July 2016

(nr. 156)

MAGAZINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN HAARLEM

Church The English-speaking church community meets at

the Old Catholic Cathedral of St. Anna & St. Mary

Kinderhuissingel 74, 2013 AV HAARLEM

Website: www.anglican-church-haarlem.nl

Priest-in-charge Vacant

Reader Jaap Theunisz, Tel: 023 537 4242

Rijksstraatweg 541/3, 2025 DE HAARLEM

e-mail: j.theunisz@gmail.com

Warden Jaap Theunisz

Secretary & Jaap Theunisz

Webmaster

Treasurer Renger Afman, Tel: 023 526 2295

e-mail: renger.afman@gmail.com

Council Member John Scott

Council Member Veronica Schafer

Organist & Martin van Bleek, Tel: 023 542 2133

Choirmaster

Lifeline Editor Philip Whittaker, Tel: 0341 45 3507

e-mail: phwhittaker@cs.com

The English-speaking church community in Haarlem is part of the Anglican-Diocese of

Europe and seeks to serve all English speaking people in the wider Haarlem area.

All payments, donations, general, missions, subscriptions to Lifeline (minimum to

cover costs €12.50/year), please to:

Bank nr: NL87 INGB 0000 5776 41, Church of England Haarlem

indicating purpose of payment (donation, mission, Lifeline, etc.)

Lifeline contains the official Haarlem chaplaincy news and various articles. However,

the views expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the Chaplaincy or the Editor.

Recent issues of Lifeline can be found on http://www.anglican-church-haarlem.nl/category/all/lifelines/

2

Chaplaincy letter:

On the first Sunday of July we celebrated the feast day of St

Thomas the Apostle. It was a joyful Eucharist, with a lot of

music, as it was the last choir service before the summer, and

with a number of young guests from America who happened

to join us for worship. Not so joyful is the fact that you, as

Anglican Church Haarlem, enter into a new period without

your own priest.

As dedicated members of this congregation, some of you

might feel somewhat disappointed or disillusioned. At times,

it can be a struggle to make sense of why it is important to be

a member of a church community. Sometimes it seems more

helpful to our personal spiritual life if we could be Christians

on our own! But having to live with the realities of

congregational life and its tensions, and having to live with

the church as an institution, is part of our identity as

Christians. Jesus is not the founder of a religion of individual

spirituality. From the very start of his ministry, he called

apostles “to be with him” (Mark 3.14).

As I said in my sermon on this feast of St Thomas: the very

fact that Jesus called twelve apostles – parallel to the twelve

tribes of Israel – is a clear indication that Jesus really wanted

‘a people’; he wanted us as ‘a church’. When we sometimes

struggle with the church, it may be a comfort to us that Jesus

already struggled with his apostles and that they quarrelled

among each other. Nevertheless, Jesus wants us – like his

apostles – “to be with him”. Let that be our comfort and the

basic reason for going to church and dedicating ourselves to

the wellbeing of this congregation.

Fr Mattijs Ploeger

3

Fundraising activities As our driving ambition is still to have our own resident part-time chaplain we need to replenish our finances. For this purpose we have formed a fundraising group that consists of Veronique Ruiz, Francis Gordon, John Scott and Martin van Bleek and Gert Dammer. The group has met a few times already to discuss the various ways of raising money for our church funds. We are approaching this task with enthusiasm as we believe in the future of Haarlem Church!

Apart from approaching all our givers personally we will also be organising some special events - raising money can also be fun!

The first event will be a parish evening on Saturday evening 8 October – see below - an evening of fun together with the express purpose to raise money.

We are also working on a few musical events with the choir, such as a sponsored hymn/anthem singing afternoon/evening.

The Christmas Bring and Buy will of course be another moment where we can raise money. For this purpose we are thinking of having our own Christmas card of the church and perhaps notelets. The profits of the sale will go to our church funds.

These are just a few of the ideas we are working on and we will keep you informed of our progress. In the meantime we hope you will continue to support Haarlem Church financially and pray for the future of our church.

