Wedding – Page 2

All those things in the second half of 2015 that got missed

Before 2015 comes to an end, I want to try and write, at least briefly, about all those things that happened in the second half of this year, but which never got the blog post they deserved – a combination of my own ill health and the excessive heat we experienced during the summer months. It will take two posts, so here is the first. And the second has now been written and published.

July

Newly renovated statue of Jan Hus in Staromestské námestí/Old Town Square, Prague © Ricky Yates

Monday 6^th July marked the 600^th anniversary of Jan Hus, the early Czech Church reformer, being burnt at the stake in Konstanz on 6^th July 1415. As I have previously explained, during the past two hundred years, Czech people have tended to celebrate Hus as a political and cultural hero. His opposition to church control by the Vatican gave strength to those who opposed control of Czech lands by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He preached and wrote in the Czech – language is the main factor in Czech national identity. Even the Communist regime tried to claim Hus as a proto-communist!

Joel Ruml, Moderator of the Evangelical Church of Czech Bretheren speaking at the Ecumenical Service © Ricky Yates — Joel Ruml, Moderator of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren speaking at the Ecumenical Service © Ricky Yates

The sermon being given in a debate format by Bishop Dušan Hejbal of the Old Catholic Church & Romana Cunderlíková of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren © Ricky Yates

Therefore it was pleasing to see the main non-Roman Catholic Churches take the lead in organising events in Prague over a long weekend 4^th – 6^thJuly, to mark the 600^th anniversary of Hus’s martyrdom. They took place on two stages erected either side of the newly renovated statue of Hus in Old Town Square, culminating in an open air Ecumenical service celebrating the life and teaching of Hus and broadcast live on Czech radio. It was good to see and hear Hus being commemorated for who he really was, with his spiritual legacy being reclaimed and proclaimed.

Cardinal Vlk bringing a personal message from Papa František/ Pope Francis © Ricky Yates

The other pleasing aspect were the efforts made by the Roman Catholic Church, to finally acknowledge their own history and responsibility for the death of Hus. Cardinal Vlk, the now retired, but still active, former RC Archbishop of Prague, spoke at the service, bringing a personal message from Papa František/ Pope Francis. At the end of his address there was applause, showing appreciation for the conciliatory nature of the message.

Yours Truly with Very Rev’d John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry Cathedral © Sybille Yates

On the morning of Friday 10^th July, I attended, along with Lea Williams, the last part of the Fifth Conference of representatives of the Cross of Nails Community in Central and Eastern Europe which was being held in Prague that week. The conference ended with a Festive Service at which the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, Very Rev’d John Witcombe, gave a address on the theme, ’75 Years of Peace Efforts by Coventry Cathedral – Turning enemies into friends’. Following the service, we were all invited to lunch at the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague’s dining hall where this photograph was taken.

With the Choir of Little St Mary's, Cambridge, UK © Melissa Guiliano — With the Choir of Little St Mary’s, Cambridge, UK © Melissa Guiliano

On the morning of Sunday 26^th July, we had the pleasure of the Choir of Little St. Mary’s, Cambridge, UK, enhancing our worship at our Sung Eucharist. Like previous visiting choirs, they very much enjoyed the excellent acoustics of the Church building, as well as the splendid organ. During their visit to Prague, they had a group photograph taken in each of the places where they sang. Therefore following worship, the choir posed on the chancel step, along with their travelling supporters, and insisted that I be in the middle of the photograph 🙂

August

The first half of August was dominated by my hospitalisation with a pulmonary embolism, about which I did manage a blog post of explanation. However, I was very pleased to eventually be given clearance by my GP, to spend Tuesday 18^th – Monday 24^th August, walking with Sybille in Germany, from Görlitz to Kamenz, along the first part of Der Ökumenische Pilgerweg. That week has to have its own blog post or posts, even if it isn’t written and published until early 2016.

As I explained in the post about my hospitalisation, one consequence is that I have had to retire from playing cricket. I have therefore donated all of my cricket kit – batting pads and gloves, wicket-keeping pads, gloves & inners, along with my box 🙂 , to the Prague Barbarians Cricket Club, for whom it has been my privilege to play for the past six summers. In turn, Terry the club captain, kindly organised a dinner in my honour to mark my retirement, attended by a number of my playing colleagues.

