Christmas – Page 2

Christmas 2014

The altar at the end of our worship on the Fourth Sunday in Advent © Ricky Yates — The altar at St Clement’s at the end of our worship on the Fourth Sunday of Advent © Ricky Yates

This Christmas was our seventh in Prague. As I have explained in a previous post, each year a large number of our regular congregation head off to their home countries for the Christmas – New Year period, in order to celebrate with their wider family and friends. This is further exacerbated by the fact that many in the congregation either teach in one of the various international schools in Prague and/or have children who attend one of these schools. The three week Christmas school holidays, together with summer months of July and August, provide the only real opportunity for a trip back ‘home’.

However, although we held our Service of Lessons and Carols on the evening of Sunday 14^th December, in advance of the English-speaking exodus, otherwise services continue as normal. This is for those who do remain in Prague, as well as for visitors to the city over the holiday period. Additionally, as in previous years, we held a Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve, beginning at 23.30, as well as a more family-friendly Eucharist on Christmas Day at 11.00.

This year, as in all previous years, at sometime during November or early December, more than one member of the congregation asked the question of either Sybille or me, “Are you going anywhere for Christmas?” I now have a well-practiced askance look for such questioners, together with an appropriate silence, before asking my question, “Who do think is going to take the Christmas services in Prague?” 😉 There then always follows an embarrassed apology.

The Christmas service which it is always the most difficult to predict and therefore to prepare for, is the Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve. Other than a small core of our regular congregation, who between them take on all the tasks to ensure the service runs smoothly, the rest of those attending are visitors. We never know how many of them there will be! This year, numbers were up on last year, including several young people already in Prague, helping to prepare for the annual Taizé Young Adult European Meeting which started here today.

The Christmas Day morning Family Eucharist is always well supported by several Czech married to English-speaker couples and their children who are part of our regular congregation. However, many of these families alternate each year, between spending Christmas in Prague, and Christmas in the home country of the English-speaker. Once again, the congregation is then considerably augmented by visitors to Prague, as it was once more this year.

Just at the end of our Christmas Day service, we did have one unexpected event, when one of the two altar candles imploded without warning. I took this photograph in the vestry, after we had cleared and cleaned the altar. Nobody was hurt and no lasting damage was done – the tissues that we always place under the candle holders, helping enormously. But I was faced with the practical problem of not having a matching replacement candle, and the Roman Catholic shop from where we obtain our altar candles, not being open again until today. In between, there was yesterday, Sunday 28^th December – the first Sunday of Christmas 🙁

On Christmas Day morning, we sang that wonderful carol by Christina Rossetti, ‘In the bleak mid-winter’. But at that point, no snow ‘had fallen, snow on snow’. However, this morning, we did have our first serious snow fall of this winter with the possibility of more on the morning of 31^st December. Whilst we may not have had a ‘White Christmas’, it looks highly likely that we will have a ‘White New Year’.

Through Advent to Christmas

Interior view of St. Clement's Church, Prague on the Fourth Sunday of Advent © Ricky Yates — Interior view of St. Clement’s Church, Prague on the Fourth Sunday of Advent © Ricky Yates

As I start compiling this post, so it has just gone dark outside, therefore meaning that Advent has ended and the Christmas season has begun. I’m very aware that I’ve only written and posted one blogpost during Advent this year and that was in no way related to this important liturgical season. So this my small attempt to make amends by reflecting on the past twenty-four days of Advent 2013.

For once, this year Advent started on the day all manufacturers of Advent calenders think it always does – 1st December. For those who don’t know, Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas Day, thus meaning it can begin as early as 27th November or as late as 3rd December. Whilst we should use the season to help prepare ourselves to be ready to celebrate the Incarnation at Christmas, it is inevitable, especially with mainly expatriate congregations like mine, that earlier celebrations of Christmas intrude into the Advent season in the form of Services of Lessons and Carols.

Therefore, maintaining the established pattern of having worship on the second Sunday of the month in Brno, we held a Service of Lessons and Carols there on the evening of Sunday 8th December. This effectively marked the second anniversary of the establishment of the Brno Anglican congregation, as we held our first ever service in Brno; also one of Lessons and Carols, in December 2011.

This year’s Brno Carol Service was a real encouragement as several of the existing small congregation, invited other friends who came along and attended for the first time. We also were joined by a British/Romanian couple who had just discovered us via our Church website. Together, we made a very joyful noise with our singing of familiar Christmas Carols, interspersed by readings from scripture. It is a shame that it will be a full five weeks before our next Brno service on Sunday 12th January 2014. But all of the new worshippers gave me their contact details and were keen to join us again in the new year.

