During this past week, August became September and looking at my diary, life is going to be very busy during the next few weeks.

For starters, I have two weddings in the space of eight days. The first is this coming Saturday at St. Clement’s when Jan (a Czech) marries [...]]]> Dear People of St. Clement’s,

During this past week, August became September and looking at my diary, life is going to be very busy during the next few weeks.

For starters, I have two weddings in the space of eight days. The first is this coming Saturday at St. Clement’s when Jan (a Czech) marries Allison (an American). The happy couple were both in Church with us at worship last Sunday along with Allison’s parents. Then on Friday 10th September, I shall be in Moravia for the marriage of Philip (an Englishman) to Lenka (a Czech). This latter wedding means I shall be away from Prague for 48 hours from Thursday afternoon until Saturday lunchtime.

Later in the month, Sybille & I will also be away again between Thursday 16th – Sunday 19th September, attending our annual Eastern Archdeaconry Synod which this year is being held in Vienna. At least this is slightly less distance to travel compared with going to Izmir, Turkey in 2009!

Of course, with the arrival of September and the return to Prague by many members of the congregation, various Church activities resume. A fuller explanation of each of them appears in the announcements section of this message below. But before I write about each of them in turn, I want to make a suggestion.

September is the time when many new English-speaking expats arrive in Prague. I’m sure that those of you who teach in International Schools, work for the plethora of language schools here in Prague, as well as for Czech or international companies, have gained or will shortly be gaining, new English-speaking colleagues. All of them will be looking to find new friends, appropriate support networks, places in which they feel comfortable, particularly where they can freely speak in English with the likely assurance that they will be understood. One of those places is, or at least should be, St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church. So why not invite them to come with you to Church on one of the forthcoming Sundays in September? And having done so, introduce them both to me, but also to other members of the congregation, particularly those who also hail from the same country as they do. I look forward to being introduced to many of your new colleagues & friends over the next few weeks!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sunday 5th September at 11am – Sung Eucharist for Trinity 14 The Biblical readings for this coming Sunday are St. Paul’s shortest letter – his letter to Philemon which only has 25 verses in total, together with Luke 14 v25-33, which contain some challenging words about the cost of discipleship. As I regularly say, why not read them yourself before you hear them read public in Church on Sunday?  

Sunday School, for children aged 4+ -11 resumes on Sunday after the summer break. As part of updating our Child Protection procedures as well as to help our voluntary Sunday School teachers, we are asking the parents of all Sunday School children to complete a new registration form. A form for completion is attached to this email as a pdf file. If parents can print off a copy(ies) and complete them for each of their children & bring the completed forms on Sunday, that would be greatly appreciated. We will also have hard copies for completion in Church on forthcoming Sundays. Parental cooperation in this matter is essential to ensure we comply fully with Diocesan guidelines with regard to child protection issues.

Following our worship on Sunday, Coffee Hour will resume on the third floor of Klimentská 18.  

Wednesday 8th September from 4 – 6pm – Meet the Chaplain in Prague City Centre I shall once again be available for a chat + coffee or tea & biscuits, between 4pm and 6pm at

Communio Centre Karolíny Svĕtlé 21 (nearly opposite the Rotunda of the Holy Cross) Prague 1

Karolíny Svĕtlé itself lies between Charles Bridge and Národní třída. Please note that this regular weekly event has now moved from Tuesday to Wednesday each week.

At 6pm, I shall lead a simple said service of Evening Prayer at the same venue. There will be an easy booklet to follow, just as we have on Sunday, and within the service there will be the opportunity for extemporary or silent prayer. The service itself will last no more than thirty minutes.

Then from 6.30pm until 7.30pm, there will be an Informal Bible Study, again at the same venue. Over the next five Wednesdays, 8th, 15th, 22nd & 29th September + 6th October, there will be a series of studies based on the Letter of James, one of the most practical books in the whole of the New Testament. If you can bring your own Bible – great! But I will also have the Biblical text printed out for those who come without a Bible. You do not have to have a fount of Biblical knowledge to attend – in fact it is probably preferable if you don’t!!!!! No one will be put on the spot or embarrassed. That I promise.

Offering this service of Evening Prayer followed by Bible Study in this location and at an earlier timein the evening, is an experiment. I’m responding to those who have complained that if you don’t live in Prague 6, the Chaplaincy flat takes too long to reach. And a number of those who used to come on Thursdays to the Chaplaincy flat, have either left Prague or now find Thursday evenings difficult. Everyone is welcome for both Evening Prayer & the Bible Study or to one or the other.

At 7.30pm, everyone can either go home OR those who would like to, can join Sybille & I in a nearby restaurant for fellowship over an evening meal.

Sunday 12th September – Sung Eucharist for Trinity 15

There will be parallel Sunday School and the service will be followed by a Bring & Share Lunch. The theme will be Picnic Basket (or carrier bag) e.g finger food such as sandwiches, pastries, cold pies, quiche, hardboiled eggs,  sushi, chicken legs, breadsticks, crisps, slices of cake, cheese and fruit. Basically, bring something along these lines to be shared by all who attend. This event will be an excellent opportunity to both welcome and get to know new arrivals at St. Clements as well as to catch up with each other after the summer break.  

Looking further ahead……

Some more dates for your diary

Thursday 23rd September The monthly daytime discussion group ‘Open Minds’ will resume at the home of Helen Kaye. Nibbles & refreshments from 11.30am with discussion getting underway at midday. The topic is being finalised as I write but it probably will resolve around issues relating to the Roma population, both here in the Czech Republic and with reference to what has been recently happening in France. More details in next weeks message.  

Saturday 25th September A day trip to Kutna Hora. Particularly aimed at newcomers to show them something of the Czech Republic beyond Prague. But open to all. There will be a list to sign up on at the back of Church.

Sunday 26th September Following our Eucharist, there will be an Extraordinary Church Meeting to elect new Churchwardens. All those on the Church Electoral Roll are actively encouraged to attend. Nominations in writing with a proposer & seconder & the consent of the candidate are required in advance of the meeting. Please give this matter your prayerful & practical concern.

