The Anglican Church in Freiburg (ACF) receives no funding from the Diocese of Europe, nor German Kirchensteuer. We rely solely on contributions from members and friends of the ACF.

Bank Details: Anglican Church in Freiburg: Sparkasse Freiburg IBAN: DE29680501010002511920 BIC: FRSPDE66XXX (Konto Nr.: 2511920 BLZ: 68050101)

Minister: Rev. Christopher Parsons

Address: Lorettostraße 61 79100 Freiburg

The

Ang

lican

Chu

rch

Fr

eibu

rg

Bui

ldin

g a

Com

mun

ity o

f Gra

ce

March 2020

C h a p l a i n ’ s M e s s a g e

Another Lenten Cycle? Spin and Repeat? As I write we are still a couple weeks

away from the penitential season of Lent, even though this article will appear in March and our Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday activities will have concluded. Lent and the devotions it carries helps to prepare us for Easter celebrations. People often find themselves gravitating toward one season in the Christian calendar; Easter and Christmas are usually the two seasons that many believe to be a single day and they both hold a lot of sentimental value. Whereas Lent comes to us at times, like a chore, another thing we need to do so we can sing our Alleluia filled songs.

Lent does offer a long period of reflection that I find wonderful. Lent makes some of the more mundane things — the chores — a time of thoughtful reflection and steady pondering. Take laundry for example; it is, at least in our household, a year round chore. There is all the sorting, the folding, the ironing and the organizing. We are a household of four, but imagine, as

some know intimately well, what it is like to see a figurative mountain of laundry that never really goes away — talk about penitence! There is, I think, a practice of opportunity. Laundry, like that season of Lent, supplies us with ample time to quietly meditate on a repetitive action as say, our hot iron glides over shirts and dresses. Lent is a time to look back on life and take stock of who we are in our relationship with Jesus; like cleaning the filter of the drier we see all the bits and bobs that we may have carried with us: it is like an archaeological dig at times.

Just like with laundry, in Lent, we carry loads around with us and along our paths. Loads not of clothes but of thoughts, fears, relationships. As in our lives, we drop stuff off, sometimes intentionally, at other times it is a complete mistake; just like, “Where did that other sock go?” Lent is a season of turning around and reviewing our lives to see what has dropped off and what we would like to go back and revisit or pick up.

Services/Activities in March:

1 Mar 11:30 All-Ages Service 1 Mar 19:00 Taizé service at Dreisam3 3 Mar 18:00 Men’s Prayer Group 5 Mar 17:30 Conversation Group 19:30 Women’s Prayer Group 7 Mar 8:00 Men’s Breakfast 8 Mar 11:30 Communion Service 12 Mar 17:30 Conversation Group 19:15 Roots & Shoots / Compline 15 Mar 11:30 Morning Prayer followed by Annual General Meeting 17 Mar 18:00 Men’s Prayer Group 19 Mar 17:30 Conversation Group 19:00 Freiburg Center Home Group 22 Mar 11:30 Communion Service 26 Mar 15:00 Wise Ones 17:30 Conversation Group 19:15 Roots & Shoots / Compline 31 Mar 8:00 Men’s Prayer Group

Any changes in this schedule will be announced from the pulpit

Group Contacts . German/English Conversation Group meets

every Thursday at 17:30. Contact Rafaela Furtado rfurtado_01@yahoo.com

Women’s Prayer Group . The women's prayer group meets once a month. Please contact Lauren Warnatz, warnatze@t-online.de

Tuesday morning Women’s Bible Study Group has been suspended for the time being.

North Freiburg home group. Please contact Klaus or Lauren Warnatz for details. warnatze@t-online.de

Men’s Prayer Group meets every other Tuesday evening on the even-numbered (geraden) weeks. Please contact Josef Brockmeier: fjbrockmeier@googlemail.com or 07661/7417

The Wise Ones Group. Please contact Linda at Sloanecker@aol.com or Keith at campbellk@t-online.de.

Freiburg Centre home group. Please contact Iris for details: iris-v@web.de

Pilgrim Group meet for Bible study, prayer, and fellowship. Contact Martyn or Céline

Singing group practices The practices for March are: Sunday, 1st March, 1 p.m. Sunday, 31st March, 1 p.m.

(Daylight Saving Time!)

