Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
I want to start my first post-Easter ‘Weekly Message’, by thanking everybody who helped with all the services during Holy Week & on Easter Day. The Easter Day congregation in Prague numbered 136, the biggest ever during the nearly seven years I’ve been your Chaplain, with the exception of the visit of Prince Charles in March 2010. If you missed any of the services or want to listen again to any of my sermons from Palm Sunday, Easter Day, as well as last Sunday, or to Jack Noonan’s address on Good Friday, they are all now available to listen to on this website. Just click here and then on the one you want to listen to.
Now a look forward to what is happening in the life of St. Clement’s during the coming weeks. Firstly, this coming Sunday.
Sunday 19th April at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Third Sunday of Easter
We continue to celebrate the joy of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ – remember that the Easter season lasts a full fifty days! – including singing some more Easter hymns which we haven’t sung the previous two Sundays. We will hear part of a sermon by Peter, preaching about the death and resurrection of Jesus as recorded in Acts 3. 12-19. There will be a further reading from the first letter of John, following on from last week’s second reading – 1 John 3. 1-7. Our Gospel reading will be Luke 24. 36-48, which describes a further resurrection appearance of Jesus, and his call to his followers to be witnesses, making known the good news of the Gospel. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry.
Immediately following the end of worship, our Annual Church Meeting(ACM) will take place. May I strongly encourage all sixty of you who are members of the Church Electoral Roll(CER), to be present & participate in the ACM. At the ACM, two Churchwardens, one Archdeaconry Synod rep, together with up to nine ordinary Church Council members, will be elected. Nominations for all of these positions need to made in writing, BEFORE the meeting begins. A form for doing this is pinned to the noticeboard at the back of the Church & it was good to see some names being put on it last Sunday.
As well as receiving the 2014 accounts and reports from the Churchwarden & Church Council Secretary, the ACM offers the opportunity for members of the CER, to raise any question or matter of concern regarding the life of the Church. If you appreciate St. Clement’s and want to help ensure its future, please plan to be at the ACM!
Then on Tuesday evening…….
After a most enjoyable and well-attended Lent Course on the topic of the Bohemian Reformation with particular reference to Jan Hus, several people have been asking me about what plans are for Tuesday evenings post-Easter. Well I have a plan for next Tuesday, but would like some suggestions or offers of input for further following Tuesday evenings.
Tuesday 21st April – 18.30-20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18.
In response to several people who have expressed both their appreciation of the Lent course as well as a desire to know more about Czech Church History, I will lead a follow up evening which I’ve entitled, ‘What happened after the Battle of Bilá hora?’ This will look at the experience of the Christian Church, both Protestant & Roman Catholic, in period following 1620. As we did throughout Lent, the last twenty minutes of our time will be spent saying Evening Prayer together.
On Tuesday 28th April, I will be away attending the annual ICS Chaplains Conference, this year being held in the Netherlands. But if someone would be willing to both lead a study session, and take responsibility for opening and closing the small meeting room in Klimentská 18 that evening, then please let me know ASAP. Further ahead, I would welcome suggestion of topics for study on Tuesday evenings 5th, 19th & 26th May. We will not meet on Tuesday 12th May as two days later, Thursday 14th May is Ascension Day when there will be Eucharist in Church commencing at 19.00.
Saturday 25th April – 14.00-17.00 – Mini pilgrimage to St Clement’s Church?!?
This from Gordon Truefitt.
No; not our St. Clement`s Church, the one at Levy Hradec, – but hold that thought… In our mini–pilgrimages to date we’ve walked delightful ways which also confronted us with the dichotomy between the beauty of God`s creation and the mess we, his children, can make of it – among other things!
This time we’ll be walking from Roztoky u Prahy, along the west bank of the Vltava river where it concentrates just outside the city in preparation for rushing through the deepening gorge
that winds northwards towards Germany. It’s a beautiful and poignant physical metaphor for a host of spiritual experiences; strength, time, cleansing, perpetuity, freedom, rage, peace; to name but a few. ‘Beginnings’ are a good thing to contemplate at Eastertide; and as you watch the river. They are seldom easy but, like this mighty river, they start from small beginnings. We will start to climb up the high west bank, as we do our perspective keeps changing. At the top we will find the first Christian church in Bohemia, St. Clement’s, built about 885 AD by Prince Borivoj who was baptised by St. Methodius. By it lie the ruins of a fort, Levy Hradec. The church is still in use. A stop for some refreshment then off back home. 3 hours max.! To begin; put the date in your diary, let me know you`ll be coming, and I`ll send you the full details. gordontruefitt(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk or call/text 606 190 604
Sunday 26th April at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Fourth Sunday of Easter
When our preacher will be Jack Noonan.
And advance notice that on Sunday 10th May at 11.00 there will be our once every two years Joint Service with the Czech Old Catholics in the Old Catholic Cathedral of Sv Vavřince on Petřín Hill.
That’s more than enough to digest this week!
Best wishes
Ricky