Thursday 21st October This is the date planned for the start of a regular fortnightly lunchtime meeting, aimed particularly at business people who work in Prague City Centre. Plans are still being formulated but the intention is to look initially at issues of business ethics. More information in due course.  

And finally…… I hope to post a complete & updated Autumn programme on our website www.anglican.cz shortly as well as to bring you updates via this message each week.

Until next week – best wishes  

Ricky

With August rapidly coming to a close and with many of you having already returned to Prague or about to do so, it is time for me to resume my normally weekly ‘Midweek Messages’. I’m going to adopt a slightly different format to what I’ve done previously and [...]]]> Dear People of St. Clement’s,

With August rapidly coming to a close and with many of you having already returned to Prague or about to do so, it is time for me to resume my normally weekly ‘Midweek Messages’. I’m going to adopt a slightly different format to what I’ve done previously and start with my own thoughts & reflections, together with news of what I’ve been up to. Then at the end, I’ll put notices & details of forthcoming services & events. Therefore, if you don’t want to read my waffle & just want to know what is happening shortly at St. Clement’s, then just scroll down to the Announcements!

“What have you been up to?” & “Did you have a good holiday?” are the questions that have been asked regularly as I’ve met up with a number of you on recent Sundays or during the weeks in between. Well, back in July, I did have two weeks holiday with two Sundays off. Sybille & I mainly had a stay-at-home holiday or ‘Stay-cation’ as one American described it. We undertook a major cleaning exercise of the Chaplaincy flat including washing all the curtains for the first time since they were hung in January 2006! For the whole time we’ve been here, there has been building work going on around us as the fourth & final stage of the Podbaba development has been under construction creating constant dust. Fortunately, this finished about two months ago meaning that cleaning the outside windows and washing the balcony floors was, for the first time worthwhile!

We did also get out and about in & around Prague, exploring favourite old haunts such as Prague Zoo, as well as discovering new ones such as the Charles University Botanical Gardens and going swimming in the clean warm waters of the lake behind the Slapy Dam.

The final five days of my holiday, I spent visiting the UK, my first visit to my home country since moving to Prague nearly two years ago. Sybille stayed behind in Prague to look after Oscar & to help welcome & organise 40 visiting Americans to St. Clements on the Sunday morning. My Sunday morning in the UK was also more work than holiday – a busman’s holiday as Churchwarden Alan Schmidt kindly described it.

I made a deputation visit on behalf of the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) to the Parish of St. Luke’s, Goostrey, Cheshire in north-west England where I was the celebrant and preacher at their Sunday morning Eucharist. St. Luke’s, Goostrey have financially supported the work of ICS for a number of years and it was my task to both thank them and say something about how ICS supports ministry to English-speakers in continental Europe. As many of you know, ICS have supported St. Clement’s, Prague since 2000 & have recently offered additional financial support to help us through our current difficulties. I was glad to be able to play my part in promoting the work of ICS in a supportive English parish.

Since I’ve been back, I’ve enjoyed meeting up with various members of the congregation, both old & new, sorted out a number of administrative things and doing some forward planning for the coming months. More of that in next week’s message. I’ve also had the pleasure of conducting a wedding and preparing for two more in early September. Then I’ve got a couple who are coming to Prague to mark their 40th wedding anniversary and would like to renew their marriage vows and there is always preparation to be done for each Sunday’s worship. And I’ve spent two days in Stuttgart, seeing if I personally & we as a congregation, can learn from the experience of the Stuttgart Anglican Chaplaincy of both numerical and financial growth since the arrival of their current Chaplain, Rev’d Ken Dimmick in June 2006. I shall report in greater detail on this to your Church Council when it next meets on Sunday 12th September.

As many of you know I have a blog in which I write about a variety of things I’ve been up to, usually illustrated with some photos. I started it for my friends & family in the UK and elsewhere but I’m well aware that it is read by St. Clement’s congregation members too. If you go to www.rickyyates.com and click on July 2010 & then August 2010 in the sidebar, you’ll be able to read & see a bit more about what I’ve just described above.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

An important financial announcement from our Church Treasurer Helen Kaye

St Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church Giving Envelopes 2010-2011

The boxes of donation envelopes are provided for members of the congregation who may wish to make regular contributions to the church in cash in this manner, as opposed to placing cash directly in the collection basket, donating via standing orders on bank accounts or annual bank transfers.

There are several motives behind using donation envelopes, principally:

• to regularise your donations – it helps greatly if you’ve been away or missed services, and aren’t sure of how many weeks have intervened,
• to enable tax certificates to be provided by the Treasurer so you can claim the annual total of your donations from your tax bill. Please note that information regarding amounts donated is treated as highly confidential,
• from the church’s point of view, for budgetary purposes: by receiving regular donations in known amounts, the church council is able to budget according to income, which is essential in any event and particularly in times of financial constraints. For example, in applying to the ICS for a grant, this has been vital information.

In the past we have had an oversupply of boxes, so instead of ordering more for the next year, the council decided to “reprocess” that surplus, both a cost saving exercise and considered to be environmentally responsible! You will see, as a result, that the dates on the envelopes provided this year have had the dates adjusted manually, and the range of numbers on the boxes available is not based on any logic. We hope you will appreciate the reasons for this.

The council thanks you most sincerely for your generous and continued support of the Anglican parish in Prague.

These boxes of dated envelopes will be available at the back of Church this coming Sunday

A message from our Coffee Hour organiser Caroline Studdert that has nothing to do with Coffee Hour!

Caroline Studdert is organising an Exciting Evening Zoo Visit this Saturday 28th August for Prague Friends, and still  has some places left. Prague Friends is a kind of smaller cousin of the Intl Women’s Assn of Prague. If you would like to go, please e-mail Caroline at  crstuddert@gmail.com or phone 736 415 935. It will be 320 crowns per person if we have 25, slightly more if fewer. Dinner is optional.

