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The current pandemic has showed the enormous inequality between nations and societies. On the other hand, there have been some encouraging signs of solidarity and care. The narrative of our time should be that of love and care, not hate and suspicion. But it is also true that many of us are extremely tired after living more than a year in unprecedented circumstances. It does not really matter how the pandemic has affected us – the most important thing to recognise is that it has affected us. The world might not have changed so radically as some were predicting, but we cannot pretend that nothing has changed.
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We received news on Tuesday that starting from Thursday, 27th May, congregations can be invited to attend services in the church. There is a separate message below about how all this is handled – safety measures are still in place. For some, a life in solitude and virtual gatherings have been a blessing. Some are waiting to come to church to worship together. We, as a church, need to find ways to meet these expectations.
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Thank you to the Sunday School/Youth Group and Arthur Poole for such a lovely online Pentecost service. It was truly a joy and blessing for us all!
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SERVICES
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All of our Services can be viewed live on Facebook, or you can click this link to
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SUNDAY 30TH MAY - TRINITY SUNDAY
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10am Sung Eucharist at Mikael Agricola Church
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Choral Evensong has regrettably been cancelled. Our next Choral Evensong is planned for September 5th at 6pm.
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THURSDAY 27TH MAY - EVENING PRAYER
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Join us for a calm and reflective moment in the week, every Thursday at 6.00pm. Click here to join us on zoom: Thursday Evening Prayer
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Meeting ID: 853 6618 2957
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COVID guidelines
when coming to worship at St Nicholas
- Before entering the Church, please use the hand disinfectant provided or wash your hands in the bathrooms.
- All those joining in worship (clergy and laity) should wear a face mask to reduce transfer of respiratory droplets into the environment. Those who have a formal part in the liturgy (presiding, preaching, reading, interceding) may remove their face mask when they are actually speaking. Please be careful where masks are placed to avoid cross-contamination. Face masks are available at the entrance.
- The Vergers are here to ensure your safety and those of other members of the congregation by overseeing the seating arrangements and providing guidance during the service. They will ask you for a phone number when you arrive at Church, this is for purely for contact tracing.
- The seating arrangements have been planned to ensure that a two-metre distance is maintained. If you are here with your family or individuals who live with you in the same household, you are welcome to sit together.
- Should you feel the need to cough or sneeze, please use a tissue. Used tissues can be disposed of in the bin at the entrance. It is recommended that each individual or each family carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer.
- At the Peace, please maintain a safe distance from other members of the congregation. The sign itself can take the form of a wave or smile instead of shaking hands.
- Holy Communion will be administered in the form of the wafer only. The wafer will be administered by the Chaplain and you will be guided at this point in the service by the Vergers. If you wish to receive Holy Communion then please extend your hands, with face covering in place. You may lower or unloop your face mask to consume the consecrated bread and then replace the face mask before moving back to your place in the congregation.
- The Vergers will ensure that safe distancing is maintained when leaving the Church, please wait for their signal that it is safe to leave.
- Contactless giving is available at the entrance/exit. Offerings can also be placed in a basket at the exit when leaving the service.
- Please note that there is no post-service gathering for tea and fellowship in the Crypt.
- Online Sunday School finishes on 30th May and resumes in early August. At this point we are not permitted to hold Sunday School in the crypt.
Those with symptoms of Covid-19 or other respiratory or flu-like illness, or an elevated temperature, or who are particularly vulnerable to infection should not attend public services, but join worship, as available, online.
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Sunday School & Youth Group:
Thank you to our amazing Sunday School and Youth Group families for their participation in the online Pentecost service! From readings to intercessions with cake and the Lord's prayer in 7 languages - they did a great job! And our grateful thanks to Arthur Poole for providing the wonderful music!
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Our last Sunday School & Youth Group before the Summer meets on Zoom this Sunday at 10am. We resume in August, hopefully in the crypt at Church.
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Church Satisfaction Survey!
Have you completed our short survey yet? There's still time to share your views and ideas on our worship and community life. We welcome all comments and hope to get as many responses as possible!
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It takes just two minutes to complete and the survey is completely anonymous! Just click on the link below:
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Hello from Peter Knight in Puistola.
Hope you enjoyed article no.1 from Peter J. For now we continue focused on growing in confined spaces such as windowsills and balconies. Later I want to talk about allotments/viljelypalstat and small terraced house/rivitalo gardens. There is much you can do and have fun doing it. Getting involved with nature and all its beauty is spiritually rewarding and calms the soul. You may not always succeed but you hardly ever do any harm!
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It's too late now to sow this year so waddle down to Plantagen, Muhevainen, Kukkatalo etc. I suggest Red Cherry/kirsikkatomaatti type. Tomatoes have very weak stems so will need staking or winding round stout twine eg, tied to a hook in the roof.
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Different tomato varieties fall into two grows regarding growth habit. Ask the salesperson whether your variety is a cordon = single stem type / runkotomaatti - or a bush variety / pensastomaatti. If it’s a cordon you should remove all side shoots (the growths that sprout between mainstem and leaf) as they grow. You can allow a bush type/pensastomaatti eg. Maja, to grow freely but without some support the plant will flop around. Of course, in a hanging basket the plant can flop around as much as it likes!
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Cordon tomatoes need a rather large container, preferably at least 10 litres. You can plant in a bucket with holes drilled in the base. Bush tomatoes should manage in smaller containers of about 5 – 7 litres.
