Christmas in Zermatt

St Peter’s Church, Zermatt © Ricky Yates

After conducting a wonderful service of Nine Lesson & Carols in the Frauenkirche, Dresden on the evening of Sunday 8th December, I was planning on spending a quiet Christmas at home in Stará Oleška. My Christmas worship was going to be attending a service on Christmas Eve, in German, at the Lutheran Church in Obercunnersdorf, led by my good friend and colleague, Andrew Allen. I’m not due to officiate again at the Frauenkirche, until Thursday 2nd January 2025.

Then, early in the afternoon of Thursday 19th December, an email dropped into my Inbox. It came from Jim Perryman, who oversees what is known as ‘Seasonal Mission’ for the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS). ICS are the C of E mission society who supported me when in . . . → Read More: Christmas in Zermatt

How I became a hymn book smuggler into the EU

Smuggled hymn books in the boot of my car © Ricky Yates

As I posted here a year ago, since May 2023, I have been officiating at a monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer held on a Thursday evening in the Unterkirche of the Dresden Frauenkirche. This is in addition to the monthly Sunday evening service in the Hauptraum for which I’ve had responsibility since January 2015.

For my monthly Sunday evening service, the Pfarrbüro produce a twelve-page complete Order of Service based on the text I send them at least a week earlier. Hymns are taken from ‘Hymns Ancient & Modern New Standard’, published in 1983, with the melody line of the tune, as well as all the words, reproduced. As I understand it, the Pfarrbüro was given a copy . . . → Read More: How I became a hymn book smuggler into the EU

A Purple Weekend

Yours Truly processing at the beginning of the Consecration Service between Archdeacon Walter Baer and Rev’d Nathanial Bm © Sybille Yates

 

 

My last month as the Anglican Chaplain of St Clement’s, Prague, started with what can be best described as a ‘purple weekend’. It featured bishops – lots of them!

As I have explained many times previously on this blog, for legal and ecumenical reasons, St Clement’s is officially the English-speaking parish of the Old Catholic Church in the Czech Republic. Back in April 2016, at a synod meeting held at Želiv Monastery, Pavel Benedikt Stránský was elected to succeed the retiring Bishop Dušan Hejbal, as head of the Czech Old Catholics. Therefore on Saturday 1 . . . → Read More: A Purple Weekend

From Winter into Spring

After a very cold and snowy winter, as I explained in my eighth blog anniversary post, in the last couple of weeks, Winter has slowly begun to recede and Spring is arriving. Therefore, it is certainly time to get my blog out of hibernation, being very aware that I haven’t posted anything here for a month.

There are numerous events that I could write about but here are just three highlights from the last couple of weeks.

My birthday burger © Ricky Yates

Birthday

On Sunday 26th February, I celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday. This is the second time since moving to Prague, that my birthday has fallen on a Sunday. The last time was on the occasion of my sixtieth birthday in 2012 which was also a . . . → Read More: From Winter into Spring

A morning walk around Brussels

Palais de Justice, Brussels © Ricky Yates

 

As I explained in my previous post, on Wednesday 18th January, I had a very long day-trip to Brussels. Whilst the round table discussion with Lord George Bridges that I was to attend, was not scheduled to begin until 14.00, the only way I could be sure of being there on time, was to take a flight leaving Prague Airport at 06.45, which landed at Brussels Airport at 08.15.

Whilst I have driven around Brussels on the city’s ring road, many times, I have never previously visited the city itself. So I decided to take advantage of a frosty but clear morning, to explore a little on foot.

First I found the correct machine in the airport arrivals area where I could purchase my . . . → Read More: A morning walk around Brussels