Saint David’s Uniting Church
& Castle Square URC
Minister: Rev. Dr Phil Wall
Tel: 01443 300345 Mob: 07855090360
Website: www.stdavidsuniting.org.uk
Admin email: office1.sduc@gmail.com
21st June 2020
It’s Midsummer! With the current weather we can be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Yesterday was midsummer’s day also the longest day with sunlight for almost 17 hours!
Today is Father’s Day’ – normally, in church, we would be sharing a box or two of heroes with the men in our lives…. It is a day for honouring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. Father’s Day was founded by Sonora Smart Dodd. When Sonora was 16, her mother died in childbirth with her sixth child. Sonora was the only daughter and shared with her father William in the raising of her younger brothers, including her new infant brother Marshall. Smart held her father in great esteem. While hearing a church sermon about the newly recognized Mother’s Day at Central Methodist Episcopal Church, Sonora felt strongly that fatherhood should have recognition as well. It was celebrated for the first time on the third Sunday in June 1910. Information from Wikipedia
Apologies for the late posting of our Newsletter and the weekly Reflection both in text and video….we had a glitch!
We are very grateful to those involved in sorting it out!
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Church Family and Pastoral News
We include this in the news sheet to inform our prayers.
- Claire and Rob have good days and bad days – we keep them in our prayers.
- Chris has been in touch from hospital, ‘l am keeping up to date on church chat. Life is very boring, I don’t’ have much news to share.’ We keep Chris in our prayers as she makes slow progress.
- Please remember Simon’s sister Anne and her family as she recovers from an operation to remove a cyst from her brain.
- We ask your prayers for David and Doreen. David has not been well recently, and we remember John and Jean, Gwyneth S, Margaret from Castle Sq, Brenda in Ty Eirin, Edith in The Willows, Caroline in Rhoose, Sue in Tonteg and Sue in Graigwen.
- Viv Howells, one of the regulars at Chewsdays has died. Our sympathy goes to his wife Jean and the family.
- We remember the people in the Rhondda who have been flooded again. With social distancing in place helping these people is a challenge!
- We pass on the sad news that Dorothy Davies Ingram, Deputy Conductor and Accompanist of Cor Meibion Pontypridd passed away on June 15th after a long illness. Our thoughts are with all whose lives she touched.
Thanks from…..
Marilyn Y says ‘Thank you! It was lovely to receive calls from people in Church who I haven’t seen for so long. I look forward to the day we can be together again! They were much appreciated. Thank you’ Marilyn.
Birthdays and Anniversaries this week…..
We know of three birthdays this week – on Tuesday 23rd Doreen Lewis, Friday 26th Hetty and on Saturday27th Viviane. We hope you all have an enjoyable day and are able to celebrate. We congratulate Marilyn and Peter Dillworth who will be celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary this week.
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Birthday Cards
Colleen is making cards again, if you would like one for a special occasion please give her plenty of them as she is only ‘working’ for short periods of time.
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Something to make you Smile
Four year old Imogen asked her mum ‘’How long is it to Christmas?’ when asked why, Imogen replied, ‘I’ll have some more toys then’ Her Mum explained that Christmas wasn’t about toys it was a celebration of Jesus being born. Imogen thought for a while then asked ‘Is Jesus dead?’ not wanting to go into detail her mum said ‘Yes’. Imogen’s response was ‘Can we send him a get- well card?
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Sharing Good News
The chocolates and biscuits together with greetings have been delivered to ALL the refugee families we have welcomed over the past 4 years. They were delighted to receive them as part of Refugee Week and even more pleased to chat to us at a distance. They are all well and looking forward to meeting us all again soon.
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Pentecost Birds
Have you seen the video of the birds that people created? We had a banner outside St David’s, and there were flocks’ of birds on the railings at Castle Square and Church House. A short video was posted on The Church Website it can be accessed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfNs35z_Jm4have – if you don’t have internet maybe someone in your family can show you on their phone. It’s well worth watching! The birds have flown now. Some have arrived at the homes of our refugee friends.
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Midweek Challenge
Last week the challenge was Which films (plays/books) have helped you see the world through different eyes? Which stories have widened your horizons and deepened your empathy? There was great response with a variety of films, and books, a poem and a TV series. In this week’s video Phil said ‘They remind us of the wonderful diversity of humanity, the wonderful ways in which we have been created differently and the way we experience life, see life, feel about life and I think a lot of those are forms, the books, the plays, the poems, TV, they help us to widen our horizons and help us celebrate our diversity and diversity is a good thing.’
This week Phil reflected upon the unity and diversity of the members of the Church and pointed us to the Myers Briggs test as one way to think about our unique and God-given personalities. He encouraged those who have used Myers Briggs before and who were comfortable to share their findings to do so and perhaps identify a challenge and a strength that their personality type brings. In understanding how we see/respond to the world and how others see/respond to it differently to us, perhaps we might treat each other with more grace and less judgment!
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Wales COVID-19 Well-Being Survey
How has coronavirus affected your well-being? Please take 10 minutes and tell us how you are feeling.
The Mental Health organisation, Growing Space is conducting a survey that aims to understand the impact of coronavirus on the emotional well-being and mental health of the Welsh population. They would like to encourage as many people as possible over the age of 16 to complete the survey. You can access the survey at https://wales-wellbeing.co.uk Help the NHS to help you and your community.
Our recent questionnaire highlighted the important work of the foodbank and we wish to remind others that donations can still be given. Donations can be taken to St Luke’s Church in Rhydyfelin, Monday to Friday, 9.15 to 11.30 or cheques can be sent to 28 Llantrisant Road, Graig, Pontypridd CF37 1LW
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Thought for the Week.
“Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts.”
Charles Dickens