Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, This month, Home-Link is with you a week early and with this copy you will have received your Palm Cross and Easter card from the Pastorate. Easter Sunday is on 4th April and therefore, I take this opportunity to wish you a happy and blessed Easter. This is the second Easter we have celebrated in lockdown and I was hoping that we would be back in our churches. Sadly, the pandemic means this is not possible, so we continue with our telephone worship and I look forward to hearing you at our usual time of 11am. There is still uncertainty about our plan to hold a drive-in communion service at Tiers Cross, so watch this space for any updates in this respect. In March of 2020, I was on holiday in Krakow, Poland and it was clear that the coronavirus was taking hold in many parts of the world. The infection rate in Poland was extremely low but as we neared the end of our week, the Polish government began to text all tourist warning of potential disruption to holidays. We were scheduled to fly out at 10pm Saturday 14th March and that afternoon, it was announced that all airports and borders in Poland would close at midnight. We had a ticket booked and were advised our seat was safe, but the airport was a scene of bedlam. Thousands had turned up to get flights out before the borders closed and people were taking flights to Norway, Spain, France – anywhere that would get them out. Extra planes arrived and we got on our plane as planned and took off a few hours late. On arriving home in the early hours of Sunday morning, it was clear that we would not be able to meet in our churches and so it was that we stopped holding our services in church. Our first Home-Link was posted out on Wednesday 19th March and until September, it was sent out weekly, then to monthly, with its accompanying prayer sheet. On 22nd March, I put out our first online prayer and readings from out churches on Facebook and this has continued every week since. On 12th April, we held our first telephone worship, and this has continued every week since. A few days later, on Friday 17th April, we held our Zoom Coffee Morning, and apart from a break over the summer, this has become a regular weekly event for many of us. We held our first drive in communion on 16th August. I want to thank you for supporting the various ‘events’ that I have planned and run. Without your support, I would have floundered months ago. I am so pleased we have managed to keep in touch and found new and different ways of serving God in our communities. I think it will stand us in good stead for the coming months. I pray that those who are unable to join us still make us of the prayer sheets and will be reassured that we hold you in our prayers when we meet on the telephone. All of this means you have a full year’s worth of prayers you can use in the coming months. Everything is on our website and all the systems are set up so you can use them. I still hope that one or two of you will consider being the account holders for the telephone conference facility as it allows you to do a little bit more if you can access the system. Names to me please! My time as your minister is drawing to a close so we need to sort this as best as we can. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A special event happened in Wolfsdale last week when Mrs Olive Watts celebrated her 100th birthday. Olive is officially the oldest member of the pastorate and has been part of Wolfsdale chapel all her life. Covid meant that there were no large gatherings but the family did make a very good job in celebrating in style with a gazebo in the garden to receive visitors that wore masks. There were a few renditions of ‘happy birthday’ and those that popped in were sent away with a high tea, packed into a neat box. Happy Birthday, Olive and thank you fort all your support to the chapel and to me. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Note to all Treasurers: All our churches are insured by Congregational via Edwards Insurance Brokers. David Edwards has sent out information that explains how you can claim on the insurance for any losses the local church has incurred because of government restrictions that involved closing our places of worship. You can claim loss of income from lettings (even a few pounds a week can mount up) and loss of free will offerings in the plate. This should be easy to work out if you compare different years and I suggest you make contact with the insurers and seek recompense. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Call Group is meeting at 7.30pm on Tuesday 13th April and the Moderator of the Wales Synod, URC, Revd Simon Walkling will be joining the meeting. The meeting will be held on Zoom and the link will be sent out in good time. For those joining by telephone, please dial one of the numbers below and input the codes when asked. The Zoom link and the telephone numbers are the same as we used last time. 0203 901 7895 United Kingdom 0131 460 1196 United Kingdom 0203 051 2874 United Kingdom 0203 481 5237 United Kingdom 0203 481 5240 United Kingdom Meeting ID: 884 8677 3691 Passcode: 058530 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One year on from the start of lockdown, a Day of Reflection was held on Tuesday 23rd March and I was at Withybush Hospital, with my colleague chaplains to commemorate the moment with a short reflection and one minutes silence. We do well to remember those that have suffered in the last year and pray that soon, we return to some normality. We are holding some events over Holy Week and, in this mailing, you will find details of what we will do each morning and evening, Monday to Thursday of Holy Week. I’d like some volunteers to do the readings and say the prayer each morning and if anyone has a good idea for one of our evening events, please get in touch. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Simon Jonathan Thomas of Treffgarne passed away after a short illness at Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen on 20th February 2021 aged 41 years. A precious son of Noel & Sylvia and a much-loved brother, nephew and cousin. A private family service due to COVID restrictions was held at Zion’s Hill on 18th March. Simon’s family have been part of the life of Zion’s Hill for many generations. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A year in the life of ... Keep smiling: Mrs. Evans-Jones was fumbling in her purse for her offering when a large television remote control fell out and clattered into the aisle. The curious Elder, who was going around with the plate, bent over to retrieve it for her and whispered, “Do you always carry your TV remote to church?” “No,” she replied, “but my husband refused to come with me this morning, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.” One More: The minister was in the middle of his sermon when he noticed a man had fallen asleep with his head on his wife’s shoulder. “Wake up your husband,” the minister snapped. The wife smiled and replied, “You put him to sleep. You wake him up.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Two files to download this time. One for the month of April and one for Holy Week
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, the Elders of the Pastorate held their meeting a few days ago and began to look at establishing a call group to look for a new minister, come June. It is pleasing to hear that support is being offered through the Regional Pastorate Committee and a further meeting is planned to look at the next steps you will need to take. If you have an interest in being part of the call group, please speak with your church Elders and ask to be involved. Our journey together continues, of course, and we are planning for events you can participate in during Holy Week and we have tentative plans for Easter Sunday for a drive-in communion at Tiers Cross. The basic plan is to hold a short telephone worship at 10am each morning from Monday to Wednesday of Holy Week and also hold an online event at 7.30pm each evening. For the morning worship, use the telephone number that we have for Sundays and for the evening event, the Zoom link will be provided a few days before. Further information will follow when we know what the Government plan is to move us out of the current restrictions. Please keep an eye out for information that will come out nearer the time. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Pastorate needs to start preparing for when my time with you ends. I can train up individuals to host the telephone worship, update the website, manage the postal database to send out letters and manage the email communications. This can only be done by people who use email and know how to surf the web. It would be good if churches could nominate someone to be their local digital champion and let me know, so we can deliver some of the training and tips required. The alternative is that everything will be shut down in May, as legally, I have no right to the information needed to run the telephone and online programmes. This may be an opportunity to ask some friends of the church to take a more active part in our life. Let me know the names and I’ll start communicating with people. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Signs of Spring Just before the match on Saturday, I took a walk through the village to a standing stone that is shown on the map but which I had never seen in all the years I have lived here. There’s been a bit in the news lately of Stonehenge and how it may have been a monument moved in stages to Wiltshire from Pembrokeshire. This stone has not travelled far and standing over 10 feet in height, is placed so it points towards the Preseli hills and Treffgarne rocks. I wonder who travelled that way all those years ago? And on the way back, I passed the daffodils, growing against the warmth of a stone wall. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Keep smiling: Is this true? All our fathers have been churchmen fifteen hundred years or so and to every new proposal they have always answered “No!” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Prayers and Readings for March 2021If you wish to join in with our telephone worship, please call 0333 011 0616, then enter the access code, 286 7552 followed by # (not £ as the lady says!). You will be asked to say your name and enter # and, in a moment or two you will be connected. Please dial in before 11am
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