Dear People & Friends of St. Clements,

There is so much going on in & around St. Clement’s this coming weekend & the following weekend, as well as in the week in between, that I want to set the series of services & events out straightaway. But there is also a…….

Request for help……………a news update……………& a suggestion

at the end of the programme of events so please read right through this message & don’t ignore what comes at the end

Sunday 4th December – Advent 2

Sung Eucharist at 11.00 – Our Celebrant and Preacher will be our Anglican Diocesan Bishop, Rt. Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell. During the service, he will also conduct the rite of Confirmation for two adult members of our congregation who have both come from a Free Church background but who both want to formerly become Anglicans. They are Sherry Vacik and Augustine Obiabumuo. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and Coffee Hour will follow in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18 with a chance to meet with the Bishop.

As Churchwarden Steve Entwistle said last Sunday morning, I hope we can have as big a congregation as we had then or even bigger this coming Sunday for Bishop Geoffrey’s visit. And I ask for your prayers for the various meetings that the Bishop will have tomorrow with your Church Council, Churchwardens & with me. Please also remember our two confirmees in your prayers.

 

Please click image to enlarge!

Tuesday 6th December

From 18.30-20.00 on Tuesday evening at Církev bratrská/Church of the Brethren, Soukenická 15, Prague 1, we are invited to a book launch event for Rok s Biblí/Through the Bible, through the Year by Rev’d Dr John Stott. As I’m sure many of you know, John Stott (who sadly died earlier this year) was an Anglican priest and a prolific author of about fifty books, mainly on Biblical themes.

‘Through the Bible, through the Year’ was John Stott’s last book to be published and the Czech publisher Biblion have organised this event to launch the first Czech edition and have asked me to speak at it & bring members of St. Clement’s with me! The evening will be in both Czech & English and full details can be found on the image on the left.  Soukenická is the street parallel to Klimentská, just slightly nearer to Náměstí Republiky. Copies of the book in both Czech & English will be available for people to look at and there will be some Czech media coverage of the event.

Thursday 8th December

‘How to Read the Bible’ – the final session of a course being led by David Hellam between 7.00 – 8.30pm at his home, Námesti Interbrigády 949/3, Prague 6. Having looked at how we should Read it and then how we should Study it, this third session looks at how we should Apply it.

The evening will follow the same format as the Christian Basics course in September & October with a shared meal, followed by a talk, followed by discussion. If you want to know more, contact David david(at)hellam(dot)net or 722 223 097.

 

Please click image to enlarge!

Saturday 10th December

At 4.00 pm on Saturday afternoon, there will be an Ecumenical Family Christmas Carols event held in St Clement’s Church. Full details are in the image on the left. We are hosting the event rather than organising it but it is a wonderful opportunity to make the existence of St. Clement’s more widely known in the English-speaking expat community. It will also be something more ‘child friendly’ than our own traditional service of Lessons & Carols about which more below. Warm refreshments are planned to be served following the service.

Sunday 11th December – Advent 3

11.00 am Sung Eucharist together with parallel Children’s Ministry.

6.00 pm A Service of Lessons & Carols followed by warm seasonal refreshments.

And now the three things I promised earlier…..

A request for help

We need people to provide mulled wine and nibbles to serve after our Service of Lessons and Carols on the evening of Sunday 11th December. Likewise as the hosts, it would be good if we could help with refreshments following the Christmas Carols event on Saturday 10th December. The hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18 has been booked for both occasions. It is always so much better to have willing volunteers rather than having to keep asking people to help. So if you are willing, drop me an email or speak with me on Sunday, please…….

A News update

Steve Entwistle asks me to pass on the following message about St. Clement’s Christmas Cards.

“We have now broken even with our Christmas cards sales and currently some 48 packs are out with members of the congregation for onward sale. I would like to thank all those of you who have either bought or taken cards to sell and wish you luck if you are selling them. Once you have sold them, could you please pass the proceeds to Steve Entwistle who is continuing to coordinate sales and he will pass the money to the Treasurer. There are still some cards left so please feel free either to buy them or take them to sell. If you find that you are having difficulty selling them I would ask that you bring them back before Christmas to give someone else a chance to either buy or sell them. Thank you”.

A Suggestion

This time of year can get so frantic and busy, yet Advent should be a time of reflection and self examination in preparation for being ready to receive the Light of Christ coming into our dark world that we celebrate at Christmas. In all your busyness, try & set just over ten minutes aside to watch this video

It is a reflection on Advent by Archbishop Rowan Williams and I commend it to you.

Wishing you all a Blessed Advent

Ricky