The Gathering

 One Church Uniting in Wales?  That was the vision put before a gathering  of some hundreds of representatives of URC, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist and (Church in Wales) Anglican churches in Aberystwyth  on Saturday.

The vision was shared in many ways, incuding  a drama which showed us how One Church  split into many denominations over 2000 years,  each with its own particuar emphasis.  Squabbling between churches  took on comic proportions before our eyes.  Interspersed with some of the Church's  best loved traditional hymns, like 'The churches one Foundation is  Jesus Christ our Lord' it highighted the anomaly of our divided reality.

Bethan,pictured here (left), took part in a panel discussion chaired by  Phil George  (Broadcaster and member of Canton Uniting Church) along with  Delyth and Trystan, Chaplains  at the University of Cardiff. 

For Bethan's viewpoint, see her separate blog post.

To my mind this  was a vital part of the day,  and perhaps  the riskiest part,  involving unscripted conversation about the ways in which young people experience church and what might be done to reach them more effectively   (Cardiff chaplains wear chaplaincy hoodies, rather than dog collars!)

Most of the day otherwise comprised presentations of one kind or another -  although there was plenty of chatter in the pauses between sessions as people responded informally to what they heard and saw.


This was an image from the day that  will remain with me. It's a picture of lichen, growing in concentric circles on a rock with a huge gap in it.   The Rev Dr Olav FykseTveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, introduced this as a  picture of church unity... growing and spreading,  creating a wholeness despite the  obvious chasms!

Communion was  co-celebrated by  five leaders  from the five covenanted denominations, with Rev Simon Walking representing the URC, Rev Dafydd Andrew Jones on behalf og the presbyterian Church of Wales and the Rev. John Garland for the covenanting Baptist churches.   A new, bilingual communion service was used, copies of this were made available to delegates for use in their own churches.

L

Lots of discussions will be taking place at local and national levels, to see if the idea of  a church Uniting in Wales is one that can take root.  Watch out for further blogs on the matter, once I have  studied the  pack of  recommendations and  discussion papers in more detail.

The drama, the order of service for communion and discussion doucments can all be downloaded from the dedicated website for  the Gathering .

"Luv 'em to bits"

“I luv ém to bits” she said as she snipped my hair and told me about her customers, some of whom have been with her for decades.  During the winter months, when the steep roads can be icy, I asked if she closed shop and just stayed home, but no, her husband either takes her or she walks “only seven miles”.  I’d imagine the customers mostly stay at home on days of ice or driving rain but again, no.  They come in all weather.  “Mad as a box of frogs,” she says. 

Here are three things I’ve noticed in the last month of living in Pontypridd:

v  Many people have been here a while.  For some, they’ve lived in this area for decades; others were born here (or very close by), others have great- grandparents born in the area.  Roots go deep, and appreciation for the land, the culture, the intertwining stories of people and place run equally deep. 



v  There is a great love for neighbours, friends, and people of the community.  And for those in this community, as in every village, city or town, who are more challenging to love -- those whose lives have been broken and walk through the world more visibly wounded than others -- love is expressed through care, patience, understanding.  People are included; programs are supported; a place is provided.

v  The people of Ponty are tough.  They’ll walk seven miles in the cold to get to work because they know a customer will come despite the weather.  These are folks that can make ends meet, who are not pretentious in the slightest but have dignity and honour and will give you the warmest welcome should you pass this way.  Hard work is never a deterrent for a worthwhile project and the concern for others almost always tops a concern for oneself.

As for the people of St. David’s Uniting, well, they are all this and then some.  They are a remarkable and delightful group of people.  The next blog entry will be about them.  For now, whoever is reading this and wherever you are, I hope you are part of a community that, for all of its seen and unseen flaws, you “love to bits”.

Yea! We're here.

Yea!!  We’re here and very happily so.  Incredibly warm and delightful people; gorgeous scenery; a manse cleaned and furnished with care, thoughtfulness and amazing generosity – words fall short except to say that we are genuinely blessed to have landed here.

From our morning walk



How do these things happen?  

There is a wonderful congregation in Vancouver named St. David’s United, and a delightful congregation in Pontypridd, Wales, named St. David’s Uniting.  5,000 miles apart, they’d never heard of each other until a couple of months ago, yet they have a historical connection through the person of Dilys Maddin.  

