Ash Wednesday Service

There will be a service of Holy Eucharist with imposition of ashes in church at 7.00pm on Wednesday March 2nd. All welcome.

Nine Lessons & Carols

 A service of Nine Lessons and Carols will be held via Zoom at 5:00pm today. Click on the link at the left of St Dyfnog's home page to join us - all welcome!

Garden open October 3rd

 

OURSELVES YOUR SERVANTS FOR JESUS’S SAKE

A Pastoral Letter for the Teulu Asaph from Bishop Gregory : July 15^th 2021

I have written elsewhere about the impact that the ordinations at Petertide always have on me.  We claim the lives and service of another generation of individuals to become dedicated witnesses to Christ in the ordained ministry, a ministry of Word and Sacrament.  It is strange then to see our sister Church over the border become embroiled in controversy in this season.  Apparently, the Head of Church Planting for the Church of England set a target for 10,000 lay led new churches at an online conference supported by many of us in the diocese in recent weeks, but sparked off controversy not because of the ambitious number he set, but because he described these churches as being without the limiting factors of “a building and a stipend and long, costly, college-based training for every leader of the church”.

He’s got a point – the earliest Church met not in specially constructed buildings, but in people’s homes.  There were no stipendiary ministers (even the apostle Paul grumbles in his letters from time to time about having to make his own living), no discernment panels and no theological colleges.  Yet God gave the growth.  I sometimes feel we could learn a great deal from being bold like the early Church, and seed groups meeting in homes right across the diocese, who would come together to read the Bible, pray, and support one another’s faith.  When we were baptised, we were all made partakers in the great royal priesthood of Christ, and sanctified as witnesses to new life in him.  It can be done, let’s get on with it …

So why did we bother with all the palaver of the ordinations in the Cathedral in these last few weeks – putting people through two or three years of training and formation, ordaining them not once but twice, a year apart, and asking them to serve curacies?

Being a Church among the family of the Churches of the Anglican Communion, the Church in Wales believes that God speaks to us not just in Scripture (although the Bible takes first place as our authority, as it is God’s Word), but also through Reason (our God-given ability to think) and through the lived wisdom and experience of Christians for twenty centuries, known by the shorthand term “Tradition”.  We believe that all three are given by God to enrich and support our faith, and that the way that the Church has evolved over those centuries was led by the Holy Spirit to give a robustness to the Church, and a royal road to holiness and to Christian victory.  The Holy Spirit didn’t quit with the death of the apostles, or the authorship of Scripture.

Of course a lay-led community of believers meeting in 83, Acacia Avenue can flourish and grow disciples deep rooted in Christ.  We could do with more of them.  However, Anglicans also believe that if such groups are to be sustained and nurtured and formed into an enduring worshipping and witnessing communities, then they also need to be fortified by deeply rooted understandings born of sustained study of the Bible, and the nourishment of the Sacraments instituted by Christ, so that we recognise that a sacred priesthood, configured to the High Priesthood of Christ, and gathered around the bishop, is among the gifts of God to his Church. “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4.5), and, as the motto of the Scottish Episcopal Church asserts, “Evangelical Truth AND Apostolic Order”.

Prayers following the death of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh

 

Eternal God, our heavenly Father, we bless your holy name for all that you have given us in and through the life of Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. We give you thanks: for his long and full life; for his strength of character; and for his devotion and service to family, nation and Commonwealth. We praise you for: his generosity; the many contributions he made to our national life; and the encouragement he gave to so many, especially to the young. Accept our thanks and praise, we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Merciful God, be close to all who mourn, especially The Queen and all members of the Royal Family. May they know the comfort of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Eternal God, we give thanks for the life of Prince Philip, founder of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. We remember his vision and imagination, his interest in young people and his support for them. Inspire us with the same commitment to serve friend, neighbour, and stranger alike, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Easter Message from Bishop Gregory

Near the entrance of Esgobty [Bishop’s house] there is the most magnificent Magnolia tree.  Around this time of year it is particularly exciting as the green buds begin to blossom and the white flowers begin to peep through. In a few weeks’ time the whole tree will be covered in white blossom, beautiful and startling.  Then the flowers will drop away and we’ll be waiting for next year.

That reliable sign of new life every Spring is for me a sign of the reliability of the love of God in creation. More than this, every Spring we remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ:  he who was crucified yet who, in Christian faith, rose again, conquering the powers of sadness and of death.