For anyone who hasn’t been before, the zoo is red line metro to Nadrazi Holesovice, then bus 112 to Zoo: when you walk out of metro, turn left and it is around the corner of the building.
Caroline will be at main entrance to zoo from 6.45 for dinner in Restaurant Gaston at 7.00 p.m.; then we will reconvene at the main entrance at 9.00 p.m. to meet our young tour guide Michael Stasny, who speaks excellent English. The tour lasts about 2 hours, or more or less if we want.

Services and Events Saturday 28th August at 6pm at St. Clement’s Church

I am celebrating the Eucharist for a group of visiting American Episcopalians who cannot join us for worship on Sunday morning as they are leaving Prague early on Sunday for Oberammergau to see the Passion Play. Their accompanying bishop will be the preacher. If any one from our congregation would like to join our visitors for worship on Saturday evening, they would be most welcome.

Sunday 29th August at 11am at St. Clement’s Church Sung Eucharist for Trinity 13 followed by cool refreshments at the back of Church.  

Tuesday 31st August from 4 – 7pm – Meet the Chaplain in Prague City Centre I shall once again be available for a chat + coffee or tea & biscuits, between 4pm and 7pm at

Communio Centre Karolíny Svĕtlé 21 (nearly opposite the Rotunda of the Holy Cross) Prague 1

Karolíny Svĕtlé itself lies between Charles Bridge and Národní třída. It I have no customers then between 6pm and about 6.45pm I shall be across the road in the Rotunda of the Holy Cross attending the Old Catholic Eucharist in an effort to improve my liturgical Czech! If anyone would like to meet with me after the service, then do come by 7pm and we can go to another nearby venue as Bishop Dušan now frequently has a meeting in the Communio Centre after the Eucharist.

Sunday 5th September at 11am at St. Clement’s Church Sung Eucharist for Trinity 14 with Sunday School recommencing. The service will be followed by Coffee Hour.

Until next week

Best wishes

Ricky

Thursday 4th March at 7pm – Communion What are we doing when we [...]]]> Sending this out as a Midweek Message, (rather than one of the End-of-Week variety), does give me the chance to remind you of the second in our series of Lent Seminars on looking at the Sacraments and those ‘commonly called sacraments’.

Thursday 4th March at 7pm – Communion
What are we doing when we participate in a service that is variously known as ‘Breaking of Bread’, ‘Holy Communion’, ‘Eucharist’ or ‘Mass’? What did Jesus mean when he told his disciples at the Last Supper, “This is my body, broken for you” & “This is my blood, shed for you”? How should we understand what happens to the bread & wine when the Prayer of Consecration is said?

These are some of the questions we will explore in our second seminar. The venue will be the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18. This is both a central location and also one that is warm!!!! We will start at 7pm and probably finish around 8.30pm.

Topics and dates for the other three seminars are

Thursday 11th March – Marriage

Thursday 18th March – Ordination

Thursday 25th March – Confession/Absolution/Reconciliation

Next Sunday 7th March at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Third Sunday of Lent
Our Gospel Reading this coming Sunday is Luke 13 v1-9. It is a passage unique to the Gospel of Luke and does touch on the issue of so-called ‘innocent suffering’, a subject which I am sure is in the minds of many after the recent earthquakes in both Haiti & Chile. As I usually suggest, why not read the passage in advance of our worship on Sunday. There will be Coffee Hour in Klimentská 18 after the service.

Annual Church Meeting
This was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday 14th March but has now been postponed, (at the suggestion of the Archdeacon & with the consent of the Church Council), to Sunday 25th April immediately following our worship that morning.  Therefore, new applications to join the Church Electoral Roll can still be received until Friday 11th April. The current Church Electoral Roll is displayed at the back of Church & underneath it are Electoral Roll Application Forms. Completed forms need to be handed in to me or the Churchwardens.

At the Annual Meeting, the Churchwardens and members of the Church Council are elected for the following twelve months. Please give serious thought and prayer as to who you want to serve in these capacities and whether you might offer yourself for election. All nominations need to be in writing, proposed and seconded by members of the Church Electoral Roll and with the consent of the person nominated and completed in advance of the Annual Meeting. There will  be a form to do all of this on the noticeboard at the back of Church in the near future. The new Church Council will almost certainly face some difficult decisions in the coming year and it is important that it is fully representative of the views of the congregation as a whole.

Sunday 21st March at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
As some of you may already know, Their Royal Highnesses Charles, Prince of Wales & Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are making a state visit to the Czech Republic between Saturday 20th – Tuesday 23rd March. As of this afternoon, more details of their visit programme has been published on the British Embassy website. You can find it here Programme of the Royal Visit

Now this information has been released, I am finally allowed to tell you all that the Prince and the Duchess will be joining us for our 11am Sung Eucharist on Sunday 21st March. As you will probably realise, I have known about this for several weeks. Since then, I have had a series of meetings with diplomats, private secretaries, staff from the Office of the Czech President, together with police and security personnel, sorting out the logistics and details of the visit.

What will this mean for you?

* Firstly, whatever you do, don’t use the Royal Visit as an excuse NOT to come to Church that day. The whole idea is that the Prince and the Duchess should join with all the regular congregation in their normal Sunday worship.
* Secondly, many of you will need to break a longstanding habit and actually be at Church BEFORE 11am!!!!! The Royal Party will arrive just before 11am, be greeted by me and the Churchwardens and then the service will commence promptly at 11am sharp! If you do arrive after the service has started, you may still be able to come into Church though I cannot guarantee that the Czech police will let you do so. But for reasons of etiquette, logistics and security, please leave home half an hour earlier than normal in order to reach St Clement’s Church no later than 10.50am.
* Thirdly, a short section of Klimentská will be closed to traffic before and during the service. Therefore, can I strongly suggest to those of you who normally drive themselves to Church, that you seriously look at using public transport on this occasion. If you do still choose to drive in, please recognise that you may have to park far further away from Church than you normally would do.
* Fourthly, try and avoid bringing any big bags to Church that day. Sadly, there are inevitable security concerns and if you do bring more than a small handbag, police may well ask to see all the contents.

Any questions – please just ask. There will be reminders and updates in the next two Midweek messages and also on our website Anglican Episcopalian Church Prague.

