Sunday June 28^th

Slide: Rev Eryl Parry

Video: Eryl garden video 1

Good morning! Bore da! Croeso cynnes iawn. A very warm welcome here to our Bro Celynnin Sunday service. We’re so pleased that you have joined us. Today is quite a special day because it’s a bit of a landmark. It is the one hundredth day of either daily reflections or these on-line services. What is there to celebrate? Well, of course we’re celebrating the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God as he has taken us through these one hundred days, and we pray that we may learn something in the waiting, and that is our theme today: waiting. So I’ve deliberately come to the vicarage garden, because many of you know and love this plum tree, and here are all of the plums! We know that we will get a great harvest here in August, as we always do and that is the faith that we have. And so from wherever we are, whether we’re here in Conwy or right around the world, we can be drawn together in the knowledge of the goodness of God, as we wait on him. So let us pray together.

Prayer: candle video as background

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ8pe3Ps-Vc

Eryl opening prayer video 1

Father God, we thank you, that whether or not we are together in our church buildings, or whether we are at home in all kinds of places, here in Conwy and right across the world, each one of us can come into your faithful presence.

We are here before you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive our worship. Receive our faith. Father God, receive ourselves. Amen.

Eryl opening prayer video 2

Dduw cariadlon, deuwn o’th flaen yn enw Crist. Derby nein haddoliad, derby ein ffydd, derbyn ni. Amen.

Back to Eryl: garden video 2

And so now let us worship together in the words of a beautiful song by Sam Hargreaves that some of us learned at the beginning of March when we were at a conference. We picked it up so quickly, as there are three melody lines that you sing one after the other, before then – it’s really up to you whether you choose to sing it as a round, or whether you pick up one line and begin to sing that again and again. I particularly love the ‘alleluias’ that you sing over the top.

Jesus, lead us to the Father by your Spirit. Help us draw near.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUSbgFc_WXw

Slide Lamentations 3: 19-26

Reading video

Just thinking of my troubles and my lonely wandering makes me miserable.

That’s all I ever think about, and I am depressed.

Then I remember something that fills me with hope. The Lord’s kindness never fails!

If he had not been merciful, we would have been destroyed.

The Lord can always be trusted to show mercy each morning.

Deep in my heart I say, “The Lord is all I need; I can depend on him!”

The Lord is kind to everyone who trusts and obeys him.

It is good to wait patiently for the Lord to save us.

Slide: Rev David Parry

There’s a very familiar symbol in 2020 and I don’t mean the one about keeping 2 metres apart.

I mean one that looks like a spoked wheel, endlessly going round and round and round. The one we get on our devices when they’re trying to connect to the internet. Sometimes you just give up, you won’t wait any longer. But we don’t have the option of giving up in this lockdown, in this social distancing.

It’s very frustrating, especially if you are one of those shielding, stuck at home, longing to be able to embrace the people that you love. The reading today from Lamentations captures that feeling in the human spirit. “Just thinking of my troubles and my lonely wandering makes me miserable. It is all I ever think about and I am depressed.” Going round and round and round.

But then the writer remembers something that changes their perspective. Actually not something but someone. A relationship with God, characterised by trustworthiness and faith. “The Lord’s kindness never fails!” that’s what I remember. I remember God’s mercy in the past and I remember that he can be trusted to show mercy again every morning. And so I break that negative cycle of thinking. I change the way I deal with my situation, with this waiting.

And in my heart I say, “The Lord is all I need; I can depend on him. The Lord is kind to everyone who trusts and obeys him.” And another way of translating the word ‘trust’ or ‘faith’ is ‘waiting’. We wait for those we know will come. We wait for those who in the past have not let us down, knowing that this time they won’t let us down either. And that’s why the writer says, “It is good to wait patiently for the Lord to save us.”

When we trust in the God whose character doesn’t change then we find we can wait. And in the waiting, however long it is, there is a spiritual treasure: a knowledge of his presence with us and a strengthened faith. “Those who wait on the Lord” as it says in Isaiah, “will renew their strength.” Amen.

Prayers video

Let us Pray.

Lord we thank you that we can meet together to worship you. We ask that you will give wisdom to those in Government, the Welsh Assembly, and to the leaders of the Church, as they have difficult decisions to make about relaxing the restrictions on our society. Help people to be patient, to wait for the right time to take the next step.

Lord, in your Mercy – Hear our Prayer.

We pray for our local community, for all who live and work in Conwy and the Conwy Valley. Continue to keep us safe, and touch with your healing hand all who are sick. We pray for those overcome with worry that they might find peace in you. We pray for all who are grieving that they might find comfort in you.

Lord, in your Mercy – Hear our Prayer.

Image of Llangelynnin window

Father, we know that our whole western culture encourages instant results and impatience. As we look to our future, help us to be prepared to wait, and follow your leading in our lives, and, not in impatience, to write our own story by following foolish shortcuts just of our own making.

Image of Llangelynnin door

As patience is a gift of your Spirit, that tells us that you use periods of waiting to mould and develop our faith.

We know that we can trust you, that you are wise and good, and that you will be working something wonderful for our future.

So this morning, give us the strength to wait, as we give you all the praise, all the worship and all the glory. Amen.

Eryl’s outro video

Now let us draw these prayers together with the words that Jesus taught us, first in Welsh and then in English.

Ein Tad, yr hwn wyt yn y nefoedd,
Sancteiddier dy enw.
Deled dy deyrnas.
Gwneler dy ewyllys, megis yn y nef,

felly ar y ddaear hefyd.
Dyro i ni heddiw ein bara beunyddiol.
A maddau i ni ein dyledion,

fel y maddeuwn ninnau i’n dyledwyr.
Ac nac arwain ni i brofedigaeth;

eithr gwared ni rhag drwg.
Canys eiddot ti yw’r deyrnas, a’r gallu,

a’r gogoniant, yn oes oesoedd. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Thank you for being with us today. At the end of our service now our prayer is that God would give us that very deep peace. The peace that flows over us, and into the coming week. Here, the song by John Bell of the Iona Community – a deep peace, Amen.

Sunday June 28th

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Sunday June 28^th