Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
I want to start my ‘Weekly’ by thanking everyone who sent greetings & best wishes as both Sybille & I celebrated our respective birthdays this past week. Our joint ages now add up to 110 but I’ll leave you to decide where that number divides between us
More seriously, here are the details of what is happening in the life of the Chaplaincy over the next ten days or so.
Sunday 1st March at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Second Sunday of Lent
Our Old Testament reading is Genesis 17. 1-7 & 15-16 and tells of God’s promises to Abraham. Abraham also features in our second reading, from Paul’s Letter to the Romans 4. 13-25. The Gospel reading, from Mark 8. 31-38, records Jesus foretelling of his death and resurrection and his challenge to everyone who wants to be his follower to, ‘deny themselves and take up their cross’. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and following worship, Coffee Hour in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18.
Following Coffee Hour, as it will be the first Sunday of the month, I shall be setting off to Brno for our regular monthly service
Sunday 1st March at 17.00 – Holy Communion with hymns
In our usual venue, ‘The Upper Room’, corner of Jezuitská and Mozartova, Brno. If you would like to know more about where we worship in Brno, I’ve recently published a blog post about it that can be found here
Tuesday 3rd March – 18.30-20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18.
Our five week Lent Course continues. In this year of the 600th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jan Hus, our Lent course is looking at various aspects of the Bohemian Reformation. After a most enjoyable & well-attended first session last Tuesday, this coming Tuesday our topic will be:
John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, examining how the writings of the early English Church Reformer, John Wycliffe, influenced the thinking of Jan Hus here in Prague, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Appropriately, as I am a graduate of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, I will be making the presentation.
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.
A reminder of the details of the following three sessions:
10th March Reformation and Counter-Reformation
Presenter: Father William Faix.
17th March Jan Hus and the Bohemian Reformation from the Perspective of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church.
Presenter: Hana Tonzarová
24th March The legacy of the Bohemian Reformation Today.
Presenter: Dr. Peter Moree.
Sunday 8th March at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist – International Women’s Day & ‘Celebrating the Gifts of Women’
At the suggestion of Church Council member, Stephen Weeks, with International Women’s Day falling on a Sunday in 2015, we are going mark it. With the exception of me, everybody taking part in the service will be female. Our preacher will be Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz and we are going to use a set of Bible Readings suggested by her Presbyterian Church (USA), that ‘Celebrate the Gifts of Women‘. I’ve sent a personal letter to the President of the International Women’s Association of Prague (IWAP), inviting her and the membership of IWAP to join our worship on Sunday 8th March.
Advance notice that at Coffee Hour on Sunday 8th March, there will be a sale of items, (pottery, baskets, handbags and many others), made by the residents of Domov sv. Rodiny, the only home for mentally and physically disabled people run by the Roman Catholic Prague Archdiocese. The home have recently renewed their contact with Pastor Eva Halamová who has invited them to attend refreshments following the Czech service and they will then remain in the hall for our Coffee Hour that follows. Long-standing Church members will remember that this used to happen once a year until about five years ago. Please make sure you have some cash with you to support this worthy cause!
That’s more than enough for this week!
Best wishes
Ricky