Midweek Activities Questionnaires
1) If you have completed one and handed it in – Thank you!

2) If you have completed one and not yet handed it in – please do so.

3) If you have a copy but have yet to fill it in – please do so and then continue as in 2 above.

4) If you have not yet received one, ask for one as you are welcomed at Church this Sunday – then proceed as in 3 above.

Best wishes

Ricky

This Sunday 21st February at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the First Sunday of Lent Our Gospel reading on Sunday is Luke 4 v1-13 which tells of the time Jesus spent in the desert or wilderness experiencing testing or [...]]]> This week, I thought I’d give my email message a new title! Lent started last Wednesday, therefore…..

This Sunday 21st February at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the First Sunday of Lent
Our Gospel reading on Sunday is Luke 4 v1-13 which tells of the time Jesus spent in the desert or wilderness experiencing testing or temptation. As I frequently suggest, you might like to read the passage for yourself in advance of Sunday’s service. There will be Sunday School & the service will be followed by a Shared Lunch in the meeting room on the third floor of Klimentská 18.

Thank to everyone who signed up with Sue Anderson last Sunday and volunteered to help provide food for the Shared Lunch. She still needs a few more offers of help with the following.

Keeping the season of Lent in mind we propose a ‘frugal’ theme of baked potatoes in skins and a range of fillings  -  so you can raid the pantry.

Please let Sue know  (psprincipla (at) riversideschool (dot) cz / 731 178 731) if you are able to contribute any of the following items.

Baked potatoes (individually wrapped in foil to keep warm would be great) in batches of 8-10

Fillings in quantities of 8-10 portions

Some suggestions

·         Baked beans

·         Grated cheese

·         Tuna & mayonnaise

·         Leek & bacon

·         Chilli beans

·         Whatever you choose!!

Mixed/green salad

Ketchup/mayonnaise/sour cream

Cakes     8-10 servings

It would be really helpful if each could bring juice/bottle of water to also share. Hot drinks will be provided.

Annual Church Meeting – Sunday 14th March, immediately following our Sung Eucharist
I do hope that all those on the Church Electoral Roll, will make every effort to be present at the Annual Church Meeting, in order to be made fully aware of the uncertainties that we face as a Church in the coming year and to elect Churchwardens and members of the Church Council. A repeat of last week’s reminder that, in order to be able to vote at the Annual Church Meeting and to be eligible for election to the Church Council, your name must be on the Church Electoral Roll. A copy of the current Church Electoral Roll is on display at the back of Church. If your name is on it, which hopefully you should know anyway(!), then you don’t need to do anything further.

If your name is not on it and you want to join the Church Electoral Roll, you need to be baptised, aged over 16, and declare that “I am a member of the Church of England (or of a Church in communion with the Church of England) and am normally resident in the area covered by the church”.

If you are not an Anglican, (and I am aware of how many ‘non Anglicans’ there are in the congregation), then you need to be baptised, aged over 16 and declare that

“I am a member in good standing of a Church (not in communion with the Church of England) which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and also declare myself to be a member of the Church of England and I have habitually attended public worship in the church during the period of six months prior to enrolment”. Realistically, the last phrase means you need to have been worshipping with us since before mid-September 2009.

Application forms to join the Church Electoral Roll are in a plastic wallet pinned to the noticeboard at the back of Church. Completed forms need to be returned to me or the Churchwardens no later than 26th February 2010 as we have to display a complete Church Electoral Roll for 15 days before the Annual Meeting takes place. Several people took forms to complete last Sunday. Please ensure that if you were one of them, that you return the completed form this Sunday!

Thursday Evenings during Lent
There is a very good longstanding tradition within many Christian Churches of giving more time to study during the season of Lent. Therefore in Lent this year, I am going to lead a series of seminars on what are known as the Sacraments. The usual definition of a Sacrament is ‘An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace’. Strictly speaking, Anglicans only recognise Baptism and Holy Communion as sacraments whereas Roman Catholics would add five more. However, we can explore that issue as part of the course. Even if you don’t normally feel able attend a regular midweek Church event, why not commit yourself to turning out on five Thursday evenings during Lent?

Here are the dates and topics.

Thursday 25th February – Baptism & Confirmation
Nearly everyone reading this message will have been baptised, either as an infant or later in life as an adult. Some, but not all, will have also undergone the rite of Confirmation. Why do we baptise and confirm? What is the biblical background? Why do we baptise infants who cannot speak for themselves? Should baptism be by sprinkling of water or by full immersion? These are some of the things I will seek to explore in our first Lent Seminar.

My intention is to speak for a while about the topic based on a printed handout that I will produce for everyone attending. There will then be an opportunity both for questions and discussion. The venue will be the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18. This is both a central location and also one that is warm!!!! We will start at 7pm and probably finish around 8.30pm.

Future dates & topics will be;

Thursday 4th March – Holy Communion/Eucharist

Thursday 11th March – Marriage

Thursday 18th March – Ordination

Thursday 25th March – Confession/Absolution/Reconciliation

I do hope that many of you will avail yourself of this opportunity to explore these topics which are at the heart of our understanding of our Christian faith and of the life of the Church.

Want to talk?
From time to time, members of the congregation ask me either by email, phone or in person, whether they can meet with me to talk about something of concern to them. Just to say that I welcome the opportunity of doing this. So, if you have a question(s) about the Christian faith or something is bothering you, don’t be afraid to ask to meet with me at a mutually convenient time & place to discuss it. I can’t always promise a definitive answer but I do promise a listening ear.

Want to complain?
Many of you are frequently very kind and tell me that you enjoyed the sermon, or what I said about a certain topic, or that you appreciated a particular hymn. For all of you who do that – thank you! However, when someone or some people are unhappy about something I said or did, I almost always only hear about it second-hand. When this happens, I’m never exactly sure how serious the complaint is or whether it is one person who miss-heard something I said, or several people who are seriously unhappy.

Therefore, if you are upset or unhappy about something, don’t be afraid to tell me directly. From past experience I often find that the source of a problem is someone not understanding what I said or not knowing all the background information as to why something is done in a particular way. Quite often I am a fault for not explaining things properly or because I’ve expressed something badly which has then been misunderstood. Please – if you think something isn’t quite right, say so directly!

