Category: Prague Expat Life

Lessons and Carols in Brno

The Prague crew, together with Katka, gathered around the organ. From l to r, David Hellam, Karen Moritz, Katka Bánová, Larry Leifeste, Celieta Leifeste, Gordon Truefit, Ricky Yates © Celieta Leifeste

As I wrote in my previous post, last Sunday evening, 18th December 2011, the Prague Anglican congregation created a little bit of history by holding the first ever English-language Anglican service in Brno. In the appropriately named Betlémský Kostel / Bethlehem Chapel, we held a Service of Lessons and Carols for Christmas.

Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic with a population of about 400,000 people. It is home to a number of high tech companies together with numerous university and research institutions therefore meaning that there are quite a large number of English-speakers living there. But unlike Prague (population 1.3 million), where St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church is one of eight mainstream English-speaking congregations, in Brno there are only two – a Roman Catholic one and an small Evangelical Fellowship with no Pastor. In terms of the Christian spectrum, there is a large gap in between for which there is currently no provision whatsoever.

Officially the whole of the Czech Republic is my ‘parish’ and in the more than three years I have been here, I have had a couple of enquiries from individuals spending a few months in Brno, asking if we ever hold English-language services in the city. Sadly, I’ve always had to reply saying that we don’t. In recent months, as I have talked with members of the Church Council as to how we might ‘grow the congregation’, it has often struck me that we ought to look at doing so away from Prague in places where there is ‘far less competition’ (if you will excuse that expression this context) and where there is almost certainly far greater need.

Earlier this year whilst I was pondering all of this, I had a totally unexpected phone call from a fluent English-speaking Czech young lady from Brno called Katka. I should really say extremely fluent as she makes a living as a freelance interpreter and translator. What Katka wanted was any old hymnbooks we might have, so that the Czech congregation to which she belongs, could occasionally sing a hymn in English. Taking her phone call as the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I put to her the idea I had of trying to start a satellite English-speaking Anglican congregation in Brno.

Fortunately, Katka was immediately enthusiastic and has since spent numerous hours doing research on my behalf, finding possible Church buildings to use, and helping to organise publicity, particularly via the Brno Expat Centre. The project has also involved me in two day trips to Brno by train, in order to meet people and look at venues. But all of this preparation led to the successful holding of our first ever service last Sunday evening.

I’ve also been most encouraged by the support and enthusiasm of members of the Prague Anglican congregation regarding the Brno venture. As can be seen in the photograph above, five of them volunteered to come with me to Brno for the service. All of them first came to our Sunday Eucharist at 11.00 in the morning in Prague, then managed some quick refreshment at our post-service Coffee Hour, before taking the tram for three stops to the main railway station in order to catch the 13.42 train for Brno. The return train got back at to Prague at 23.15 meaning that we didn’t get back to our respective homes until around midnight.

Larry & Celieta Leifeste at the organ with no volume pedal! © Ricky Yates

Our organist was Larry Leifeste who with his wife Celieta, only joined our congregation in August when they moved from Texas to Prague. It was obviously the first time he had ever played the organ in the Bethlehem Chapel and he found that much to his surprise, it had no volume pedal. How then did he increase the volume? By literally ‘pulling out all the stops’!

Celieta sang two wonderful solos – a setting of the Magnificat and an American spiritual ‘Sweet little Jesus boy’. David Hellam and Gordon Truefit both read a lesson and together with me, sang the individual verses of ‘We three kings’; Gordon as ‘gold’, myself as ‘frankincense’ and David as ‘myrrh’. David along with Karen Moritz also did the important job of welcoming all those who came.

Katka also read a lesson as did three other Brno people that she successfully recruited. Katka also helped to lay on some wonderful post-service refreshments giving me the chance to talk with several of those who attended.

Several of the thirty-strong congregation filled out contact forms with various expressions of interest in being part of future services. Currently, these are planned to start on a monthly basis on Sunday 8th January 2012 using a smaller nearby venue belonging to the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. More details can be found on the new Brno page of our website.

I am really quite excited about starting a satellite congregation in Brno. I suspect that we will be quite small to start with but, as Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18. 20 TNIV Or alternatively, ‘from small acorns, large oak trees grow’. Watch this space!

