By Ricky, on April 5th, 2010
Painted eggs hung on ribbons decorate a Czech garden © Ricky Yates
I’ve just re-read the blog post I wrote in April 2009 entitled ‘My first Holy Week & Easter in the Czech Republic’. Inevitably last year was a fairly steep learning curve both in understanding the way Easter is marked by the predominantly secular society here in the Czech Republic as well as finding out how best to celebrate the Christian festival with an English-speaking, predominantly ex-pat congregation. Overall, I think the experience gained and lessons learned from 2009, have helped me through this recent rather busy time from Palm Sunday through to Easter Day.
One of the really attractive Czech traditions at Easter is to use ribbons to tie decorated eggs to trees in gardens or attach them to sticks and place them in window boxes or pots containing spring flowers. I’ve chosen . . . → Read More: Vesele Velikonoce – Happy Easter!
By Ricky, on March 22nd, 2010
The Order of Service for Passion Sunday
When the ‘Official group from the UK’ visited St. Clement’s Church on Saturday 16th January 2010 in order to begin planning the details of this Royal Visit, I was asked what form our normal 11am Sunday service took. I replied that, as it was the only service we had on a Sunday, it was a service of Holy Communion or ‘Sung Eucharist’ as we normally call it. I was then asked how long the service lasted and I replied that it was normally around an hour and a quarter.
The emphasis of all our discussions was the desire that the Royal Couple should be able to join with the regular congregation for their normal Sunday service. However, I was asked whether, because of certain timetabling constraints, I could keep the service to about an hour and I gave the assurance . . . → Read More: The Royal Visit – as it happened – part two
By Ricky, on March 22nd, 2010
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall arrive at St. Clement's Church accompanied by the British Ambassador Sian MacLeod (far left) © Sybille Yates
Further to my previous posts entitled ‘A forthcoming Royal visit’, ‘Three days to go…….’ and ‘Only 12 hours to go…..’, today was the big day when, as part of their official visit to the Czech Republic, Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, joined the regular St. Clement’s Church congregation for our Sunday morning worship.
I set the alarm for 6am, just to be sure I had plenty of time to have a shower, eat breakfast and collect everything together, ready to travel into the city centre. In fact, the four-legged alarm clock called Oscar, landed on my bed before 6 am. I think he knew I had to get . . . → Read More: The Royal Visit – as it happened – part one
By Ricky, on March 20th, 2010
Brass Plaque on Church Door © Ricky Yates
By the time I publish this blog post, there will be little more than 12 hours to go before their Royal Highnesses, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, arrive outside St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church, to be greeted by me and the Churchwardens and then join us for worship. Judging by the comments I’ve received on my previous posts, there seems to be many readers enjoying my regular updates. So here is one final update in advance of the big day.
As I mentioned previously, I had yet another meeting in the late afternoon of Thursday 18th March with various security personnel, both British and Czech, seeking to ascertain what would happen when the official party arrives, who would sit where and how the service would proceed. Hopefully, we’ve now got everything sorted.
. . . → Read More: Only 12 hours to go…..
By Ricky, on March 18th, 2010
St. Vitus Cathedral & Prague Castle © Ricky Yates
Yes – it is only three days to go before Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, arrive outside St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church, ready to join the regular congregation for Sunday Morning worship. So I thought my blog readers might appreciate an update as to how preparations for the big day are going.
Liturgy – Earlier yesterday, I finally finished drafting and typing the Order of Service that we will use on Sunday. Normally at St. Clements, everybody gets an Order of Service containing the liturgy, a hymn book, together with a copy of our Weekly Bulletin which contains the text of the Collect and Bible Readings, the notices for the coming week and contact details for me and members of the Church Council.
For this special service, I always . . . → Read More: Three days to go……..
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