SAVE THE DATEPlease put into your calendars: 21st -24th May (2020) the Himmelfahrt weekend (Weekend Away) and again at Hohrodberg

Friday, 6th March, 18:00 in the Petrus-Paulus-Gemeinde, ecumenical service and information about Zimbabwe on the World Day of Prayer (If you are interested in planning the service, please speak to Margaret Bredow or Helen Rose Wilson.)

Our ACF Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday 15 March.

Whether this Lent you find yourself climbing the spiritual mountain, or that endless pile of laundry. Whether you need to give something up, or take something on this season of Lent. Wherever God meets you, I invite you, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.

Christopher

World Day of Prayer On Friday, 6th March, the World Day of Prayer will be observed in churches around the world, using a liturgy that was prepared by women from Zimbabwe. It focuses on the theme “Rise! Take your mat and walk”. Women from our congregation were involved in preparing the ecumenical service for the Wiehre area that will be hosted by the Petrusgemeinde (Lorettostr. 61), which will start at 6 p.m. It is a good opportunity to worship together with neighbours from the area around our church. If the location in the Wiehre is not convenient for you, there is probably also a service where you could worship together with your neighbours in the village or suburb where you live.

YOUTH GROUP NEWS: ACF has received an invitation from the

Episcopal Church in Europe to join in their Youth events that are held around Europe each year. The Episcopal Church in Europe holds their annual Youth conferences on Ascension Day weekend -  May 21-24th 2020.

This year the youth from ages 10 to 14 will gather in Rome, Italy.  The youth aged 15 and up will meet in Frankfurt, Germany.

Several members of our Youth Group will be participating and are preparing to have an exciting time exploring faith, doing fun activities and get to know young Christians from all over the world who are growing up in Anglican and Episcopal chaplaincies throughout Europe. The annual program is run by the Episcopal Youth team and many volunteers.  Integrated in the program are opportunities for sightseeing as well.

This is a very exciting possibility for our own ACF youth.  So far we have five youth going to Rome and three youth taking part in the Frankfurt events, each travel group has  2 adult chaperones.

We hope to have the congregations support in prayers and in the Youth Group fundraising efforts which will happen in the next couple of weeks in church and the wider community.

Another Lenten Cycle Continued

Rise! Take Your Mat and Walk” (©: Nonhlanhla Mathe)

Invitation to Old Catholic Spiritual Retreat Day on Saturday, 7th March The Old Catholic congregation warmly invites ACF members to join them on their Spiritual Retreat Day, with

meditation and discourse (in German) on "Your will be done".  The group will be meeting in the rooms of the KHG, Lorettostraße 24 from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Monika Kraus, Tel. 0761/2177471.”

Women’s Breakfast You must be the change you wish to see in the World .... Mahatma Gandhi.  Our first Women's Breakfast took place on Saturday, the 8th February. There were 17

ladies there and one young girl (as Women's Breakfast is one group where the Intergenerational theme of the last CAECG meeting in Stuttgart seems to work, we always welcome representatives of the younger generation).

The subject was Sustainability: an issue which is increasing in importance every day, and requires a combined effort from all of us to succeed. It was very well put forward by our

speaker, Christine Gihring. She shared with us many important facts and gave us simple tips which each one of us can do to change our way of thinking We have included a few here. Some of you are already doing many of these tips in your daily life and some could be new. 1) Take your own cup with you or use the Freiburg Cup, when you need to have a  Coffee to go: Every year, 2.8 billion disposable cups are used for just 15 mins in Germany 2) Try not to buy water in plastic bottles. Our tap water is of a very high quality and the water in the plastic bottles often contains unhealthy ingredients (some caused by the plastic). 3) While shopping one can do a lot: take your bags from home, take boxes (glass preferably) when buying cheese or cold meats, your cotton bag for bread, and reusable bags for fruit and vegetables. Avoid those packed in plastic! 4) Use bars of soap for washing hands, body, and hair. Some companies are already using recycled plastic bottles for liquid soap etc. Watch out for them. 5) You could make your own cleansers for the bathroom and kitchen (recipes available) 6) Use open tea (tea bags often contain microplastics and are often packed in boxes and cellophane). In addition, don't use coffee machines with capsules. 7) Christine also gave tips of what we could eat: less meat and that from local farmers; try to get eggs from “happy hens” and ask how the hens are treated and what happens to the cocks. Check the fish you buy, is it certified? Buy

seasonal, bio, and direct fruits and vegetables when possible). If we may add here, that is what we try to do at our breakfasts. But even there, there is

room for improvement. Thank you Christine for a very interesting and thought provoking talk — you certainly

gave us many ideas on how we could change the way we think, see things differently, and act more responsibly, for the future generations.