 

Václav Havel – death of a statesman

Front page of 'Dnes' - Monday 19th December 2011
 Yesterday, Sunday 18th December, was a very significant day in the life of the Anglican Church here in the Czech Republic when we held our first ever service in Brno. However, just as I and five members of the Prague congregation were leaving Coffee Hour following our Sunday morning Eucharist in Prague in order to catch the train to Brno, news reached us of the death of Václav Havel, leading dissident during the communist era, first President of post-communist Czechoslovakia and, following the Velvet Divorce, President of the Czech Republic 1993 -2003.

I returned home from Brno, just after midnight last night, to find the death of Václav Havel as the leading news story on the BBC News website – the first time in over three years of living here in Prague that I can remember a news story from the Czech Republic being so featured. However, within a few hours, the story had lost top billing to the death of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. In many respects, this is understandable as the death of the North Korean leader means there is a great deal of concern around the world as to what future leadership will emerge within that unpredictable nuclear power.

Living here as a foreigner in the Czech Republic, I have been trying to get the measure of how Czech people feel about the death of one of their most famous citizens. As I had previously understood it, the general consensus was that in many respects, Havel was more highly regarded outside of this country than within in it. Judging by what has happened within the last 30 hours or so since his death, that understanding may well be wrong.
The picture above is of the front page of today’s edition of Dnes /’Today’, one of the leading Czech national newspapers. The first section of the paper, all sixteen pages of it, is completely given over to reports about a whole variety of aspects of the life and death of Václav Havel to the total exclusion of any other news. In the second section for regional news, the first three pages are given over to describing the reaction in Prague to Havel’s death. All of that I believe, speaks volumes – newspaper editors usually know what their readers want to read.

What will be totally new territory for this nation is the organisation of a state funeral at which the attendance of numerous major figures from around the world is expected. No Czech national of the stature of Václav Havel has died since the fall of communism just over twenty-two years ago. Preparations for this event, which it is currently suggested, will happen this coming Friday, will be interesting to observe. As for the first ever English-language Anglican Carol Service in Brno, a blog post will follow shortly.

Football and beer

Phillip at Stadion FK Viktoria Žižkov © Ricky Yates

I hope the regular readers of my blog will forgive the rather sharp contrast between some of my more recent writings on faith related issues and this post. But then I do live in the Czech Republic where football is a major sport and where both the production and drinking of beer are deemed to be highly important activities.

Back on the evening of Sunday 6th November, my son Phillip flew into Prague to spend a few days with me, his first visit here since January 2010.  As football and beer are two of his interests, I was pleased that we were able to enjoy both of them together during the short time he was here.

The top tier of Czech football is called the Gambrinus liga as it is sponsored by the producers of Gambrinus, a very drinkable Czech beer. During the football season, each weekend there is a round of matches, spread out between Friday evening and Monday evening, in part to allow for television coverage of some of the games. Fortunately, the Monday evening match featured a home fixture for one of the five Prague based teams in the Gambrinus liga, FK Viktoria Žižkov.

The Assistant Referee with the sponsor’s logo © Ricky Yates

 

 

 

 

Žižkov is a Prague suburb on the eastern side of the Vltava River, whereas the Chaplaincy Flat where I live, is on the western side. But it only took a thirty minute tram journey to reach the ground which lies below the hill on which the suburb of Žižkov sits, just the far side of Prague’s main railway station.

FK Viktoria Žižkov were playing FC Baník Ostrava in what would best be described as a bottom-of-the-table clash as at that point in time, Baník Ostrava were bottom of the league and Viktoria Žižkov were third from bottom. It resulted in a 3 – 0 win for the visitors and unfortunately for us, all three goals were scored at the opposite end of the ground from where we were sitting. But we did both enjoy ourselves and supped a few half litres of Gambrinus whilst watching the match.

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying my Gambrinus at Stadion FK Viktoria Žižkov © Ricky Yates
The match in progress at Stadion FK Viktoria Žižkov © Ricky Yates
The grand main railway station in Plzen © Ricky Yates

Later in the week, Phillip and I went for a day trip to Plzen, the fourth largest city in the Czech Republic and the home of the most famous Czech beer, Pilsner Urquell. We travelled there by train, partly because a couple of days earlier, the local Renault garage informed me that the noise coming from the rear brakes on my car was not just due to the need for new brake pads, but also because the brake shoes and a seized-up brake calliper all also needed replacing. As the estimated repair cost is CZK 15,000 (about £500), about half my net pay for a month, I’m still debating what to do. However, travelling by train did also mean that I could enjoy the local brew without any concern of infringing Czech drink-driving laws.

