Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
Happy New Year!
I want to start my first ‘Weekly Message’ of 2014 with several notes of thanks.
- Thank you to everyone who sent Sybille & I Christmas cards, both physical & virtual :-) , or sent Christmas & New Year greetings in response to my last pre-Christmas Weekly Message. I hope to reply to all of them, together with a number of other outstanding emails, over the next few days.
- Thank you to everyone who helped with our services over the Christmas period, plugging gaps on the rota, when so many regulars have been away. Because of the willingness of ‘the few’, we eventually got everything covered except for Coffee Hour last Sunday.
- Thank you to everyone who has contributed warm winter clothing &/or tinned food into our Salvation Army wheelie bins at the back of Church. The clothing bin is almost full & the tinned food bin is filling up nicely. I’m going to arrange for the contents of both bins to be collected next week. So if you would like add your contribution towards assisting the Salvation Army with their work with the homeless in Prague, please bring it to Church with you this coming Sunday.
Sunday 5th January 2014 at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist celebrating the Epiphany
Strictly speaking, this coming Sunday is the Second Sunday of the Christmas season. But as the following day is the Feast of the Epiphany, the lectionary does allow us to celebrate the coming of the Wise Men to see the infant Jesus, one day early. The preacher on Sunday will be our own ‘Wise Man’, Jack Noonan :-) . There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and Coffee Hour following worship.
Tuesday evening Study & Fellowship meetings
I am planning to resume these a week on Tuesday, 14th January, meeting as usual, between 18.30-20.00 in Klimentská 18. One regular attendee has already sent me a number of very helpful suggestions as to what we might study between now & Easter. But I would welcome other suggestions, both from regular attendees, or from someone who promises to come, should we tackle a particular subject/topic/Bible book. Suggestions by email or in person on this coming Sunday, would be most welcome.
Used postage stamps
A reminder that we collect used postage stamps, to help support the work of the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS), who have supported St. Clement’s, both prayerfully & financially, since 2000. Please leave the stamp(s) on the envelope & cut or tear off the corner of the envelope where the stamp is located, leaving about a 5mm border around the stamp(s). Then place them in the collecting envelope which is pinned to our noticeboard at the back of the Church. The only used stamps that are not required are British ones bearing only the Queen’s head as these are worth little because they are so common. I already have quite a batch of used stamps to send to the ICS organiser in the UK. If you have ones that I can add to the existing batch, please bring them with you this coming Sunday.
Finally for this week, please do plan to start 2014 in the best possible way, by attending worship this Sunday. Remember – Wise men sought Jesus. Wise men & women still do!
Best wishes
Ricky
