Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
This coming Sunday, the fifth of Lent, is usually known as Passion Sunday. As my diary declares, ‘Passiontide begins’ – the beginning of the most solemn final two weeks of the Lenten season.
Sunday 22nd March at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
Our Old Testament reading comes from the prophesy of Jeremiah 31. 31-34 where the prophet speaks of God making a new covenant with his people, one that will be written on their hearts, rather than on tablets of stone. Our psalm will be Psalm 51. 1-12 where Psalmist asks, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me’. The Gospel reading is John 12. 20-33 where Jesus speaks of his forthcoming passion saying, ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and following worship, Coffee Hour in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18.
Tuesday 24th March – 18.30-20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18.
Our five week Lent Course has its final session. In this year of the 600th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jan Hus, our Lent course has been looking at various aspects of the Bohemian Reformation. This coming Tuesday our topic will be:
The legacy of the Bohemian Reformation Today.
Our presenter will be Dr. Peter Moree who teaches in the Protestant Faculty of Charles University. He is a Dutchman with a Czech wife & family and previously spoke to us during our Lent course six years ago in 2009.
Venue: Small meeting room on the first floor of Klimenská 18. If the outside door of Klimentská 18 is locked, please press the bell marked Kancelář & we’ll buzz you in! As we normally do on Tuesday evenings, the last twenty minutes of our time will be spent saying Evening Prayer together.
Looking ahead through the rest of Passiontide to Easter Day, these are the dates & times to note:
Sunday 29th March at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for Palm Sunday
Please note that the clocks go FORWARD one hour during the previous night.
Thursday 2nd April at 19.00 – Sung Eucharist for Maundy Thursday
Friday 3rd April at 19.30 – Good Friday Devotional Service
including a meditation on the Cross of Christ by Jack Noonan.
Saturday 4th April, Holy Saturday – Walking Outside the Box – mini pilgrimage to Dablice & Memorial to Resistance against Fascism lasting two hours
This place saw the executions, by a foreign power, of over 700 people who lived and died for the way of life they believed in. We will walk through still visible history. A chance to consider the realities of human life that brought Jesus to the death that we mourn on Good Friday; and before we are swept up into the joy of Easter. If you are interested; full details, including a complete itinerary and ideas for walking contemplation are available from gordontruefitt(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk .
Sunday 5th April at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for Easter Day
Sunday 5th April at 17.00 – Easter Day service of Holy Communion; ‘The Upper Room’, corner of Jezuitská and Mozartova, Brno.
Annual Church Meeting
A further reminder that our Annual Church Meeting will take place following worship, on Sunday 19th April 2015. At the ACM, two Churchwardens, one Archdeaconry Synod rep, together with up to nine ordinary Church Council members, will be elected. In order to vote or to stand for election, your need to be a member of our Church Electoral Roll (CER). The current CER is displayed on the noticeboard at the back of the Church. If your name appears there, you need to do nothing!
If you are not on the CER but would like to be, then application forms are available in a folder pinned to the noticeboard at the back of Church. To apply, you need to be baptized and a member of the Church of England or any of the other Anglican or Old Catholic Churches in full communion with the Church of England & be normally resident in the Czech Republic. Or, you need to be baptized and be a member in good standing of a Church which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and to have ‘habitually attended public worship’ with us for at least the last six months, and be normally resident in the Czech Republic. New applications to join the CER, must be completed and handed in no later than Easter Day, Sunday 5th April.
That’s more than enough from me for this week.
Best wishes
Ricky
