This week, I thought I’d give my email message a new title! Lent started last Wednesday, therefore…..

This Sunday 21st February at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the First Sunday of Lent
Our Gospel reading on Sunday is Luke 4 v1-13 which tells of the time Jesus spent in the desert or wilderness experiencing testing or temptation. As I frequently suggest, you might like to read the passage for yourself in advance of Sunday’s service. There will be Sunday School & the service will be followed by a Shared Lunch in the meeting room on the third floor of Klimentská 18.

Thank to everyone who signed up with Sue Anderson last Sunday and volunteered to help provide food for the Shared Lunch. She still needs a few more offers of help with the following.

Keeping the season of Lent in mind we propose a ‘frugal’ theme of baked potatoes in skins and a range of fillings  –  so you can raid the pantry.

Please let Sue know  (psprincipla (at) riversideschool (dot) cz / 731 178 731) if you are able to contribute any of the following items.

Baked potatoes (individually wrapped in foil to keep warm would be great) in batches of 8-10

Fillings in quantities of 8-10 portions

Some suggestions

·         Baked beans

·         Grated cheese

·         Tuna & mayonnaise

·         Leek & bacon

·         Chilli beans

·         Whatever you choose!!

Mixed/green salad

Ketchup/mayonnaise/sour cream

Cakes     8-10 servings

It would be really helpful if each could bring juice/bottle of water to also share. Hot drinks will be provided.

Annual Church Meeting – Sunday 14th March, immediately following our Sung Eucharist
I do hope that all those on the Church Electoral Roll, will make every effort to be present at the Annual Church Meeting, in order to be made fully aware of the uncertainties that we face as a Church in the coming year and to elect Churchwardens and members of the Church Council. A repeat of last week’s reminder that, in order to be able to vote at the Annual Church Meeting and to be eligible for election to the Church Council, your name must be on the Church Electoral Roll. A copy of the current Church Electoral Roll is on display at the back of Church. If your name is on it, which hopefully you should know anyway(!), then you don’t need to do anything further.

If your name is not on it and you want to join the Church Electoral Roll, you need to be baptised, aged over 16, and declare that “I am a member of the Church of England (or of a Church in communion with the Church of England) and am normally resident in the area covered by the church”.

If you are not an Anglican, (and I am aware of how many ‘non Anglicans’ there are in the congregation), then you need to be baptised, aged over 16 and declare that

“I am a member in good standing of a Church (not in communion with the Church of England) which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and also declare myself to be a member of the Church of England and I have habitually attended public worship in the church during the period of six months prior to enrolment”. Realistically, the last phrase means you need to have been worshipping with us since before mid-September 2009.

Application forms to join the Church Electoral Roll are in a plastic wallet pinned to the noticeboard at the back of Church. Completed forms need to be returned to me or the Churchwardens no later than 26th February 2010 as we have to display a complete Church Electoral Roll for 15 days before the Annual Meeting takes place. Several people took forms to complete last Sunday. Please ensure that if you were one of them, that you return the completed form this Sunday!

Thursday Evenings during Lent
There is a very good longstanding tradition within many Christian Churches of giving more time to study during the season of Lent. Therefore in Lent this year, I am going to lead a series of seminars on what are known as the Sacraments. The usual definition of a Sacrament is ‘An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace’. Strictly speaking, Anglicans only recognise Baptism and Holy Communion as sacraments whereas Roman Catholics would add five more. However, we can explore that issue as part of the course. Even if you don’t normally feel able attend a regular midweek Church event, why not commit yourself to turning out on five Thursday evenings during Lent?

Here are the dates and topics.

Thursday 25th February – Baptism & Confirmation
Nearly everyone reading this message will have been baptised, either as an infant or later in life as an adult. Some, but not all, will have also undergone the rite of Confirmation. Why do we baptise and confirm? What is the biblical background? Why do we baptise infants who cannot speak for themselves? Should baptism be by sprinkling of water or by full immersion? These are some of the things I will seek to explore in our first Lent Seminar.

My intention is to speak for a while about the topic based on a printed handout that I will produce for everyone attending. There will then be an opportunity both for questions and discussion. The venue will be the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18. This is both a central location and also one that is warm!!!! We will start at 7pm and probably finish around 8.30pm.

Future dates & topics will be;

Thursday 4th March – Holy Communion/Eucharist

Thursday 11th March – Marriage

Thursday 18th March – Ordination

Thursday 25th March – Confession/Absolution/Reconciliation

I do hope that many of you will avail yourself of this opportunity to explore these topics which are at the heart of our understanding of our Christian faith and of the life of the Church.

Want to talk?
From time to time, members of the congregation ask me either by email, phone or in person, whether they can meet with me to talk about something of concern to them. Just to say that I welcome the opportunity of doing this. So, if you have a question(s) about the Christian faith or something is bothering you, don’t be afraid to ask to meet with me at a mutually convenient time & place to discuss it. I can’t always promise a definitive answer but I do promise a listening ear.

Want to complain?
Many of you are frequently very kind and tell me that you enjoyed the sermon, or what I said about a certain topic, or that you appreciated a particular hymn. For all of you who do that – thank you! However, when someone or some people are unhappy about something I said or did, I almost always only hear about it second-hand. When this happens, I’m never exactly sure how serious the complaint is or whether it is one person who miss-heard something I said, or several people who are seriously unhappy.

Therefore, if you are upset or unhappy about something, don’t be afraid to tell me directly. From past experience I often find that the source of a problem is someone not understanding what I said or not knowing all the background information as to why something is done in a particular way. Quite often I am a fault for not explaining things properly or because I’ve expressed something badly which has then been misunderstood. Please – if you think something isn’t quite right, say so directly!

Radio Praha
Some of you may already have seen or listened to an interview I did with David Vaughan for Radio Praha. If you haven’t seen or heard it yet you can find it here  http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125088 . Bearing in mind what I’ve just written in the paragraph above, may I assure everyone that what Professor David Holeton suggests in the latter part of this article is not going to happen in the foreseeable future, nor is it part any hidden agenda for St. Clements. If you do have any further concerns, please feel free to speak to me about them.

Finally for this week……
As I have explained previously, a week today on Friday 26th February 2010, Sybille and I will be celebrating our ‘one hundredth birthday’. All those of you who have replied and said that you would like to join us and celebrate this major landmark in our lives, will be receiving an email later today giving details of the arrangements & venue for our birthday party. In making catering arrangements, we have allowed for a few more people than the current number of those who have said they will be attending. Therefore if you are one of those people who would like to join our celebration but have still not hit the ‘reply to this email button’ & said so, please do so ASAP!

Best wishes

Ricky