Radio Praha
Some of you may already have seen or listened to an interview I did with David Vaughan for Radio Praha. If you haven’t seen or heard it yet you can find it here  http://www.radio.cz/en/article/125088 . Bearing in mind what I’ve just written in the paragraph above, may I assure everyone that what Professor David Holeton suggests in the latter part of this article is not going to happen in the foreseeable future, nor is it part any hidden agenda for St. Clements. If you do have any further concerns, please feel free to speak to me about them.

Finally for this week……
As I have explained previously, a week today on Friday 26th February 2010, Sybille and I will be celebrating our ‘one hundredth birthday’. All those of you who have replied and said that you would like to join us and celebrate this major landmark in our lives, will be receiving an email later today giving details of the arrangements & venue for our birthday party. In making catering arrangements, we have allowed for a few more people than the current number of those who have said they will be attending. Therefore if you are one of those people who would like to join our celebration but have still not hit the ‘reply to this email button’ & said so, please do so ASAP!

Best wishes

Ricky

This Sunday 14th February at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Sunday next before Lent Our Gospel reading on Sunday is Luke 9 v28-36 which tells the story of the Transfiguration. As I frequently suggest, you might like to read it [...]]]> Not for the first time, my Midweek Message has become one of the End-of-Week variety. However…….

This Sunday 14th February at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Sunday next before Lent
Our Gospel reading on Sunday is Luke 9 v28-36 which tells the story of the Transfiguration. As I frequently suggest, you might like to read it for yourself in advance of Sunday’s service. There will be Sunday School & the service will be followed by Coffee Hour in the meeting room on the third floor of Klimentská 18.

Ash Wednesday 17th February at 7pm – Sung Eucharist with imposition of Ashes
Lent begins on Wednesday next week. Please make every effort to mark the beginning of this important season of the Christian Year by coming to worship at 7pm in the evening. There will be the opportunity to receive the imposition of ashes during the service. However, this is entirely voluntary and you are still most welcome to attend even if you do not wish to receive imposition. Because of this service, there will be no meeting of the Thursday study group the following evening. For details of our Lent Study Course, see further on in this message.

Sunday 21st February – First Sunday of Lent
Following our 11am Sung Eucharist, there will be our second Shared Lunch of 2010. Being in Lent, it will be of a slightly more frugal nature! Sue Anderson, who is kindly organising it, has asked me to pass on the following message.

We would like to invite you to our next Shared Lunch, after the service, on  21st February.

Keeping the season of Lent in mind we propose a ‘frugal’ theme of baked potatoes in skins and a range of fillings  -  so you can raid the pantry.

Please let Sue know  (psprincipla (at) riversideschool (dot) cz / 731 178 731)if you are able to contribute any of the following items.

Baked potatoes (individually wrapped in foil to keep warm would be great) in batches of 8-10

Fillings in quantities of 8-10 portions

Some suggestions

·         Baked beans

·         Grated cheese

·         Tuna & mayonnaise

·         Leek & bacon

·         Chilli beans

·         Whatever you choose!!

Mixed/green salad

Ketchup/mayonnaise/sour cream

Cakes     8-10 servings

It would be really helpful if each could bring juice/bottle of water to also share. Hot drinks will be provided.

Sue will have a sign-up sheet this coming Sunday so there is no need to phone or email her if you are going to be in Church on Sunday 14th February.
Thursday Evenings during Lent
There is a very good longstanding tradition within many Christian Churches of giving more time to study during the season of Lent. Therefore in Lent this year, I am going to lead a series of studies on what are usually known as the Sacraments. The usual definition of a Sacrament is ‘An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace’. Strictly speaking, Anglicans only recognise Baptism and Holy Communion as sacraments whereas Roman Catholics would add five more. However, we can explore that issue as part of the course. Here are the dates and topics.

Thursday 25th February – Baptism & Confirmation

Thursday 4th March – Holy Communion/Eucharist

Thursday 11th March – Marriage

Thursday 18th March – Ordination

Thursday 25th March – Confession/Absolution/Reconciliation

My intention is each week, to speak for a while about the topic based on a printed handout that I will produce for everyone attending. There will then be an opportunity both for questions and discussion.

The venue will be the small meeting room on the first floor of Klimentská 18. This is both a central location and also one that is warm!!!! We will start at 7pm and probably finish around 8.30pm. I do hope that many of you will avail yourself of this opportunity to explore these topics which are at the heart of our understanding of our Christian faith and of the life of the Church.

Midweek Activities after Easter
The last two Sundays, we circulated copies of short questionnaire to try and find out what Midweek activities, at what times & on what days, members of the St. Clement’s congregation might be interested in. If you took a questionnaire, please bring it back duly completed this Sunday. Further copies will be available in Church on the next couple of Sundays. The information gained from the completed questionnaires will help me in planning future Midweek activities so I can hopefully lay on what people are looking for at times when they are free to attend.

Church Electoral Roll and the Annual Church Meeting
In order to be able to vote at the annual meeting and to be eligible for election to the Church Council, your name must be on the Church Electoral Roll. A copy of the current Church Electoral Roll will be on display at the back of Church this Sunday. If your name is on it, which hopefully you should know anyway(!), then you don’t need to do anything further.

If your name is not on it and you want to join the Church Electoral Roll, you need to be baptised, aged over 16, and declare that “I am a member of the Church of England (or of a Church in communion with the Church of England) and am normally resident in the area covered by the church”.

If you are not an Anglican, (and I am aware of how many ‘non Anglicans’ there are in the congregation), then you need to be baptised, aged over 16 and declare that

“I am a member in good standing of a Church (not in communion with the Church of England) which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and also declare myself to be a member of the Church of England and I have habitually attended public worship in the church during the period of six months prior to enrolment”. Realistically, the last phrase means you need to have been worshipping with us since before mid-September 2009.

