This is the last St Clement’s Midweek/End-of-week message I shall be sending out until sometime around 28th-30th October for reasons that most of you should know already & which are explained in greater detail below.
This Sunday 4th October 2009
A reminder that our service this coming Sunday starts one hour earlier at 10.00. This is because it is our annual joint service with our host congregation, the Českobratrské Cíckve Evangelické – Czech Evangelical Brethren. On this occasion we will be using their form of service but I will be preaching. Writing the sermon is my next job after finishing this message! Please don’t get caught out by the earlier start time and arrive for the end of the service! There will be a joint Sunday School for the children and Veronika Snytrova-Newkirk will go out with the St Clement’s children to help any of them who are not bilingual.
Then we are away……….
As I explained in an earlier Midweek Message, Sybille and I will be away from Prague for most of the rest of October. We plan to leave on the morning of Monday 5th October in order to drive to Izmir, Turkey to attend the annual residential synod of our Eastern Archdeaconry. This takes place between Thursday 8th – Sunday 11th October. Then, following the synod meeting, we will be taking the remaining part of our annual leave and plan to be back in Prague on the evening of Tuesday 27th October.
However, you will not be alone……….
As I have also explained in an earlier Midweek Message, for most of the time that we are away you will have a locum Chaplain, Rev’d John Dinnen from Northern Ireland, accompanied by his wife Jane. Longer standing members of St. Clement’s will remember John Dinnen as your first locum Chaplain in April-May 2008, immediately following the retirement of my predecessor, John Philpott. On that occasion, Jane could not come with John as she was still teaching. She too has now retired and I know they are both looking forward very much to their time with you in Prague. They are arriving on the evening of Thursday 8th October and will be returning on the evening of Tuesday 27th October. We hope to be back in time to meet up with them for a few hours on Tuesday 27th before they leave.
John will be your preacher and celebrant at 11.00am Sung Eucharist on Sundays, 11th, 18th & 25th October. I know it is a long way away but may I point out that Sunday 25th October is the date when the clocks all across Europe go back one hour. Here in Prague, Central European Summer Time (CEST) will end and the country will revert to Central European Time (CET). If you forget, you will arrive one hour early for the service!
Contacting your Locum Chaplain
If you need to contact John Dinnen whilst Sybille and I are away, please either ring the Chaplaincy Flat landline 233 310 266 or email the locum chaplain . If you send an email the chaplain during the period 5th-27th October, you will get an ‘Out of Office Auto Reply Message’ saying that we are away & to do what I’ve just written in the previous sentence!!!!
Midweek Activities in week beginning Sunday 4th October
Monday 5th at 7pm in the bar-restaurant U Slabé vůle, Revoluční 21, alongside the Dlouhá trída tram stop, Czech conversation with Gerry Turner. Come for a meal (the food is excellent & very reasonably priced) or just a drink (0.5l Staropramen is only 25Kč) and improve your spoken Czech.
Tuesday 6th Because the Breakfast Study Group is now quite small & both Chris Lacey & I are away for a good part of October, there will be no meeting of the group until Tuesday 3rd November.
Thursday 8th at 7pm, the Thursday Study Group meets at the Sue Anderson’s flat at 7pm. Enjoy a light supper with a glass or two of wine or soft drink, followed by a study & ending with a short time of prayer. End time is 9.15pm. The group will be looking at Chapter 4 in their current series of studies on Mark’s Gospel. New members are always very welcome.
Sue’s flat is in the same complex as the Chaplaincy flat. Take Tram 20 to it’s terminus at Podbaba. Continue in direction of the tram for 250m to bus stop Ve struhách (routes 107,116, 147, 160 from Dejvická); turn left just beyond the bus stop & Staropramen 24 hr bar into Pod Pat’ankou. Turn left immediately before the disused railway bridge and the block of flats in front of you is the one you need. Go to the stairway on the right and ring the bell marked ‘Anderson’. If you need more help to find it ring Sue on 731 178 731. It is helpful for catering arrangements to let Sue know if you are planning to come.
Sue cannot host the Thursday Study Group on the following two Thursdays (15th & 22nd) but meetings will almost certainly take place in the Chaplaincy flat on those two evenings. Confirmation of venue will be in the Sunday Bulletin on Sunday 11th October.
Children receiving Communion
A reminder of what I wrote two weeks ago, particularly the last paragraph……….
Normal Anglican practice is for children/young people to start receiving Holy Communion once they have received the rite of Confirmation. I would normally want prospective confirmees to be at least 11/12 years old before starting preparation for Confirmation. However, as I am sure many of you are aware, several other major Christian denominations admit much younger baptized children to receive Holy Communion, most notably the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and also the Old Catholic Churches. In recent years, this has also become the practice in parts of the Anglican Church and there are now appropriate regulations governing how this should happen should it be the wish of a particular congregation to do so.
Following the request from a small number of parents, your Church Council has resolved to make application to Bishop Geoffrey, the Anglican Bishop of Europe, for permission to admit baptized children to Holy Communion before Confirmation within our Chaplaincy. I have no reason to doubt that this request will be approved not least because the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic, under whose joint jurisdiction we come, already does this.
Before any baptized children are admitted to receive Holy Communion, they along with their parent(s), will need to have attended a short course of preparation. I envisage this happening later this year with the first children being formerly admitted around Christmas. In the meantime, if there are other parents besides those who have already spoken to me, who would like their child(ren) to be prepared for admission, please do speak with me or drop me an email. Likewise, if anyone has any questions about this matter, please do speak with me or a member of your Church Council.
And finally…………..
Your Church Council are having an Away Day tomorrow between 10am and 4pm to reflect on our Mission Statement and think about how well or otherwise we are fulfilling it and what we might do better or differently in the future. Please pray for us, either before you go to bed this evening or at some point during tomorrow morning.
Best wishes
Ricky
