Eurobishop

  St Mark, traditionally held to be the founder of the Church in Alexandria Advent begins this Sunday. Our Director of Lay Discipleship, Dr Clare Amos, has been busy preparing some resources to help the faithful of the diocese to enter into the spirituality of this season.  This Monday 30 November, 18.00 Central European Time (17.00 GMT), Clare will lead a reflection on the Gospel of Mark. This brief overview of the emphasis that Mark lays out in his Gospel, will be helpful for us as Mark is the Gospel we will be mostly be reading from on Sundays during this "Year B" of the Common Lectionary.  Clare's reflections will be in the context of a brief liturgy called "A Service of Meditations for the Beginning of Advent". Clare is a Biblical scholar (among many other things) and a very engaging teacher. Do join us for this "Journey into Advent with Mark". The livestream is on the Diocesan YouTube channel:    ...

Syrian Orthodox Church, SE Turkey Dr Clare Amos, the Diocesan Director of Lay Discipleship, has written a wonderful reflection on the forthcoming feast of All Saints. She reflects on "the intrincally paradoxical nature of our faith":  All Saints Day is actually the celebration of the ridiculous paradox that WE are ‘all saints’, at least potentially, even if honesty forces us to admit that it doesn’t always seem like that in the present. In fact if we (mistakenly) put our focus on ‘All Saints Day’ on the great and traditional saints of the church’s history – we miss the meaning of the Feast.    Clare also draws on the Syriac tradition in the Christian Church, which has significan roots in the far south east of this Diocese in Europe.     You can find the full article on the Faith in Europe blog which can be found here:  https://faithineurope.net / The Faith in Europe blog is but one part of Clare's work, and is valuable for all preachers and others who...

In this season of Creationtide, Christ Church Vienna is hosting a relevant workshop on the morning of Saturday 19 September. The workshop will be led by Dr Clare Amos, the Diocesan Director of Lay Discipleship, a biblical scholar and world class lay theologian. Dr Amos will draw on both the Old and New Testaments to explore our relationship to the created order. Environmental issues and a commitment to safeguard the integrity of creation is one of the key themes of the diocesan strategy.  Previous workshops by Clare have been heavily subscribed, so if you are interested please contact Christ Church Vienna ( office@christchurchvienna.org ) by Thursday 17 September to reserve your place! Please note that the times are Central European Time, (British Summer Time +1 hour).

Special Zoom Study Meeting announced Led by Dr Clare Amos, the Diocesan Director of Lay Discipleship Saturday April 25 2020    10.00am-11.00am and 11.30am-12.30pm CET (BST+1) Dr Amos writes:  "Drawing on both the Old Testament and the New Testament this study morning will explore what the Bible has to say about the relationship between human beings and the rest of creation, which is increasingly seen as one of the most significant issues for our time. It will suggest that our relationship to creation is absolutely integral to our Christian faith". This study morning was originally scheduled as a physical meeting for the parish of Holy Trinity Geneva. It will now be held by Zoom due to the lockdown.  Given the widespread interest across the diocese in the theology and care of creation, Dr Amos has widened participation in this study to any who are interested.  To meet the needs of ‘Zoom’ security issues, and in order to ensure that you ca...

Opening the Scriptures: Setting our hearts on fire. This is the title of this year's Lent Course   sponsored by the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI).  I know that members of the Diocese in Europe might wonder why I point towards a CTBI resource, but we are part of the Church of England which is a member of CTBI, along with the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, Free Churches and Pentecostal/New Churches, among others. In fact, I am a trustee of this ecumenical body, in the last year of my 5 year term representing the Church of England. But most important to note is that this year's Lenten study is written by our very own Dr Clare Amos, the Director of Lay Discipleship of this diocese!  Dr Clare Amos Clare, as the readers of this blog may know, is a world-class lay theologian, specialising in biblical studies (as well as interfaith relations, among other things). She studied at the  École Biblique  et Archéologiqu...