The following Sunday evening, 15th December, we held the Prague Service of Lessons and Carols. There was a similar programme to the Brno service but with the addition of three delightful solos. The congregation itself was a mixture of regulars, some infrequent Church attendees, together with a number of visitors. Seasonal refreshments in the warmth of the Church Hall in Klimentská 18 following the service, gave me a chance to talk with at least some of the new faces.

The Carly under light snow © Ricky Yates

We have yet to have any really severe winter weather in Prague though we did get a dusting of snow on the day before the Brno Carol Service.

Sunset on the evening of Sunday 15th December © Ricky Yates

And we have also been treated to several delightful sunsets. This one is from the evening of Sunday 15th December just before leaving the Chaplaincy Flat for the Prague Carol Service

Sunset on the evening of Saturday 21st December - the winter solstice © Ricky Yates — Sunset on the evening of Saturday 21st December – the winter solstice © Ricky Yates

Whilst this one is from the evening of Saturday 21st December – the winter solstice.

The following day was the Fourth Sunday of Advent. As can be seen in the slightly fuzzy photograph at the beginning of this post, not only did we have the wonderful hanging Advent Ring with all four candles lit, our host Czech congregation had also erected their Christmas Tree, ready for the forthcoming days of the Christmas season.

Our Gospel reading last Sunday, told of the annunciation of the birth of Jesus to Joseph as recorded in Matthew 1. 18-25. Together with the Old Testament reading, Isaiah 7. 10-16, they are the only two places in scripture where the name ‘Emmanuel – God is with us’, appears. We therefore had to sing that great mediaeval Advent hymn, translated from the original Latin, ‘O come, O come Emmanuel’, that expresses our longing for the coming of Christ – for God to come down and dwell with us.

But we ended our worship by singing a twentieth century hymn by the Methodist hymn-writer Fred Pratt Green, ‘Long ago, prophets knew’. At the end of the first three verses, the question is asked, ‘When he comes, when he comes, who will make him welcome?’ But in the chorus that follows the fourth and final verse, a positive affirmation is made; ‘Jesus comes! Jesus comes! We will make him welcome!’

If you are unfamiliar with this modern Advent hymn, I found this version on You Tube. Don’t be confused by the opening with a couple of lines of ‘This is the truth sent from above’, sung by a soloist – the correct hymn then follows! May we all be ready this Christmas, to make welcome, God with us – Emmanuel.

Christmas in Prague & Brno 2012

Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus © Ricky Yates — Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus in Námestí miru, Prague © Ricky Yates

Much as I dislike Christmas being brought forward into the Advent season, working with two expatriate congregations here in the Czech Republic means this inevitably has to happen. So many of our regular worshippers are absent at Christmas because they travel back to their respective home countries in order to spend the holiday season with their family and friends. But before setting off on their travels, many want to be able to participate in the Anglican tradition of a ‘Service of Lessons & Carols’, either in Prague or Brno.

Since commencing regular monthly services in Brno at the beginning of 2012, we have consistently held them on the second Sunday evening of each month. So it seemed right to make the service due on Sunday 9th December, a ‘Service of Lessons & Carols’, a year on from our first ever Brno service in December 2011. And to be further consistent, we held the service in the little Czechoslovak Hussite Church Betanie / Bethany we have been using throughout 2012, rather than returning to the Betlémský Kostel / Bethlehem Chapel where we held the first ever Brno service.

This year’s service was very much a home-grown one, rather than being laid on by members of the Prague congregation. But I was most grateful to my Church Treasurer Gordon Truefitt, who kindly volunteered to travel down with me to Brno following our 11.00 Eucharist in Prague, to give me both company and support. Gordon read a couple of the lessons, sang ‘gold’ in our rendition of ‘We three kings of Orient are’, and as a good treasurer, also took up the collection!

Gordon and I drove down to Brno in my car as I’ve been doing each month since July. Outside of Prague, there was snow on the fields which looked particularly beautiful in the late afternoon sunshine. However, the Prague- Brno motorway itself was completely clear of snow and we reached Brno in very good time. Following the service and some excellent post-service seasonal refreshments kindly laid on by Katka Bánová, Gordon and I returned to the car with light snow falling. But as we left Brno and headed back towards Prague, so the snow got heavier.

