Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
It was a busy but enjoyable weekend in the life of our Chaplaincy last weekend.
On Saturday afternoon, we hosted an ecumenical Family Carols event at St. Clement’s. A big ‘Thank you’ to all those who helped form a choir to lead the carol singing under the watchful eye of conductor Celieta Leifeste. It was a joyful occasion and a good opportunity to make the existence of St. Clement’s better known amongst the wider English-speaking expat community.
At our Family Eucharist on Sunday morning, we heard about what the children have been thinking about over the past several weeks during Children’s Ministry. If you missed it, David Hellam’s interesting talk is now available to listen to by following this link Following the service, David & the children held a bake sale & I have been asked to pass on the following message.
‘David Hellam, and the children who take part in our children’s ministry, would like to thank the congregation for their support of our bake sale on December 9. Again we raised over CZK2000 for the charity ‘Send a Cow’. This would be enough to supply a family in Africa with five piglets, two goats or one donkey!’
Then on Sunday afternoon, I drove down to Brno to conduct a ‘Service of Lessons & Carols’ in the evening. I was most grateful to Gordon Truefitt for travelling down with me. Not only did Gordon read a couple of lessons & lend his voice to the singing of carols, he offered great support to me during the journey back to Prague, driving through a major snow storm. We did eventually get back safely but a journey that normally takes just over two hours instead took three & a half hours!
There is another busy weekend ahead this coming weekend…….
Sunday 16th December at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Third Sunday of Advent.
The theme of the Gospel reading Luke 3. 7-18, is the ministry of John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. There will not be Children’s Ministry on Sunday, nor on the following two Sundays 23rd & 30th December. It will resume on Sunday 6th January 2013. However, there will be Coffee Hour following our worship.
Sunday 16th December at 18.00 – A Service of Lessons & Carols
Our traditional ‘Service of Lessons & Carols’ is a wonderful way for all of us to hear again the message of Christmas from scripture & is the perfect service to invite your friends to. Many non, or very irregular worshippers, love singing carols! Invite them to come & do so with you!
We plan to serve seasonal refreshments in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18 after the service. I believe the mulled wine & other drinks are covered but some additional nibbles, mince pies, Christmas cookies would be most welcome. If you can come to both services, as I hope many of you will, then it is perfectly OK to bring the ‘nibbles’ in the morning & we can store them in No. 18 until the evening.
Whilst I appreciate that following this weekend, many of you will be travelling to be with family & friends in your home countries, for all those staying in Prague for Christmas, there are services on Sunday 23rd December, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day & Sunday 30th December. Full details can be found by following this link.
Finally a few reminders…..
Don’t forget to use our link if you are buying anything from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. Those who have used Amazon.co.uk this past year have made £90.00 for St Clement’s & those using Amazon.com, a further CZK 700. Thank you!
We are still collecting tinned food and warm winter adult clothing, to support the work of the Salvation Army with the homeless in Prague. Both wheelie bins for our collection will be at the back of Church again this Sunday.
Remember to save your used postage stamps and place them in the collecting envelope on the noticeboard at the back of Church to support the work of the Intercontinental Church Society who in turn, support us.
And if you would like a twenty-first century take on the Christmas story, you might enjoy this three minute video .
Best wishes
Ricky
