I wonder what Amnesty International would make of the trial of Jesus , if it were to be held nowadays. Perhaps ‘trial’ is too grand a word to use, actually, for a process that seems to have had no proper provision for advocacy, no rules of evidence and no independent judiciary, and in which, all too obviously, each of the frightened accusing parties is desperate to preserve their own interest….
To read the rest, see Easter Pastoral Letter 2016
The Diocesan theme for 2015 was stewardship, and that has loomed large in our Council thinking. There has been fresh thinking about how we best support planned and realistic giving. Also we have rationalised our fund-raising events and opened a second Charity Shop. All of this has led to our first year of financial surplus for several years, and we are anxious to maintain momentum…
To read the full report, see St Helena’s Synod report 2016
Two comments following the Paris bomb atrocities have stuck in my memory. The first, from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was widely publicised in the UK media. Very publicly, he shared his doubts. He wondered aloud where God was in all this…
To read the rest, see Christmas Pastoral Letter 2015
We celebrated one of our congregation’s 90th birthday on a warm Sunday in July by presenting a cake to Elizabeth Chiinery.
It was a very happy occasion.
Geoff Graham, formerly Lay Reader at St Helena’s was ordained as a Deacon in St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday June 27th.
At the same service, Chris Goldsmith from St Barnabas’, Limassol was also ordained and Bill Grundy from St Andrew’s, Kyrenia was licensed as a Reader.
This year we shall once again hold a service of Stations of the Cross on Good Friday afternoon. When we first reintroduced that three years ago I think it is true to say that there was a degree of suspicion about whether we were doing something that was non-Anglican and strange. But the service has been popular on each of the occasions we have used it, and although there is opportunity for people to come and go throughout the hour and a half or so of the service, very few take it….
To read the full letter, see Easter pastoral letter 2015
I wonder how many more re-makes of “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” it will take to solve the world’s wrongs. I’m not knocking the idea, which I think is excellent, but there has to be a limit to the number of times it can be retreaded, and the question then is, do we know it’s Christmas, and do we know what that commits us to in terms of giving to the disadvantaged? ….
To read the rest, see Christmas Pastoral Letter 2014
This year we shall be holding two services to celebrate Harvest Festival. As always we shall be having a Harvest Eucharist at 9.30 on October 5th, and that is the service where we shall be hoping to receive offerings of food that will be distributed to our local old people’s and children’s homes. The new service will be at 4.30 on the same day and will take the form of a Songs of Praise….
To read the rest, see Harvest Pastoral Letter 2014
Bishop Michael visited St Helena’s on Sunday, 29th June to celebrate the Eucharist.
He also licensed Geoff Graham as a Lay Reader, admitted two new Eucharistic Assistants, Jim West and Lauren Taylor, and commissioned Rob Taylor to be part of the Pastoral Care Team.
It was a very moving service but, as the photos show, also very joyous.
It comes as a surprise to those who arrive in Cyprus from the UK, that Easter should have such a high profile here. All the celebrations we associate, in the UK, with Christmas – the midnight services, the special family rituals – are here instead to be found at Easter. In a sense, that is more correct theologically. Christianity began at Easter.
To read the full letter, see Easter pastoral letter 2014