Welcome to the website of the Anglican Church of St Thomas Becket, Hamburg.

The Rt Revd Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham, - known simply as Alan Wilson to Guardian Readers for whom he writes a regular column - has written some thoughts on the Book of Common Prayer and Baptism, that make cheerful if not thought provoking reading.

Click here to access.

The next Young Adults meeting will be on Friday 10th September - further details on location and time is given on Young Adults Page. Topic for disucssion - will be a surprise!
Young adults are welcome - church attendance not required!

Well summer seems to be rather broke. But this should not deter ...

The weather perhaps puts other things on hold to read a new Pause for Thought for September.

Many things are happening this autumn. Dates to note are Creation Sunday 19th September and Harvest Weekend 2nd-3rd October with a special Ghanaian Event in support of the church's mission projects.

There are still places free on the bus for the Church Outing on Saturday 4th September. This promises to be a great day out, good company, interesting weather (well interesting to see what it will be!), and a very economical way to see Töning and St Peter Ording - all for 15 Euros!

Good way to get to know people who regularly and occasionally come to church! Newcomers welcome too.

Click here for the flyer.

Friday 20th August Junior Church Staff Meeting.
Saturday 21st August Confirmation classes resume.

REMINDER - Church Outing Saturday 4th September!
Visit to Tönning and St Peter Ording. An opportunity for friends and relatives to join regulars for a fun day. 260 km round trip for just 15 Euros - do join the party! Notification to Emmanuel in church or contact the churchwardens or Chaplain.

Sunday 1st August we have baptisms and so this is a suitable time for a chance to mingle over a shared lunch.

The Monthly Eucharist will take place Thursday 29th July at 19.00 at Schulterblatt 14 - please tell Rosie Curran (4390281) if you are coming!

And don't forget the church outing 4th September

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was the invited keynote speaker at the LWF Assembly being held in Stuttgart until 27 July. His talk was on the theme of the conference "Give us today our daily bread".

Dr Williams noted that “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread” is “a prayer than inevitably looks beyond the present moment and the settling of immediate needs … It is as if in order to live in peace and hope today, we have to ask for that foretaste or ‘advance payment’ of God’s future.”
"The bread that is shared among Christians is not only material resource, but the recognition of dignity...and to recognise human dignity in one another is indeed to share the truth of what humanity is in the eyes of God. We feed each other by honouring the truth of the divine image in each other."

The report from LWF is available here.
The full text can be read on the Archbishop's website.
There is also a note and comment on the Europbishop blog

On Trinity 7 Sunday the Chaplain included in his sermon a couple of poems by the Swiss theologian Jörg Zink. The poem "Where is God" provides the new Pause for Thought. Something to ponder on in the summer holiday season!

Every 6-7 years the world's Lutheran churches gather under the umbrella of the Lutheran World Federation and this time from 20-27 July in Stuttgart. Under the motto 'Give us our daily bread' the conference challenges those participating (and us all) to consider what we should be doing about injustice in the world.

The Anglican Communion is represented by among others Bishop David Hamid as noted in his blog entry for 20th July.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams will address the conferance on 22 July.

We wish the conference delegates a good conference.

Aside from all the attention on other high profile matters at the General Synod last week, a significantly innovative idea for internet supported giving was launched by the Archbiship of York, Dr John Sentamu, who says:
Acts435 is a fantastic initiative which puts people who are in need in touch with those that can help. It is a very simple idea but a very exciting one! I am proud that the Church is taking practical steps to help those facing practical difficulties."

This website demonstrates in a very positive way how the internet can be used to connect people.

The Church Mouse Blog - a reliable, enlightening and witty source of commentary on church matters - provides a list and links to pastoral letters sent by a number of bishops on the result of the General Synod debate on Women Bishops.
The letters reflect a range of opinions.

Please note the following correction to the information in the printed version of Becket News and News item below "New Mission Projects":

The two USPG-Anglicans in World Mission projects which the Chaplaincy Council decided the church will support during the next two years are as follows:-

• The Koforidua Health Clinics in Ghana. Project number 360.
• St. Andrew's Theological College (ordained ministry training college) in Bangladesh. Project number 430.

The Women's centre in South India was considered, but it was decided to make the choice in line with USPG's new strategy of highlighting basic health care and clergy education. These priorities come from the partner Anglican churches in Africa and Asia. There is an acute shortage of priests in Bangladesh, for example.

Apologies for the error in reporting. The mistake has been corrected in the Becket News linked to this site

The General Synod of the Church of England is currently in session in York, and tackling that issue that seems still to provide much stuff for debate, under what terms women can become bishops.

The decision to admit women as Bishops had already been taken in principle two years ago. The debate at this Synod evolves on how to provide for those who somehow cannot accept this. The Synod has today, to the disappointment of some, decided against formal legislative means to provide a two tier system for those that can or cannot accept women bishops.

Some may think this is long overdue, and not quite understand what the debate is about, but recommended listening is the audiosession of the debate. The contributions both for and against the motions were well argued.

Undeterred by the heat, the Young Adults will be meeting at 8:00 pm this Friday 16th July. Topic of discussion 'Total Forgiveness'.
Please refer to Young Adults Page under Activities for contact information.

Advance notice is given of the summer social barbecue on Saturday, 28th August. Details to follow.

The July-September 2010 issue Becket News is available as hardcopy in Church from this Sunday, 11th July. You can already get you hands on a copy from this website by clicking here.

This 20 page Meisterwerk contains a variety of articles and more photos than ever.

For our many website readers living afar, we hope that Becket News provides a good overview of the life of the Church to let you keep in touch.

Our thanks once again to the editor for putting this together. Never an easy task!

Gute Lektüre!