Application forms to join the Church Electoral Roll are in a plastic wallet pinned to the noticeboard at the back of Church. Completed forms need to be returned to me or the Churchwardens no later than 26th February 2010 as we have to display a complete Church Electoral Roll for 15 days before the Annual Meeting takes place.

And finally for this week……

Thank you to everyone who has responded and said that they will be coming to help Sybille and I celebrate our ’100th birthday’ on the evening of Friday 26th February. Venue and other details will follow very shortly. If you haven’t yet responded, please just hit the reply button to this email and let us know. Thank you too for those people have let us know that they cannot come. A reminder once more that we want no presents – just your presence.

Best wishes

Ricky

This Sunday 31st January at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Feast of Presentation of Christ in the Temple As I mentioned last week, strictly speaking, we should mark the Feast of Presentation or Candlemas, on 2nd [...]]]> As promised last week, this week it really is a Midweek Message going out hopefully sometime on Wednesday afternoon.

This Sunday 31st January at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Feast of Presentation of Christ in the Temple
As I mentioned last week, strictly speaking, we should mark the Feast of Presentation or Candlemas, on 2nd February, forty days after Christmas Day. But I doubt if that many of you would choose to turn out on a cold dark Tuesday evening in February! Therefore, we are allowed to celebrate it two days early. The service will recall the events described by Luke in Luke 2 v22-40, when Jesus was presented back to God in the temple and his mother Mary received the rite of purification.

On Sunday 31st January, our preacher will be our Archdeacon Patrick Curran from Vienna. Patrick has the extremely difficult job of combining being Chaplain to the Vienna Anglican Chaplaincy with also being Archdeacon of the Eastern Archdeaconry of the Anglican Diocese in Europe. He tries to visit each of the Chaplaincies in the Archdeaconry, once every three years. He was last with us on Tuesday 28th October 2008 for my licensing, but this will be his first Sunday visit since the time of my predecessor, John Philpott. There will be Sunday School on Sunday, led by Veronika Newkirk.

Following the service, you are invited to a Shared Lunch at Klimentská 18, giving everyone the opportunity to meet Archdeacon Patrick. The lunch is kindly being organised by Sue Anderson and she has asked me to circulate the following message.

Shared Lunch

Thank you to all who signed up to contribute to the soup and sandwich lunch this coming Sunday. There are still some food items needed, so please contact Sue at psprincipal@riversideschool.cz or on 731 178 731 if you are able to bring something along!

Pan of soup   8-10 portions

Bread to accompany soup   8-10 portions

Plate of sandwiches 8-10 portions

Selection of crisps/savoury snacks

Dessert  8-10 portions

Soft drinks

Coffee

Teabags & milk

If you can help provide any of the above, please contact Sue by Friday afternoon so she knows what is still missing. Then Sue, Sybille & I can plug any remaining gaps.

Even if you cannot help provide food you are still very welcome to attend the lunch! There will be a basket for donations to cover any costs  with the balance going to Chaplaincy funds.

Anyone interested in a house/flat/apartment swap holiday/vacation in the English Lake District?
I received an email some days ago, the text of which is below, from a husband & wife Anglican clergy couple in England. I have already written back to say it is if no interest to Sybille & I but that, as is suggested in the last paragraph, I would ask if anyone in the congregation would be interested.

I am contacting you about a possible house swap this summer. I live with my husband and two teenage sons in one of the most beautiful parts of England and friends have often enjoyed using our home for a holiday. We are hoping that we might be able to see something of Europe over the summer – and at present we are fairly open as to where we might go.

My husband (David) and I are both Church of England clergy, with PTO in Carlisle Diocese, but as neither of us are currently in stipendiary parish ministry we live not in a vicarage but in our own home, an attractive and roomy two bedroomed house 5 minutes walk from the centre of Keswick.

We have had positive experiences of house swaps as an enjoyable, interesting and economical way of arranging holidays and we are interested in exploring this possibility during the period Monday 16th August – Saturday 4th September. (These would be our preferred dates but we could possibly also look at the period Saturday July 17th – Saturday August 7th.)

If you are interested in exploring this possibility either for the whole period or a part of it, please do contact us and we can of course provide further details including photos of our house. If this is not something you are interested in for yourself but you can think of members of your community who may be interested, and whom you would be happy to commend, please feel free to pass on this information to them.

If anyone would be interested, please email me & I will put you directly in touch with the couple.

‘Our 100th Birthday Party’ on the evening of Friday 26th February. Thank you to everybody who has replied to say they will be attending. Thank you too, to the small number of people who have advised that they can’t attend because of previous commitments. It is still not too late to say that you would like to come. We both would certainly like you to! Just drop a quick reply to this email. Full details of venue etc will follow shortly. May we also say now – no presents please, just your presence!

Next Tuesday 2nd February

Just a note to say that I will NOT be at the Communio Centre, Karolíny Svĕtlé 21, (nearly opposite the Rotunda of the Holy Cross), Prague 1 between 4pm & 8pm next Tuesday as the Old Catholics are having a service to mark Candlemas, but instead of it being in the Rotunda of the Holy Cross, it will be in St. Lawrence Old Catholic Cathedral on Petrin Hill starting at 6pm. So Sybille & I will be there & you would be welcome to join us. But do wrap up warm!

Looking forward to seeing many of you in Church this Sunday at 11am!

Best wishes

Ricky

This Sunday 24th January at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Third Sunday of Epiphany Our Gospel Reading this Sunday tells of Jesus’ first sermon in the synagogue [...]]]> Once more, this has become an End-of-Week Message rather than one of the Midweek variety. I shall try to get back to the middle of the week, next week.

This Sunday 24th January at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Third Sunday of Epiphany
Our Gospel Reading this Sunday tells of Jesus’ first sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth. You’ll find it in Luke 4 v14-21 which you might like to read yourselves before coming to worship. There will be Sunday School this Sunday, led by Sue Anderson and Coffee Hour following-on after the service in Klimentská 18.

