Dear readerDear sisters and brothers

Among my favourite places in London are the art museums. Whenever I find time, I will go and look at the oeuvre of past and modern artists. Monday is a great day as there are far less people in the museums and I love to wander around taking my time to discover something new each time. Most exhibitions are completely unknown terrain for me. It is like going into a stranger’s living room and discovering a whole new world of thoughts and inspiration. I have always admired my older sister’s art who is a successful Swiss artist, but other than that my knowledge did not go much further than van Gogh’s sunflowers. That is why often I have not heard of the artist whose exhibition I am going to see. I purposefully avoid googling background information beforehand to immerse myself into a whole new world. Art exhibitions are not only a discovery of paintings, but also of persons and their biographies, geographical areas and different historic eras. The context fascinates me just as much as the art itself, sometimes even more.

What I like about art is that there is so much communication going on without speaking a word. This creates a feeling of slowness and reflection that we hardly find in our fast paced world. I can stand minutes in front of a painting or sit on one of the benches without the silence ever becoming awkward. I sometimes wish I could say what I think in a painting or a photo. It is a fascinating skill and it opens up worlds where words cannot reach.

On 31 October we celebrated Reformation Day to commemorate the beginning of a movement that not only changed the church, but the course of history. The reformers banned icons, statues and paintings from the church saying that images distracted believers from focussing on God. Instead the word of God as it is written in the Bible should be the sole centre to connect with the divine. This is the reason why the sermon is such an important part in every reformed church service and can last up to 30 minutes. Because of its emptiness and blankness, the Swiss Church in London is a typical reformed church. There is little to distract our mind. How different this is when we enter a Baroque or Orthodox church! Rich paintings and icons adorn these churches, connecting believers with God through the visible presence of saints whose images can be touched and kissed.

The presence of images in churches has always been a topic of controversial debate. What kind of inspiration do we need to connect with God?

Swiss reformers Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin & Co would not be particularly impressed with art exhibitions in churches, and the Swiss Church with a number of exhibitions throughout the year would have been a thorn in their

Swiss Church in LondonEglise Suisse de LondresSchweizerkirche in LondonChiesa Svizzera a LondraBaselgia Svizra a LondraWinter 2015 / 16

In this edition

News from the Consistoire - - - - - - - 2News from the Community - - - - - - - 3Focus - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4-5People from our Community - - - - - - 6Announcements - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6Events @ The Swiss Church - - - - - - 7

Editorial

Swiss Church News

(continued on page 2)

Swiss Rootabaga

Editorial

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eyes. However, I believe that the strict ban of images from our churches has cut us off from an important spiritual dimension that lies beyond words. We have to discover anew how the arts, both religious and secular, can inspire us to experience sacred spaces in our own way and explore religion anew.

I look forward to see the opening two exhibitions at the Swiss Church before the end of the year. Andrea Gohl, a Swiss artist, will show her installation ‘Endell Street’ featuring the immediate neighbourhood of the Swiss Church and many new and old friends. Andy Palfreyman, aspiring street photographer, will raise awareness for homelessness with his oeuvre. We will also shortly announce the winner of this year’s Goldsmith competition for the annual exhibition in March next year.

It is also a pleasure to see the great number of kids and parents who are joining our new family programme! On

21 November we will bring the Swiss German tradition of the Rootabaga Parade (Räbeliechtliumzug) to Covent Garden, and the Samichlaus will come to church on 6 December. Special thanks to all those who support us in reaching out to Swiss families and organising these events! This would not be possible without a dedicated team. We hope that many more Swiss families will join us in the future! Get in touch if you would like to be on the family mailing list.

Now I wish you all a very happy Christmas time and happiness for 2016! May you find places where you feel save and accepted, and may your communities and homes become places of welcome for people who feel isolated and uprooted. “Treat the foreigners as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 19:34)

Blessings,

ImprintPublisherThe Swiss Church in London79 Endell StreetLondon WC2H 9DYA company limited by Guarantee registered in England & Wales, no 4454591. A registered Charity no 1094992.

Editors Carla Maurer & Philip Maillardet

ContactPhone 020 7836 1418info@swisschurchlondon.org.uk

Websitewww.swisschurchlondon.org.ukYou can download the latest Swiss Church News on our website.

Deadline for the nextSwiss Church News 20 January 2016

News from the ConsistoireAt the beginning of November, amidst the autumn leaves, we gathered at Endell Street for Reformation Sunday. It was a pleasure to welcome former president Edith Crack, who was looking very well at (and I hope she will not mind me mentioning) ninety-six years of age, accompanied by her grandson and his wife, who were visiting from Plymouth.

