The Episcopal Church Welcomes You
By Catherine Nichols
This sign has always delighted me; in fact when I was young and we traveled, our family always called out “There’s an Episcopal church welcomes you sign…” whenever we glimpsed one as we passed through cities and towns.
Recently, while on a wonderful Gardens of Bruges and Amsterdam trip with VT Gardening Guru Charlie Nardozzi, I had the very daunting experience of losing my passport. I had (don’t ever do this!) left it in the safe of our first hotel. The staff had retrieved it and the money I had stored with it, and sent it by mail to our second hotel.
But the Passport never arrived. Day after day I expected it. But when the other people on our tour returned to the United States, I realized it was lost. I was pretty desperate. A fellow traveler had pointed out an Episcopal Church only a three minutes’ walk from our hotel. I got up my nerve, looked up Christ Church Amsterdam’s web site, and wrote a desperate letter to the priest in charge. “I’m a retired Episcopal priest from Vermont, stranded without a passport…”
He responded immediately, paired me with a wonderful couple who agreed to host me until I could get a new passport, and with their enormous help — printing out documents needed for the temporary passport, feeding me delicious meals, and cheering me on — five days later I flew home.
“There’s no place like home" after such a threatening experience! Check out Christ Church, Amsterdam. They gather to worship in a 500-year-old building, projecting their liturgy on a screen, and singing songs to familiar hymn tunes with contemporary words. A wonderful, warm congregation, committed to serving Christ in the busy city of Amsterdam. It’s actually part of The Church of England, so I guess my headline should be “The Church of England Welcomes You!”
