Letter from the VicarDear Friends

The Summer is a quieter period onthe island, and the Church takeson a different character. Not full tothe brim as in High Season, but it stilloffers much spirituality to our visitorsand permanent residents alike, andI am pleased that we are able tooffer services throughout this time.

I am very happy to report that fivemonths after launching the 1855 Ap-peal  – to refurbish the Church andVicarage – we have reached ourgoal of raising €430,000. That is atremendous effort and a big thankyou to all who donated. The worksare being planned for next Summer,so as not to disrupt services  duringnext High Season.

Whilst I am off-island I am also keep-ing busy, not least taking services at

a notable Londonchurch – ChelseaOld Church, onthe Embankmentof the Thames.The church isknown as theplace of worshipof Sir Thomas

Moore: statesman, scholar, andsaint – all attributes noted on hisfamous statue in front of the church.

We are fortunate to have severalvisiting clergy over the Summer, allof whom are new to our Church.Their details can be found on page3. I am grateful to them for sharingtheir ministry with us. You will be ablelisten  to their sermons preached inour Church, as well as pastsermons from earlier in the year, byvisiting our Website.

Mandie and I wish you all a safe andblessed Summer.

Charlie

The Anchor

ST BARTHOLOMEW’SANGLICAN CHURCH, ST BARTH, F.W.I.

SUMMER 2015Welcome to the Summer 2015edition  of The Anchor, which wehope will help keep StBartholomew’s  Anglican  Churchas your spiritual anchor, especiallywhen your own seas get rough.Our Easter celebration is alwayssuch a joyous and memorableoccasion,  we wanted to try andcapture that feeling. Hence, wehave included an interesting mon-tage of photographs in this edition.Clergy Corner allows our readers toget to know better our visitingclergy, whom will be joining us overthe Summer to celebrate services inthe Church.Included in this edition is also anupdate on the 1855 Appeal.The founder of the TaizéCommunity,  Brother Roger, wouldhave been 100 this year; and in hishonour we have published amemorandum,  written by theCommunity Brothers, as part of ourBack Page Spirituality series.We also have news about twoforthcoming concerts by La Choraleover the Thanksgiving weekend.

Contents:The Joy of Easter - page 2

A Concert of Thanks - page 3

Clergy Corner - page 3

The 1855 Appeal - page 2

SBH Prayer Chain - page 4

Back Page Spirituality - page 4

Editor: Philip Trangmarinfo.stbartholomews@gmail.comTel: 0690 54 17 99

If you would like to receive a pdfcopy of The Anchor when you arenot on-island, please send anemail to the address below.Or alternatively, you can down-load a copy by visiting ourWebsite.

Sundays at 9amA contemporary service,filled with music and prayer

Wednesdays at 12 noonA monthly meeting to getto know our visiting clergy

Thursdays at 7pmA bilingual group that hassilent reflection at its core

Fridays at 9.00amA prayerful service to startthe morning

AA Group Meetings - page 4

Website:stbartholomewsanglicanchurch.comFacebook Page:facebook.com/stbartschurch.stbarts

PARISH OFFICE:Our Parish Office is open 9am to 12noon on Mondays, Wednesdaysand Fridays.

1st & 3rd Tuesdays at 7pmMeditative chants in acandlelit & peaceful setting

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Sharing the Joy of Easter

As many of you will know, each Easter at St Bartholomew’s wemake an extra effort to welcome the Risen Christ. The Serviceis very special: with vestments, incense, wonderful flowers andmusic, as well as the choir; and the Church is always packed!Then afterwards, we continue our celebration with drinks,canapés and conversation in the garden, plus an egg hunt!

Our ‘official’ photographer, Mandie Vere Nicoll, hascaptured  the spirit and joy of the occasion in herphotographs.  These and more can be viewed on ourWebsite (under Church Life) and at the back of theChurch. We look forward to celebrating with you againnext year.

The 1855 AppealThe 1855 Appeal was launched in February ofthis year to raise €430,000 to refurbish theChurch and the Vicarage.We are pleased to announce that we havenow received pledges and donations toreach this total.Father Charlie, the Vestry and all thoseconnected  with the Church are immenselygrateful for the generosity of our friends andsupporters.The plans are currently being submitted to theCollectivité by our Architect, and we expectto have approval by the end of the year.