It was on 31 October 1517 that Martin Luther nailed the Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, The approaching 500th Anniversary of this event was the starting point for Carla’s sermon, and she went on to discuss Luther’s interpretation of Romans 1:17. Edification of the spirit was followed by edification of the

body, with delicious pumpkin soup and vermicelles, courtesy of Cécile Mistry-Daguet and the kitchen team.

Visitors to Endell Street may have noticed a strange swelling in the oak flooring of the main hall near the vestry door. This was the result of an ingress of rain water which descended from the flat roof on the room over the vestry. The roof has now been repaired, and once it has been ‘proved’ by another downpour we will have the floor restored.

Although it was mentioned in the last issue, I would like to offer my own thanks to our departing treasurer Gregory Allegro. Gregory took command of our finances and presented them with

great clarity, highlighting areas needing attention. Gregory and Melanie will be greatly missed, and we wish them all the very best for their new life back in Switzerland.

Finally, may I mention Andy Palfreyman’s photographic exhibition ‘Cardboard & Caviar’. The images were inspired by Andy’s experience of homelessness in London. The exhibition is in the Swiss Church, and runs from 3 to 8 December.

On behalf of the Consistoire, may I wish all our readers a very happy Christmas.

Philip Maillardet

News from the Community

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Discover London

My Endell Street Family

How well do we know London? We asked ourselves this question in the office at the Swiss Church. In between work and home and the business of our lives how much of the richness of this old, beautiful and ever changing city do we know?How deep do we explore the diversity? How often are we surprised by the hidden gems that are all around us? The short answer was, ‘not enough’.

These were the thoughts and questions that formed the emphasis behind starting our Discover London programme which has now been running for almost a year. This programme brings together an important part of our community life as

we explore, learn and reflect together.

In the last year we have enjoyed cultural trips to the British Library and the National Gallery with tours from experts. We held a service to celebrate the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer at St George’s German Lutheran Church in Whitechapel where he worked briefly in the 1930s. We have engaged in learning about other religions when we visited the East London Mosque.

These things and more we have experienced as a group and the activities have fed our relationships and community. We have explored the sacred and the secular, culture and art,

we have heard new and old ways of talking about God in famous and more humble settings. Even so, after all of this we have only seen a glimpse of what London has to offer, so we will keep on discovering. You may have seen a flier or heard people talking about Discover London, everyone is welcome.

We move towards 2016 with some great ideas for the next Discover London programme and we are especially excited about adding a real family element to our new programme. Watch out for events that are fully family friendly including a scavenger hunt in spring.

Matt Stone

As the nights draw in and the year draws to an end my emotional state is usually what I would describe as melancholic. I lost many members of my family in the months leading up to the festive period a few years ago, so for me Christmas became a time when I felt alone. And I felt bitter about that. Time does heal the pain of losing loved ones. Christmas has always been tough.

This year though is going to be different, because once again I have a family. Some of the people on Endell Street

and the surrounding area have become family to me. I do not want to embarrass them by naming names but they know who they are. These people have shared my joy and my pain and have been there for me either way. The encouragement I have received from these people, my family, has been immeasurable. It has enabled me to realise my ideas of raising awareness of homelessness through my photography exhibition. I feel loved and through this I am far more able to show love.

These people have made me realise that family is not in the blood but in the heart and once again I thank them. So as Christmas approaches I wish you all good health and happiness and hope you have a family like mine.

Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year

Andy Palfreyman

Discover London 2015 outings to the National Gallery and St George’s German Lutheran Church

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Focus: Christmas MemoriesChristmas is the time of childhood memories and traditions. Every family and every country has its own traditions. But as we grow up, things change. People who have always been part of our festivities move away or are no longer among us. We move on or abroad and learn about Christmas traditions other than ours. Some we adopt, some we reject. For some people, Christmas is a lonely time and whilst everyone is sharing happy childhood memories they think back of the festive period as a time of isolation and disagreement. Here, four people from different countries and regions who all ended up living in London share some of their memories. Matt Stone (London), Elisa Nury (French speaking part of Switzerland), Stanley de Noronha (India) and Carla Maurer (German speaking part of Switzerland) spoke together about what Christmas means to them and what they remember.

