February 2012
The Rector Writes – February 2012
Dear Friends
I don’t know how many of you have received a mailing about the Hanson Cement Investigation. If you haven’t, you may not be aware that there is to be an opportunity to meet members of the response team which was set up because of fears about the effects on health of the kiln at Padeswood, at Hope Parish Hall extension between 5 and 7 pm on Tuesday 7th February.
January 2012
The Rector Writes – January 2012
Dear Friends
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is observed between 18th January, when the Church celebrates the occasion when St Peter first acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, and 25th January, when the Church celebrates the conversion of St Paul. It was established in 1908. The centre pages of this magazine list the various events locally which have been organized this year to encourage members of local churches to worship together and to get to know one another better. This article gives me an opportunity to reflect on the way in which Christians of different traditions express their unity.
December 2011
The Rector Writes – December 2011
Dear Friends
Bishop Gregory asked for the following letter to be read out in all churches on Sunday 27th November. However, since we had special services at both churches on that occasion, and since our Reader-in-Training, Sue Bethel, will be preaching on the first Sunday in December, it seems appropriate to print the letter here instead, with the added benefit that more people will read it than usually come to church in the parish.
November 2011
The Rector Writes – November 2011
Dear Friends
Been there! Done that! I often meet people who tell me about their former involvement with the Church, either in this parish or elsewhere. It’s not always possible to judge what reaction they are expecting from me: approval that for so long they sang in the choir or arranged the flowers, or respect for them as people who knew the place long before I came.
October 2011
The Rector Writes – October 2011
Dear Friends,
What Is Church For? This is the subject which the main speaker at the Diocesan Conference will address on the afternoon of Sunday 9th October at the conference facilities at Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse. Canon Robin Gamble is a good speaker and I have heard him on several occasions before, but I think that I will get more from his talk, and the discussion which follows, if I set out my own understanding first. I’ll report back to you on what he said after the Conference.
September 2011
The Rector Writes – September 2011
Dear Friends
On Tuesday 9th August crowds were rioting and looting in several cities in England and there was no telling if the crisis would escalate into an unimaginably dire situation, or whether calm would be re-imposed, as turned out to be the case. That morning the passage of Scripture suggested by the Bible-reading plan which I am following seemed particularly appropriate and brought the comfort of knowing that these circumstances or others very similar have been seen before by people who trust and obey God.
August 2011
The Rector Writes – August 2011
Dear Friends
Over the past few years I have got used to eating my own words concerning the sale of the land behind Emmanuel and then about progress on the construction. With that experience it will be little problem to my pride to report that the date for reopening the church will now be Sunday 11th September. I may say that I am very pleased with the quality of our builder’s work and the way which he has handled problems which have arisen.
July 2011
The Rector Writes – July 2011
Dear Friends
On Mothering Sunday we drove to Llangollen to walk up to Castell Dinas Bran – Crow City Castle. We had not even reached the bridge over the canal when we witnessed an event which will remain in my memory for a long time. It turned out well but could have been fatal. A boy of seven or eight was on a scooter alongside his parents and his younger brother. He began to scoot steeply downhill when he was only yards from me and his family. I recognised that his scooter hadn’t got adequate brakes
May 2011
>The Rector Writes – May 2011
Dear Friends
We will soon have the opportunity to vote in the elections for the Welsh Assembly Government. At least one of the minority parties claim in their publicity that Britain is a Christian country, with the implication that it is only through voting for them that the true values of this nation will be promoted. This makes me ask what they mean by the term.
April 2011
The Rector Writes – April 2011
Dear Friends,
Sometimes I wonder what I’m going to write about in this article, so I sit down with a pad of paper and jot down where my thoughts have been over recent weeks. This month I’m going to offer some reflections on the situation in Libya because 5th May is the 30th anniversary of my flying out to Benghazi to work there on roads projects for Ove Arup, the consulting engineers. It is also the 28th anniversary of my finally returning from there. As it happens I had never been abroad before then, so reporting for duty in an Arab country where few of the population spoke English was a rude shock!