Dear People & Friends of St. Clements,
My Weekly Message begins this week with a very important reminder – the clocks go FORWARD by one hour at 02.00 on Sunday morning. Don’t arrive at the end of the service this Sunday but at the beginning!
And if you travel to Church by tram & have had your normal journey disrupted since the middle of February, by the work on the tramlines between Strossmayerovo náměstí and Nábřeží Kapitaná Jaroše, apparently that work has been completed one week early & things should be back to normal tomorrow morning, Saturday 24th March. Therefore, check your journey carefully for getting to Church on Sunday. If you don’t already know it, the dpp website is your friend.
Sunday 25th March at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for Passion Sunday
We are only two weeks away from Easter Day so as my diary reminds me, on this coming Sunday, Passiontide begins! There will be parallel Children’s Ministry but NO Coffee Hour as the service will be immediately followed by our Annual Church Meeting.
At the Annual Church Meeting, elections will take place for two Churchwardens, one Archdeaconry Synod representative & up to nine ordinary members of the Church Council. The Churchwardens & the Archdeaconry Synod reps are ex officio members of the Church Council. There is now a form on the noticeboard at the back of Church for written nominations for these positions. Each candidate needs a proposer & seconder & the written consent of the proposed candidate. The candidate & their proposer & seconder must all be members of the Church Electoral Roll. This MUST be done before the Annual Church Meeting begins which realistically means before our worship begins at 11.00 on Sunday morning.
I’ve been asked by a couple of people what membership of the Church Council involves. So here is a simple explanation. The words in italics are a direct quote from the relevant Church legislation.
It is the duty of the Church Council to work in co-operation with the Chaplain in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The parish in our case, is the whole of the Czech Republic! Usually there are eight or nine meetings a year which normally last about two hours, depending on how much there is to cover & how much people talk! This past year, we have either met after Coffee Hour on a Sunday or on a Monday evening. It will be up to the newly elected Church Council to decide about meeting dates following the Annual Church Meeting.
Then in the following week……
Tuesday 27th March, 18.30 – 20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18
The last in our series looking at Common objections to the Christian Faith. The topic will be ‘Hasn’t science disproved Christianity?‘
Thursday 29th March, 19.00-20.30 at Chez Hellam, Namesti Interbrigady 949/3, Prague 6.
The last in our series on Stewardship led by David Hellam. The topic will be ‘Our minds‘.
As this meeting begins with a shared meal, please let David know if you are planning to come david(at)hellam(dot)net .
Please note that………
On the evening of Thursday 29th March, Sybille & I will be flying to the UK, returning late in the evening of Monday 2nd April. Your Church Council very kindly encouraged me to take this pre-Easter break rather than my normal post-Easter break, in order that can both attend an important family celebration. My eldest sister June, who is nearly nine years my senior, got married to my brother-in-law Garry, when she was only 18 years old, on Saturday 31st March 1962. Therefore on Saturday 31st March 2012, they celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary and not surprisingly, are having a party to mark this significant landmark. The event will be in Bournemouth on the south coast of England where they have lived for the past 20 years. Therefore……..
Palm Sunday – 1st April at 11.00 – Service of the Word
This non-Eucharistic service will be led by Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz and the preacher will be David Hellam. I understand that the children will be involved in David’s talk & have been preparing certain things during Children’s Ministry these past few Sundays. Palm crosses will be distributed and the service will be followed by Coffee Hour.
Holy Week & Easter
There will be services on Maundy Thursday 5th April starting at 19.00 and on Good Friday 6th April starting at 19.30. Then on Easter Day 8th April starting at 11.00, we will celebrate Jesus risen from the tomb in our Easter Day Sung Eucharist. More details in next week’s message which will go out before I leave Prague for the UK next Thursday.
Looking forward to seeing many of you this Sunday both at worship and for the Annual Church Meeting!
Best wishes
Ricky
