Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
Yesterday afternoon, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I was able to watch & listen to most of the service from Canterbury Cathedral at which the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, was inaugurated or enthroned. I was able to do so via my laptop computer as the BBC broadcast the service live via the BBC News website. I say ‘most of the service’ as unfortunately the live broadcast ‘froze’ part way through the Archbishop’s sermon so I had to refresh to get it going again. However, the full text of the sermon can be found here & a copy of the Order of Service can be found here . Please do commend Archbishop Justin to God in your prayers in the coming days, as well as the newly elected Pope Francis I.
And now to things that are happening at St. Clement’s this coming Sunday & during Holy Week that follows.
Sunday 24th March at 11.00 – Palm Sunday Sung Eucharist
Our worship on Palm Sunday will be enhanced by the visit of the Choir of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Palm Crosses will be distributed and there will be parallel Children’s Ministry. Following the service, instead of Coffee Hour, there will be a Bring & Share Lunch in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18. The lunch is entitled ‘A Taste of Home’. If possible, please bring a dish that is typical of where you originally come from and which can be easily shared. Let’s have an enjoyable time of fun & fellowship together after worship on Sunday.
Holy Week follows on from Palm Sunday. There will be a Maundy Thursday Sung Eucharist starting at 19.00 at which I will be the preacher and a Devotional Service for Good Friday starting at 19.30 at which Jack Noonan will be giving a reflection on the Cross of Christ. Please note the different starting times of these two services. It is purely because our host congregation do not have a service on Maundy Thursday but do have one on Good Friday evening, hence we have to start later!
Easter Day – Sunday 31st March at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist
Come & join us to celebrate the victory won by our Lord Jesus Christ over sin & death! However, before you go to bed on Easter Eve – Saturday 30th March, please remember to alter all your clocks, watches, mobile/cell phones etc, and put them FORWARD ONE HOUR! Otherwise you’ll arrive at Church in time for the end of the service! Talking about the end of the service, we also need a volunteer(s) to run Coffee Hour on Easter Day as Caroline is away. If you can help, please speak with me on Sunday or send me an email.
Easter Day – Sunday 31st March at 18.00 – Holy Communion with hymns
In the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, Nové sady 32a, Brno.
A big thank you….
……to everyone who came last Sunday when Matthew Moistner preached his first ever sermon. As those of who were there will know, quite a number Czech people to whom Matthew teaches English, came along to hear Matthew & see him in his kilt :-) , but also to experience Anglican worship for the first time. Apparently, the thing that impressed both the atheists who sat near the back, and the Roman Catholics who sat near the front, was the warmth and friendliness of our worship and warmth and friendliness of the congregation shown towards them. They particularly liked the way people invited them over to Coffee Hour & chatted with them. Thank you to everyone who did this – you were a great advert for the Christian faith & for St. Clement’s!
Matthew’s sermon is now on this website here where you can click the link to listen to it & there is also the full text & a photograph as well.
Several other things to note…..
The wheelie bin in which we have been collecting tinned food to help the Salvation Army with their work with the homeless in Prague, is now back in Church! But of course, it’s empty! So next time you’re in your local Albert, Billa, Tesco or Kaufland, please buy a few extra cans of tinned food & bring them with you to Church on Sunday & help us start refilling the wheelie bin.
The form for the nomination of up to nine members of the Church Council, is on the noticeboard at the back of Church. Each candidate needs a proposer & seconder, together with the written consent of the candidate. All three need to be members of the new Church Electoral Roll (CER) which in its current form, is also on display on the noticeboard. A reminder to the two or three people I’m aware of, who ought to have applied to join the new CER, but have yet to submit their application forms, that you must do so no later than Easter Sunday – 31st March 2013 if you want to give them directly to Sybille or myself, or sign & scan them electronically/post them to arrive no later than Saturday 6th April at the Chaplaincy Flat. The Annual Church Meeting will take place on Sunday 21st April 2013, immediately following worship that morning.
With my prayers & best wishes for your observance & keeping of Palm Sunday & Holy Week
Ricky
