Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
Before I write about our worship this coming Sunday & the week ahead, there are a number of other things I want to tell you about.
Collecting tinned food and warm winter clothing, supporting the Salvation Army & their work with the homeless in Prague
Last Monday, I met with Petr Janousek of the Salvation Army, and he collected all the contents from both red wheelie bins that sit at the back of Church – clothing & tinned food. He asked me to pass on his thanks to the congregation for all that you have donated. Therefore, both wheelie bins are empty, ready & waiting to be refilled. Remember, we need warm winter clothing for both men & women. This includes socks & underwear, as well as the more obvious things like woolly hats & gloves, sweaters and jackets. Ideally, place them in the wheelie bin in a carrier bag as it makes unloading easier. And in the other wheelie bin, we need tinned food – any variety of food in a tin, but NOT packets. There were a small number of packets when we emptied the wheelie bin last Monday. They present storage problems, hence the request for only tinned food.
Used postage stamps
Thank you to all of you who have placed your used postage stamps in the envelope pinned to our noticeboard at the back of the Church. Remember, all used postage stamps are wanted, except British ones bearing only the Queen’s head. Leave the stamp on the envelope but cut around it leaving approx 5mm paper border. The sale of these used stamps supports the work of the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS), who in turn, support us. I will be taking all of the used stamps we’ve collected, including those already sitting in my office at the Chaplaincy Flat, with me when I go to the UK in late April, for this year’s ICS Chaplains Conference.
Sermons online
My sermon from last Sunday is now available to listen to online by following this link.
Annual Church Meeting
At their meeting last Sunday, your Church Council agreed to hold the Annual Church Meeting on Sunday 10th April 2016, following our Sung Eucharist that morning. More information nearer the time, but please mark the date in your dairies!
Good Friday – 25th March
This year, for the first time since the late 1940s, Good Friday will be a public holiday in the Czech Republic. Up until now, because Good Friday wasn’t a public holiday, we’ve always held a Devotional Service in the evening. But I raised with your Church Council at its meeting last Sunday, whether we might hold a Last Hour on the Cross service, commencing at 14.00. They suggested I should seek out the feeling on this matter from the congregation. Hence this message! Responses welcome – by email or verbally.
Now to this coming Sunday……
Sunday 17th January at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Second Sunday of Epiphany
Continuing the Epiphany season theme of Jesus being ‘made manifest’ or ‘shown forth’, our Gospel reading will be John 2. 1-11, describing Jesus’ first miracle or sign – turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. The supporting Old Testament reading will be Isaiah 62. 1-5 which has things to say about ‘marriages’. We will also hear the words of St. Paul about spiritual gifts from 1 Corinthians 12. 1-11. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry, and following worship, Coffee Hour in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18.
It being the third Sunday of the month, following Coffee Hour, I shall be travelling by train to the Frauenkirche, Dresden, along with Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz, for the regular monthly English-language Anglican Service starting at 18.00. I will be leading the service and Karen will be preaching. More details here and here.
Tuesday 19th January – 18.30-20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18.
After a false start last week, our regular Tuesday evening meetings for Study and Fellowship will resume, looking at St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Picking up from where we reached when we last met at the end of November 2015, we will be looking at 1 Corinthians 7. 25-40. As we normally do, the last 15-20 minutes will be spent saying Evening Prayer together. If the outside door of Klimentská 18 is locked, please press the bell marked Kancelář & you’ll be buzzed in!
Best wishes
Ricky
