All Saints’ Anglican Church: A Place to Become…a Place to Belong

It is our hope at All Saints’ that anyone who crosses our threshold will find a place of welcome, of warmth, of friendship and belonging. In a world in which we are often judged on our skills, our intelligence, our efficiency, or our usefulness, All Saints’ seeks to be a place in which we share the unconditional love of God, a place where we can simply be who we are without having to strive for acceptance or respect. This is not an easy task, we do not always succeed, but this is what we believe that God is calling us to be and do as a church here in Milan.

But it is not just about belonging. We can belong to any number of things…clubs, sports groups, reading groups, gyms, photography clubs or whatever. There are so many activities one can engage in. All Saints’ also aims to be a place of transformation, of growth, of renewal…a place to ‘become’ the full and flourishing people God intends us to be. As we listen to Scripture each Sunday, and as we partake of the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine, we open our lives to the grace and love of God…grace and love which change us, which help us to grow, which renews our hearts and minds.

Each Sunday at 10.30 am some 60 or 70 people gather from at least 10 different nations across the world to worship God together. We are students, we are teachers, we are office workers, business people, parents and grandparents, committed and doubting, older and younger, and yet all seeking together to grow in the knowledge and love of Christ.

The collect prayer for the Second Sunday of Epiphany offers a nice summary:

Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature
by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives,
make known your heavenly glory,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Revd Vickie Sims
02 655 2258
allsaintspriest@hotmail.com