Margaret and Mirna for the Women's Breakfast

Dear Friends and Family, It feels like the new year had just started a few days ago and at the same time it feels like we already are months into

2020... and in reality we have only reached February. But despite that 2020 is in its full swing! This new year is full of new opportunities, new projects and new growth. Can you believe this is my third year in Ukraine? So many different things have happened in these years and it is cool and encouraging to see the changes and growth that have happened in my work and personal life. In my last Newsletter I had shared a bit how 2019 was a "year of healing" for me. One night I was asking God what 2020 would look like for me personally and the answer I got was "a year of restoration". What or how this will look like I don't know but I do know that all will be done at the right time. So, here's to 2020 and all its new adventures!

Rewind to Christmas Back in December my team and I were pretty busy with having different Christmas celebrations at the homes that we visit. My highlight of this season was when we were able to give 100 children Christmas gifts at the orphanage! We have been visiting this specific orphanage for two years now and each visit is such a blast! Memorizing100 names though is something I still am trying to accomplish ;)

Reality Although visiting the orphanages is always fun and full of laughter and hugs, I also am reminded of how many kids in Ukraine (and all over the world!) grow up without parents or any secure background. This past year I had a little

glimpse into what it is like when a kid arrives at the orphanage after being taken away from its abusive mother, and I had the opportunity to witness five siblings being all adopted into one family. Witnessing these two events has taught me how important and what kind of an impact (good or bad) a person brings into the children's surroundings.

At the moment my team and I are working with children with disabilities, in a foster home for children whose parents struggle with addiction and in orphanages. We also host teams that come and want to serve with us and do camps. At this link ( https://spark.adobe.com/page/JwYBjntOn5bgH/ )you can find a video that my teammate and I made, capturing what we were able to do in 2019.

Base life Next to my main ministry with Key of Hope I also work with teams and volunteers who come to do an outreach at

YWAM Kyiv and then I still lead the Worship and Intercession department on base. I love the different areas that I get to work in and I have been able to grow in many different areas through it. Besides Base and Ministry I still continue to take Russian classes. In case you are wondering if I can speak the language after three years? I wish... But I do get around and can keep a conversation going so I do get better with each year ;). Through my work with my kids I am able (and also forced) to use all my Russian knowledge which helps me a lot.

Thank you for your continued support in prayer and finances! You may gladly keep me and my team in your prayers as we are currently planning three camps that will happen in March. You may also gladly continue to pray for my continued health and finding a good balance between work and health. I think that is the biggest area where I continue to learn in.

Greetings from Kyiv! -Esther

Dear Friends, Greetings from Youth With A Mission Orlando. This

week is an exciting week in our Winter Quarter, because it marks the return of our Fall Quarter students who have been ministering in the nations for 2 months. In all, 70 students are returning from 8 different outreach locations. As they return to Orlando for one week of debriefing, their enthusiasm and testimonies will no doubt stir the faith of our Winter Quarter students, who begin their outreaches next month. We look forward to hearing their stories from around the world.

Andi and I are having a great time leading the sports and fitness elective. We have 8 students from 5 different countries - a diverse and very fun group to work with. We spend much of our time working in the development department, so it is refreshing to engage in “hands on” discipleship and to become good friends with the students. One of our biggest goals for the elective is to establish a healthy culture in the group, one which is encouraging, team-oriented, and hard-working. The students have embraced this goal and seem to be thriving, we are very happy indeed. 

Blessings,  Alastair and Andrea

All pictures taken are for the ACF website only and not to be posted on

Facebook or other social media.

Contact: Revd. Canon Christopher Parsons freiburganglican.pastor@gmail.com / 07633 /9809474 His day off is Monday.

Please visit our website: http://freiburganglicanchurch.wordpress.com

March 2020 Newsletter

If you have any items for the April newsletter, would you please send them to Cindy by March 23. Thanks. cindywyneken@gmx.de