David Parry writes:

This week’s picture shows a 13th Century Font near the entrance of St. Benedict’s Church, in Gyffin. As in most churches, that means the first thing you see on arrival is the place of Baptism. It is there as a visual reminder of the invitation to become a Christian.

Dafydd ap Gronw baptised his baby son Richard in this font, 515 years ago. Dafydd was the parish priest of Gyffin and married to Sioned. Their son grew up to be ordained as well. In fact Richard Davies became a Bishop, of St. Asaph and then St. David’s. He is famous for helping to translate the Bible into Welsh. Leaders like Richard were vital to the renewal of Christianity in Wales, and also gave us the Welsh language in its modern, accessible form.

As a boy in Conwy however, Richard the priest’s son was bullied because of his speech impediment. They called him ‘Biffe’ (idiot), a nickname he never quite managed to shrug off, even once he was a celebrated scholar and eloquent preacher.

All of this reminds me that ordinary believers with real troubles and challenges (not perfect ‘plaster statue’ saints) are called into Christian service. We all need His Salvation and we are all received into His family in exactly the same way, by Baptism. But amazingly, we have different contributions to make as Jesus transforms the world. Every single one of us important to the emerging Kingdom of God. That’s why the font in Gyffin is a reminder of vocation as well.

I couldn’t be more proud of my wife Eryl as she is ordained today. Anyone who has experienced her gifts and personality will need no persuading that she is already called to Ministry and that this new vocation is clearly God’s will. Yet I know that Eryl would be the first to say that vocation is not just narrowly about priesthood.  Each of us is called in a different, special way. Our calling is unique and personal. 

Each life offered to God, as baby Richard was, each person obedient to what God is asking of them, as Eryl is today, helps to bring about God’s purposes and to share His love. It all starts with our Baptism. From that point on we are on the team. Eryl’s calling has unfolded over many years, with plenty of surprises. So watch out! God may still have some surprises in store for you too. 

What is your calling?

Through these times of greater restriction on meeting, many people are saying these simple Services together on Zoom, WhatsApp or other platforms. They are being used at least once a week for Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer/Compline. Others are live-streaming Services on Facebook. So why not invite a friend to join you in ‘having a go’?

Clive Addison, from the Bro Celynnin Ministry Team, writes:

During lockdown many of us have become more in touch with our inner life, seen the world differently and then found new faith in God. That renewed relationship with Him proves what the Bible has promised. If we are willing to come closer to God, He will never ignore that effort. In response to our longing, He always comes closer to us!

When we are able to return to more normal activities, and life gets busier again, the challenge will be how to keep that closer relationship with God, which we have found to be such a blessing. When I became a committed Christian in my mid-thirties I remember struggling with that very question. I was introduced by a more mature friend to the idea of a daily “Quiet Time.” Here is how it goes!

First find a chair that you will use every day for the purpose (since few of us have our own personal chapel). The chair should stay in the same position. It can be one of your easy chairs in the living room, a favourite corner of the garden, your spare bedroom or whatever –  but “that chair” becomes your Holy Place.

Second, allocate at least half an hour every day as your Quiet Time. When my friend told me that, I laughed. I was a family man with two children in school and a job requiring substantial overtime to cover my responsibilities. Where was I going to find half an hour of uninterrupted time every day? He responded by asking, “When do you get up in the morning?” When I told him 6.30am he said, “So get up at 6.00am and spend the first half hour of your day with God! Surely you can do that after what He has done for you?”   

Point taken. That half hour has been in the daily timetable ever since. Each of us needs to find our own best time. But choosing to make an appointment every single day to be in God’s presence is truly life-changing.
 
Third, what to do with that precious half hour? I spend it in Bible reading and prayer, in that special quietness. Ask God to speak to you personally as you read His Word, to let you know His plans for your life and for that day. This is more than intellectual study. Take time to ponder and reflect. Reading with your head and heart lets God speak to your soul and spirit within. Ask Him to help you to do that and after a while you will find that He has. Many keep a prayer diary or journal to remember. A good cup of coffee helps with keeping awake and resisting early morning dozing!
 
Fourth, daily Bible notes or devotional material can really help. There are loads out there in the Christian publishing market to choose from. The website christianweb.org.uk, “An A to Z of Bible reading Notes,” can help, but if you find the list overwhelming, ask one of the Ministry Team, our reflection contributors or a Christian friend. Here is a short list of those I have used over the years, in no particular order:

If you decide the Scripture Union “Daily Bread” might be for you, then for many years now, Heather Addison, Ministry Area and St. Mary’s Conwy Warden, takes a regular order from Kingdom Krafts to distribute. Contact Heather on 01492 572924 if you would like to be added to her list.