The Old Bridge (177something)

Pontypridd, Wales (taken from The Common)



Dilys Hughes was born in Pontypridd in the 1920’s.  She was raised and attended school here.  After the second World War, Dilys married Charles Maddin and they began a new life in a new home in Vancouver, Canada.  It turns out that a new church was developing up the road from their home (this was, after all, the 50’s, when a new church was opened in Canada every week).  Being relatively new to the area themselves, they jumped in with this new venture and helped get it off the ground.  As the building neared completion in 1957, the congregation needed a name.  Several suggestions were put forward, including one from Dilys.  In respect to the patron saint of her beloved Wales, she suggested this new church be called St. David’s.  

I don’t know if the name seemed a good fit or if it was helped by the, shall we say, persuasive skills and enthusiasm of Dilys, but one way or the other the name St. David’s won the day and this is how a congregation in Pontypridd and in Vancouver were first connected.

Over 50 years later, this connection was entirely lost until remembered by Dilys’ daughter, who now lives in Arizona and, when she discovered I was going to serve St. David’s in Pontypridd, sent an “I can’t believe it!” e-mail.  That I should happen to be called to the same town where Dilys was born and raised and attended church, and that she would the one who brought the name to the congregation in Vancouver is more than a coincidence.  It is remarkable and makes me wonder about relationships and connections.  It makes me wonder about how God works in our life, hitching us to people who share unseen lines of connection.

When I was able to tell the congregation in Vancouver where we were going and what we’ll be doing, two people approached me and said, “We’ll be right down the road!”  Bob Burrows, a retired minister from St. David’s and a member of the Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir was leaving to sing at the Cardiff Castle.  He had some extra time, so hired a car to take him to Pontypridd, 20 minutes away. He found St. David’s Uniting, in the center of town, took photographs, and called us from his cell phone to say, “I’m so excited for you!”  

Only four days later another member of the Vancouver St. David’s congregation, Hew Gwynne, was coming to Cardiff to visit relatives.  The Sunday after Bob was here, Hew Gwynne arrived for coffee after the Sunday service.  He, too, took photographs and sent an enthusiastic e-mail.  

St David's Uniting, Pontypridd

What are the chances that a person born in Ponty would be a founding member of a congregation in West Vancouver who helped name the church, and 55 years later I would be called to go from this West Vancouver congregation to serve an interim position at St. David’s in Ponty, and within two weeks of informing the W. Van congregation of our whereabouts, two members would be visiting the town and the church where my family and I would soon be arriving?  Anybody good at statistics?  What are the odds?

There seems to be a bridge of connection between the two communities.  Perhaps you’ve seen this 5,000 mile bridge that spans from Pontypridd to Vancouver.  It crosses the Atlantic, rides over cities and prairies, clears the rockies and coastal mountains and lands in West Vancouver.  You may not be able to drive on this bridge or find it on Google Maps, but you can travel this distant line of connection, as several already have.

We are connected in ways unseen.

Dan Chambers

Tango with Death

Waitresses are at the ready to welcome you to Estanco Ranch in  Argentina. The year is 1953. Please take you seats  and enjoy a a three course meal with your friends. Senor and Senora love to entertain guests in their home.

But no!  What does the Senora say?  Murder... surely not!

Listen to the cast tell their stories and the mystery will unfold...

Evonna and Dr FR Ensic...  have they been poisoning the Senor?



Has Tobo been seeking revenge?
           

Six people correctly identified the true murderer (no.. I'm not telling).

Everyone left the building unharmed, but having laughed  and talked a lot.

A new Moderator for URC Wales Synod

In a packed chapel,  (The Plough Chapel, Brecon)  the Rev Simon Walkling was inducted as the new Moderator of the National Synod of Wales, of the United Reformed Church.

A bus-load travelled up  from St David's Uniting Church, to  take part in the occasion and to wish  Simon  Godspeed  in this new phase of  his ministry.

The Rev Michael Jagessar, Moderator or General Assembly,  presided at the service and the Rev John Humphreys, a former Moderator of the Wales  Synod, gave the address.  He encouraged us to think of ourselves as churches 'on the brink of something new', rather than churches looking over our shoulder at our past.

Cantorion sang, as did Pontypridd Male Voice Choir.. and Simon sang with them both!

The sun shone for us to enjoy tea and cake on the paved area outside the chapel,  and to catch up with friends,before boarding the bus back home.

Kairos Summer Mission Households

Elinor  will be living in a Christian Community in West London next year, during her university studies. She attended  a special fortnight in Glasgow to prepare for the experience.

Over the past year of studying in London, I have been involved in a Christian community called Koinonia (“community” in Greek). Koinonia is one in a global network of University Christian Outreaches. Each outreach is associated with all-age Christian communities which make up the Sword of the Spirit movement. Kairos is the name given to all youth programmes (under 25’s) within this movement, and is therefore the umberella under which Koinonia comes. This specific programme – Summer Mission Households – was for a fortnight, hosted by the Community ofthe Risen Christ in Glasgow.