Sunday 31st January at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the Feast of Presentation of Christ in the Temple
Strictly speaking, we should mark the Feast of Presentation or Candlemas, on 2nd February, forty days after Christmas Day. But I doubt if that many of you would choose to turn out on a cold dark Tuesday evening in February! Therefore, we are allowed to celebrate it two days early. The service will recall the events described by Luke in Luke 2 v22-40, when Jesus was presented back to God in the temple and his mother Mary received the rite of purification.

On Sunday 31st January, our preacher will be our Archdeacon Patrick Curran from Vienna. Patrick has the extremely difficult job of combining being Chaplain to the Vienna Anglican Chaplaincy with also being Archdeacon of the Eastern Archdeaconry of the Anglican Diocese in Europe. He tries to visit each of the Chaplaincies in the Archdeaconry, once every three years. He was last with us on Tuesday 28th October 2008 for my licensing, but this will be his first Sunday visit since the time of my predecessor, John Philpott. There will be a Soup & Sandwich Shared Lunch following the service, giving people the opportunity to meet Archdeacon Patrick. More details on about the lunch this coming Sunday & in next week’s Midweek Message.

Can you help?
I mentioned in last week’s message, our need for one or two more people to offer help with teaching in our Sunday School. That need still exists! If you would like to know more about what is involved, the teaching materials we use etc, then please speak with me or with Veronika Newkirk.

You will also know from our weekly bulletin and from our website www.anglican.cz , that we have a Prayer Chain of people willing to pray for any issue of concern that individuals might have. These days, the membership of the Prayer Chain has become rather small. I would welcome to add to the Prayer Chain anyone who would be willing to commit themselves to regular prayer and able to be completely confidential. If you would be willing help in this important work, please speak with me.

Chaplaincy Finances
At their meeting last Sunday, your Church Council was able to look at the draft accounts for the year 2009, thanks to some very quick work by our Treasurer Peter Broster. As you will know from the statement that appears on the back of the weekly Bulletin, it costs about 25,000 Kč per week to run St. Clements, or 1,300,000 Kč per year. The good news is that it cost slightly less than that in 2009 – to be precise 24,700 Kč per week or 1,288,000 per year.

However, the bad news is that we only got in 18,600 Kč per week in 2009, or 975,500 Kč for the whole year. This is a considerable improvement on the 2008 figure being up by 3,325 Kč per week or 173,000 Kč for the whole year. But it still left us with a shortfall of 312,500 Kč which has further eaten into our reserves.

Putting all of this into simple terms, in order to break even in 2010, we need to increase our weekly income by just over 6,000 Kč per week. If we fail to do this, then by the end of 2010, there will be no reserves and the Chaplaincy will no longer be able to function in its present form.

Due to this ongoing deficit, your Church Council has decided that it will review our financial situation in six months time, to consider necessary emergency measures. The only one that is really open to us is to sell the Chaplaincy Flat and realise our only asset. This would be a very drastic backward step but, unless we increase our income, then it may well be one that we are forced to take.

Your Church Council will write more formerly about all of this in due course but they were keen that the seriousness of our situation be made known now rather than waiting to the Annual Meeting which is provisionally scheduled for Sunday 14th March. However, particularly if you are relatively new to St. Clement’s and do not currently give either by regular standing order from your bank account or through the dated envelope scheme, please act now. The details you need to set up a standing order are;

Please make your standing order payable to the Volksbank Account Number 4030019472/6800  in the name of Farní obec Starokatolické církve pro věřící anglického jazyka v Praze and put your name in the message field so the Treasurer can identify your payments for tax purposes if you are a Czech taxpayer.

If you would like a set of dated stewardship envelopes which you can place in the collection basket each Sunday, then please speak with me at Church on any Sunday as we still have several sets for the current year sitting in the vestry.

I leave you with one other thought which came out of our discussions at last week’s Church Council meeting. We agreed that it would be so much easier to raise the necessary money that it costs to run St. Clements, if we had twenty more regular worshippers. There would be very little increase in costs and the burden would be more widely shared. Therefore, who do you know who might happily start worshipping at St. Clements if you only invited them? In this respect, may I thank several of you who did respond to my challenge in December and brought a friend or relative to the Carol Service. Why not try inviting them to come regularly on Sunday too?

Finally……
Thank you to everybody who has replied to say they will be attending our ’100th Birthday Party’ on the evening of Friday 26th February. Thank you too, to the small number of people who have advised that they can’t attend because of previous commitments. But that still leaves a large number who haven’t responded either way. We are currently sorting out a venue but it would help to know more clearly the numbers we are looking at. Someone did say to us recently that they weren’t sure if they were invited. Why that should be left both Sybille & I completely mystified. Our invitation is to everyone at St. Clements. Just hit the reply button to let us know.

Best wishes

Ricky

Sunday 17th January at 11am  – Sung Eucharist for the Second Sunday of Epiphany This Sunday, we welcome as our preacher Rev’d Petr Jan Vinš, who is a young Old Catholic priest [...]]]> I look forward to seeing many of you this coming Sunday at 11am, especially all those who absented themselves last Sunday because of the weather!!!!

Sunday 17th January at 11am  – Sung Eucharist for the Second Sunday of Epiphany
This Sunday, we welcome as our preacher Rev’d Petr Jan Vinš, who is a young Old Catholic priest and fluent English-speaker. Many of you will already have met Petr as he has been to St. Clement’s on a number of previous occasions with Bishop Dušan and has translated and interpreted for him. Petr was only ordained priest last July and is currently continuing his academic studies in Bern, Switzerland. However, he has been in Prague this past week and doesn’t return to Bern until Sunday evening and is therefore able to be with us on Sunday morning.

There will be Coffee Hour following the service in Klimentská 18 giving everyone the chance to meet & talk with Petr as well as share fellowship with each other. However, there will almost certainly not be Sunday School this Sunday as none of our regular Sunday School teachers are available. This highlights the real need we have for one or two more additional Sunday School teachers. If anyone would be interested in exploring the possibility of helping with the Sunday School, please speak with me or with Veronika Newkirk.

Collecting Used Stamps to support the work of the Intercontinental Church Society
Once again, may I thank everyone who has brought used postage stamps to Church and placed them in the collecting envelope at the back of Church. I sent off a large padded envelope full of used stamps last week and earlier this week received an email from Sylvia Leyton, the ICS organiser, advising me of their safe arrival and expressing her thanks to all of you. There is now, plenty of room in the collecting envelope…….