That theme of new life is particularly important for us this year.  This time last year we were just entering into lockdown. We had no idea that a year later we would still be faced with the challenges of Coronavirus.

In this last year a lot will have changed. People have died.  People have struggled. The whole of society has had to work very hard, cooperating in order to bring us through the crisis.

But the promise of God at Easter is there will be new life. There will be new beginnings, and with the help of God, we can build into a fullness of new life, finding new ways to serve our communities, new ways to enter into the joys of life, new ways to celebrate the new life into which God invites us.

 

 

 

Ger y fynedfa i’r Esgobty mae yna goeden Magnolia fawr, ysblennydd.  Mae tua’r adeg yma o’r flwyddyn yn hynod gyffrous wrth i’r blagur gwyrdd ddechrau agor a’r blodau gwyn ddechrau dangos eu pennau.  Mewn ychydig wythnosau, bydd y goeden gyfa’n flodau gwyn drosti, yn hardd ac yn rhyfeddol; yna bydd y blodau’n disgyn a byddwn yn gorfod disgwyl am flwyddyn arall.

Mae’r arwydd dibynadwy hwn o fywyd newydd bob Gwanwyn yn arwydd o ba mor ddibynadwy yw cariad Duw yn y greadigaeth.  A, phob gwanwyn, byddwn yn cofio am atgyfodiad Iesu Grist a gafodd ei groeshoelio ac eto, yn ffydd y Cristion, a gododd eto gan goncro grymoedd tristwch a marwolaeth.

Mae thema bywyd newydd yn arbennig o bwysig i ni eleni.  Yr adeg yma y llynedd, roedden ni’n cychwyn ar y cyfnod clo.  Doedd gan neb ddim syniad y bydden ni, flwyddyn yn ddiweddarach, yn dal i orfod wynebu heriau’r Coronafeirws. Ac yn y flwyddyn ddiwethaf hon, bydd llawer wedi newid.  Mae pobl wedi marw. Mae pobl yn cael trafferth.  Bu’n rhaid i gymdeithas gyfan weithio’n galed iawn i gydweithio er mwyn i ni oroesi’r argyfwng. Ond addewid Duw adeg y Pasg yw y bydd yna fywyd newydd.  Bydd yna ddechreuad newydd a, chyda help Duw, gallwn ni adeiladu i lawnder bywyd newydd, canfod ffyrdd newydd o wasanaethu ein cymunedau, ffyrdd newydd o ganfod llawenydd bywyd, ffyrdd newydd o ddathlu’r bywyd newydd y mae Duw’n ein gwahodd ni iddo.

  

Marie Curie

 

A National Day of Reflection will be held on Tuesday 23^rd March 2021, the anniversary of the first lockdown. in memory of those who have died and all who are still suffering.

Across the country people are asked to observe a minute’s silence at 12noon, and in the evening Shine a Light in the window and observe a minute’s silence at 8pm,

Archbishop John Davies:

Let us reflect on the pandemic, support all who have suffered and face the future with hope.

 Please observe the silence in your own home.  You are invited to light a candle or plant a flower and say a prayer to remember those who have suffered, those who have died and all who are grieving and in despair. 

Prayers on the National Day of Reflection

Loving God, 
You hold all our times in your hands, our past, our present, our future. Be close to us now as we remember all the difficulties and disappointments of the past year. Be especially close to all of us who are thinking of someone we loved and knew, but see no longer, whether family, friend, colleague or neighbour. Help us to trust that they are at peace with you, and comfort us with your presence. 

Loving God, 
You place us in families and communities, and we give you thanks for all those around us who serve us and help us in so many ways. Give wisdom to community leaders, to our schools, hospitals, care homes and other agencies who make a difference to our lives. Help each of us to have the courage to reach out with thanks and kindness to those around us and to speak words of faith as we share the good news of your love.

Loving God, 
As we journey towards Easter, help us to live as people of hope, knowing that beyond the pain of the cross lies the joy of resurrection. Be with those who are struggling in mind, body or spirit, and give courage to those who are facing uncertainty and change ahead. Help each of us to keep our eyes fixed on you, that we may reflect your light to all whom we meet.

Heavenly Father, be with us as we think about all that has changed this year,
And help us to trust that you are always with us.
Be close to us as we remember those who have died,
And help us to trust they are at peace with you.
Show us how to reach out to others with kindness and care,
So that hope shines out in every heart and home,
Amen