Service

Kids club

The focus of Summer Mission Households (SMH) was service. We had sessions where we listened about being servant-hearted; about the importance of letting people serve you, as well as offering to serve yourself; about taking joy in serving, and realising how each little thing no matter how dull it may seem at the time, is working for God’s kingdom. In this spirit we threw ourselves into the service projects to which we were allocated. One (which I didn’t see first hand) was Clay Church. I believe this was set up by one man who basically gathers groups together and goes to more run down or abandoned areas of Glasgow to do ‘guerrilla gardening’ i.e. mass weeding and planting of pulbic spaces, but without the  permission of the authorities! 

The project I was most involved with was Missionaries of Charity – a kids’ club run for three weeks during the summer holidays by a group of nuns stemming from the movement of sisters established by Mother Teresa. We spent 3 hours a day with them playing games, singing songs, doing crafts and skits and one outing to the park. 

Housework in Belleisle St

Other projects were at the Preshal Centre and Bellisle Street. Bellisle Street is the location of our host community’s offices, where we did some painting, cleaning and re-arranging of rooms. The Preshal Centre is a homeless shelter providing a place for sharing experiences and building friendships. We were there primarily to serve and clear lunch, but also ended up leading a little sing-a-long, participating in a snooker tournament, and chatting and hearing their stories which really moved some of us.

Households

Household training

 Another major focus of the fortnight was a series of training sessions, working through a ‘household manual’. Households are a common thing throughout the Sword of the Spirit communities. They’re single sex houses, teaching the importance of compromise and the beauty of common living. All expenses are shared including the buying of food, spending evenings doing house activities to get to know each other are encouraged, and it’s important to have the house available for events and visitors. It’s also a great way to give insight into Christian life to those who perhaps aren’t so familiar with it. Of course, each house varies depending on those living there. It is up to the residents how to organise the daily morning prayer, and who has which role within the house e.g. treasurer, events co-ordinator, shopper, etc.

 

Drawing on how  our experience of living during this fortnight, the training sessions looked at how recommendations in the ‘manual’  help us to explore our faith deeper and live with God as the centre. I am going into a household based on this model in London in September for the year.

Trip to Loch Lomond

Getting to know the community

Alongside all of this, we had split men’s and women’s sessions, ‘Lord’s Days’ and a few freer, more relaxed, retreat days. Lord’s Day is a weekly occurrence within Sword of the Spirit communities. As the communities are ecumenical, and people are encouraged to worship within their own Church traditions on a Sunday, this is celebrated on Saturday evenings and consists of communion and dinner.

We will forever be grateful to the hospitality of the Glasgow community! We were spread between 3 houses (2 houses of 5 girls, one of 11 guys). Two of these were houses that belonged to members of the community, given for our use over the fortnight. We were hosted by a few families for dinners. Many gave us lifts to and from sessions as one household was a bus ride away from the majority of the community residences. Some of the community’s youth were even helping out with the Missionaries of Charity kids’ club. We had some talking to us - as part of the retreat day, in a session on service, and most notably in the ‘Slice of Life’ sessions where different people were invited to each house to share their testimonies. It was incredibly inspiring to hear how people had retained their faith and trust in God throughout life’s trials!

  

Elinor Rhys

CWM Assembly 2012 in American Samoa

In June, Elinor  was elected,  the youngest ever trustee/company director (18 years of age at the time) of the Council for World Mission. Both the Presbyterian Church of Wales and the United Reformed Church are member denominations of CWM. Previous blogs (in August 2011) have described the CWM European Region family conference 'Window on the World' which latterly has been held in Llangrannog, Wales.

Elinor was invited to represent the PCW at this years World Assembly. This is her story...

The Journey

I flew on the 11th of June, meeting some fellow youth at Heathrow airport for the first time. Each of us were representing a different denomination – I was there with the Presbyterian Church of Wales. None of us knew what to expect, and were hoping that we’d remembered to pack everything. The journey itself was quite an adventure, flying first to Los Angeles for an overnight stay, then on to Hawaii, before landing in Pago Pago, American Samoa’s capital – a total of 22 hours in the air. It was great seeing welcome banners for the Council for WorldMission (CWM) General Assembly 2012 along with some local villagers and a camera crew! The assembly was hosted by the Congregational Christian Church ofAmerican Samoa (CCCAS) a Kanana Fou Theological Seminary. 