Mandatum novum - a new commandment. From this phrase from the Gospel of St John, the Thursday before Easter, Maundy Thursday, takes its name. The new commandment of our Lord was, of course, to love one another, as he loves us. In St Thomas a Becket Church Hamburg, following the solemn liturgy of the Lord's Supper and Washing of Feet, some members of the parish, including some of the adult candidates who will be confirmed at the Easter Vigil joined the Revd Canon Dr Leslie Nathaniel, the Chaplain and me for a simple meal, and some rich conversation. The mood of the sacred rites we had just celebrated seemed to be still among us and we reflected on the meaning of love, and what it means to say that God is love. We spoke about what that signifies for those who are not Christian, or who never will be, in terms of God's gracious embrace of them. We reflected on how we address this central teaching in our dialogue with this of other religions. We spoke of the wonder of our salvati...

  As part of my continuing education I have been participating in a programme called "Equipping Christian Leaders in an Age of Science". Today, the Feast of the Epiphany, by happy coincidence one of the topics in our sessions turned our gaze to the stars and galaxies as we explored issues related to SETI, the search for extra terrestial intelligence. A wonderful lecture was given by the Revd Professor David Wilkinson, of St John's College Durham, a noted astrophysicist as well as theologian, with doctorates in both fields. Professor Wilkinson, from a scientific point of view, would surmise that at present we are likely the only intelligent life in this galaxy, although with 100 billion stars in the galaxy, with about 70% having planets, and 100 billion galaxies in the universe one cannot be sure! As a theologian, he maintains that SETI is important for Christians for a number of reasons: It invites us to observe and wonder at the complexity and vastness of the universe...

Dr Ursula Glieneke is a postulant for holy orders in this diocese, and a member of one of our newer parishes, Costa Brava. A truly international person, typical of our diocese, Ursula was born in Latvia and has lived in Germany, Norway, Ireland before her current residence in Spain. Besides being a theologian, Ursula is also an artist. She has a current exhibition in Germany, in the City Church in Bad Windungen, entitled "Listening to Fragility". On the day after the opening of the exhibition in the Bad Wildungen Church, there was a particularly moving encounter at a service at which Ursula was taking part, as she talked about vulnerability and fragility to the congregation which included many who were confirmed there in 1945 and were celebrating their confirmation anniversary that day. Ursula sees her art as a way to convey her Christian faith in a contemporary world. The themes of her art range from the environment, inter-religious dialogue, psychology and theology....

In the Principality of Monaco the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December, is a national holiday. I was invited by the Archbishop of Monaco, Monseigneur Bernard Barsi, to extend my recent parish visit to St Paul's Monaco by a day, to be an ecumenical guest at the mass at the Cathedral to celebrate that feast, and to join in the traditional candlelit procession which followed. This is also the occasion for the Archbishop to bless various crèche scenes in the neighbourhood of the Cathedral which have been prepared for the Christmas festival. I was reminded how much ecumenical convergence has been made with regard to this particular feast of the Virgin. When the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed an article of the (Roman Catholic) faith by Pope Pius IX in 1854, an ecumenical problem was created for Anglicans and other Christians. Anglicans were concerned about the teaching authority of the bishop of Rome, independent of an ecumenical council of the whole Church, to pr...

Since the publication of the House of Bishop's Pastoral Letter and Appendix on same-sex marriage on Saturday 15 February, there have been responses and reactions from across the world. In this scattered diocese conversations among us about matters that touch on the life of the Church are not easily held. Although it is not the main purpose of the Eurobishop Blog, it did occur to me that this is one medium that might permit some exchange and reflection on this issue. So this is a bit of an experiment, really! The Revd Canon Dr Jack McDonald is one priest and theologian in our diocese who wished to share his reflections on the bishops' statement, so I asked him to write a "guest article" for Eurobishop, which is posted below. Just for the sake of clarity, the view expressed is that of Dr McDonald, not the official position of Eurobishop or its editor on this matter. Dr McDonald has studied in Cambridge, London, and Strasbourg. He is the Priest-in-charge of Sain...