September

On each of the first two Saturdays of September, I conducted a wedding. In both cases it was British male marrying Czech female.

On Saturday 5^th September, I conducted the wedding of Paul and Michaela, the couple who own and run Sansho, the dégustation restaurant where Sybille and I celebrated our joint birthdays earlier this year. Their wedding took place in the grounds of Trojanuv mlyn, Tiche udoli, a peaceful rural location just within the Prague city boundary. Unlike in England and Wales, outdoor weddings are permissible under Czech marriage law.

Michaela & Paul making their marriage vows to each other © Sybille Yates

From L to R: Aleš, Jana (Michaela's Mum), Paul, Michaela, Yours Truly © Sybille Yates — From L to R: Aleš, Jana (Michaela’s Mum), Paul, Michaela, Yours Truly © Sybille Yates

Using the liturgical texts that I gave her, Michaela had an attractive Order of Service produced, the cover matching their wedding invitations. Michaela’s brother Aleš, kindly helped me with the liturgy, enabling Michaela to make her vows in Czech whilst I helped Paul make his in English. Meanwhile, the very supportive congregation, sat on straw bales, surrounded by trees to witness the ceremony. It does have be said that I heard numerous, ‘It’s about time too’ comments, from friends and family, very pleased that Paul and Michaela had finally tied the knot 🙂

On Saturday 12^th September, I conducted the wedding of Charles and Radka, a couple who I first met at the beginning of 2015, when they started worshipping at St. Clements, having just got engaged. Whilst Charles is a baptised and confirmed Anglican, it was a wonderful to hear Radka profess Christian faith and to baptise her as an adult, during our Easter Day Eucharist earlier this year.

Their wedding took place in Kaple Nalezeni sv Križe, Malé Cicovice, adjacent to the Penzion where they held the reception following their marriage service. Malé Cicovice lies north-west of Prague, not far from Kladno. On this occasion, Renata and Eva, two friends of Radka, helped her make her vows in Czech, whilst I did likewise for Charles in English.

The interior of Kaple Nalezeni sv Križe in advance of the wedding © Ricky Yates	Paperwork ready for signing, including the magic stamp 🙂 © Ricky Yates
The newly married couple with family & friends © Ricky Yates	Kaple Nalezeni sv Križe as seen from Penzion v Polích © Ricky Yates

Whilst we didn’t sing any hymns, I drove Larry Leifeste and his wife Celieta, from Prague to the wedding venue, so Larry could play the ancient chapel organ to provide music before the service, for the entrance of the bride, and for the happy couple leaving at the end of the service. It did make for a most enjoyable occasion, helped by some warm and sunny weather.

Between Thursday 24^th – Sunday 27^th September, I attended the 2015 meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod, which this year took place in a Roman Catholic conference centre, just outside Zagreb in Croatia. In past years, each Archdeaconry Synod meeting has had its own blog post, but in 2015……

Three highlights from this year’s meeting were:

1) Our long-standing and long-suffering Archdeacon Patrick Curran, formally stepped down as Archdeacon of the East and thus ceased to be ‘venerable’ 🙂 I’ve never seen Patrick so relaxed – he was very much demob happy 🙂 Patrick was presented with an icon of St Cyril & St Methodius by the Chaplaincies of the Archdeaconry, and with a framed map of Europe, together with an ‘interesting’ bottle, by Bishop Robert.

Bishop Robert making a presentation to retiring Archdeacon Patrick Curran © Ricky Yates

Patrick and his wife Lucille with the icon, framed map & 'interesting' bottle © Ricky Yates — Patrick and his wife Lucille with the icon, framed map & ‘interesting’ bottle © Ricky Yates

In his place, we formally welcomed our new ‘free-standing’ Archdeacon, Colin Williams. Colin is now half time Archdeacon of the East, and half time Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe. But unlike Patrick, who remains Chaplain of Christ Church, Vienna and oversees the daughter congregations in Klagenfurt, Ljubljana, Zagreb and Yerevan, Colin has no responsibility for a particular chaplaincy, hence he is deemed ‘free-standing’.

