Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,

As I explained in my sermon last Sunday, (now available to listen to here ), during the season of Epiphany, each Sunday we reflect on how Jesus was ‘made manifest’ or ‘shown forth’ by various events at the beginning of his public ministry. On the first Sunday of Epiphany – how he was made manifest at his baptism by John the Baptist. Therefore…..

Sunday 11th January at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist celebrating the Baptism of Christ
Our Gospel reading is Mark’s account of Christ’s baptism, Mark 1. 4-8. The supporting readings are Genesis 1. 1-5, together with Acts 19. 1-7. The preacher this coming Sunday will be our licensed Reader, Jack Noonan. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry and following worship, there will be Coffee Hour in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18. The Church Council will be meeting after Coffee Hour.

Tuesday 13th January – 18.30-20.00 in the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18.
As promised in my New Year message, our regular Tuesday evening meetings for Study and Fellowship, will recommence this coming Tuesday. On the five Tuesday evenings between now and the beginning of Lent, we will have a straightforward Bible Study looking at St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. In our first study, there will be some words of introduction to the letter and a study of Chapter 1. 1-26. As has been our pattern for the last couple of years, we’ll spend the last twenty minutes or so, saying Evening Prayer together.

I do hope that we’ll see both old and new faces next Tuesday evening. If the outside door of Klimentská 18 is locked, please press the bell marked Kancelář & we’ll buzz you in!

Looking further ahead – some more dates for your diaries

Sunday 8th February at 11.00 – Our preacher at our Sung Eucharist will be Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz.

Wednesday 18th February at 19.00 –
There will be a Sung Eucharist for Ash Wednesday with the voluntary imposition of ashes.

Tuesdays evenings in Lent: 24th February, 3rd, 10th, 17th & 24th March – In this year that marks the 600th anniversary of the martyrdom of Jan Hus, our Lent Study Course will look at various aspects of the Bohemian Reformation and what we can learn from it six hundred years later.

Finally for this week, two reminders from my New Year message.

Confirmation
A reminder of what I wrote in a Weekly Message before Christmas. Bishop Robert, our Anglican Diocesan Bishop, will be conducting a service of Confirmation at Christ Church, Vienna, on Sunday 31st May 2015. The Chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna, who is also our Archdeacon Patrick Curran, has specifically said that if I have any candidates who, after appropriate preparation, would like to be confirmed, then they would be most welcome at this service. Therefore if there is anyone, young person or adult, who would like to avail themselves of this opportunity, please let me know sometime this coming month.

One final thought before Sunday
How about bringing some tinned food &/or warm winter clothing for men & women, to help continue refilling the red wheelie bins at the back of the Church & so support the work of the Salvation Army with the homeless in Prague?

Until Sunday – Best wishes

Ricky