Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,

This week I have two events to remind you about before telling you about this coming Sunday.

This afternoon – Friday 4th April at 17.00 in Katedrální chrám sv. Vavřince/The Old Catholic Cathedral of St. Laurence

A reminder that we have an invitation from Bishop Dušan to attend their Friday evening Eucharist as they have a visiting English school choir singing at the service. As a result, part of the service, including the sermon, will be in English. The choir come from ‘St. John’s School‘ in England but I have still to find out which ‘St. John’s School’  :-) Apparently this school have an exchange scheme with a Czech gymnasium which how they’ve ended up singing at the Old Catholic Cathedral. I intend to be there & I’m pleased to say that two or three other members of the St. Clement’s congregation have said that they plan to be there as well. So do join us if you can.

Saturday 5th April from 12.00 midday – Peter Morpuss is running in the Prague Half Marathon….

……….and is still looking for people to sponsor him and raise money for St. Clement’s. There is a form on the noticeboard at the back of Church, where you can sign up to support Peter. Thank you all those who have already done so & to those who have asked me to do so on their behalf by proxy. Peter would also appreciate if members of the congregation would turn out and cheer him on as he runs! You can find the route of the Half Marathon here . Based on past experience, Peter hopes to complete the course in just under two hours which should help you to calculate where to stand & not miss him as he passes!

Sunday 6th April 2014 at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Lent – Passion Sunday

Our Gospel reading once more comes from the Gospel of John rather than the Gospel of Matthew. This coming Sunday we hear the story of the raising of Lazarus by Jesus and the interesting discussion with his disciples & with Mary & Martha, as recorded in John 11. 1-45. The supporting readings are Ezekiel 37. 1-14, which records the prophet’s vision of the valley of dry bones, and Romans 8. 6-11. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and Coffee Hour will follow the service.

Tuesday 8th April 18.30-20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18

Our Lent Course ‘Discerning Your Spiritual Gifts’ continues with our final session, led by Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz. As we normally do on Tuesday evenings, we shall end our session by saying Evening Prayer together. A reminder that if the ground floor door of Klimentská 18 is locked, press the bell marked Kancelář & we’ll buzz you in!

Annual Church Meeting – Sunday 13th April 2014

A reminder that our Annual Church Meeting (ACM) will take place on Sunday 13th April following our Palm Sunday Eucharist. Please make sure this is in your diaries and plan to be there! As many of you will already be aware, the finances of the Chaplaincy are in a fairly critical state and we need to input of as many Church members as possible as we seek a positive way forward.

At the ACM, two Churchwardens, two Archdeaconry Synod reps, together with up to nine ordinary Church Council members, will be elected. In order to vote or to stand for election, your need to be a member of our Church Electoral Roll (CER). The current CER is displayed on the noticeboard at the back of the Church.

Please give serious consideration as to who you want to serve as office holders and Church Council members in the coming year. A form for nominations is on the noticeboard at the back of Church. Nominations need a proposer, seconder & the consent of the nominee and all three need to be members of the Church Electoral Roll. In particular, we need someone elected as a Church Council member, who would be willing to become Church Treasurer, as Gordon wishes to step down from that role having held it with distinction for the past three years. As I’ve previously said, I would much prefer to have volunteers rather than pressed men or women :-)

Four other brief news items to finish with this week.

That’s enough for this week!

Best wishes

Ricky