2) During our Sunday morning Eucharist, Janet Berkovic, who brilliantly organised the Zagreb Synod meeting, was licensed as a Reader by Bishop Robert. Janet has led the small Zagreb Anglican congregation for many years, under the long distance guidance of Patrick from Vienna.

Danijel & Janet Berkovic with Bishop Robert © Ricky Yates

Janet, with Bishop Robert & her & my new Archdeacon Colin Williams © Ricky Yates

Three years ago at our Synod meeting in Athens, Jack Noonan was licensed as a Reader to serve the Prague Chaplaincy. It was during that licensing service that the Holy Spirit spoke to Janet saying she should also offer herself to train as a Reader, something Patrick had been suggesting to her for several years. So she is now licensed as ‘Reader-in-charge of Zagreb’, but still under Patrick’s jurisdiction. An additional highlight under the Berkovic heading, is that Janet’s Croatian husband Danijel, a Hebrew scholar, gave us three brilliant expositions of the Psalms, particularly bringing out things that are so easily ‘lost in translation’.

3) On the afternoon of Sunday 27^th September, after a tour of central Zagreb, we were invited to coffee and refreshments at the new headquarters building of the Croatian Roman Catholic Bishops Conference. Here we met the chairman of their ‘Ecumenical Committee’, together with one of their bishops. Whilst our Zagreb Anglican congregation use Roman Catholic premises for their services, the Anglican congregation is not recognised as a ‘Church’ in Croatia – they function as a ‘voluntary organisation’.

Therefore having Bishop Robert with us made quite an impact, most notably when he spoke, with Danijel Berkovic translating. I still remember the look of total surprise on the face of the RC bishop, when Bishop Robert said he was responsible for just over three hundred Anglican congregations scattered across Europe. With only seeing one little congregation of English-speaking Anglicans in Zagreb, they had no idea of the size of the Church of England in continental Europe, let alone the wider Anglican Communion.

Bishop Robert and the Croatian RC Bishop with Janet interpreting © Ricky Yates

It’s too darn hot!

The temperature in Prague today © Ricky Yates

My sincere apologies for the absence of a fresh blog post for over three weeks. It isn’t as though there is a lack of things to write about – quite the reverse. July 2015 has been far busier than than my previous Julys in Prague and I’ve got at least four prospective posts to compile. But the real problem has been the weather. In the words of Cole Porter and best known for being sung by Ella Fitzgerald, ‘It’s too darn hot!’

Sybille frequently describes the summer weather pattern in Prague as being pleasantly warm, followed by getting hotter, then much hotter, before there is a major heavy thundery downpour and the temperature returns to being pleasantly warm. After that, the same cycle resumes. But this year, especially since the beginning of July, the weather has been very hot and sticky with little or no relief and hardly any rainfall. According to news reports I read today, river levels and ground water levels in the Czech Republic are very low and the prevailing conditions are being described as a drought – the worst the country has experienced since 2003.

The weather has made even fulfilling my regular duties, a tiring exercise. As a result, rather than sitting down and compiling a coherent blogpost, all I’ve wanted to do each evening is either sit on the balcony and try to recover with a cool glass of wine, or head to the bedroom and lie down, with a total absence of the need of our duvet!

Today has almost certainly been the hottest day of the year so far. I took the photograph at the beginning of this post, of the clock and thermometer in my car, when I returned this afternoon, from conducting a wedding at Château Mcely, about seventy kilometres outside Prague. The thermometer actually reached thirty-eight degrees at one point but I was driving at the time and was therefore unable to photograph it. Currently my black clerical shirt is being washed in our washing machine, to remove a whole series of white sweat stains with which it had become decorated whilst I was officiating today.

According to the BBC weather forecast, we are promised some rain and reduction in temperature this coming weekend. But previous promises of rain and reduced temperatures have failed to materialise. As my wife often ironically comments, she doubts whether the Prague weather actually reads the BBC forecast 🙂

I do promise to start blogging properly once again, very soon, providing the Prague weather finally manages to return to something nearer to normality for July.