May Jesus bless you as you make time for Him every day. 

Ros Hughes writes:

This bible reading from Romans 8 is often read at a funeral service – words of comfort and reassurance.

During the past number of months, we have heard of so much sadness, distress, and bereavement. Few of us have not felt the impact of loss and grief and witnessed loss and grief for those around us, and through the media we have been constantly aware of those suffering around the world.

Recently, after the death of a friend, I found some solace in drawing and painting the picture above of flowers from our garden. While we can speak words of sympathy and remember those distressed, sick, and bereaved in our prayers, and for many this can be some comfort and support, we cannot take away the problems and pain of others.

Many years ago, there was a tragedy in our community – friends of ours lost their young child. My son was devastated by the sudden death of his friend who a couple of days earlier had been at his 5th birthday party. As my little boy clung to me in distress, I had tried my best to console and explain my belief that he was held in God’s unshakeable love through Jesus His Son. My son had replied to me: ‘But, I want to stay with, Mummy – I know you – and I don’t know Jesus.’

In the bible reading above, written in such poetic language, Paul wants to share his confidence – his belief and trust in God. He had understood the Gospel message and had lived and felt God’s love through Jesus, His son. We are living through difficult times and life’s circumstances have been challenging for many of us.

Previously held ideas and beliefs are questioned and confidence shaken. Just as my young son voiced his reaction in such complete honesty and openness – in our reflection and prayer today we need true honesty and openness ourselves as we come before God and consider these words that nothing can ‘separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.’

How is God’s love being shown to you today? 

~

Prayer
Wherever you are
in light or darkness,
joy, or pain –
God is with you
May you know the comfort of his presence –
today and always.
Amen.

Daily Reflections

Sunday Services

David Jones writes:

Like many people, I have become more and more unsure what our approach should be to COVID-19. The return to lockdown in some parts of England felt like a big backward step, just when we could see daylight and a better future.

I have no wish to delve into the politics. Has Wales, with its more conservative stance, been wiser? Or have we just been fortunate in lagging behind the spread of coronavirus, able to wait and watch what happens elsewhere before we make our changes? Whatever the rights and wrongs of relaxations and restrictions, trying to unravel what we should do for the best, many of us just feel tied up in knots by it all.

That phrase, “tied up in knots” got me thinking. First a definition: ‘to make oneself confused, anxious, as when trying to make a decision to come up with another idea. To become tangled as when conveying an idea to another.’ Yes, definitely that.  

So, what does a Christian do in such circumstances? If it’s me, go for a walk and ponder what God is saying to me – what guidance can I find? I came across the amazing anonymous prayer written below. What I find so special about it is the way you can add your own feelings, concerns, worries, hopes and fears (to the ‘knots’). I invite you all to add your own, whatever knots you would like God’s help to untangle.

Long before any thought of writing reflections, I (per chance or even under guidance) came across a topic that I had never heard of. Mary “The Undoer of Knots”. Mary, the Mother of our Lord, is depicted thus in today’s painting by Johan Georg Schmidtner (from around 1700). It hangs in the pilgrim Church of St. Peter Perlach, in Augsburg, Bavaria.

St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, who was martyred in 202, is credited with first giving Mary that title. He in turn was inspired by St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians: “for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15: 22 

As Irenaeus puts it, “Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by her obedience, undid it.” In other words, by carrying our Saviour and bringing Him to birth, Mary has a role in undoing the sinful rebellion which was written into everyone’s DNA by our ancestors.

So how does this picture help with my personal concerns and the struggles we are all living through? My conviction is that because of God’s grace and forgiveness, sending His Son into our sinful world, none of our knots are ever too big for God to undo. 

Prayer
Dear God,
please untie the knots
that are in my mind, my heart and my life.
Remove the ‘have nots’,
the ‘can nots’ and the ‘do nots’
that I have embedded in my mind.
Erase the ‘will nots’, ‘may nots’,
‘might nots’ that may find a home in my heart.
Release me from the ‘could nots’ and ‘should nots’
that obstruct my life.
And most of all, dear God,
I ask that you remove from my mind,
my heart and my life
all of the ‘am nots’,
especially the thought that I am not good enough,
which I have allowed to hold me back
from true faith in you.
Nothing is so tangled that you will
not hear our prayers and petitions,
through Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Reverend David Parry writes:

God the Holy Spirit sometimes speaks to me in pictures. Four years ago when I became vicar of Bro Celynnin I saw several times an image of two hands, playing a piano. 