The train trip takes one hour and forty minutes between Praha hlavní nádraží and Plzen hlavní nádraží. Above is a photograph of the grand station building dating from the mid-nineteenth century which no doubt once said Pilsen Hauptbahnhof when it was first built during the time when what is now the Czech Republic, was a subjugated part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Entrance to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery © Ricky Yates

Beer tanks within the Pilsner Urquell Brewery © Ricky Yates

The Pilsner Urquell Brewery is only a short walk from the railway station and, having booked and paid for our tickets for the 14.00 brewery tour in English, we had just under an hour in which we enjoyed a good lunch at a very reasonable price in the brewery restaurant.

The tour itself was by far the best brewery tour I’ve so far been on in the Czech Republic. The young female guide spoke excellent English, could answer questions coherently, and made the whole experience, which lasted around one and a half hours, most enjoyable.

Poster outside the fan shop of FC Viktoria Plzen © Ricky Yates

The Church of St. Bartholomew, Plzen with market stalls below © Ricky Yates

Continuing the football theme, Phillip was very pleased to notice that the stadium of FC Viktoria Plzen was nearby so we walked across to it before heading into the city centre. For the first time in their history, FC Viktoria Plzen won the Gambrinus liga last season and then successfully qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League this season.

Just before it got dark, we made our way into the main square of the city where the gigantic Gothic St. Bartholomew Church is situated. Around it was a street market selling a variety of goodies, together with some free musical entertainment, all of which was intended to celebrate St. Martinstide, as the following day was 11th November, the feast day of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours.

Whilst I’ve driven around Plzen numerous times on the motorway from Prague to the German border, this was my first venture into the city itself. It is now on my list of places to re-visit, preferably in summer when, with longer hours of daylight, I will be able to enjoy its many architectural delights.

 

Advent Sunday

The Advent Ring in St. Clement’s Church with the first candle lit for Advent Sunday © Ricky Yates

Yesterday was Advent Sunday which marks the beginning of the Church Liturgical Year. Contrary to what the manufacturers of Advent calendars believe, Advent only occasionally begins on 1st December. Instead it begins four Sundays before Christmas Day. With Christmas Day this year falling on a Sunday, (which is every clergyperson’s delight!), it means that this year, Advent begins on the earliest date possible and lasts a full four weeks.

In preparing for worship last week, I was particularly struck by the opening words of the Collect for Advent Sunday, “Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light….”. It is a reminder of one of the great themes of the Advent season – darkness and light, and the need for each of us to use this season to prepare ourselves once more to receive the light of Christ. To be able to welcome the incarnate Son of God, born into our world on Christmas Day.

It is a particular theme of the Gospel of John and the prologue of that Gospel which I shall read as the last lesson in our Service of Lessons & Carols in a couple of week’s time and at our Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve. “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”. John 1. 4-5 NRSV.

In many Churches throughout the world, there is the tradition of having an Advent Wreath, Advent Ring or Advent Crown, made of greenery and with four candles, one to be lit on each Sunday during the Advent season. Sometimes there is a further, usually white candle, in the middle, which is lit on Christmas Day.

Here in the Czech Republic, rather than having an Advent wreath sitting on a table near the front of the Church or on a windowsill, the tradition is to have a large Advent Ring hanging from the ceiling, behind or at the side of the altar. And because we do not own our Church building but rent it from the Kliment congregation of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, we do not even need to provide our own Advent Ring as they provide one for us! As they always have their Sunday service at 09.30 before we have our Eucharist at 11.00, we inherit it already appropriately lit. All we have to do is ensure we snuff out the Advent candle(s) at the end our worship as part of our responsibility of leaving the Church safe and secure!

The lighting of an additional candle each Sunday does illustrate the approaching coming of light into our dark world in the person of the Infant Jesus. But the challenge I put to both myself and the congregation last Sunday was the question as to what ‘work of darkness’ each of us needed to ‘cast away’ as the increasing light of Christ shines into the various dark corners of our lives which most of us would prefer to remain hidden.