Watch the A'oloau Youth performance

American Samoan Facts

American Samoa (not to be confused with the independent state of Western Samoa) takes up only about 76 square miles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, small enough to have only one post code! The island is an “unincorporated territory” of the U.S. meaning that residents have free and unrestricted entry into the U.S. but are not citizens and therefore may not vote in U.S. presidential elections. There is a curious co-existence of cultures – the prominent American fast food industry, and the traditional Samoan rituals, craftsmanship and structures, especially on village levels where “matai” (chiefs) are elected by consensus. Fun fact: there are two McDonald’s on the island, one of which is the only McDonald’s in the world to ever run out of food!

 Youth Pre-Assembly

The Youth delegates

Samoan sizes!

Our programme started with a Youth Pre-Assembly, a new addition to the CWM General Assembly, consisting of 30 ‘youth’ representatives from the 31 member churches of CWM (unfortunately Malawi’s representatives could not make it). I was there on behalf of the Presbyterian Church of Wales. 

working on the statement

We spent most of this time reflecting on the theme of the assembly – “Hope: the language of life” – and were all pleasantly surprised at the similarities we found in our visions of “hope”, despite regional and denominational differences in other areas. The sharing of current hopes in our regions were also invaluable. From this, we drafted regional statements on what “hope” meant for us, and composed a statement as youth representatives, later to be presented to the whole Assembly. We worked incredibly hard on this, working till 12-4am most nights. This required ensuring that everyone understood and agreed with what we were writing, especially as it was a minority of us who regarded English as our first language. It enstilled a discipline in us to slow down our speech and keep checking that everyone was following.

[For a copy of the final statement, please contact me]

Experiencing The Island

An obvious highlight of our stay was the weekend of June 16th-17th,  which was set aside for ‘exposure trips’ around this beautiful island. All 150 or so staff and delegates (an average of 3-4 from each of the 31 denominations) were transported to 3 different villages on the Saturday. Each village laid on food and drink for us, and the local youth groups performed – a huge part of American Samoan life – many using contemporary pop music with Samoan lyrics written with a Christian meaning. One of these villages was Leone. This was the village worst hit by the tsunami of 2009, with 10 fatalities and many buildings demolished or damaged. In it’s beautiful bay, John Williams of the London Missionary Society landed and built the island’s first church in the late 1830s. The population is now estimated as 98% Christian. 

Church at Kanana Fou

On the Sunday, we travelled in groups of 3 or 4 to various CCCAS congregations around the island and contributed to their services in whatever way we were asked to. Here we truly experienced the extreme generosity of American Samoan people. Each of us were fed generously, were presented with gifts (which many of us boxed up and posted home,  as there was no room on our luggage!) and we were treated with the highest respect. It was quite strange being treated in such a manner, but incredibly humbling.

The Election Process

The assembly got into full swing, with the main agenda being the elections. But, we also enjoyed talks from the keynote speaker, Allan Boesak and our bible study leader, Chris Ferguson along with afternoon workshops. All  related to the assembly theme, and the idea of fighting against oppressive empires was prominent. Unfortunately we, as youth representatives, had to pull ourselves out of many of these sessions due to difficulties and restrictions arising regarding our duty to put forward two youth delegates for seats on the Executive Council. After much discussion, tears, frustration and prayer, we put forward the only names available to us, contrary to the new structure’s intention. However, we addressed the assembly with this issue, and we hope that raising it is the first of many steps towards a more equal and less constricting election system.

[If anyone would like a copy of this address, or  for more details, please contact me or watch the video]

Coconut Theology

An obviously integral component of American Samoan life is the coconut. Throughout the Pacific, in fact, the tree and fruit are used for building, cooking, drinking, craft-making and even as soap. In our closing worship, we experienced a Coconut Communion and coconut theology was explained to us:

The hard outer shell – the “providence of God”, protecting and cocooning us

The flesh of the coconut – the “body of Christ” broken for us

The coconut water/juice – the “blood of Christ” shed for us

The kernal/ o’o – the Holy Spirit

Finally, for new life to emerge from the coconut, the seed must first die to create life.

Twain's coconut impression

Cool coconut!

The Council at work

A new council has been elected, and  I  was elected as the representative for the Presbyterian Church of Wales for the next 4 years. My first meeting was 5 days after landing home from American Samoa (not including the meeting at the end of the General Assembly), and the next meetings are coming up in October – one in Cardiff and the other in Singapore. Prayers would be appreciated on balancing this committment with my studies and everything else.

Wearing our gifts from Lata

Elinor Rhys