The Fundraising group

☺ ☺ ☺

From the Fun(d)raising Committee: Save the Date

8 October 2016, 19.30-22.00h Community Room St. Anna & St. Mary’s Church Haarlem

Bingo-Quiz night with incredible prizes!

Here’s how it works:

19.30h walk in with coffee, 20.00h the game is on…. We provide the bingo-cards, quiz-questions and prizes You bring yourself and friends Incredible prizes for the winners Cost covering charge for drinks only Hat round to raise some extra funds for social activities, etc.

If we have fun this could become a tradition… It’s up to us all! We will be looking for volunteers for providing snacks, moving tables and chairs, serving, washing-up; the works. Please let Francis or Veronique know what you’re up for .

4

Music Matters

On 4 June a sizeable group of our own choir and the Anglican Singers travelled to Gent for the Archdeaconry Choral Festival. The festival was held at the Elisabeth Kerk, where the church of St. John’s, Gent moved to in January of this year. The service was a Choral Evensong and also celebrated the 200

th anniversary of St. John’s in Gent. Alistair Warwick,

coordinator for the RSCM in Scotland, conducted the service, and the Revd. Stephen Murray and our Archdeacon Canon Meurig Williams presided over the service. We had a choir of 100 plus! The Gent congregation did a fantastic job both with making us feel welcome and feeding us all!

Sunday July 3 was our last Choral Sunday before the holidays. We sang two anthems that we will also be singing during our week at Wells with the European Cathedral Singers: Justorum animae by Gabriel Jackson and the communion motet O sacrum Convivium by Thomas Tallis.

The choir will be back on Sunday 21st August for our own service followed

by our annual Choral Evensong in the St, Bavo Church on the Grote Markt. Do join us for that service!

If you are in the UK on holiday, the European Cathedral Singers will be singing the services in Wells Cathedral from Monday 8 to Sunday 14 August. Mon-Wed will be Choral Evensongs and Thursday will be our day off. We are planning a trip on the historical West Somerset Railway, a trip with an historical steam train! I can still remember watching the shunting of the carriages at the bottom of the hill from my grandmother’s house in Nottingham when I was a little boy.

Friday and Saturday we will sing Choral Evensongs and on Sunday we will sing a Choral Eucharist in the morning, followed by Matins and then our final Evensong in the afternoon. So do come and see us if you are in the neighbourhood!

From September onwards we should be back to normal with our choral services.

On 18 September we will have our joint Harvest Festival with the Old Catholic congregation followed by the Harvest tea.

Have a very good holiday and thank you for your continued support!

Martin van Bleek, Organist and choirmaster

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

5

† In Memoriam

Julie Ann van Bleek - Stafford (Nottingham 18 February 1930 – Haarlem 11 May 2016)

After several years of diminishing mental health, Julie passed peacefully away with her loved ones around her,

in Overspaarne where she had been so lovingly cared for. Her funeral service and cremation were held on 19 May.

To all who had worshipped in Haarlem, Julie had been a smiling, helpful and loving example of English gentleness.

And during the last years of her dementia, her determined gentle smile remained as a symbol of her sweet nature and her

steadfast faith.

Julie and Gerrit met through letter exchange at their respective schools in England and The Netherlands, eventually meeting

and later married in Nottingham on 19 May 1954. During the first years of their marriage they lived in The Hague,

and after Martin was born in 1956 they moved to Haarlem, where they started attending the Anglican church. In 1959

Mandy was born, and in 1963 the family moved to Ambachtstraat.

Julie sang in Haarlem Church choir for many years, and was on the Church Council for more than 30 years, of which secretary

for 14 years and church warden for 8 years. Julie had also been active in visiting the sick, arranging cards for

special occasions and welcoming and entertaining visitors.

Julie was an accomplished painter of water-colours, and even had a fling at acting, including in a film about

Corry ten Boom, Hiding Place, with Mary Brunt.

Our deep condolences go out to the Van Bleek family and friends.

May Julie rest in peace and awake to a joyful resurrection.

