Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
I want to start my first ‘Weekly Message’ of 2016, by wishing you all, ‘Šťastný nový rok! A Happy New Year!‘, whether you are in Prague or elsewhere on the first day of this New Year. Then secondly, I want to express some words of thanks.
Thanks to:
Everyone who kindly sent Sybille and I Christmas cards, both real and virtual :-) , and also several Christmas presents. Judging by the various ‘bottles’ we received, the drinking habits of your Chaplain & his wife are clearly well-known ;-)
Everyone who contributed to Bishop Robert’s Advent Appeal, supporting the work of the Anglican Church in Athens, with refugees from the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. I am very pleased to report that we raised a total of CZK 23,306 which has converted to £622.16 upon being transferred to the Appeal Fund in London. You might also like to know that Canon Malcolm Bradshaw, the Senior Anglican Chaplain in Athens, has been awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours, in recognition of his contribution in masterminding work by the Churches in Greece, providing help & support for refugees. See this article on our Diocesan website
A reminder about worship in two days time!
Sunday 3rd January at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist celebrating the Epiphany
What better way to begin 2016, than by attending worship on the first Sunday of the New Year? As the Czech Republic does not keep the actual date of the Epiphany, 6th January, as a public holiday, unlike all the country’s neighbours in Poland, Slovakia, Austria & Bavaria, we shall celebrate it three days early, as the Revised Common Lectionary allows us to do. Our Old Testament reading will be Isaiah 60. 1-6, whilst our New Testament reading will be part of St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 3. 1-12. The Gospel reading will of course be the account of the visit of the Wise Men to the Infant Jesus as recorded in Matthew 2. 1-12. I don’t think that there will be parallel Children’s Ministry, (if there is, it will be a bonus :-) ), but there will definitely be Coffee Hour following worship, in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18.
With it being the first Sunday of the month, following Coffee Hour, I will be off down the D1 to Brno, for our regular monthly service starting at 17.00 in ‘The Upper Room’, corner of Jezuitská and Mozartova, Brno.
A reminder about our rota of Welcomers, Intercessors, Chalicers, Readers, Coffee Hour hosts
This has been wonderfully masterminded by Tasci Gibson, for at least the last two years, for which I am most thankful! Tasci has stepped down from the role with effect from the end of 2015, as I reported some weeks back, in a previous ‘Weekly Message’. I did ask then, for someone to volunteer to take on this task, but my request seems to have fallen on very stony ground, if you’ll excuse my Biblical allusion. Therefore I ask again, would you be willing to take on the task of being our Rota Organiser? I &/or Tasci will happily explain what is involved. It isn’t that difficult – you just need to be reasonably computer literate and sort out people’s responses regarding availability for the different tasks each week.
In the mean time, I have sorted out duties for this coming Sunday, other than I still need two readers for the Isaiah & Ephesians readings. If you can read this coming Sunday, drop me an email ASAP.
And a reminder of what we collect at the back of the Church
- Used postage stamps. All used postage stamps, except British ones bearing only the Queen’s head. Leave the stamp on the envelope but cut around it leaving approx 5mm paper border. Then place them in the envelope pinned to our noticeboard at the back of the Church. The sale of these used stamps supports the work of the Intercontinental Church Society, who in turn, support us.
- Tinned food and warm winter clothing, for both men & women, supporting the work of the Salvation Army with the homeless in Prague. The red wheelie bin for clothing is currently full to overflowing! Thank you! I will endeavour to get the contents collected next week. But there is still plenty of room in the other bin for tinned food. Let’s here some loud clonks before worship begins on Sunday!
Best wishes
Ricky
