Béatrice Reibel-Petit - violoncelle; Delphine Bardin - piano

Thursdays (5 March - 2 April) at 18h-19h in the ACP Catacombs

You are invited to make weekly Taizé Candlelight Prayer Services at ACP as part of your Lenten journey. Restore your soul midweek with meditative worship based in simple music, scripture readings, and prayerful silence. Every Thursday experience new forms of simple, sung and silent prayer in Christian community.

You are also invited to attend a Taizé Song Workshop on Tuesday 3 March 19h30-21h30 in room G5. Nicole Taylor, from the ACP Choir, will lead us in learning the simple prayerful songs we will pray throughout Lent.

Over 100,000 young people come to Taizé each year to pray, study the Bible, and serve. To learn more about Taizé: https://www.taize.fr/en

Launch party: 5 March at 19h30

10 week course on Thursdays in the Thurber Room

Got questions about life? Try the Alpha Course

Ever wanted to explore the meaning of life or ask challenging questions about the Christian faith? Do you have a family member, friend, neighbor or colleague who is asking questions about life? If you've answered "yes" then the Alpha Course is for you!

Alpha is an opportunity for anyone to explore the Christian faith in a relaxed, informal and friendly way. It welcomes all those big questions – and it's free!

The course will run every Thursday from 5 March for 10 weeks. Using the latest video talks by Nicky Gumbel (in English with French subtitles), each session starts with a meal at 19h followed by a short video looking at different aspects of the Christian faith, with topics such as How can I have faith? and Does God heal today? Afterwards there are small group discussions, where you can talk about what you have heard and ask any questions you might have.

No question is too simple or too hostile!! Whether you've never heard of God, you're someone who has recently come to faith or you have been a Christian all of your life, this course is for you! Even if you've been a Christian for many years, Alpha is a great way to remind yourself about the fundamental aspects of faith and it is also perfect to invite friends to who are seeking answers about life...so why not invite them to come along with you?

For more information, please feel free to contact the Alpha team here. Make sure that you keep up-to-date with details about the Launch Party and the course by checking the ACP website and social media channels.

Workshop led by Anne Belgram-Perkins and Janelle Watters Oliel
Saturday, 7 March at 9h30-15h30

Learn how to nurture your close relationships and make your life sweeter

What to expect? A fun-filled day learning about close relationships and our role in each one. Activities and experiential moments will help you to better understand the dynamics of these important bonds and their impact on our lives.

Join us either on your own or with someone special in your life (partner, daughter, father, close friend etc.).

Saturday, 7 March from 9h30-15h30 (a light lunch will be provided).

Cost: 85 euros per person/150 euros for couples.

Your workshop leaders: Anne Belgram-Perkins and Janelle Watters Oliel, both licensed therapists trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy.

For more information about how they work, see: eftfrance.fr

To contact Anne & Janelle to sign up or for more information, see: annebelgramperkins.com

Towards a Theology of Returning!
Tuesday 10 March in the Thurber Room – Meal at 19h; Presentation 19h45-21h15

Theologies of liberation claim and embody Gospel righteousness, that is, right relationship, of God with oppressed, dispossessed and marginalized peoples. Biblical and contemporary prophets and Christian discipleship call non-marginalized Christians to remember, relinquish, and return. In this conversation we will reflect on Scripture and on varied life experience. We will explore the public acts of worship, service and community that make for Gospel change in our lives and the world.

Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart is delighted to return to ACP. United Methodist pastor and seminary professor, Rev. Odette led congregations and campus ministries in California for forty-one years. She planted and re-vitalized ministries in health sciences, higher education, and community organizing, and published devotions, curricula, sermons, and poetry. Christian ministry is her passion. Social History, film, and literature are among her personal interests. In June she will begin her service as Interim Senior Pastor at ACP.

Thurber Conversations are an adult community gathering and growth time that is open to all.

Video recordings of selected past Thurber Lectures here

Friday-Saturday 13-14 March 2020

Join us for our Men’s Retreat, with Pastor Doug Fondell leading us as we explore the meaning of Hesed-love as it is revealed in Old Testament scripture, and as it is manifested in our daily lives. A participation fee of €59, payable to ACP, is requested to offset the costs. Scholarships available. Register online here or on Sundays during coffee hour after services. This will be a special 24 hours of sharing, praying, laughing and celebrating what God is doing in our lives as friends, mentors, fathers, sons and husbands. Every man is invited to be part of this special time together. This is a fantastic opportunity to connect while learning, worshipping and relaxing together.

Location

The retreat will take place at the Orsay Clarté Dieu retreat center in Orsay (91) – a 30 min RER ride from Gare Saint Michel Notre Dame to the Orsay-ville station.

Saturday 21 March at 9h-16h
Christ-Centered Listening: Abundant Life in Community
Retreat leader: Odette Lockwood-Stewart

“… that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” Ephesians 3: 16-17

YOU are invited to this one-day retreat at ACP. We will welcome one another to abundant life by living it. We will listen to God, to our deepest selves, and to one another in Christ. We will remember, hear and tell stories that bring life. We will open to God, deepen our joy, honor our gifts and wounds in the peace that really does pass understanding.

Our speaker will be The Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart, of Berkeley, California, and former visiting ACP Pastor.

Participation cost is 20 euros. We offer a Kids' Retreat for moms who require childcare for 5 euros/family. We have scholarships available for those needing some assistance.

Register during Sunday Coffee Hours beginning 9 February.

Interim Senior Pastor, beginning in July

The American Church in Paris is pleased to announce the call of the Reverend Odette Lockwood-Stewart as its incoming Interim Senior Pastor. Reverend Lockwood-Stewart, who has previously served as ACP's Visiting Pastor, grew up in Connecticut and California, receiving her Masters of Divinity summa cum laude at Boston University School of Theology. She is an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church.

Over forty years, Odette has pastored congregations and campus ministries and has given leadership at international, national, regional, and local levels of church and ecumenical associations.

She served as Pastor of United Methodist congregations in Berkeley, San Leandro, and Santa Fe Springs, California, and as University Pastor at UCLA, University of California, Berkeley, San Diego State University and University of California, San Francisco.

She taught for nine years at the Pacific School of Religion, as Faculty Director of Community-Engaged Learning.

She has published devotions, curriculum, sermons, and poetry as well as papers in social religious history and experiential learning as a path to spiritual formation.

Odette is married to the Reverend Jim Lockwood-Stewart. They have four grown children and eight wonderful grandchildren who live in Maryland, Oklahoma, and California.

Stewardship plays an important role in enabling ACP to continue being an Embassy for the Kingdom of God and in furthering our individual paths of discipleship. We invite you to pray about the role of giving in your spiritual growth and to join us dedicating our pledges on Sunday. You can find our pledge forms for printing here or on-line version here.