Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
If you weren’t in Church last Sunday, you missed a wonderful service! The Choir of St. Chad’s College, Durham UK provided splendid musical support for our worship and we had a challenging sermon from Rev’d Dr Stephen Lahey. If you missed the sermon or if you want to hear it again, it is now available to listen to here on this website
I am also pleased to report that my computer problems of last weekend, which left me locked out of my laptop computer for 72 hours, have now been resolved. However, I am aware that I still have a back log of emails to which I’ve yet to reply, a problem I hope to resolve over the next few days.
Now to this coming Sunday.
Sunday 29th June at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Feast of St. Peter
This Sunday is one of those occasions that happen a few times each year, when a saint’s day falls on a Sunday and therefore takes precedence, in this case, over it being the Second Sunday after Trinity. We will say Psalm 125 responsively & our other two readings, Acts 12. 1-11 and Matthew 16. 13-19, will tell of events from the life of St. Peter. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and Cool Drinks & Light Refreshments will be served at the back of Church following worship.
On or around the Feast of St Peter, the period known as ‘Petertide‘, is when ordinations often take place and it would be good to remember in prayer, those being ordained deacon or priest over this coming weekend. In fact, next Wednesday will be the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ordination as deacon and next Tuesday, the twenty-fourth anniversary of my ordination as priest. We might just have a little party in twelve months time to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ‘priesting’ :-)
As this weekend also marks the end of the school year for both Czech and International schools, St. Clement’s will enter ‘summer mode’. Whilst worship will continue at 11.00 on each Sunday during July & August, the will be no Children’s Ministry during these two months – it will resume at the beginning of September.
Financial Update
Further to what I wrote in my Weekly Message two weeks ago, I’m pleased to report that the promised grant from the Hamish Parker Trust, has now arrived in our London account. Even better news is that it is slightly bigger than what we were expecting – £5500. This will certainly help resolve our immediate liquidity problems. In the meantime, further to our discussions at the Church Council meeting held last Sunday, we are exploring possible ways whereby we might be able to reduce the costs involved in employing me as Chaplain. I should also have reported that, earlier this year, we successfully negotiated a reduction in the interest rate on the mortgage we are paying to purchase the Chaplaincy Flat which has reduced our outgoings by around CZK 2000 each month.
Used stamps for ICS
A big ‘Thank you’ to everybody who has put their used postage stamps in the collecting envelope pinned to our noticeboard at the back of the Church. This week, I once more emptied the collecting envelope & took all the stamps home with me, ready to send to the ‘ICS Stamp Bureau’ in the UK. So do please start refilling the collecting envelope. Remember – all used postage stamps are wanted with the exception of those British ones which only bear the Queen’s Head. Leave the stamp(s) on the envelope & cut or tear off the corner of the envelope where the stamp(s) is/are located, leaving about a 5mm border around the stamp(s).
Update from Sybille
Last weekend, Sybille wrote an update which is pinned to the noticeboard at the back of the Church. A very similar text can be found here on her pilgrimage website
Until Sunday……
Best wishes
Ricky