†

6

From Ms Miscellaneous

Good neighbours and distant friends

The last two weeks or so I had suffered from bad toothache. My dentist told

me it wasn’t possible for me to be in such pain; he had only replaced a small

filling and had come nowhere near root canals or nerves. Nevertheless any

eating or drinking was very painful. I could not even sleep on my preferred left

side.

After one week of distress – at the birthday party of a good friend – I found out

that spritz [Editor: a popular aperitif from the Veneto province in Italy] and wine

sooths pain. I only made the mistake to swallow too much, resulting in a

hangover the day after. Of course the drink had been of good quality, so

fortunately I did not have much of a headache as well. But I did feel miserable

that day, trying to decide which gave me the most discomfort: the toothache or

the hangover. But the memories of the great party with Michelin star food and

wonderful people kept me going.

But after that, I rinsed my tooth with wine in the evenings (vodka has more

effect but doesn’t taste at all good with dinner) without swallowing it. During

the day I tried keeping my tooth quiet with painkillers and rubbing it with

toothpaste. Until I could no longer stand it.

My own dentist had gone on holiday, so I needed somebody else. Then I

found out how true the Dutch saying: ‘a good neighbour is better than a distant

friend’ is. My neighbour is also a dentist, but she was on maternity leave. I was

so desperate that I decided to ask her for a second opinion anyway. She

managed to get me an appointment in her practice, where she was going to

start working the next week anyway as her leave was ending. She found out

that the root of my tooth was showing the beginning of an infection - and

relieved me from my ordeal. No wonder I had been in such pain, she told me.

Now life seems a lot easier and more pleasant than the last two weeks.

Incredible how a constant pain in one’s jaw and not being able to eat, drink or

sleep properly affects one’s state of mind and concentration. God can seem

far away under those circumstances, like a distant friend: always willing to

listen and say comforting words but not being able to actually do something

about it. The good news is that He is both the distant friend and the good

neighbour! In the end He always makes things right.

I wish you all a painless and very happy summertime!

Veronique Ruiz

☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

7

Our Church Choir

It is now Regine Willemsen’s turn to go public:

Experience: Joined my school choir aged 16½, and never looked back. Joined the Anglican Singers in January 1990 and the Haarlem Church Choir after the summer of that year

Sings: Alto and/or soprano

Favourite music To listen to (Choral) music from the renaissance and baroque. Purcell!

To sing Renaissance polyphony, Handel's choral works, Bach, and Purcell of course. And many many more

Daily life: Worked at the office of a subtitling company for 13 years. Then became a full-time translator (mostly subtitles for tv)

Hobbies: Singing (Anglican Singers, Haarlem, Amsterdams Bach Consort), reading, films, cooking, embroidery, jigsaw

puzzles (though my cats make that impossible right now)

Enjoys: My cuddly cats (two sisters, Aagje & Betje), trips to London (because it feels like home) and going to plays in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Singing concerts. Dinner parties with friends and/or family

Wishes: To be able to keep going for a long time, in good health, and to also have time to just sit, relax, listen to quiet music and read, read, read…

♫ ♫ ♫

8

Retreat at the monastery 'Maria Toevlucht' in Zundert, weekend of Ascension 2016

The thing we most want in our lives is to be able to feel the oneness

with all that surrounds us; to look through ego and body and know

that we are spirit; to be sure that everything is exactly as it should

be. It runs in the family, we are of the same type. And every now

and then we like to go somewhere for inspiration and we hope to

find someone that can answer our 'big' questions.

We both love nature, and the Zundert monastery is secluded by woods,

a perfect place for nature lovers and to be in contact with God.

Marga has visited the monastery before, and there is an 'extra' for

our family, that one of the fathers, Fr. Edmund, knew our late uncle

Pieter, which gives somewhat of an acquainted feeling.

Although the guests live separately from the fathers, there is always

room to ask for a conversation and they do not give the feeling that

they are really separate from you.

And there is Fr. Peter who is assigned to take care of the guests,

and he shows and tells you all you need to know, and leads the

afternoon and evening meals.