As you will know from my additional message last Friday entitled ‘Be careful’, a hacker got into an email account of one of our members and sent out scam emails trying to get money from her friends. Unfortunately, the hacker has so fouled up and compromised her old email address that she cannot use it any longer. She has therefore also lost her email address book.

She has asked me to let her St. Clement’s friends know via this message, that she now has a new email address. If you were previously in contact with Caroline by email, please delete her old email address from your address book and replace it with the new one.

As well as doing this, please also send her an email which will then give her your email address for her new address book.

Our ’100th Birthday Party’
Thank you to all of you who have responded and said you would like to come to this event on Friday 26th February. If you haven’t yet responded and would like to come, please drop me an email so we have some idea of numbers. More details will follow shortly.

Finally for this week, your Church Council will be meeting for the first time in 2010 on Sunday after Coffee Hour. As Mark Newkirk said when giving the notices last Sunday, we would appreciate your prayers for this meeting as we grapple with a number of important issues.

Best wishes

Ricky

It was good to see many regular faces back in the congregation last Sunday after being away over the Christmas period. I look forward to seeing many more of you, either tomorrow night (see below) or next Sunday morning. I was also very [...]]]> A Happy New Year to each of you associated with St. Clement’s, Prague!

It was good to see many regular faces back in the congregation last Sunday after being away over the Christmas period. I look forward to seeing many more of you, either tomorrow night (see below) or next Sunday morning. I was also very encouraged by the good number of people who came on to Coffee Hour at Klimentská 18 after last Sunday’s service. Coffee Hour is a wonderful opportunity for fellowship, for making visitors and newcomers welcome, as well as being able to ‘warm up’ after 75-80 minutes in a somewhat cold Church!

Wednesday 6th January at 7pm – Eucharist for the Feast of the Epiphany
As I have explained in a previous message, as Epiphany or Twelfth Night, falls right in the middle of the week, I thought to myself, “Why not hold a service?” So I’m going to! Following the service, there is an open invitation from me to as many as would like to join Sybille & I for a meal at a nearby bar-restaurant and have a little Twelfth Night partying.

Sunday 10th January at 11am – Sung Eucharist for the First Sunday after Epiphany
There will be parallel Sunday School & Coffee Hour following the service.

Tuesday 12th January – Meet the Chaplain in Prague city centre
I shall be resuming being available for a chat + coffee or tea & biscuits, between 4pm and 8pm at

Communio Centre
Karolíny Svĕtlé 21 (nearly opposite the Rotunda of the Holy Cross)
Prague 1

Karolíny Svĕtlé itself lies between Charles Bridge and Národní třída. The only time in that four hour slot I won’t be there is between 6pm and about 6.45pm when I shall be across the road in the Rotunda of the Holy Cross attending the Old Catholic Eucharist in an effort to improve my liturgical Czech! Why no drop by?

Thursday 14th January at 7 pm
Supper and Study will resume, almost certainly at Sue Anderson’s flat in Prague 6. A light supper will be followed by Bible study continuing working our way through Mark’s Gospel and our session usually ends with a short time of prayer. We aim to finish around 9.15 pm. Confirmation of venue should be in the Weekly Bulletin this coming Sunday or alternatively phone me (233 310 266 or 737 039 082). New members are always welcome. If you want to know more, just ask!!!

Two reminders from previous Midweek Messages which are still current and valid
On the noticeboard at the back of Church is a collecting envelope for used postage stamps to support the work of the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS). As many of you know, ICS support St Clements both financially (they currently meet approximately 10% of our running costs) and also prayerfully. One of the ways ICS raises it’s own funds is by selling used postage stamps. Therefore, as you have been in receipt of Christmas cards from your friends and relatives scattered around the world, please cut out the postage stamps on the envelopes leaving a paper border around the stamp, and then bring them to Church and put them in the collecting envelope. All nationalities and varieties of used postage stamps are wanted with the only exception being standard British ones which only feature the Queen’s head.

Update – A big ‘Thank you’ to everyone who has done this recently. I intend to send them off to the ICS organiser in the next few days.

Can you help me?
The Chaplaincy computer on which I’m writing this message, was a gift from someone who was leaving Prague and didn’t want to take it with them. Unfortunately, that gift was given several years ago. The computer runs on Windows 2000 which is © Microsoft Corporation 1999 making it positively ancient in computer terms. It has become increasingly slow and difficult to use. Because it was a gift, we do not have any original CDs from which to re-load Windows and the other programmes which might otherwise help address the problems it has.

Your Church Council suggested that I should use this message to ask if anyone knows of a business who are currently upgrading their computers, who might be willing to pass on to the Chaplaincy, an old computer, still in good working order, but more advanced than what I’m currently working with. All I’m after is a computer – we have a modern flat screen monitor and a combined printer/photocopier/scanner. Something that has Windows XP as its operating system would be ideal. If anyone can help, please get in touch.

Update – In response to this appeal when it first went out, I have heard of a ‘possibility’ at the end of January. But it is only a ‘possibility’. Therefore any other offer would be most welcome.

And finally for this week….
As I explained in a previous message, near the end of February both Sybille & I have our respective birthdays. They fall two days, but ‘a few’ years, apart. On Friday 26th February 2010, our joint ages will total 100. Therefore on that evening, we are going to hold a 100th Birthday Party and all St. Clement’s people are invited!  We are presently looking at possible venues but it would help enormously to know whether we need somewhere for four or forty people. Therefore, if you are free that evening and would like to join us to celebrate our joint 100th birthday, please could you simply reply to this email to let us know numbers attending. If you are not in a position to let us know yet, then you will still be welcome. But we do need some idea of numbers.

With my best wishes for 2010

Ricky

PS My usual disclaimer. My email circulation list grows week by week. Most people tell me how much they appreciate receiving this message that I send out most weeks. However, if you would prefer not to receive it in future, please write & let me know & I’ll remove your email address forthwith.