Dear People & Friends of St. Clements,
This is my third summer in Prague and, up until now, it has been far wetter & cooler than the two previous ones. However, this week the weather has been much more like previous summers with several sunny days & increasing temperatures (over 30 degrees Celsius yesterday), followed by a thundery breakdown overnight & again this morning. According to the ever faithful BBC weather forecast, we are in for a sunny weekend with more thundery rain on Monday. Good news for John & Titania whose wedding I’m conducting tomorrow & for everybody coming to worship at St. Clement’s on Sunday.
Therefore, a reminder of our worship this coming Sunday.
Sunday 21st August at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Along with Psalm 138, the other two Bible readings are Romans 12. 1-8, with instructions for practical Christian living from St. Paul, & Matthew 16. 13-20, which contains Peter’s great declaration of faith that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” & the response from Jesus that “on this rock I will build my Church”. The passages are well worth reading in advance of coming to worship. As is always our pattern in July & August, there will be cool refreshments served after the service in the back of the Church.
Looking ahead to the Autumn
Our Midweek activities will restart in September with something on both Tuesday & Thursday evenings each week. There are still a couple of gaps in the Tuesday evening programme which I hope to have filled in the next ten days or so but here is the basic outline.
Tuesday evenings 6.30-8.00pm in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18
6th September – Welcome to Prague – What every English-speaking expat needs to know when living in the Czech Republic
13th September – Understanding history – Why is the Czech Republic one of the most atheistic nations in Europe?
20th September – tba
27th September – Ways into prayer 1
4th October – Ways into prayer 2
11th October – tba
18th October – What’s so distinctive about Anglicanism?
25th October – Understanding Anglican liturgical worship
1st November – An All Saints Day celebration
I will fill out more details about each of these evenings over the coming weeks. But by way of a brief explanation, the first two sessions are particularly aimed at newcomers to Prague, to try and provide a greater understanding of the Czech people and what it is like living in the Czech Republic. But I also want ‘old hands’ to attend &, in the first session on 6th September, retell your own cultural faux pas so that recent newcomers might avoid making the same mistakes!
The two sessions entitled ‘Ways into prayer’ will be led by Rev’d Kathy Ferguson who is coming once more as my locum priest whilst I am away in late September & early October attending the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod & then taking the other two weeks of my annual leave. Several people have asked for some teaching about prayer and Kathy is the ideal person to do this.
The two sessions on 18th & 25th October are in response to requests from several non-Anglicans who worship with us, for some teaching about the Anglican Church & our ways of doing things.
Thursday evenings from 7.00 – exact venue to be confirmed.
A Christian Basics course looking at the fundamentals of Christian belief. Suitable for enquirers about the Christian faith as well as a good refresher course for existing believers. It is being organised and led by David Hellam who has given me the following proposed schedule.
Thu 08 Sep – Out of Date, Out of Touch, Out of Order – Relevance of Christian Faith to a Modern World?
Thu 15 Sep – Redemption: Jesus
Thu 22 Sep – The Reliability of the Bible
Thu 29 Sep – The Reality of God
Thu 06 Oct – Relationship: The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
Thu 13 Oct – Refreshment: Prayer and Worship
Thu 20 Oct – Reconciliation: The Church
David admits that he’s not entirely happy with the titles yet – but that he’s thinking along the
lines of 7 “R”s!
The format of these evenings will be a shared buffet-style meal, followed by a talk, followed by a discussion. Again, there will be more information & details of how to register to attend the course during the next ten days or so but if you are interested or have any questions either email me or David david@hellam.net .
And a note from our webmaster about another way you can help support St. Clement’s.
Do you shop at Amazon?
If yes, you can now support St.Clement’s every time you do so at no extra cost! Simply use always this link http://www.amazon.co.uk/?tag=stclemail-21 every time you want to go to Amazon.co.uk and when you buy something, St.Clement’s receives a small commission! For more information see http://susanaj10.sg-host.com//christian-book-store/ or contact the Chaplain with any questions or suggestions you might have.
For the moment this works only with Amazon.co.uk. If you normally shop at any other Amazon site such as Amazon.com, please let us know and we will add this possibility also if there is enough demand.
That’s more than enough for this week!
Best wishes
Ricky