What struck me most as I reflected was that the hands work together. Their roles are very different but it takes both to produce a tune. If I understand it correctly (as a non-musician) the right hand plays the melody whilst the left accompanies, also adding the important bass notes.

That image seems apt for the healthy blend of tradition and innovation with which our new Ministry Area has flourished. My own renewed ministry as a parish priest (transplanted from urban to rural) and my wife Eryl becoming a Pioneer Minister (beyond our existing congregations) has also reminded me of two hands working together – along with everyone else’s hands of course.

However I now believe that what God most wanted to reveal to me by that image was the way forward we will need after lockdown. 

On Sunday 9th August, St Peter’s Llanbedr-y-Cennin and St Mary’s Caerhun resume holding services. Everyone who attends must wear a mask, sit 2m apart, not embrace, not sing, etc. We still have some problems to solve before we can open our other buildings for public worship. 

Open buildings will surely play the whole ‘tune’ of Christian life and Mission won’t they? Back to normal. No, I think not. They are just one ‘hand’.

The other hand is this deeply personal connection with each other and God, not bounded by physical meeting in a particular place at a particular time. It is the shared life and new friendships we have made by phone call, card, email and Zoom. We have heard new voices, encouraged one another’s faith and all grown as disciples. We really need both hands and we really need to stay connected to everyone, by all means possible not just ‘in church’.

That is why for everyone, not just those still shielding, we will still produce a weekly YouTube video -but it will now arrive on a Saturday morning. 

Our popular Zoom Coffee will also continue, but we need to choose a new day. Please complete a little survey before Friday morning, by clicking here.

Lastly, but for the first time since we began these emails, I need to mention money. We are not allowed to handle cash (and to prevent infection, many banks will not accept it either). In any case the massive drop in our income without services underlines the weakness of relying on collection plates. 

So if you feel that God is at work in the ministry of Bro Celynnin – in both hands, buildings and online – please consider setting up or increasing a regular donation to our mission via the Gift Direct scheme. You may also feel led to make a one-off thanksgiving gift using our Charities Aid Foundation account. More details can be found by clicking here:

I give thanks for you, for all that we are becoming together, and most of all for what God is doing in our midst….for the beautiful tune being played.

During this Coronavirus lockdown, I have been fighting a daily battle with unread emails. I sign petitions for many good causes, but each one signed seems to encourage at least two more to my inbox. I was also receiving daily devotionals not just from Bro Celynnin but from the Church of England and America too. America likes to go big; they also send weekly and monthly items, plus Bible studies that take six weeks.

When I found myself skim-reading to keep up I let several go, and finally got the unread emails under control. I could also concentrate more on those I kept, and even look out for something new. Enjoying our Bro Celynnin Sunday services, I got tempted to look at other people’s services. There was a daily service from one of my friends in a Kent church.

It was on Facebook. I don’t use Facebook. I was put off years ago when someone I knew was very abusive on the infant social media, for anyone to read. However, I wanted to see my friend’s service, so I clicked on the link. I needn’t have bothered. It had been live-streamed, so there was nothing till the next day. I beat a hasty retreat from Facebook, vowing not to use it again. 
 
Next day however, when I turned on my phone, I found dozens of Facebook ‘Friend Requests’ from Conwy and Kent people – some I didn’t even recognise. I clicked on one of the unfamiliar faces. Facebook then told me where they lived and who their ‘Friends’ were. They seemed to know all about them and be willing to share that information with me! I found it invasive and unnerving.

Psalm 139 says that God knows even more about us than social media does, every intimate detail from before we were born. Should we be similarly threatened by that lack of privacy? No, I am not alarmed. Instead I feel comforted.

The difference is that the Lord loves us. He loved us, ‘warts and all’ in our sin, before we even knew Him. He still loves us now, through all the mistakes we make, and He will continue to love us beyond our dying day.
 
Paul’s short letter to Titus is worth reading. Paul says, “But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3: 4-7

That is Good News, something I’m happy to share with everyone: face to socially-distanced face, by email, or perhaps one day, even on Facebook!

Prayer
Ever-present God,
help us to find you always,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.