Pentecost Sunday
The truly multi cultural and multi lingual nature of ACF was celebrated at the Pentecost Sunday service where we used around 50 languages for the worship service. Readings were offered in about 25 languages and songs sung and love and peace shared in several other heart languages. The genuine Pentecost experience where each person who were present in the upper room heard the apostle preaching as though in their own language was replicated with people from all over the world being present. One of the worshippers emotionally quipped after the service, ‘we felt we were in our little village in Africa and this service was special and truly nostalgic for us’. An Iranian young person reading the Scriptures in Persian, the Lord’s prayer in Aramaic, the Caribbean Halleluiah, the Yoruba Wa Wa Emimimo sung in several languages, Laudate Dominum sung in people’s heart languages, the consecration of the elements in Malayalam, the African languages like Luganda, Swahili, Ibo and Kirundi, Wolof, the Asian languages Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Korean, Japanese, the classics Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Latin, the European and Latin American flavour with Spanish, Katalan, French, German, Peruvian and several other languages added to the flavour German and English provided to the service. The Welcome Banner had the word for Love in 32 different languages. The learning for us was this- the more open we are to the heart cultures of our neighbours the more we celebrate as a community of grace.
This article even made it here onto the diocesan website.
Young Adults Fellowship
Twenty five young people from all over the world who are in Freiburg for work and study gathered together at the vicarage on the 18th of May to celebrate Molly’s birthday and enjoy a fellowship meal. It was a very lively discussion on how Pentecost is celebrated in different parts of the world. In some cultures Pentecost is all about the whole night prayer vigils where people intercede throughout the night for each other and the world. In some places Pentecost is about harvest festivals- thanking God for the gift of food, water and all that we normally take for granted. Some cultures find this as an auspicious time for ordinations and confirmations while in some other cultures it is a holiday like Christmas and Easter. It was a time of mutual learning how different cultural contexts celebrate Pentecost and what the Holy Spirit means to each of them.
Fragrance in Freiburg
We are glad to let you know that the project that we were contemplating titling Fragrance in Freiburg has been approved. We have received from the Episcopal Church Welcome Grant an initial contribution of Euros 15.000,00. This will be aimed at transforming ACF into a more welcoming and inviting community ensuring we bear the fragrance of Christ to the communities in the peripheries who are basically our neighbours but live with the tag of refugee, migrant worker, asylum seeker or street dwellers. Our attempt would be to offer them dignity, respect and love and help them integrate better into the social fabric of the society. We will base this project on five of our strengths as a community- hospitality, young people, expertise, academic excellence and a compassionate heart of grace. The detailed roll out plan will be made available soon and we are all invited and encouraged to be participants in this meaningful initiative.
Alpha 2024
A word of thanks to all who helped with Alpha. We had fourteen people regularly attending this twelve week session looking into the basics of Christian faith in a very creative and meaningful way. A special word of appreciation to Lauren and Klaus for their passionate leadership in this initiative and to all who offered hospitality and meals to the participants. Every session began with a sumptuous meal, followed by a thematic video presentation and meaningful discussions. We hope to offer Alpha again in Autumn if there is genuine interest to grow in the basics of Christian faith.
The New Communication System
We have shifted our communication system totally to the new online platform iKnow church. A word of appreciation to Cindy who meticulously looked after the church communications over the years. Christine, our Communications Officer, and Cindy has put tremendous effort in modernising our communication channels and ensuring the data safety standards are honoured. Kudos to both of them for the good work and we are committed to improve the communication channels to be in tune with the times.
Freiburg Anglican Church 