I spent yesterday with the 100 or so other bishops of the Church of England and with the 8 women who are the regional representatives to the House of Bishops, discussing the content of the Report of the House of Bishops Working Group on Human Sexuality, known as the Pilling Report, after Sir Joseph Pilling who chaired the working group. It was a challenging day as we sought to share perspectives on the Report. It is clear that discernment in the midst of such potentially divisive issues is necessarily a lengthy process.  The Church holds many dimensions of the matter of human sexuality in balance, even perhaps in tension. This is not an easy position for the Church to be in. Neither is such a complex set of  theological, missiological and pastoral challenges something which the world's media easily understands. For me, these are some of the questions we face, and about which I hope the people of God in this diocese might have opportunity for some honest, respectful an...

At a recent meeting of the Ministry Team of the Diocese, the Revd Canon Ulla Monberg, Director of Training, introduced us to a new resource entitled Bible in life of the Church .  This is a study and a collection of resources prepared by the Churches of the Anglican Communion around the world which was presented to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) at its meeting in Auckland New Zealand in November last year. Canon Monberg is the representative of this diocese on the ACC. As Canon Monberg explained, "the project, commissioned in 2009, is an attempt to let the Churches of the Communion reflect on the ways in which they actually use the Bible - how they read it, whom they read it with, what they bring to the reading, what their experience is of transformation. It is geared towards 'ordinary Anglicans' in the pews. There is no agenda in the project, no liberal or traditional preference. The title of the project is important. This is a...

On Sunday 4 November the Dean of Gibraltar, the Very Revd Dr John Paddock installed the Reverend Canon Professor Robin Gill as Canon Theologian of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe, in the Stall of John Keble in Holy Trinity Cathedral. Canon Gill (photo above, signing the declaration to accompany his installation) was the Michael Ramsey Professor of Modern Theology at the University of Kent for 20 years. In 2011 he assumed the position of Professor of Applied Theology at the University. He has served on advisory groups on both theology and medical ethics for the Archbishop of Canterbury. I first had the privilege of meeting Canon Gill when he was theological consultant to the bishops at the Lambeth Conference 1998. I was on the staff of the Anglican Communion at that time. There are now two Canon Theologians of the Diocese. Canon Gill joins the Revd Canon Dr Jack McDonald, the Priest-in-Charge of Saints Mary and Martha, Leuven, Belgium.

Canon Dr Jack McDonald and Canon Ulla Monberg at the Chapel of the Resurrection A day of consultation was held in Brussels last week involving the Director of Training, the Revd Canon Ulla Monberg, the Revd Canon Dr Jack McDonald, Canon Theologian at the Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Brussels and priest-in-charge of Saints Mary and Martha, Leuven, the Revd Canon Dr Robert Innes, the Chancellor of the Pro-Cathedral and myself.  We explored the potential for training offered by theological faculties in Leuven, and the possibility of working with Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox partners in developing a lay theological centre for reflection, dialogue and formation, based at the Chapelle de la Resurrection which is situated at the heart of the EU institutions in Brussels.  The Chapel of the Resurrection is also known as the Chapel for Europe. It is a place for all Christians working in the European Institutions and seeks to be a place of ecumenical ...

The Revd Barbara Moss (left) and the Revd Canon Malcolm Bradshaw The Revd Barbara Moss of Gothenburg (and Area Dean of the Nordic and Baltic states) and Revd Canon Malcolm Bradshaw of the Greater Athens Anglican Chaplaincy (and Area Dean of the Balkans and Turkey) had a challenging ten days in July as they shared in a consultation with twenty four other senior parish priests at St George’s House, Windsor Castle. The consultation was entitled ‘God: Some Conversations. How to speak about God?’ It was a rigorous programme. Each morning began with worship at 7.30 in St George’s Chapel, followed by groups for bible study, facilitated by a theologian. The biblical passage studied was linked to the particular theme explored during the day: Today’s Church, Equality, Childhood, Literature and the Arts, Drugs policy, Finance/Economics or Assisted Dying.  By 10.00 am the group was reviewing a book or a film focused on the theme of the day such as ‘Easter’ by Michael Arditti o...