The wedding of Adam and Claire

The happy couple in Fringford Churchyard following their wedding © Ricky Yates

Just a week after conducting my first wedding of 2015, on Saturday 6^th June I conducted my second of the year. But for the first time in nearly seven years, this wedding was conducted under laws governing marriage in England and Wales.

It was in July last year that my son Phillip’s best friend, Adam, wrote to me, saying that he and his long-standing girlfriend Claire, were planning to be married in late May/early June 2015 and that they would like me to officiate, and asking whether I was willing and able to do so. As I normally travel to the UK for a week, once a year, I replied agreeing to their request, planning for the wedding to be at the centre of my annual UK visit. Adam did also tell me that he had already asked Phillip to be his best man, so I did fully understand from the start, what I was letting myself in for 🙂

I flew from Prague to Luton by Wizzair on the evening of Tuesday 2^nd June, picked up my hire car, and set off to drive to Phillip’s current home in Nottingham. Unfortunately, whoever is in charge of Britain’s motorway network was clearly conspiring against me.

First of all, the spur road from Luton Airport to the M1, was ‘closed for overnight resurfacing work’, resulting in a tour of parts of Luton I had no desire to see! Then a very long stretch of the M1 through Northamptonshire, had a 50 mph speed limit because of road works. Finally, just as I was getting near to Nottingham, I found another stretch of the M1 completely closed overnight, sending me on a long detour, deep into the Leicestershire countryside.

I spent the Wednesday recovering, then on Thursday, headed back down to Oxfordshire. I enjoyed lunch at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, followed by meetings and a tour of the college and grounds. The reason for this visit will be revealed in a future blogpost, probably in a month or so’s time. Then it was on to the wedding rehearsal in the evening.

Adam and Claire’s wedding was arranged to take place in the Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels in the North Oxfordshire village of Fringford, one of the Churches I was Rector of until moving to Prague in September 2008. It is the village where Adam grew up and where his parents still live. It did seem strange being back in Church where I hadn’t taken a service for nearly seven years. It took me some time, remembering where all the light switches were located!

At the rehearsal, we went through the service together, got Adam and Claire to practice making their vows and the words used at the exchange of rings, as well as answering various questions that the couple & other participants had. I also picked up the two marriage registers, blank quarterly return for the Oxfordshire Registrar and the marriage certificate book, to enable me to fill them all out correctly, ready for the big day.

The best man with Lisa, his best lady © Ricky Yates

Saturday 6^th June dawned fine and sunny, though somewhat windy. Fortunately, whilst both the mother of the bride and mother of the groom wore fascinators, there were no ladies wearing hats that would get blown across the churchyard. Quite honestly, it would be difficult to ask for better weather for a wedding day.

One of the privileges of ordained ministry is that you get to share in peoples ‘major life events’, as sociologists would describe them. When conducting a marriage service, there always needs to be a balance kept between the solemnity and joy of the occasion. As I said in my address, after the couple had given their consent, (said ‘I will’ and not ‘I do’), but before they made their vows to each other and exchanged rings, they were about to make very important promises; with God, and those who know them best of all – their family and friends – as witnesses. But I was also able to crack a joke at Phillip’s expense, well aware there would be at least one at mine in his best man’s speech later in the day. And when speaking about the third reason that ‘marriage is given’ – as ‘the foundation of family life in which children may be born and nurtured’ – according to the preface of the marriage service, I did speak of ‘little Garners’ being produced, much to the amusement of the congregation and bringing smiles of pleasure from the prospective grandparents.

Whilst I didn’t have to cope with using a bilingual liturgy as I had the previous weekend, I did have to ensure the correct completion and signing of the marriage registers, quarterly return and marriage certificate, something I hadn’t done for nearly seven years. And I couldn’t just sign as ‘Rector’, as I had previously for over fifteen years, but instead as ‘Priest-in-Charge of St. Clement’s, Prague, Czech Republic – Officiating Minister’. A bit of a mouthful I’m sure you’ll agree 🙂

The wedding was followed by a most enjoyable reception, held in a splendid marquee, erected in the grounds of the home of Claire’s parents on the outskirts of the nearby village of Middleton Stoney. Both the bride’s father and the groom, apologised for not being used to public speaking, but both made excellent speeches, rightly sticking to their previously well-prepared text.

