (right) got stuck in to painting the backdrop over the Eid holiday. Several children from Awali used their musical talents with a number of musical adults in preparing for an Advent Family service on Saturday 5th December. (see below) |
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| In the New Year, a
series of Living Room Dialogues are planned on a monthly basis in the Deanery after the Sunday evening service. Various speakers are lined up. The format will be presentation, questions and discussion followed by pudding and coffee. The US Naval Chaplain is our first speaker in January. We look forward to celebrating Christmas in a variety of ways and wish all readers of this newsletter the joy of the Christmas season. Chris and Tricia Butt |
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News from St Paul’s Cathedral, Nicosia |
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Dean John Tyrrell, Archdeaon of the Gulf Bill Schwartz,
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St.
Paul's Cathedral recently celebrated the installation of the Very
Revd John Tyrrell as Dean |
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Bishop Michael Lewis, Deacon Carol Tyrrell and Dean John |
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St. Paul's also said
farewell to long time Reader Wendy Foulger and David as they take on
new directions in their lives in Wales. (Left - Reader Wendy Foulger at her farewell. The parish gave them electric blankets for their return to the cold of Wales) |
| News from the Epiphany, Qatar | |||
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Praise the Lord we’ve
had to buy more chairs!! Our congregation is growing quickly, just
last week we had three new families at Friday morning worship, and
we have about 50 children at Friday school. We give thanks for so
many willing helpers. Our Church Complex project is going well, we are building as quickly as funds allow. We are grateful for faithful prayers and support from so many friends around the world. The picture below will show that we are almost to the roof line of phase one.
As the building work progresses we are thankful to God for the provision of 3 temporary buildings to the side of the site. At present we can accommodate about 26 congregations for worship and when the “main” building is com plete we can serve almost 50 congregations who have come forward with requests for space. At present, we, the Anglican congregation continue to meet at Doha English Speaking School and we are grateful to God and DESS for this provision . |
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Friday morning worship |
at the temporary buildings |
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We have enjoyed
news from around the diocese from Archdeacon Bill as he goes about
his duties as Archdeacon. We have a good team to help with worship
and pastoral care during his absence so, while we miss him, we are
proud of his ministry in this regard. Please feel free to look at our regularly updated website to follow our progress www.epiphany-qatar.org |
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| UAE: The Chaplaincy of Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates – 40 years on…….. | ||
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It is with real
thanksgiving that this year Holy Trinity Church, Dubai celebrates 40
years of devoted Christian service to the Christian communityof
Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates. His Royal Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum generously granted us land in Dubai forty years ago, allowing us to set it apart for Christian worship. It was indeed a defining moment in the history of the nation that firmly established the broad-minded attitude and acceptance of its people towards the expatriate population and its presence in UAE. 40 is an important number in the Christian calendar: Jesus fasted for 40 days in the desert, and Moses journeyed for 40 years in search of the Promised Land. We have thus been holding many events over the last few months to celebrate this special occasion, with further events to come! |
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As part of the
celebrations, we opened our new Pastoral Care Centre at the end of
October, when Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah, graced us with their presence. The Archbishop blessed the centre and we now proudly display a plaque on the wall commemorating his visit. At the end of November we greeted Bishop Michael Lewis, his wife Julia, and Canon Dennis Gurney, a predecessor of the Revd John Weir, to take part in several key services over the weekend. |
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Canon Dennis Gurney, our
VIP guest for the weekend, was in the Chaplaincy seat for 17 years.
