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: [email protected]
8th May 2022
The second service of the month is a ZOOM Service led by Phil, when we meet in the comfort of our homes and share pre and post service chat and Phil leads our worship.
At the same time, for those who don’t have internet access or prefer ‘live’ worship there is an alternative service at St David’s led by Michael Howells.
Link for ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89461145366?pwd=S3ExNTVjdGVGdXlGVlNQc2k3eldudz09
Whichever service you join we hope that you will feel the warmth of fellowship with friends.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
Church Family and Pastoral News
We include this in the news sheet to inform our prayers.
- We continue to hold Margaret and Glyn in our Prayers as they wait to say farewell to Val.
- Cerys is currently in hospital but hopes to be home soon, we pray for her and Stephen.
- Martha is feeling quite a bit better and is continuing to exercise by walking around the house.
- Gwyneth will be having her Hip Operation on 10th May
- Gill Miller is improving and hoping that she will be able to get out before too long.
- Our thoughts are with those who are starting a new course of treatment this week
- We are aware of several people in our fellowships who are feeling frustrated by health problems, we hold them in our prayers.
- Maralyn Tomlinson is the latest person to succumb to Covid, fortunately she only has mild symptoms, but is self-isolating until she is clear.
Birthdays
The birthdays we are aware of this week are: Graham Healy TODAY (8th), Ben Walkling and Steve Jones (I got it wrong last week!) Monday 9th , Phil Wall, Wednesday 11th and I believe Ann Powell has her birthday on Saturday 14th. However you choose celebrate we hope you all enjoy it!
Thanks
from Sonia….….for the flowers I received from the Church, they are really lovely and much appreciated, thank you also for the many phone calls I have received….especially from Phil during a break while he was on a course. It is lovely to have this wonderful support and lift at this sad time.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
Castle Square URC
Next Sunday, after their morning service, the Castle Square church family will be meeting to discern whether their mission is complete and it is time to close as a church. The St. David’s Uniting Church community hold them in the light of God’s love as they make their decision. Please pray for divine guidance and grace as they seek to discern God’s will whilst remembering that nothing – not times of loss or difficult discussions, not church merges nor closures, nothing in the present or future, in our living or even our dying – can ever separate us from the extravagant love of God in which we are grounded and forever held.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
Next Sunday – Christian Aid Week 15th – 21st May
At St. David’s Uniting Church, we will be welcoming Dr Nathan Munday from Christian Aid Cymru.
Envelopes will be available in the church for personal donations.
At Castle Square Ray Vincent will lead worship at 11am
A fund-raising event will be held on June 5th – to which all are invited. See Upcoming dates for your diary.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
Newsletters and Sermons
Taking into account the environmental & financial cost of printing, now that we’re back to a regular diet of worship, we’re looking to reduce the number of newsletters/sermons we print out. We don’t want anyone to miss out so we will keep delivering to those at Castle Square, all those unable to come to church, and any others who let their courier know that they’d still like to receive a newsletter/sermon but will stop the others from June onwards.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
St. David’s Uniting Church Elders
Nomination forms for two places on the eldership will be available at Gelliwastad Road from next Sunday until May 29th. Please speak with your elder/pastoral buddy if you are unable to pick one up.
Here’s the t’s and c’s…!
Current eldership: Lynda Bull, Peter Davies, Liz Henson, Michael Howells, Robert James,
Viviane Lamare, Pam Mahoney, Margaret Morris, Maralyn Tomlinson and Bethan Walkling.
Elders finishing their term in 2022 but who can be nominated again:
Robert James, Maralyn Tomlinson,
Elders NOT eligible to serve for another term: (having served 2 subsequent terms…so can’t be nominated this year)
Margaret Morris and Bethan Walkling
All St. David’s Uniting Church members can nominate any other church member whom they deem to have the gifts and graces to serve God through church eldership. More than one name can be given and neither a seconder, nor the permission of the person you’re nominating needs to be sought. Please take some time to prayerfully consider this. All forms must be received by 29th May. Elders will be affirmed at the AGM on July 18th.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
St David’s Uniting Church Services
Following the church meeting at St. David’s Uniting Church last month and now that we have been released from Covid restrictions, we agreed to follow the below pattern of worship:
1st Sunday of the month – 10:45am, Gelliwastad Road – ‘Listening to the other’ – Guest speaker
2nd Sunday – 10:45am, zoom – ‘Discussing discipleship’ – United online service (A parallel service is offered at Gelliwastad Road for those unable to join us on Zoom)
3rd Sunday – 10:45am, Gelliwastad Road – ‘Grappling with scripture’ -service of the Word
4th Sunday – 10:45am, Gelliwastad Road – ‘Thanking as a family’ – Communion service
– 6pm, zoom – Storytelling Communion
5th Sunday – 10:45am, Zoom – Synod Sunday Service (A service is offered at Gelliwastad Road for those unable to join us on Zoom)
We hope the diversity of form and content meets the diverse needs of our churches, whilst being accessible to those outside our community, and offering God praise throughout all. (And if you get easily confused…just remember that there’s a service on church premises every Sunday morning!)
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
Upcoming Dates for the Diary
- 18thMay, 7:30pm – ‘A Hero of the People’ Last chance to sign up for a trip to the theatre as we go to watch one of The Guardian’s ‘plays of 2022’ at The Sherman Theatre. Please confirm attendance with Phil by the end of today (Sunday 8th).
- 23rdMay, 7:30pm – Gelliwastad Road. Join us for an evening of inter-faith fellowship and learning as we explore the question ‘What is the significance of Jerusalem to Jews, Christians & Muslims’. All are welcome. Why not bring a friend…or a gang of them?!
- 5thJune, 10:45am – Gelliwastad Road. We celebrate Pentecost and the start of Pride month as Ray leads a service interweaving these themes and we welcome guests from the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s Pride network – who want to join us for worship!
- 5thJune, 5-7pm – Gelliwastad Road. We end this day of celebration with a fundraising games afternoon/ evening as we raise money for Christian Aid.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
St David’s Guild
Robert certainly entertained us royally in last Wednesday’s guild. He is such an enthusiast and so knowledgeable about his hobby, photography, that he swept us along on a journey of photographs taken from the earliest mid-nineteenth century to the present day-explaining how photography, with its different genres, has evolved up to the present day. One of his passions is street photography. It’s just amazing how people are photographed in different poses, in different situations and how each photo, especially the iconic photos we remember-such as the man standing in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square, can tell a story.
He surprised us with a few group photos taken many years ago of people in the church today. Beti recognised herself, but we had to concentrate on some men’s photographs as they had hair then but not now!
Robert is involved in a new five-year project which sounds very exciting and he has promised to give us updates of the latter in another Wednesday afternoon.
Now that we have dropped the word ‘ladies’ and become a Guild for all, it has been lovely to welcome gentlemen to the meetings. We would love to see more gentlemen!
Something completely different has been arranged for next month but more of that anon. Guild in the summer months will be held on the first Wednesday of the month. So if you are free, come and join us.
§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§●§
A Thought for Week
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa