Café Logos is open
After all the years of planning, waiting for permits, hard work and generous giving, Café Logos is finally and officially open!
Bishop Robert, and his wife Helen, came to visit Holy Trinity Corfu for the weekend, not only to officially open Café Logos on Saturday 1 June, but also to lead a Service of Confirmations on Sunday.
Here follows some of Chaplain Jules speech:
'The refurbished space next to the church is named Café Logos which comes from our understanding of Jesus as the Word - the Logos - made flesh - the One who gives shape and purpose to all creation and our part in it. As we considered what His example might mean for us here on this beautiful island, three words became clear to us:
Care, Creativity and Community
Care is the overflow of the love we have received from God to each other. Care means not travelling through the challenges and joys of life on our own… knowing that we are called to love our neighbours as ourselves and find our fulfilment in growing in the love we have been given the capacity for.
Creativity is the expression of the gifts we have been given as part of being made in the image of God; To steward his gifts and to fill the world with things of beauty - art, music, po-etry… sometimes to simply celebrate and en-joy the astonishing world we live in, sometimes to challenge, provoke and ask questions that move the human spirit on.
Community, because we need each other to thrive and grow. We are given life to share with each other and find our deepest meaning in purpose in our relationships in life - again reflecting our Creator, the Triune God, who is relationship and love.
We have called the space Café Logos to ensure that everyone knows that our doors our wide open. It’s not a normal cafe, in the sense of being a hospitality business… it’s a public space where people, yes, can get a coffee(!) but more than that, they can find encouragement and hope, inspiration and friendship when they need it and know that if there is something on their hearts that they would like to offer to others, through care, community or creativity, then we would like to help.
The last few months we have been experimenting with what might happen and we have enjoyed offering events that include opportunities to hear and make music - jazz, folk, choral - art and photography classes, support groups and Christian listening, conversation Greek (Please help us!!), fundraising events to help support our friends at the Red Cross and Vocational School, poetry readings and talks… What has been so encouraging in this, is that there are so many people with so many gifts motivated not by what they can gain but by what they can give. It’s been a privilege to be a part of this.
One of the (many) great joys about being here on Corfu is the diversity and international nature of those who pass our way: citizens, residents and visitors. At the last count, there were fourteen nationalities in this bijou church and every week we make new friends from around the world. Our hope is that no matter what brings someone through the doors, they will always find a welcome and an open heart.’
A lot of prayer and hard work had gone into getting Café Logos off the ground but now it is worth it as we are all so happy with the space and the variety of uses it gives us. Violetta performed her poem, and the Mumbles Welsh choir was on the island and they performed too. The Catholic Archbishop came, as well as Pastor Miltiades of the Evangelical church. We had a huge variety of delicious unusual canapes which a church member had made. And since Monday (10 June 2024), Café Logos is open every weekday morning. There is a rota of volunteers and, of course, we are grateful for ICS Short-term chaplains’ involvement too!
More photos and further news of Holy Trinity Corfu are here.