For contrary to popular opinion, Advent is not simply a countdown to the celebration of Christmas. Rather, it should be a penitential season, a ‘mini Lent’, so that both our hearts and lives are ready to welcome God’s Son Jesus Christ who ‘came to us in great humility’ at his first Advent, and thus be ready, ‘when he shall come again in his glorious majesty’ at his second Advent.

The Advent Ring hanging behind the altar in St Clement’s Church on Advent Sunday © Ricky Yates

 

 

 

Collect for Advent Sunday

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Atheism and the BBC

Charles Bridge, Prague © Ricky Yates

As I’ve written previously on this blog, ever since moving to the Czech Republic in September 2008, I have happily lived without having a television. Even in my latter years of living in the UK, I only tended to watch television in order to keep up-to-date with the News, together with enjoying the occasional major sporting event if it still was on terrestrial television. I refuse point blank to pay for satellite or cable TV, particularly as most of it is controlled by Rupert Murdoch. And we all now know quite clearly what journalists and others in his organisation do!

Therefore now, in order to keep abreast of what is happening in the world, I have become a very regular visitor to the BBC News website. I find its coverage to be fairly comprehensive, regularly updated and that it provides news without any particular political bias.

I do however, have a couple of gripes. As one who used to happily pay his annual licence fee, I am someone who always enjoyed the BBC as it was totally free of advertising. Because I now access the BBC News website from a foreign country, unfortunately advertising also appears.

Secondly, as my first degree is in geography, I get irritated by the complete geographical ignorance of some BBC journalists. A couple of years back, a news article about something that had happened in Pau in south-central France, was accompanied by a map showing Pau as being on the Atlantic coast of France when it is 125 kilometres from the sea! More recently, a news article about Serbia included a map purporting to be of Serbia, which showed Montenegro as being wholly within it’s borders when the two countries had separated several years previously and mutually recognise each other.

But my real frustration comes whenever there is a news item that involves some aspect of the Christian faith. Firstly, the theological and ecclesiastical ignorance of many BBC journalists is even greater than the geographical ignorance that I referred to earlier. But what really annoys me is that, if the Archbishop of Canterbury is quoted, or the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster has made a pronouncement, then you can be sure that the news item will also include the completely opposite view of Terry Sanderson or Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society, or Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association.

The BBC do this because they want to comply with their obligation to be unbiased and balanced in their reporting. But the reality is that, by giving undue prominence to the views of the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Association, and on BBC TV & Radio, giving them airtime, they are actually being highly unbalanced.

On the average Sunday in the UK, there are around one million people worshiping in Anglican Churches, about one million in Roman Catholic Churches, and a further million in a whole variety of Free Churches. This accounts for about 5% of the UK population. At least six million people in the UK attend Church at least once a month which is 10% of the population. I wish these figures were higher but even so, it still is a significant number of people.

Being aware of this, I set out to try and discover the membership numbers for the National Secular Society and the British Humanist Association. In doing so, I discovered two things. The first is that this information is far from being freely available. The second is, I am not the first person to try to do so and to recognise that both organisations are being given absurdly more recognition than they realistically deserve.

The website of the British Humanist Association states that it has ‘over 28,000 members and supporters’.  However, it doesn’t state the difference in numbers between ‘members’ – those who have paid an annual membership fee – and ‘supporters’. What is a ‘supporter’? Someone who made a £5.00 donation in the past or who wrote a friendly email five years ago?

The National Secular Society is even less clear. No membership numbers are published and an email I sent many months ago, asking the question, never got a reply. However, this blogger has looked at their financial returns and has come up with a figure of less than 5,500. Another writer has analysed the figures and come to the conclusion of no more than 7000.

These figures speak volumes. As Gavin Drake says, “If, as the (National Secular) Society claim, the Church is irrelevant on the basis of numbers; then on what basis is the National Secular Society relevant?” The answer is quite obvious – neither the National Secular Society nor the British Humanist Association are relevant. If they were, people would be flocking to join and support them in droves. Quite clearly, they aren’t. I rest my case and hope that, in the interest of balanced reporting, the BBC also takes notice.