Reps Circular
From Sheenagh Burrell, ALMA Co-ordinator
almacoordinator@london.anglican.org T: Tuesdays: 020 7932 1231
Dear ALMA Reps and Friends,
It was good to see so many of you at the Reps meeting on 16 May. Many thanks to Revd Matthew Grayshon from St Mary’s Hanwell and John Watson of St Stephen’s Twickenham for sharing their experiences of the ‘Rooted in Jesus course’, Matthew in Tanzania and John in both Niassa and Angola.
This Circular contains:
Planning for the ALMA Sunday Eucharist at St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday 10 July at 6pm is well underway. We’re delighted Bishop Dinis will be with us and warmly invite all ALMA Reps and Friends your congregations, extended families and neighbours. There’s a colourful poster for you to display. Please don’t forget your church halls and external notice boards. There are also three ways we would love you to be involved!
New Links will be prayed for and invited to receive a Link Covenant Certificate as part of the service (in due course all links will receive such a certificate along with one in Portuguese for their link parish or school). This ALMA Sunday we will celebrate the new links formed in the last year:
River of Prayer in Action
Beryl Warren spoke at the ALMA REPS meeting about the ‘River of Prayer in Action’: an opportunity to take part in a Link procession behind the ALMA banner holding some of the River of Prayer fabric from the 2008 10th anniversary service which is incorporated into the ALMA Banner. Please get back to her on this and remember it’s a great way of involving young people! She writes: ‘An open invitation to all ALMA Reps, especially members of twinned churches and schools to celebrate by being part of the ‘River of Prayer in Action’. It will be fun!’ berylwarren@hotmail.com
Joining the Diocesan Choir for the Service
ALMA Reps of good voice are invited to join the Diocesan Choir for this service. Mervyn Hogg who leads the Diocesan Choir writes
‘Singers from Link parishes are encouraged to participate and are invited to register with me by email giving their name, voice part and church. Please respond by 12 June if possible. (Email mervyn.hogg@blueyonder.co.uk)
The service and the music will include hymns, an African song, possible a congregational setting of the mass and an anthem during communion. I will let you know about details of the music a little nearer the time.
The intention is to meet on the day for a choir rehearsal, circa 16:15 - 17:30, in the Wren Suite (in the crypt of the Cathedral near the coffee shop). Our rehearsal will be partly concurrent with an organ concert so after that we will robe and go upstairs to form a procession in the Dean’s aisle in readiness to sing the service under the Dome. I anticipate the service will be finished before 19:30 so the commitment is just over three hours’.
7-12 July St John’s Waterloo Festival ‘War and People’ featuring some Swords into Ploughshares Sculptures, music, drama and community events
9 July MANNA AGM will be held on 12 midday at the parish church of St John the Divine, Vassal Road Kennington - a short walk from The Oval station on the Northern Line. The Trustees will meet briefly at 11 am before the main meeting as usual.
‘With a great pleasure we are writing to keep you informed about the recent visit of the Rt. Revd. Dinis Salomão Sengulane from 21 to 29 May 2011. After a period of more than seven years, the Diocese of Angola invited Bishop Dinis to visit us, as he loves Angola and its people. He promptly accepted and visited the diocese. During his visit, he celebrated four Holy Eucharist services in four Archdeaconries, namely: Luanda, Uige, Nzadi a Lukisi and Lukunga Loge respectively. In Uige province Bishop Dinis administrated three confirmation services with a total of 137 members in the parishes of St. Matias in Kawondo, (85), St Barnabus in Songo (18) and All Martires in Uige (34).
Apart of this, he visited the School in St. Barnabus, and visited the tomb where Bishop André’s mother is buried in Mayengo village. In Uige he was received by the provincial Governor.
This visit was made to recognize the work he did from December 1990 to September 2003 and to strengthen the relationship between the Diocese of Lebombos and the Diocese of Angola. We thank God for the wonderful time we had during the week he spent in Angola.
‘Reading the Bible like this, at one go from beginning to end, gave us, I think, some interesting perspectives:
- Journeying, both literally, from Abram to Paul and so much in between and metaphorically, as over the ups & downs of so many centuries the people gained insights into God
- The continual necessity of recall to God’s ways
- The contrasts of some parts so well known & loved and others hardly ever read
- And many more . . . .
But above all, a fresh appreciation of the impact of Jesus – coming, as one of you said, like a breath of fresh air – life-bringing, God-breathing - - so firmly in the scriptural tradition and yet so radical, new and revivifying’.
The Bibleton raised almost £2000 for the Lent Appeal. Thank you to each of the 80 readers and those who came to listen, savour and support.
The last couple of weeks has seen food speculation making the headlines again and was featured in BBC Countryfile in May. This directly impacts our partners; The New Anglican Alliance for Development, Relief and Advocacy is working on this. Briefings on its Food Advocacy work, along with suggested responses for the G20 meetings, can be downloaded, in advance of its website launch, via its facebook page
Two things jumped out for me in the Briefing for Food Advocacy:
‘According to the UN the countries facing the greatest food crisis are: Afghanistan; Angola; Burundi …’
and
‘A UNICEF report shows the countries with the highest percentage increase in food prices between May and November 2010 2010 were: Belarus 42%, Mozambique 35%, Tajikistan 35% …’
Archbishop Thabo addressed the World Economic Forum on 6th May. Here is a short section of his speech:
‘Even if we agree on its reality and the dangers which it poses for our planet and our people, we need to make our witness bolder and take more courageous steps to bring others to our state of awareness and to work for real change.
We in the faith communities know that climate change will be hugely damaging to oth people and our planet. We know too that it is not only an environmental, economic and social issue but essentially a moral issue. It must therefore be solved through moral principles’.
An interesting article in the Ipris (Portuguese Institute of International Relations and Security (IPRIS) Viewpoints series (number 59) on Angola and China: building friendship through infrastructure by VASCO MARTINS.
This contrasts with the documentary on the Tanzanian - Zambian railway that some of you may have seen last week.
Looking forward to seeing you on ALMA Sunday, and celebrating as ALMA enters the teenage years!
Sheenagh Burrell
ALMA Co-ordinator
Tel: 020 7932 1231 Tuesdays Diocese of London, London Diocesan House 36, Causton St, London SW1P 4AU.