Both Prague and Brno lie in river valleys – Prague is on the Vltava River whilst Brno is situated at the confluence of the Svratka and Svitava rivers. But whilst the Vltava flows into the Labe which becomes the Elbe once over the German border, and eventually enters the North Sea, the waters of the Svratka and Svitava head in the opposite direction, eventually entering the Danube which flows out into the Black Sea. Dividing these two major drainage basins are the Vysocina range of hills.

Crossing these hills, the outside temperature dropped from -2° to -6° and the snow got thicker and heavier. Despite the presence of several snow ploughs, one of which nearly tried to clear me from the motorway 🙁 , driving became extremely difficult. Numerous trucks had ground to a halt, unable to cope with climbing up the steeper parts of the motorway. I cannot recall driving in such severe weather conditions for more than thirty years. We did eventually make it back to Prague still in one piece. But a journey that normally takes just over two hours, instead took three and a half hours.

Christmas Tree in Staromestské námestí / Old Town Square © Ricky Yates — Christmas Tree in Staromestské námestí / Old Town Square, Prague © Ricky Yates

The following weekend, we held our Prague ‘Service of Lessons & Carols’ on the evening of Sunday 16th December. This is the only occasion each year when we hold two services on a Sunday in Prague. Inevitably, some people therefore opt out of the morning Eucharist in order to attend Lessons & Carols in the evening. However, both services were still well supported.

In the evening, we were joined by a small choir from the International Women’s Association of Prague (IWAP). Two of the choir members, Caroline and Celieta, are also regular members of our congregation. But the IWAP choir did give a wonderful lead to our congregational carols as well as contributing two individual choir items. Afterwards, we all enjoyed mulled wine, mince pies and other seasonal refreshments in the Church Hall across the road from the Church in Klimentská 18.

I remarked last year, that Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, as it did in 2011, was ‘Every clergyperson’s delight’. But because of this year being a leap year, Christmas Day in 2012 fell on a Tuesday. This is probably best described as ‘Every clergyperson’s nightmare’ as it meant Church services on three successive days. However, this is where I really benefited from the help and support of others.

On Sunday 23rd December, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, my recently licensed Reader Jack Noonan was the preacher at our 11.00am Eucharist, reflecting on the example and role of Mary, the mother of Jesus. And at our Midnight Eucharist the following day – Christmas Eve, my Presbyterian ministerial colleague Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz was the preacher, giving an exposition of the mystery of the Incarnation as described in John 1. 1-14. So I only had to preach one sermon, on Christmas Day morning, speaking about the message of the angel to the shepherds – ‘to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord’.

Whilst having two supportive preachers made my role easier, I did still experience one of those moments for which no training at theological college can ever properly prepare you. At our Midnight Eucharist on Christmas Eve, a British lady, visiting her son who has been living and working in Prague for the past five years, tripped over the chancel step on her way up to receive Communion and fell, seriously banging her head on the stone slabs of the chancel floor.

Fortunately, Sybille as a trained nurse was on hand to help and Honza, Czech husband of American Church Council Secretary Tasci, got on his mobile phone and was promptly able in Czech, to summon an ambulance. But I decided it was best to end the service without singing the final carol, (much to the confusion of the organist who was unaware of what had happened), and within a few minutes, blue lights were flashing outside the Church and two paramedics were striding in.

The good news is that, following a medical examination and an x ray, the lady was given the all clear by a Doctor at a nearby hospital. But she did take home an unusual souvenir from Prague in the form of a large bruise on her forehead 🙁

Our worship on the morning of Christmas Day was thankfully, slightly less eventful. The congregation was a mixture of visitors, long-standing Church members, and several Czech married to English-speaker families with their bilingual children. Therefore, although we are an English-speaking congregation, we did end our worship by singing a carol in Czech, ‘Narodil se Kristus Pán‘ – ‘Christ the Lord is born, let us rejoice’.

Happy third birthday to my blog!

Snowdrop flowering in Stromovka Park © Ricky Yates

Today my blog is exactly three years old. My first ever blogpost was published here on 4^th February 2009. So today is both a time for a little celebration as well as an occasion for some reflection on what I’ve written in the past as well as what might appear here in the coming year.

For any of my readers who are statistically minded, this is post number 163. In my first year, I published 73 posts, in my second year it was 48. In the past twelve months, I’ve published a further 41 as I will deem this post to be the first of my fourth blogging year.

The reason for the disparity in numbers stems mainly from my prolific period of writing and posting in November and December 2009 when I wrote in detail about our long distance trip to Turkey. That apart, it has normally been just under one blogpost a week. In the coming year my goal is to publish at least 52 posts – an average of one a week.