It was his vision and efforts that enabled us to grow the Holy
Trinity compound to the thriving community that it has become today,
with a host of denominational churches meeting in our compound,
accommodating well over 10,000 people each Friday (the main day of
worship in the Middle East). Over the weekend the Bishop led services which included the laying of the Foundation Stone at Ras Al Khaimah (one of the Northern Emirates) to build a church. The Bishop also conducted the Installation Service of the Revd Peter Chase, who will lead the church in Fujairah (another Emirate), currently meeting in his living room! The Bishop blessed the house and worship centre there. During the celebrations, members of the congregation of Holy Trinity were given the opportunity to board the Flying Angel boat in Fujairah Port. The Flying Angel was an initiative led by Rev Stephen Miller in outreach to seafarers. The boat offers a refuge to tired seafarers whilst out at sea a long way from home. It has indeed been a very busy time for us, but the excitement and community is thriving here and we look forward to further events planned in the New Year including an Easter Ball! We feel very blessed to be here during these exciting times. |
| St Helena, Larnaca: | ||
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St Helena’s church near the centre of Larnaca is most grateful to those who have taken services for us during our interregnum. Currently the Revd Rajinder Daniel with his wife Lorna from Birmingham, are with us over Christmas. They will be followed by two locum chaplains – the Very Revd Derek Taylor from Worcestershire and the Revd Michael Watkins from Warwickshire. This picture shows half our congregation having arrived, and we are glad to be welcoming new people most Sundays. One visitor recently commented on how good it was to see an expatriate Anglican church where nationalities other than British people were taking part in the service. | |
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This is a relatively new development for us in Larnaca, and we are so thankful to see new people offering their gifts and services in the life of the church. Among new initiatives are: appointing a church housekeeper; preparing a vestry so that chaplains can robe in private rather than in the kitchen (a great relief to the Bishop!); starting a monthly men’s breakfast; and holding a gathering of Filipino housemaids and Nepalese students to read a passage from Luke’s Gospel together in the Upper Room after the morning service. Several have expressed delight at being able to read the Bible with others for the first time and ask questions. Of course baby Aislinn (right) is much admired! |
| St Andrew, Kyrenia: | ||
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In late October the
temperature dropped and we had rain on and off for about ten days,
never lasting all day long but enough to give us our wettest October
for 30 years. We feel sorry for the visitors but the island really
needs it. At the end of October we said goodbye to Jeanette and David Burton. They have decided to move back to the UK to be near to family. Jeanette has fulfilled many roles during her time at St Andrew’s including being Treasurer on the Church Council, official photographer, reader, and a member of the Ladies’ Group. She made beautiful cards which were sold for church funds and she also made new altar and lectern cloths. Husband David was often seen behind the bar at church functions and was always one of the first to volunteer when jobs needed to be done. Together they have been sides-persons and teamakers, as well as very good friends to all. |
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Our Ladies Group resumed
their meetings in the Church Hall, after having extended their
summer seaside gatherings at the Kervan Cafe, we usually move
indoors at the beginning of October. They enjoyed a talk and slide
presentation given by one of our church members, Mike Haigh, who
shared his concerns on the sad state of the environmental issues
surrounding us in the Mediterranean. The following week, as a complete contrast, the ladies visited the newly opened Kings Leisure Centre, to play and/or watch the ten pin bowling. Some had never played before and others not for some considerable time but all thoroughly enjoyed it. We held our traditional Remembrance service at St Andrew’s on 8 November, led by Michael, our Chaplain. Over 150 people filled the church to overflowing. Wreaths were laid on behalf of the Royal |
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Navy, the Army the Royal
Air Force. Unfortunately we did not have a representative from the
Turkish Peace Keeping Force this year as another ceremony was taking
place in the Old British Cemetery in Kyrenia to unveil a new
memorial to the British dead of the Cyprus Emergency. Preparations for the Christmas Bazaar have occupied recent weeks too. We prayed that the weather would be kind to us so that we could spread the stalls outside as we did last year. This was followed by our Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, which moved us well and truly towards the Christmas season. |
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| St Barnabas, Limassol | ||
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| We had
a bride decide to be baptised before her wedding. Coming from a
Pentecostal background Sam thought baptism in the sea a right way to