Rev. Carla Maurer, Switzerland (St. Gallen)It was Christmas 1987, the year when I had just started to play the violin. Like every year my sisters and I were waiting in the kitchen before we were allowed into the living

room where a richly decorated Christmas tree with real candles was waiting for us. The only thing missing were the presents which would be delivered by the ‘Christchindli’ (christchild). In the German speaking part of Switzerland it is not Santa Clause who brings the presents, but a little angle like figure with wings that we call ‘Christchindli’ that distributes presents to the children on Christmas Eve when night falls. As every year, we were hoping to catch a glimpse of the

‘Christchindli’ before it would carry on to the next house. And all of a sudden there it was! I saw it bright and clear in the pitch dark sky, a little light ball flying into our living room. “Mum, dad, I saw the ‘Christchindli’ bringing the presents!” I was so excited, I could hardly breathe. “Go and see if it has left something for you under the Christmas tree” my mum said. Quickly I ran into the living room, and there it was: a brand new tiny little violin. It was magic. Proudly I took the violin out of its case and started to play the empty cord –the only thing I could play so far (and not very angelic). Even today looking back to that night with the grown up view of how wishful thinking can trigger imagination, the memory of the ‘Christchindli’ remains vivid, so vivid that I sometimes think it must have been real.

We also have a new tradition in my family

since a few years to avoid everyone having to buy everyone a present. It is called ‘tiptip’ and we bring a number of presents that we put in the middle of a big table. Everyone around the table then rolls dices in turn, and when you are lucky enough to have a pair, you can choose a present. But this is not the end! After all the presents are distributed, the game continues and you can take away presents from someone else until the time is up. It is great fun, and you never know which present will become the most popular one and which one will be left on the table until last. We have the tendency to make a lot of noise during this game – and if you do not watch your suitcase someone will certainly smuggle in the least popular present before you leave.

Matt Stone, LondonI will be a double dad this Christmas which is really exciting! Christmas is a great opportunity to treat the kids and to build up the magic. Kids just love

Christmas. Christmas is more fun being a dad. It makes it alive more. We put the Santa Clause presents at the end of the bed. We dedicate a lot of time to doing things really slowly by taking about three hours for the meal and four hours to open the presents. To have time is one of the luxuries of Christmas.

At Christmas we celebrate God’s

generosity giving his son to us as a saviour, and we pass that on to one another when we give each other presents. For me that is what we are doing on Christmas. In my family, we always invite one or two people who have nowhere to go to spend the day with us. Some people get really depressed around that time of the year because they do not really share this feeling of belonging to a family.

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Focus: Christmas MemoriesStanley de Noronha, India

I was brought up in India in an idyllic British created e n v i r o n m e n t . My hometown was close to a river with a Temple sitting on the riverbank. There were many Christian

churches in the area: a Baptist, an Anglican, a Roman-Catholic Church, and further down the road a Methodist Church. On Christmas there were street parties everywhere. The old colonial clubs and every church would have their own parties. It was hard to choose which one to go to! Christmas day was also a day for visiting friends and receiving visits throughout the day. In my family, the first arrivals would always be my very British Aunt Madeleine and Uncle Hugh.

We had a big rose garden where we used to pick a flower for Aunt Madeleine’s button hole. For our non-Christian Indian friends, Christmas meant visiting my father and his two brothers. Everybody visited everybody. Later in the evening, the churches and clubs would put on a Christmas dance, the old fashioned ballroom dancing. At midnight mass, some of the loyal worshippers would fall asleep.

An important Christian message is to bond with other people and to build friendship. Throughout my childhood, Christmas was an important day for this. It is this festive fellowship that gives you the energy to carry on with your professional functions and lives, especially when we encounter difficult situations. We should all try and bond and become friends. A few years ago, I returned to India to see my sisters. At the time, I employed two

women called Shanti and Asha. Shanti means peace and Asha means hope. This once again is the essential message of the birth of Christ to mankind. He brought to this world hope to face the up and downs of life every human has to face.

I remember that there was a very amiable and affectionate atmosphere amongst our relatives and friends. Whenever I visited relatives with my mother and father, they were awfully affectionate. That was their natural being. Now with modern life and the pressure we are under, life has gone a little rougher. It is a different type of social thinking, highly individualised. People team up with friends to go to the pub or something like that, but the broader community is no longer an equal part of the festivities. Even the Indian people here in England have become isolated.

Elisa Nury, Switzerland (Lausanne)Christmas is the only time when everyone in my family makes the effort to come to one place. We are a big family, and throughout the year there are always a lot of problems to

discuss, so Christmas really is the time to be together peacefully and without arguing. I usually return to my parents’ place near Lausanne. The exchange of presents was always a bit stressful in my family, so we decided to stop making presents. It is much more relaxed.

When I was a kid in my village we had a living advent calendar. For every day during advent another house decorated

a window, and in the evening everyone would go there to see how the window was being revealed. I like the Christmas preparations. For some reason, my mum had a CD with English Christmas carols we used to listen to whilst baking cookies so I knew the English carols before I moved to England. I also used to play in Christmas plays at the local church as a child. I have very good memories of these evenings.

Daisy Greta Orell Beecher passed away on 17 October at the age of 85 years. She will be sadly missed by her children, grand-children and great grandchildren, neighbours, relatives and friends. Her funeral was held on Morden Cemetery on 3 November.