… Merci à TousThe works will commence in May/June 2016and will involve closing the church forseveral months. During that time, as it will beduring Low Season,  we will hold our regularservices in the Church Centre.Please visit the 1855 Appeal page on ourWebsite for updates on progress.You may still donate to the 1855 Appeal, andany monies not used for the refurbishmentworks will form part of an endowment for thecontinued upkeep of the Church buildings.(This painting of the Church is a limited edition printby the artist Lisa VanMeter)

Clergy Corner - Celebrating Summer

Page 3

A Concert of ThanksIn what is fast becoming a ‘must see’event on the island calendar, LaChorale  de Bons Choeurs is puttingon two concerts  in the Church overthe Thanksgiving weekend.Their music director, Ombeline Collin(who is, of course, also the Church’sdirector of music), is planning avaried programme … a combinationof familiar pieces from theirrepertoire, with a few new surprises!As usual, they will perform a moreclassical, slow-tempo first half, withpieces by composers such as Verdiand Bach; and which last time con-cluded with Enya’s ‘Orinoco Flow’.

Following the interval, during whichthere is a champagne bar, theybring out their band and sing a morecontemporary selection, such assongs by Pink Floyd and Abba. Theirpièce de résistance at the lastconcert  was the energy-filled songfrom the film The Blues Brothers:‘Everybody  Needs Somebody’,complete with dark glasses and hats.La Chorale and the Church have astrong connection going back manyyears. In recognition of this, LaChorale  have kindly offered todonate  the proceeds from one oftheir concerts to the 1855 Appeal.The Concerts are at 8pm Saturday28th and 6pm Sunday 29th November.

We are very fortunate to have ainteresting mix of clergy joining us atSt Bartholomew’s over the Summer.In order to provide an opportunity toget to know them better, we will haveinformal lunchtime meetings over a‘plat du jour’ at a local restaurant,and all are welcome.At the beginning of July, we have theRevd Michael Spurlock, who is theassociate priest for pastoral care atSaint Thomas’ Episcopal Church, FifthAvenue, New York – a church with ahistory of worship since 1823. Prior tohis current role, he served as Vicar ofAll Saints Church in the Diocese  ofTennessee, where he was closelyinvolved in changing the fortunes andfinances of the church, alongsidewelcoming  into the church acommunity of refugees from Burma.

Father Spurlock was called to SaintThomas to exercise his priestly gifts tominister to those in need and the SaintThomas Sunday School, as well as theYoung Adults Fellowship.Later in July we welcome the VeryRevd Kate Moorehead, the Dean ofJacksonville Cathedral in Florida.Dean Kate has visited St Barts beforeon vacation, but never as visitingclergy.  As Dean of a large cityCathedral, she is extremely busy, andso we are especially thankful that shewill be sharing her ministry with usduring the Summer.

The Dean is a well-known publishedauthor and has donated some of herbooks to our library: these include re-flections for Lent (Organic God) andalso for the 40 days following Easter(Resurrecting Easter) – both books arenot only deeply spiritual, but alsogood reads. She also finds time torecord video homilies & reflections,which are uploaded  onto the

In August we will be welcoming theRevd Lesley Hay, whose last positionwas as Canon for Operations atGrace Cathedral in San Francisco,where the Very Revd Alan Jones, whovisited us earlier this year, is DeanEmeritus.Revd Lesley was originally ordained inEngland, but has been serving in theEpiscopal Church for over 8 years inAlabama and Connecticut, beforemoving to the West Coast. Shespeaks a little French, and it will put togood use during our August services,when we welcome many visitors fromFrance for their annual vacation.

Father John was chaplain at StGeorge’s School in Newport, RI forover 20 years, as well as their baseballcoach! Since his ‘retirement’, he hasserved as interim vicar in severalparishes,  and is now based in thetown of St Mary’s, Georgia, on theborder with Florida.

Cathedral’s  YouTube  site; as well aspublishing a weekly ‘blog’ with herspiritual thoughts, which can be foundat www.motherkate.blogspot.com.Prior to her appointment as Dean inJacksonville, she served at parishes inBoiling Springs, South Carolina andWichita, Kansas.

Then in October we have the first visitof the Revd Dr Barbara Robinson.Revd Barbara was, until recently, therector of St Paul’s Anglican Church inBrockville, Ontario, where our regularmembers, Lloyd and Patricia Younger,worship when at home. She was anofficer in the Salvation Army beforebeing called to the Anglican ministry.Revd Barbara loves music and playstrombone in a local band, alongsideher trumpet-playing husband.We look forward to them contributingto our spirituality  and also, in combi-nation with Ombeline,  Michael &Lloyd, adding to our music ministry.Earlier in the Summer, we welcomedthe Revd John Rogers and his wifeJudy, who kindly came at short noticeto help us celebrate four weddings in10 days!