The best man was inevitably, somewhat longer, with some additional ad-libbing. But he did keep us all amused. In thanking his Dad for conducting the marriage service, he described it as ‘a cracking gig’, which caused much laughter. It really was a great wedding and a privilege to be part of it.

The best man and the Officiating Minister © Ricky Yates

My first wedding of 2015

On Saturday 30^th May, I officiated at my first wedding of 2015, between Lee, an Englishman, and Petra, his Czech bride. The wedding took place at Letohrádek svatý Vojtech, Pocátky, in the Vysocina/Highlands, close to from where Petra originates.

The happy couple met whilst both working for the Irish budget airline, Ryanair. As they acknowledged when I first met them, theirs was the classic romance – dashing airline pilot falls in love with tall, beautiful air stewardess 🙂 They now live in Dubai, where Lee flies with the Emirates airline.

Lee and Petra first contacted me about their wedding in September last year. Lee was very keen to have a Church of England wedding whilst Petra wanted the wedding to take place near her Czech home. Therefore, when through a little bit of internet research, they found me, they were thrilled to discover that I could fulfil the wishes of both bride and groom.

Letohrádek svatý Vojtech seeks to maintain the atmosphere of the era of what Czechs refer to as the ‘First Republic’ – the period 1918-1938 when Czechoslovakia was an independent nation. Follow this link for more information, though the English does leave a little bit to be desired 🙁 It did make for an excellent location for the wedding.

The setting for the Marriage Service © Ricky Yates

The photograph above shows where I conducted the wedding ceremony in advance of it taking place. It was a delightful setting except that the heavens decided to open just before I pronounced the blessing. Of course, if we had started on time, rather than ten minutes later, no one would have got wet. Fortunately, the heavy shower soon passed and all the guests were able to drink a toast to the newly married couple, whilst out in the gardens surrounding the building.

Zuzka enjoying her tea which was served to her in a Pilsner Urquell glass :-) © Ricky Yates — Zuzka enjoying her tea which was served to her in a Pilsner Urquell glass 🙂 © Ricky Yates

As I always do when conducting an English-speaker to Czech wedding, I made sure that the Order of Service had the complete liturgy in both English and Czech, enabling everybody to follow the service, whichever language was being used. I was greatly assisted by Zuzka, a friend of the bride’s brother and who teaches English in a Czech secondary school, who interpreted for me and helped Petra to give her consent and make her vows in Czech, whilst I did the same for Lee in English.

Clearing up the broken plate © Ricky Yates

Whilst out in the gardens, the manageress of Letohrádek svatý Vojtech, organised a Czech wedding tradition. Just as the happy couple were posing for a few photographs, she smashed a plate behind them, and then presented them with a pan and brush, to clear up the broken pieces. The idea is that it should help them to cooperate together in their marriage. Having seen this happen at previous Czech weddings, and seeing the manageress surreptitiously bringing out a pan and brush, I knew what was coming. But it did come as quite a shock and surprise to the British relatives and friends 🙂

Wedding car, suitably decorated © Ricky Yates

Soon afterwards, Lee and Petra were driven away in a vintage Daimler, duly decorated as you can see. The car was right-hand drive and therefore presumably dated from the First Republic, as Czechoslovaks drove on the left in right-hand drive vehicles, until Hitler unilaterally changed things, after he invaded.

There was an evening reception in nearby Jihlava which I wasn’t able to attend, because of needing to get back to Prague for worship the next day. But it was delightful to receive an email from Lee and Petra the following Saturday, thanking me for making their day ‘a special one to remember’, just before I was setting off to conduct another wedding which will be the subject of my next blog post.

As a thank you, I was presented with these gifts, photographed by me the following day on our balcony.

Homemade Czech goodies, an inscribed gingerbread heart and an inscribed shot glass © Ricky Yates

Looking ahead into 2015

Since the beginning of this new year, aided by the ‘Forward Planner’ in my new Church Book & Desk Diary 2015, I’ve been looking ahead at what is in store for me and what I want to achieve in the coming year. In the past, I’ve frequently not been the best at forward planning, so with the new year comes a determination to do better.