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If your tomatoes are open to the winds, insect pollinators will ensure that the flowers are pollinated to give a good fruit set. If they are indoors and bees can’t reach them, you should fluff the flowers around with a soft paper handkerchief every morning. Otherwise many of the flowers will drop off before they can set.
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Herbs, I think, should be your no 1 priority if space (or even time) is limited. They can make daily contributions to culinary life and fill your abode with delicious aromas and flavours. There is still plenty of time to sow all of these now.
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The Umbelliferae / Sarjakukkaiskasvit or carrot family are to be cherished - who doesn't like parsley, dill, chervil or coriander? To my delight our parsley regularly overwinters in our frozen yard in 20cm of soil above a driveway and then provides early harvest. It was still peacefully producing over Christmas under an old shower curtain when on Jan 2nd 40cm+ of snow descended. Come April I pulled the curtain away to find edible tissue just as before! (Hard Rock) Hallelujah!
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Coriander can self seed/shed itself in an undisturbed corner for years it seems. The seeds are great, however, in sauces or dribbled over hot pasta. Our departed friend Philip Shean extolled in detail the virtues of fresh coriander leaves. One word of warning: be patient! Umbelllfers are slow germinators, so expect to wait 3 weeks.
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Basil, too, can be sown early on your windowsill and then successively at, say, four week intervals. The seeds need virtually no soil covering but you should cover the pots with a sheet of newspaper until they germinate. When the plants are about 15cm high you should cut off the top half (and eat it) and leave the plant to give good new regrowth. Basil hails from tropical India and is very sensitive to cold, so keep the plants above 10C.
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Chives/ruohosipuli are among the best of the Allium/onion family for small gardens. The pretty mauve flowers are edible too and make a pretty salad decoration. Garlic or Chinese chives is also tasty and flowers later in September – October; you can admire the attractive white blossoms or use them to garnish your fresh salad. Most pests find these oniony plants repugnant. Hoho!
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Aromatic herbs such as rosemary, thyme/timjami (of which there are several forms with subtly different flavours) and sage/maustesalvia will grow happily in a clay pot placed in a sunny spot. Mints, like spearmint and apple mint are quite easy to grow and the variety Maroccan mint is the best for tea infusions.
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I used to have a 3 hectare strawberry farm in Espoo in the 1980/1990s. Mansikoita totta kai! Strawberries are nutritionally highly beneficial to us, and very tasty esp. in Finland, as we all know. But why? It´s the cool summer nights after hot days, the up to 15C differential, that maximise formation of sugars. However paradoxically they seem perfectly happy growing on land of no special nutritional value.
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Conveniently they produce many young plants (known as runners) in their first seasons, so you can soon multiply your 'family' with young semi or unrooted runners in milk cartons.
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For strawberries on balconies think of a box or hanging baskets. New prolific varieties are constantly emerging, eg. Frida. The alpine strawberry Rugen produces a crop of small berries with something of the flavour of wild strawberries, over a long season.
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Delizz and Ostara should crop all summer in sunny or partially shady locations. Ria gives a second crop in September. Like tomatoes, strawberries are naturally pollinated by insects, so if they are grown out of reach of pollinators you will have to hand-pollinate them to achieve fruit set.
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Enjoy your green fingers!
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Quick & Easy Strawberry Salad!
Following Peter's helpful advice on strawberries & herbs I thought I would include a Strawberry Salad for our first Summer recipe! Please do send in your favourite recipes for Summer (savoury and sweet) and I will include them over the next couple of months - if we receive enough entries we may continue into Autumn and Winter and end up with a St Nicholas recipe book! Please send your recipes to me at office@anglican.fi. Thank you! Sarah T
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- Lettuce (Rocket, lamb's lettuce or spinach leaves)
- Small punnet of strawberries - trimmed and quartered
- 1 packet of halloumi or feta or goats cheese depending on your preference!
- Basil or mint leaves
- Optional - toasted pine nuts if using feta or goats cheese
- Balsamic glaze (Tumma balsamietikkakastike)- alternatively use an olive oil/balsamic vinegar dressing or olive oil/lemon dressing)
- Wash the salad leaves and top with the chopped strawberries, then crumble over the feta or goats cheese. If using halloumi then dry fry slices on a grill pan or frying pan for a couple of minutes each side.
- Tear off some basil (or mint) leaves and scatter over the salad, followed by a good drizzle of balsamic glaze
(If using pine nuts then you can dry fry them - they brown very quickly)
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Annual Report
Whilst we are waiting to hold our Annual Chaplaincy Meeting you can read our Annual Report here: Annual Report 2020
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SAVE THE DATE!
Choral Evensong - cancelled
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Back to School All-Age Service
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PRAY WITH US
enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth,
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and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love,
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that we may truly worship you,
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Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
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one God, now and for ever.
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Church of England: Diocese of Hereford, Bishop Richard Jackson The Lusitanian Church (Portugal): Bishop José Jorge Pina Cabral The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad: Archbishop Lauma Zušēvica
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SUPPORTING US
In these difficult times your continued support is greatly appreciated and if possible we would ask you to consider donating towards our ongoing costs by clicking here to be directed to our easy Donate buttons or by means of a bank transfer using the details below:
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Suomen Anglikaaninen Kirkko (The Anglican Church in Finland)
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IBAN: F173 3131 1000 3282 07
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Father Tuomas Mäkipää (050-3099132)
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[Please use the contact emails provided]
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