“Put your light on a lampstand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matthew 5:15)

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Announcements

BaptismAurora Victoria Mayall (born 12 February 2012),

daughter of Franziska and Robert Mayall,was baptised at the Swiss Church on Sunday 4 October.

We welcome Aurora as a member of the worldwide churchand wish her every blessing!

“The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need.”(Psalm 23:1)

Fundraising walk Jeffrey LongOn 30 August, Jeffrey Long walked 84 miles along Hadrian’s Wall.

“It was a very interesting but tough walk when carrying a heavy pack!” Jeffrey says.

Jeffrey’s walk raised £548.40 for the Swiss Church,with an additional £2,000 from the Masonic Lodge.

Thank you all for the contributions!

People from our communityDaniel Pedroletti

In this section we want to give people who are associated with our church a voice.

For the past six years, the Swiss community and friends of Switzerland from the London area came together to celebrate the Swiss National Day at University College London. This year was no exception as the team from the Swiss Church entertained the little ones with face painting, a treasure hunt and a dance workshop culminating in a procession with lanterns the children had created earlier. As chair of the Swiss National Day London, I work closely with the church team. I must say that their enthusiasm and commitment work wonders as the number of families with children attending the event increase every year. I hope that our cooperation will carry on for many more years.

Daniel Pedroletti

Obituary NoticeDaisy Greta Orell Beecher † 17 October 2015

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Events @ the Swiss ChurchForthcoming events

ChristmasThursday 3/10/17 December, 5-6pm: Sit in SilenceFind a moment of peace within the candle lit Swiss Church. 5-6pm, followed by Prayer&Pub.

Sunday 6 December, 4pm: SamichlausA chance for children to come and hear what Santa Claus has to say directly to them. Refreshments will be served afterwards. Please RSVP by 21.11. to Matt.Stone@swisschurchlondon.org.uk

Sunday 13 December, 3pm: Family ServiceJoin us for stories and carols and our Family Christmas Service in the woods.Meet at 2.45pm outside Queens Wood Cafe (N10 3JP), 5min walk from Highgate station.

Sunday 20 December, 5pm: Carol ServiceJoin us to celebrate Christmas with the talented Dieci Voices. This evening will feature performance and audience carols with readings.Mulled cider and mince pies will be served.

Art & Music3-8 December: Cardboard & CaviarA photography exhibition with images telling the story of Andy Palfreyman’s 30 years of street homelessness in London including some prestigious postcodes. Opening hours on website.

3-19 March: Goldsmiths ExhibitionEvery year the Swiss Church invites students from the MFA Curating course at Goldsmiths University to submit proposals for a curatorial project. Details to follow in the next issue.

Saturday 23 January, 2pm: Organ RecitalOrgan Recital by Dr John Kitchen. Entrance is free with retiring collection.

Last Thursday of the month: Swiss Connections28 January: Piano Recital by Gabriel Emanuel Arnold, pianist and composer.25 February: “The Magnard Ensemble” with Suzie Watson (flute), Mana Shibata (oboe), Joe Shiner (clarinet), Hannah Rankin (bassoon) and Jon Farey (horn).Concerts start at 7pm. Entrance: £10 / £5 for students and concessions.

FundraiserThursday 11 February, 7pm: Fondue NightJoin us on this fundraising event for melted Swiss cheese with bread, white wine, a pub quiz and goody bags.Tickets are £45 / £30 concession, additional drinks can be purchased at the bar.Bookings taken via Matt in the office:020 7836 1418 or Matt.Stone@swisschurchlondon.org.uk

HSBC, 117 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 6QJSortcode: 40-03-15 Account Number: 61410512IBAN: GB58MIDL40031561410512BIC: MIDLGB2106M

Swiss Church in LondonEglise Suisse de LondresSchweizerkirche in LondonChiesa Svizzera a LondraBaselgia Svizra a Londra

Swiss Church in London, 79 Endell Street London WC2H 9DY

Tel: 020 7836 1418, info@swisschurchlondon.org.ukwww.swisschurchlondon.org.uk

Twitter: @SwissChurchLond & @SwissRevLondonCarla Maurer’s blog http://swissvicarlondon.blogspot.co.uk

Registered charity No. 1094992

We welcome donations by standing order. If you are a UK taxpayer, please fill in a gift aid declaration form.

Daniel 10:9-10

“I fell to the ground unconscious and lay there face downwards. Then a hand took hold of me and raised me to my hands and knees; I was still trembling.”

May God’s angels bless you wherever you go.May they lay their wings around you when you are cold,

steady your foot when you stumble,and light your way when you are surrounded by darkness.

Amen

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