In particular, I’ve been trying to decide when I can and want to take my annual leave, allowing for Easter and Christmas when I have to be in Prague, weddings at which I have agreed to officiate, and the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod and the ICS Chaplains Conference, at which my attendance is expected. By the end of this week, I want to have something firmly booked and begin organising cover for the Sundays I’ll be away.

Apart from the obvious ongoing important task of leading, caring for, and seeking to grow, the Prague and Brno congregations, one goal I have set for myself, is completing writing my book, ‘How to be Czech’. This has been a work in progress for over a year, since I commenced working on the project in August 2013. One of my favourite mantras is, ‘If you aim at nothing, you’re certain to hit it’. Therefore I have set myself a deadline of the end of March, to complete the text.

Having written that and put it in the public domain, means I can be held to it. You read it here and therefore you can publicly rebuke me if I don’t hit my target!

I’m very much looking forward to this year’s ICS Chaplains Conference which will take place during the last week of April. This is for two reasons. The first is that, because I work in a very isolated situation, the opportunity of meeting with colleagues for fellowship and mutual support, combined with some theological input and teaching, is highly valuable.

The second is that the conference is being held at Elspeet, in the Netherlands. Despite being fairly well-travelled in Europe, surprisingly I’ve never previously visited the Netherlands. The added bonus is that to get there, will involve driving across some interesting parts of Germany that I’ve also never seen before.

Then at the end of September, the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod meeting will be held in Zagreb, capital of Croatia. As with the ICS Chaplains Conference, the Synod meeting is always a great opportunity for fellowship and mutual support. The theme of our time together this year, will be ‘Fresh Expressions of Church’ and how these might or might not work in our continental European context. That should certainly be stimulating.

Whilst I have previously been to Croatia in 2009, and also in 1975, when it was called Yugoslavia, I’ve never been to Zagreb, only along the Adriatic coast. So once more, some new sights and experiences await me.

For the first time in nearly seven years, at the beginning of June I will conduct a wedding according to the law of England and Wales. I’ve been invited by Adam, the long-standing best friend of my son Phillip, to officiate at his marriage to his fiancée Claire. The wedding is to take place in one of my former parishes in North Oxfordshire, where Adam’s parents still live. Guess who will be the best man? It should be quite an interesting as well as being an enjoyable experience 🙂

My grandson Finley & my daughter Christa © Ian Margieson

Being in the UK for Adam and Claire’s wedding, will be part of one week of my annual leave. I shall obviously be able to spend time with my son Phillip as part of the marital celebrations. But I will also take the opportunity to visit my daughter Christa, son-in-law Ian, together with my grandson Finley. I suspect the young man will have grown some more since this delightful photograph was taken three weeks ago.

With regard to weddings, I have one definite and two others awaiting confirmation, here in the Czech Republic. All are English-speaker marrying a Czech, and all are of the more common variety of English-speaking male marrying a Czech female 🙂 It is one of the great privileges of my vocation, to be part of people’s major life events, if you will forgive me using the language of sociologists 🙂

Taking all of these commitments into account, it looks as though the best time to take at least two weeks of my annual leave, will be in October, soon after I return from Zagreb. My intention whilst living in Prague, has always been that we should take advantage of our Central European location, to visit surrounding and nearby countries. High on my ‘bucket list’, (to use a very American expression 🙂 ), has been exploring Poland and the Baltic States. My plan this coming October, is to begin ticking those two off my ‘bucket list’.

Finally for this post, 2015 will see two significant anniversaries – one historical and one personal. Monday 6^th July will be the six-hundredth anniversary of the martyrdom of the early Czech Church reformer, Jan Hus. Major events are being planned which are promised to be ‘friendly to English and German-speaking participants’ according to a publicity leaflet. Unfortunately, this website , to which the leaflet refers, is currently only in Czech 🙁 , whilst the second, just has a couple of articles in English though there are a few more in German.

A few days earlier, Wednesday 1^st July will be the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ordination as a priest by the Rt Rev’d John B. Taylor, in the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban. I’m planning a little celebration for 28^th June, which is the nearest Sunday to that significant date in my own personal journey of faith.