Dear People & Friends of St. Clement’s,
As I explained in my previous Weekly Message, last Tuesday 2nd February was the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and marked the end of the Epiphany Season. On Wednesday 3rd February, we entered what is known as Ordinary Time, when green is the liturgical colour. But because Easter Day is very early this year, falling on the last Sunday in March, we only have one week & one Sunday of Ordinary Time, before Lent begins!
Sunday 7th February at 11.00 – Sung Eucharist for the Sunday Next before Lent
In all three of our Biblical readings set for this coming Sunday, Moses features. Our Old Testament reading, Exodus 34. 29-35, tells of Moses having received the Law on Mount Sinai, needing to veil his face from the people of Israel, because it was shining from being in the presence of God. In our New Testament reading, 2 Corinthians 3. 12 – 4. 2, Paul makes reference to the story in Exodus, saying that in Christ, that veil is removed and God by his Spirit, is transforming us, …’from one degree of glory to another’. Our Gospel reading, Luke 9. 28-36, is the story of the Transfiguration, in which Moses, along with Elijah, ‘appeared in glory’, and are seen in conversation with Jesus, by Peter, John and James. There will be parallel Children’s Ministry, and following worship, Coffee Hour in the hall on the third floor of Klimentská 18.
Following Coffee Hour, I will be off down the D1, for our regular monthly service in Brno
Sunday 7th February at 17.00 – Holy Communion with hymns in ‘The Upper Room’, corner of Jezuitská and Mozartova, Brno.
Then on Wednesday, Lent begins. Enjoy your pancakes on Tuesday, but then do come and join us for worship on Wednesday evening.
Ash Wednesday 10th February at 19.00 – Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes
Within the service, there will be the opportunity to receive the imposition of ashes but it is voluntary & not obligatory. Even if you don’t normally attend any midweek activity, I do hope that many of you will come and mark the beginning of this significant season of the Christian Year.
Lent Course 2016 – Tuesday evenings, 16th & 23rd February, 1st, 8th & 15th March – 18.30-20.00
This year, I’ve chosen to use a Church of England course which I’ve used once previously in my former Oxfordshire parishes, called ‘Life Attitudes’ – a 5-session course on the Beattitudes, the well-known opening thirteen verses of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. An important feature of Lent is to think more deeply about our Christian Faith and the aim of this course is to get us to think how we live out in our daily lives, the teaching of Jesus contained in the Beattitudes.
I’ll be giving fuller details in next week’s Weekly Message, but I do hope that many of you will set aside five evenings in Lent, to study and deepen the faith that we say we believe.
Two other things…….
If in 2015, you have given to St. Clement’s, either by standing order or through the numbered envelope scheme, and are a Czech tax payer, then our Church Treasurer Andrew Kasembe, will happily let you have a signed & stamped donation letter, allowing you to offset your giving against tax in your end-of-year tax return. I have the ‘magic stamp’, ready to give Andrew this Sunday, so he can complete the letters. If you need one, please email Andrew, Kasembe(at)ceps(dot)cz or speak with him at Church.
And my sermon from last Sunday is now available to listen to online here.
Best wishes
Ricky