Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
I arrived safely back in Prague, very late on Monday evening after my week in the UK. I have now almost worked my way through my email Inbox with only a couple of emails received in the last 24 hours, still awaiting a reply! I am most grateful to Jack Noonan for leading and preaching at Morning Prayer last Sunday, and to Tasci, Celieta, Larry, Evelyn, Gordon and David H, for being a ‘good, supportive crew’ as Jack put it in a post-Sunday email to me. If you missed Jack’s sermon or would like to hear it again, you can do so by clicking on this link:
Now to what’s happening in the coming days.
Sunday 9th November at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Third Sunday before Advent/Remembrance Sunday
Our three Sunday readings are somewhat diverse, with two of them coming from Biblical books we don’t very often read. Our Old Testament reading is Amos 5. 18-24 where the prophet asks to ‘let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream’. Our New Testament reading is 1 Thessalonians 4. 13-18 at the end of which, St. Paul tells us to ‘encourage one another with these words’ – that is the immediate preceding verses! The Gospel reading is Matthew 25. 1-13, the parable of the five wise & the five foolish bridesmaids. It being the Sunday nearest to 11th November, Veterans or Armistice Day, kept in the UK as Remembrance Sunday, this will also be reflected within our worship. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and following worship, Coffee Hour in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18.
Sunday 9th November at 17.00 – Holy Communion with hymns
in ‘The Upper Room’, corner of Jezuitská and Mozartova, Brno.
Tuesday 11th November 18.30-20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18
The second in a new study series entitled Difficult Parables. This week we will look at the parable of the Old & New Wineskins as recorded in Luke 5. 33-39, together with the parallel accounts found in Matthew & Mark. What was Jesus trying to say? I’d welcome your ideas & not just mine! As we usually do, we’ll end our session by saying Evening Prayer together. If the ground floor door of Klimentská 18 is locked, press the bell marked Kancelář & we’ll buzz you in!
Sunday 16th November at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Second Sunday before Advent
We will welcome four special visitors! Firstly, a guest preacher, Rev’d Barry Letson, a long-standing friend of mine from university days, together with his wife Sue. Barry is originally from Northern Ireland but is currently the Rector of Crickhowell in South Wales. Secondly, two volunteers from the Taizé Community, Uli & Veronika, who will speak for a few minutes about the forthcoming annual Taizé European Meeting of Young Adults which is to take place in Prague between 29th December 2014 – 2nd January 2015.
Finally for this week – two more things
With the weather getting colder, please don’t forget to bring tinned food and/or warm winter clothing for both men & women, to help fill the red wheelie bins at the back of the Church and support the work of the Salvation Army with the homeless in Prague.
Copies of the new ICS News & Prayer Diary for November-December, will be available free at both the Prague & Brno services this coming Sunday.
Best wishes
Ricky
