Dear People & Friends of St. Clements,
Sunday 13th May at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Sixth Sunday of Easter
This coming Sunday, our readings have two themes.One is the theme of love, picking up from last Sunday’s readings. The other is the gift of the Holy Spirit, anticipating what we will celebrate in two weeks time on Pentecost Sunday. As always, I encourage you to read through the readings in advance of attending worship. Therefore the references are Acts 10. 44-48, 1 John 5. 1-6 & John 15. 9-17.
There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and the service will be followed by Coffee Hour. Please note, the Prague Marathon takes place on Sunday which from past experience, is likely to disrupt public transport, especially trams & buses. Do check the DPP website and give yourself a little more time to get to Church.
Following Coffee Hour, I shall be heading for the main railway station to travel to Brno to conduct our regular monthly Evening Service there. Churchwarden Richard York is joining me in Brno for the service & I would value your continued prayers as we seek to establish a satellite congregation in the Czech Republic’s second city.
St. Clement’s Polo Shirts are here!
The sample polo shirts with the St. Clement’s logo on them will once more be available in Church on Sunday. Next week, an initial order for shirts will be placed so, if you want to be one of the first to have one, make sure you place your order this Sunday if you haven’t done so already.
Helping feed the homeless in Prague
Yesterday, I took delivery again of one of the two wheelie bins we had in Church earlier this year to help support the work of the Salvation Army with homeless people in Prague. The empty wheelie bin we have back is the one for collecting tinned food. Basically, any food item in a tin but NOT sauces, pasta, or other dried goods in packets or plastic bottles. In pictures & words on the outside of the bin, there is a clear indication of what is & isn’t required. Why not buy a few extra tins when you are next shopping at your local Billa, Albert or Tesco supermarket & bring them to Church on Sunday & put them in the wheelie bin.
As you can probably appreciate, there is no real need for warm clothing at this time of year. But after the summer months are over, we will have the warm clothing wheelie bin back in Church as well. So if you’ve had a wardrobe clear-out or are planning one, just hang on for a few months & watch this space!
Ascension Day – Thursday 17th May
This coming Thursday is Ascension Day, marking the end of the forty days in which the risen Jesus was seen alive by many witnesses. According to the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, after forty days, Jesus ascended back into heaven. We shall mark this significant day in the Christian Year with a Eucharist in Church starting at 7.00pm. Our regular Tuesday evening meetings will resume the following week on Tuesday 22nd May.
Advance notice – Pentecost Sunday 27th May
The third most important festival in the Christian Year, after Easter & Christmas, is the Feast of Pentecost, celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the first disciples as recorded in Acts 2. 1-21. Our preacher at our 11.00 Eucharist on Pentecost Sunday will be Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz.
I’ve had some preliminary discussions with Karen about a few things we might do to make the service on Pentecost Sunday both a little different and memorable. Here are two of them – there may be more in my next two Weekly Messages!
The liturgical colour for Pentecost is RED. Therefore, please come to Church that day wearing something RED!
When the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples, people heard them speak in a whole host of different languages. We would like to re-create that experience by having various members of the congregation speaking in another language other than English. It will either be reading a couple of verses of scripture or a brief joyful proclamation of the coming of the Holy Spirit. I reckon we should be able to have at least twenty different languages. Therefore, if you will be here on Sunday 27th May (which I hope you will be!), can speak another language other than English & would be willing to take part, please reply to this email, with a brief note of the language(s) you can speak.
Two other advance dates to note in your diaries
Sunday 24th June – a post worship Family Barbecue
Friday 26th – Sunday 28th October – Church weekend away
More details about both these events in the next few weeks but please put a note of the dates in your diaries/electronic planners now!
Looking forward to seeing many of you at worship this coming Sunday.
Best wishes
Ricky