Christmas is not the most ancient of Christian feasts. There is little evidence of 25 December as a day to celebrate Christ’s birth before the mid 4th century. According to the Revd Dr Paul Bradshaw, an eminent liturgical scholar (and the Liturgical Advisor of this diocese in Europe) the earliest reference to 25 December as the Feast of the Nativity appeared around 354 in Rome. (However in other parts of the Church such as in Egypt, 6 January was observed from the late 2nd century as both the commemoration of the birth of Jesus as well as his baptism. The latter continues to be a theme of the 6 January feast of the Epiphany). Why the slow start to dedicate a feast to the birth of Jesus? The hesitancy might stem from the Church’s theological debate with the Arians about the relationship of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. “Were they equal or not?” was the question. The Arians would be in favour of marking the Son’s beginning or birth in time as they were unsure about the equa...

Image via Wikipedia 2011 is the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible, also known as the Authorised Version. This historic translation published in 1611 has made an exceptional contribution to the life of the Church and to the language and culture of English speaking nations in general. Arguably it was this English text that set the path for the development of our language and has exercised a cultural influence far beyond the works of Shakespeare. Events are being planned in England in 2011 to help celebrate this anniversary. A General Synod motion passed last February asked that “dioceses, deaneries and parishes undertake local initiatives to celebrate and teach the Bible both within the Church and throughout wider society”. I encourage churches in our diocese to find ways to join in the celebrations. Perhaps at the very least there might be planned a service of Evensong with the readings from the Authorised King James Version. Some may not be aware of an hi...

The Church of England has issued a Guidance Note on countering far right political parties, extremist groups and racist politics. The need for this advice stems from the rise of political parties in the UK which hold extreme or racist views . In countries of continental Europe the same phenomenon may be present to varying degrees. It is important for the faithful of our diocese, where ethnic diversity is cherished, to be alert to the activities of any such movements and never to waver from the theological truth that every person is created in the image of God.  The principles which undergird the Guidance Note are a useful reminder of the teaching of the Church regarding racism: Racism and religious hatred are theological issues. They must be taught to be sins and incompatible with Christian discipleship. Prayer, sermons and liturgy need to be unambiguous about the spiritual dangers of racism. The rejection of evil, such as racism, is a key element of the L...

It has been quite a week for ecumenical news. First the announcement of the Apostolic Constitution from Rome last Tuesday. Then last Thursday the General Synod of the Church of Sweden voted 176 to 73, to allow same-sex church weddings. The Church of Sweden, the established Church until 2000, has about 7 million members or 75% of the national population. It has been offering blessings of same-sex registered partnerships since 1995 and in 2007 approved a special liturgy for this. However, Swedish marriage law changed on 1 May, and registered partnerships were abolished in favour of gender-neutral marriage. The Church was thus faced with a decision about what the change means for its understanding of marriage. Earlier this year, two Church of England Bishops, Christopher Hill and John Hind, who chair the Council for Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Advisory Group, respectively, wrote to Archbishop Anders Wejryd of Uppsala (pictured above), pointing out that a decision to exp...

Today is " Blog Action Day on Climate Change ". I want to draw the attention of readers of this blog and those connected with the Diocese in Europe to an important statement that we bishops of the Church of England issued on the environment and climate change last September 16.  It underscores several important points from a Christian perspective: the theological basis for our care for God's creation and the link between climate change and justice for the poor the need to form partnerships with others, including interfaith partnerships, in order to address the crisis together the call to prayerful reflection on the decisions the politicians and world leaders must make in Copenhagen in December ( COP 15 ) and to give these leaders an ambitious mandate the Christian vocation to live simply and responsibly Here is the full statement (it continues after the break): If a fire breaks out and spreads into thorn bushes so that it burns stocks of grain or standing gr...