There are a lot of opportunities to go to mass, held 5 times a day

starting at 4:30 a.m. until the close of the day at 8 p.m. And in the

morning before the 8 a.m. mass, you can attend a zen meditation.

We were lucky in that a meditation group cancelled, which left us

with only four other guests. It turned out that all six of us liked to

spend some time together after the last mass, all curious why

somebody would go to a monastery, and telling each other a bit of

her or his life’s story. We liked this a lot.

With the atmosphere of the monastery and hearing beautiful singing

of psalms you really start to look a bit beyond ego and body, and

really feel connected with God.

Laura & Marga Beekman

9

☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

In case you wish to confirm the answers to the Quiz in the last issue of

Lifeline, they are:

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants

know the score or the leader until the contest ends is boxing

2. The famous North American landmark that is constantly moving

backward is the Niagara Falls

3 The two perennial vegetables that have several growing seasons are

asparagus and rhubarb

4. The fruit that has its seeds on the outside is the strawberry

5. How did the pear get inside the bottle? It grew inside the bottle. The

bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and wired in

place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the growing season

6. The only three words in standard English beginning with the letters

'dw' are dwell, dwarf and dwindle

7. The only vegetable or fruit that is only sold in its natural state is

lettuce

8. Things that you can be worn on your feet beginning with the letter

'S’ include shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates,

snowshoes, stockings, stilts

☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Quirks of the English language

There is no EGG in EGGPLANT nor HAM in HAMBURGER

and neither APPLE nor PINE in PINEAPPLE

a GUINEAPIG is neither from GUINEA nor is it a PIG.

people RECITE at a PLAY and PLAY at a RECITAL;

we have NOSES that RUN and FEET that SMELL;

a SLIM CHANCE is the same as a FAT CHANCE,

and to SLOW UP is the same as to SLOW DOWN,

a WISE MAN and a WISE GUY are opposites,

a building BURNS UP as it BURNS DOWN

☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

10

Should you require further information about a service or event

please contact the Secretary

Sunday 3 July 14.30 Choral Eucharist (with choir)

Sunday 10 July 14.30 Sung Eucharist (with hymns)

Tuesday 12 July 11.00 Coffee morning and lunch at the home

of Vicki de Koning, De Weer 123,

1503 WL, Zaandam (tel:075 6700015)

Sunday 17 July 14.30 Eucharist -said

Sunday 24 July 14.30 Eucharist -said

Sunday 31 July 14.30 NO Service

Sunday 7 August 14.30 Eucharist -said

8 – 14 August - Our choir, together with other

members of the European Cathedral

Singers will sing the daily services in

Wells Cathedral (excl. Thursday)

Tuesday 9 August 10.00 Coffee morning at the home of

Corrie Anne Oeverhaus

Fr.Schubertlaan 21 2102 EJ

Heemstede (tel. 023 5286240)

Sunday 14 August 14.30 NO service

Sunday 21 August 14.30 Choral Evening Prayer and

Eucharist (with choir)

19.00 Choral Evensong in St. Bavo

Church, Grote Markt, Haarlem sung

by our Choir & The Anglican Singers

11

Sunday 28 August 14.30 Eucharist – said

Sunday 4 September 14.30 Choral Eucharist (with choir)

Future:

Sunday 18 September 14.30 Harvest Festival – Choral Eucharist

(with choir)

A tourist's thoughts on visiting a Church

Here I am, God, before you - in your house.

Why? I don't really know.... the church door was open –

I went in and walked around - and now I think of you:

I had forgotten all about you –

but now I know, you still live deep inside me.

I remember from childhood: “I am made in your image” -

I didn't give it a thought for so long!

You may even have called me, friendly and discrete.

What can I say? How can I respond?

I just want to spend some time in silence, in your presence, with you....

Can I speak to you – after all these years?

About myself, my hopes, my joys, my misgivings?

Who I am and what I want to be?

…

Time to say “Goodbye” now, I must move on.

Come with me, though, walk with me, I do need you.

LIFELINE

MAGAZINE OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH HAARLEM

afzender: Schaapskamp 7, 3849 PS HIERDEN

(ISSN 0920 – 6914)