By Ricky, on November 4th, 2009
The seafront Izmir, Turkey © Ricky Yates
The 2009 meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod of the Diocese in Europe took place in the Kaya Prestige Hotel, Izmir, between 17.00 on Thursday 8th October until mid-afternoon on Saturday 10th October. We met in a large conference room on the second floor of the hotel and were able to set up the furniture so that one part was suitable for worship whilst the other could be used for listening to our speakers and for round-table discussion. However, like so many hotel conference rooms, there were no windows through which daylight might appear so it was good to be able to get out and walk around the city on the Friday afternoon during a two-hour break in proceedings.
In our Eucharist on Friday morning, we remembered Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna who was martyred for his faith c155 . . . → Read More: The Eastern Archdeaconry Synod in Izmir
By Ricky, on October 31st, 2009 Knowing the dates of public holidays when you move to or visit a country of which you are not a native, is quite important as my wife and I found out only on Monday of this past week. We were returning from our trip to Turkey about which I’ve just started blogging, when we drove from Italy into Austria on the penultimate leg of our journey home to Prague. We were driving along the Austrian autobahn when my wife said, “Rather than stop at a service station for lunch, why don’t we drive into a nearby town and find a nice restaurant instead?”
So it was that we drove into Spittal an der Drau and parked in the centre of the town. It was only when the parking ticket machine refused to accept my euro coins I tried to feed it, did it begin to dawn on me that the . . . → Read More: Holidays and Celebrations in the Czech Republic – My contribution to Expat’s World Blog Surf Day
By Ricky, on October 30th, 2009 The Dardanelles – Europe on the right, Asia on the left © Ricky Yates
It is a month and a day since I’ve published a blog post and I’m sure some of my regular visitors will be beginning to think that I’ve disappeared off the planet. Rest assured – I haven’t! However, I have been absent from Prague for 23 of those 31 days only returning to the Chaplaincy Flat on the afternoon of Tuesday 27th October having left on the afternoon of Monday 5th October. Over the next few weeks I’m going to write about what I’ve been up to, hopefully making up for the lack of news during most of October.
As the title of this post says, Sybille and I have travelled to Asia and back and we’ve done the whole journey by car! I’ve driven 4,500 miles/7,200 kilometres and we’ve visited twelve countries in . . . → Read More: Travelling to Asia and back
By Ricky, on September 29th, 2009 Kardinal Schulte Haus – note the scaffolding! © Ricky Yates
I must apologise once more that, despite returning safely to Prague last Friday evening, other than approving a couple of nice comments (and deleting a host of spammers!!), I’ve taken far longer than originally intended to write a new post about last week’s conference.
As I explained in my previous post, the theme of the conference was ‘Entertaining Angels – Hospitality as Mission’. The title is based on a verse from the New Testament where the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews tells his readers, “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for so by doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it” Hebrews 13 v2. But who are the hosts who give the hospitality and who are the guests that receive it?
One speaker, Professor Musa Dube from Botswana, pointed out that . . . → Read More: Hosts or Guests?
By Ricky, on September 20th, 2009 St. Clement's Anglican Episcopal Church, Prague © Ricky Yates
At 08.00 CEST tomorrow, I’m setting off to drive to Köln/Cologne, Germany to attend a Clergy Pastoral Conference and won’t be back in Prague until late on the evening of Friday 25th September. The conference will bring together all the Anglican clergy who serve in the vast Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. This is only the second time this has ever happened, the first occasion being four years ago.
We are meeting at Kardinal Schulte Haus, a Roman Catholic conference centre just outside Köln/Cologne, and our theme is ‘Entertaining Angels – Hospitality as Mission’. There will be about 150 clergy present with our Diocesan Bishop Geoffrey Rowell & his Suffragen Bishop David Hamid, together with various visitors and speakers. It should be an enjoyable and stimulating few days. But it does mean that I won’t be able to add . . . → Read More: Clergy Pastoral Conference in Köln
|
rickyyates.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.
|
Recent Comments