share the sacrament with her family and friends. Both the Anglican
liturgy and Pentecostal tradition provide for adult baptism candidates to express their faith personally alongside the formal promises. Sam chose to do so by singing the song “I believe in Jesus”. Derek learned that some robes are better suited to the sea than others! |
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| Retreats | ||
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Christmas is about journeying (amongst other things). We have been privileged to accompany a number of individuals and groups on their spiritual journeys in the last few months. People have journeyed to the Katafiyio Retreat House from Nepal, Holland, Lebanon, Sudan, England and both sides of Cyprus. Two independent churches have used the house for their own prayer, and we have led day retreats for Larnaca Community Church and St Stephen’s, Paphos. We have continued our Quiet Days - now called “Weekday Escapes” - at Katafiyio, once a month – please join us and encourage others to do so. Some people are now benefiting from the reduced winter rates at Katafiyio – valid until 25 March. Unfortunately, Katafiyio is needing to close for part of January in order for essential renovations to take place. Opportunities for retreats are increasing, both for folk coming to and on Cyprus, as well as invites coming to lead retreats abroad. (I will be leading retreats in Holland – for aid workers in the Middle East – and in North Africa in the next two months). We are grateful for volunteers who have come forward to help with a number of tasks. We journeyed to Troodos seven times over the summer to lead small group retreats at a campsite. And it was good to participate in the Anglican Paphos Fayre in December to promote the Retreats work. We would appreciate being invited to the other annual fund raising events for chaplaincies in Cyprus in the coming year in order that we can promote Retreats. We have thoroughly enjoyed leading a once a month Prayer Space in the meeting room of Starbucks for the Sat7 TV company. Each month we introduce the staff to a different way of praying. The photos show three of the five prayer stations where staff prayed through advent themes in December. We would love to journey with others of you – individuals and churches – in the Diocese, and beyond, in 2010. Do be in touch if you think we may be able to help. Meanwhile this comes to wish you a very happy Christmas and a real sense of God with you as you journey into the new year. Maggie Le-Roy Retreats Facilitator |
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| St George, Baghdad |
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On Sunday the
church was rammed full of people for the main service. The youth
group, the Mothers' Union and the Green Zone congregation all met
earlier in the week. Bishop Michael preached and presided at
communion, whilst Julia, his wife, gave a very challenging talk on
the plight of those inlabour camps in the Dubai and Sharjah area,
also in the diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. These camps contain hundreds of thousands of men and women who arrived in hope of well-paid jobs. For many, the dream has turned sour and now they are stranded in desperate squalor with few means of improving their situation. Most of the people of St George's are also poor and in acute need, yet they took up a collection to support their brothers and sisters. As Bishop Michael remarked, there is a dignity in being able to give, even out of your own poverty. I was deeply touched by their generosity and Jesus' parable of the widow's mite shows us that these are actions that give great pleasure to our Lord. Peter Marsden FRRME |
| For your information and prayers: the bishop’s Travels |
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On Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th January, Bishop Michael and Julia will be in Beirut in the Lebanon for a meeting of the provincial diocesan bishops. They will then travel to Aden for a meeting of the Aden Council of Reference and during this visit, on Friday 15th January, the bishop will be ordaining Catherine Dawkins as deacon. Please pray for Nigel and Catherine on this day. Diocesan Synod will be held at the Lordos Beach Hotel in Larnaca from Monday 8th to Friday 12th February, and then Bishop Michael will travel to London for a preaching engagement and meetings from Saturday 20th to Friday 26th February. Bishop Michael and Julia will be based at St Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain from Monday 1st till Monday 29th March. The bishop will travel to Oman for a Al Amana interfaith centre board meeting on Wednesday 17th March and will confirm in Muscat on Friday 19th March. Holy week and Easter will find the Bishop and Julia in Cyprus, and they travel to the United Kingdom on Wednesday 21st April for various engagements. From Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th April they will be at Pilgrim Hall for the Friends’ Spring Reunion and return to Cyprus on Wednesday May 5th, after the bishop has attended the diocesan Endowment fund meeting in London on May 4th. From Monday 10th till Friday 21st May, Bishop Michael with Julia will take part in the Diocesan Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, starting and finishing in Amman in Jordan. On 29th June, the feast of St Peter and Paul, the bishop will ordain to the diaconate at St Paul’s Cathedral, Nicosia. |