The aim will still be that as outlined in ‘About me – including a photo’. That is, to reflect on ministering here in Prague, to English-speakers from a variety of backgrounds and countries, and living as an expat myself in this fascinating city, as well as the wider Czech Republic. However, I do probably need to update the photograph that currently appears on that page. My hair is now far greyer, there is slightly less of it, and the shirt has long since disintegrated!

I shall try to continue to keep a balance between writing about everyday experiences seen from an expat perspective, recording my travels around, and occasionally beyond, the Czech Republic, together with addressing theological and ecclesiological issues. I’m aware that sometimes there is an imbalance between these things which I hope, corrects itself over a longer period of time.

According to Google analytics, this blog receives on average, between 60 and 70 visitors a day. Yet I get increasingly frustrated that so few of those visitors ever bother to leave me a coherent and relevant comment. My thanks to the two most faithful ones who do – Perpetua and Karen.

This issue was so clearly illustrated to me when I was standing at the Church door and shaking hands with members of the congregation after our Midnight Eucharist last Christmas Eve. A former member of the regular congregation, who still has a flat in Prague but is now based in London, shook my hand and warmly thanked me for the service. But he then said, “Whatever you do Ricky, don’t stop writing your blog”. I was most grateful for his words of encouragement. But that was the first I ever knew that he read and enjoyed this blog as he has never left a single comment!

Therefore as my blog enters its fourth year, if you visit here and regularly to read my musings, please tell me! Leave a comment – tell me if you agree or disagree with what I’ve written. Tell me if you would like me to focus more on a particular area or concern. Likewise, comments on Facebook, when I post a link, are also welcome. But I really would like to also have them here too.

My glass of wine is alongside my computer. I’m raising it and saying, “Here’s to year four of Ricky Yates – An Anglican in Prague!”

Prague – minus the tourists

St-Vitus — The west front of St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague © Ricky Yates

Last Monday evening, Sybille and I took the tram from Podbaba to Vozovna Strešovice and from there, walked through the back lanes to Hradcanské namestí, the large square lying immediately to the west of Prague Castle. As we did so, the only other people we saw were a young couple who were walking the same way as we were and whom we thought were probably Russian. Whilst we can tell when people aren’t speaking Czech, we have yet to be able to clearly distinguish between other Slavic languages!

In front of the west gates of the castle, there was a small group of Spaniards with a native Spanish speaker as their guide. But as we entered the first two quadrangles of the Prague Castle complex, we were surrounded by the amazing array of architecturally beautiful floodlit buildings, including the west front of St. Vitus Cathedral, with hardly a soul in sight. We basically had the whole place to ourselves. We were enjoying Prague – minus the tourists!

This is our fourth winter since moving to Prague in September 2008. Therefore we knew from previous experience that, following the Epiphany weekend in early January, through until late March, Prague has what can best be described as its non-tourist season. It is the period when you can walk around all the amazingly attractive sights of the historic centre of Prague, with very few foreign visitors surrounding you. But even then on Monday evening, we were still astonished as to how few people there were around.

For anyone reading this blog and wondering when is a good time to visit Prague, the answer I would give is between now and the third week in March. And if you want a really good financial deal, be adventurous and come without having pre-booked accommodation. At this time of year, there are regularly signs outside of hotels in the city centre saying, “Rooms available tonight” at remarkably reasonable prices.

Of course, you need to come prepared for the weather. Normally by now, there would be snow on the ground. But as I wrote in my earlier post, ‘Winter weather and walks’, we still have yet to experience really cold weather this current winter.

As someone who has chosen to live in Prague, I realise how very easy it is to complain about how, for much of the year, the city can feel almost overwhelmed by the number of tourist visitors. And yet they make a major contribution to the Czech economy and keep a considerable number of people in employment.

Likewise, they also make quite a contribution to the life of St. Clement’s Church. It very rare for us to have a Sunday service without visiting tourists in the congregation. Nearly all of them express grateful thanks for the opportunity we give them to worship in English, whilst they are visiting Prague. And some of them are quite generous towards us financially which we greatly appreciate. However, you would be amazed at the variety of currencies that appear in the collection!

The most recent example was Christmas Day morning 2011. For our Family Eucharist that day, we had a congregation of about 110 people. Of those, only about 25 were regular members of our worshipping community, as so many of them go back to their home countries over the Christmas season. All the rest were visitors spending Christmas in Prague.

I shall seek to make the most of the next two relatively tourist-free months in Prague. But I am very aware that much of what I enjoy living here only exists because Prague attracts so many visiting tourists.