Page 4

Back Page Spirituality - Working Towards a New SolidarityTo commemorate the 100th anniver-sary of the birth of Brother Roger, thefounder of the Taizé Community, fourproposals were released by the Com-munity, which they hope will helpgive direction to each and every oneof us to work, as individuals, towardsa better future for our society.

1. Sharing with those around us azest for life: To be salt of the earth isa gift from God that we want towelcome with joy. By being salt ofthe earth, we can communicate azest for life. And when we make lifebeautiful for those entrusted to us,our life becomes meaningful.If, faced with the great number ofobstacles, we ask ourselves: “Whykeep on struggling?” we should re-member that just a little salt isenough to give flavour.Through prayer, we learn to look atourselves as God looks at us; Godsees our gifts, our abilities.Not losing our flavour meanscommitting  ourselves body andsoul, and trusting the gifts of Godwithin us.

2. Committing ourselves to reconcil-iation: In all of us there is the aspira-tion to live together as one humanfamily, but that does not happen byitself, neither in a family, nor withfriends, nor in our cities and towns,nor between nations.When Christians are reconciled,they become a sign in the midst ofa humanity that is seeking its ownunity.There are situations where reconcili-ation is urgent. To commit ourselvesto this, we need to understand thefears that imprison others inprejudices;  we should also realizethat other people may have some-thing against us.The Gospel calls us not to transmitaround us or to the next generationresentments inherited from the past.3. Working for peace: Peace is morethan the absence of conflict. It ishappiness; it gives everyone theirrightful place; it is fullness of life.When we welcome God’s peacewithin us, it extends to those aroundus and to all creatures.The desire for peace makes ourheart more encompassing and fills itwith compassion for all. It comes toexpression in an attitude of hospital-ity and kindness in our families, in ourneighbourhoods, in our daily activi-ties. Peace is also at the root ofjustice on a larger scale. In societieswhere luxury and poverty exist sideby side, should we be surprised thatdifferent forms of violence arise?

The Friends of St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church US Non-profit 501(c)(3)Chairman: Bill Barrett Secretary: Ann GreenAddress: P.O. Box 6199, Fair Haven, New Jersey 07704, United StatesTel: (from the US) 1-732-741-1500 Email: anncwgreen@aol.com

Sharing wealth relieves tensionsand  is a major contribution to thecommon good.Some people make a commitmentto promote peace by taking on re-sponsibilities in the public life of theircountry - in an association, in thecompany where they work, or byserving people with special needs.4. Taking care of our earth: Thegentle are those who do not imposethemselves. They make room forothers.  They do not monopolize theearth. Gentleness is not resignationbut mastery of the violent impulseswithin us.The earth is not our property. It isentrusted to us; we are called to lookafter it. The resources of our planetare not unlimited. We have a duty ofsolidarity among individuals andpeoples, and for future generations.For more information you can visit the TaizéCommunity website www.taize.fr.We hold Taizé Services in the Church at 7pmon the 1st and 3rd Tuesday each month overthe Summer, and every Tuesday during theHigh Season.

Bishop: The Rt Revd Errol BrooksVicar: The Revd Charlie Vere NicollTel: 0590 27 13 06vicar.stbartholomews@gmail.comParish Administrator: Philip TrangmarTel: 0690 54 17 99info.stbartholomews@gmail.comChurch Wardens: Marjorie Romney,Trinette Wellesley-Wesley andRachel Barrett-TrangmarVestry: The Wardens, ClarionRomney, Dawn Drouant, LloydYounger, Nancy Swann, Dr RichardLester and Philip TrangmarTreasurer: Alex HarbordDirector of Music: Ombeline Collin

Images: Thanks to Mandie VereNicoll, Philip Trangmar, and others forthe use of their photographs, andLisa VanMeter for the use of her print.All are copyrighted.

Published by: L’Association d’EgliseAnglicane, Gustavia, St Barth 97133,French West Indies

Donations: We are an entirely self-funded church and dependent onyour generosity and regular giving.Do please talk to Father Charlie orone of the Church’s leadershipabout how to most effectivelysupport the Church or make adonation to the 1885 Appeal

SBH Prayer ChainSt Bartholomew’s has a prayer chainto offer the support of prayer forthose in need.If you think this may be helpful foryou or someone you know, or if youwish to join our prayer chain andinclude such people in your ownprayers, please send an email to thisaddress:prayer.stbartholomews@gmail.com

AA Group MeetingsOpen Meetings in English are heldevery Tuesday and Friday at 6pm inthe Church Centre.Meetings at other times can also bearranged.During the Summer months, pleasetelephone ahead to make sure ameeting will be taking place.For more information call:0690 65 61 22 or 0690 54 17 99