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
6th December 2020
On the second Sunday in Advent we light the candle for Peace. Today for our Morning Worship we continue our look at the women in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, focusing on Mary, the Mother of God as Iestyn leads our reflections.
As cinemas are no longer able to be open, and as a response to numbers, we will NOT be screening our festive family film this afternoon. Those seeking alternatives on the TV this afternoon might be tempted to go for Nativity 2 (which comes with Mary Robins recommendation!) -2.45pm BBC1- or Peter Rabbit at 5.10 pm Channel 4.
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Church Family and Pastoral News
We include this in the news sheet to inform our prayers. We ask you to pray for:
- Elsie as she says her final goodbye to her sister Sandra on Tuesday 8th December, the funeral will be held at Glyntaf at 12 noon.
- Colleen’s mum who has got Covid-19 but is in a stable condition and for Colleen in her concern for her.
- Julie Kirby and her family as they mourn the sudden loss of Julie’s mum.
- Sharon who has a chest infection which is being treated with antibiotics
- Anne Coles and Jayne Bright suffering with hip pain and knee pain respectively
- Robert’s 6yr old great niece who is in hospital with a serious and rare kidney illness, also his Mum as she waits to see a specialist.
- We continue to remember Bernice, Chris and Sue in Ysybyty Cwm Rhondda and hope they will be home for Christmas
- It’s difficult to keep up with everyone, so, we pray for ALL who may be unwell.
Birthdays this week …..
Three birthdays we are aware of this week! – Jean Davies and Marilyn Edwards on Wednesday 9th and Sue Walkling on Friday 11th. We hope you all have a great day and wish you a Happy Birthday!
Thanks… from Marcia
Thank you to everyone for the presents, cards and messages, both on Face Time and Whats App, that I received on my birthday, I had a three-day event – and was able to celebrate, in a socially distanced way, with all my family. Marcia
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Sharing Good News ~
Sunday worship is back on the TV – on BBC1 at 11.30am today.
Covid has brought a lot of restrictions into our lives but the Park Ramblers were able to resume their walks in July. We have kept our distances and walked mostly in pairs facing forward. It has been truly wonderful to be out in the fresh air and to see familiar faces. Each week we put a small donation in the kitty for the privilege of answering a question. The joint winners of the weekly question over the year were Elaine Rees of Temple Baptist and Dilys Davies of Sardis. Marcia was nearest to guessing the amount we raised, £95 (this included a donation) which is donated to Street Pastors of Pontypridd who patrol the streets in the early hours of Friday and Saturday mornings.
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On Monday evening of last week, we hosted our third Double Vision meeting in which Sue Jickells of Castle Court funeral home and our own Simon Walkling led our reflection on the difficult subject of death. All present spoke of how thought-provoking and powerful the evening was. Those unable to join us on the evening can catch up at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40B_ZXTbY7U
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Christmas Appeal
Next Sunday, we celebrate Gift Sunday – a day in which we reflect on sharing God’s love to those in need through our prayer, actions and giving. In preparation for this, details of who we are supporting and how to give, are included in this week’s papers.
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In the spirit of St Nicholas
Gifts have been given this week to the couriers, the communications team and our church family members who are not online. This afternoon, some church members are delivering Christmas gift packages to each house in Sion Street – that was severely affected by the February flooding. The message accompanying the gifts included the following:
In the spirit of St Nicholas – who is said to have given three bags of gold coins to bless a family who had experienced a tough year – we wanted to wish you a good Christmas and a happy, healthy new year by giving you these three bags: some coins to spend; some coins to eat; and a candle to symbolise our prayer that however dark the days may get, you will always be able to glimpse a little light shining in that darkness (John 1:5).
Assembling gifts for Sion Street Nadolig Llawen. May God bless you all.
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Advent Challenge reminders
- We are decorating outside our church buildings –Ribbons are going to be tied to an Angel outside St David’s
Everyone is invited to add a ribbon to symbolise the people they want to thank – the heroes, heroines, the angels, everyone who has shown us the good in this year, OR you can send a message to Phil saying who you would like to thank and why, and a ribbon will be done for you.
The railings at Castle Square and Church House will be decorated with characters from the Nativity.
- The final ‘dressing-up’ challenge for this year! Take a photo of yourself as a character from the Nativity and send to Marcia by Wednesday 16th December to be used in our Nativity Service on December 20th.
- Please send any contributions of poems, readings, hymns or anything else for our ‘Bring and Share’ service on December 27th to Marcia by Monday 14th December. Those not online can phone in their suggestions.
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Sponsorship
The printing of the newsletters and other papers during Advent and beyond have been sponsored by Jan Harris, Kath Couchman and Marilyn Young. Their sponsorship enables those who receive the ‘weekend papers’ in print to have some pages in colour, giving them the same experience as those who read it on line. THANKYOU!
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A Thought for the week.
It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it. Just don’t stay angry forever! Anon
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ADVENT ZOOM SERVICES: Log in opens at 10.30 for pre service chat. Services will start at 10.45 or as advertised
Zoom service link – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84461046313?pwd=QktEMk9tRzZ6RUM1a1ByQXJWUUZDQT09
To join the Zoom meeting on a laptop or tablet click the link:
To join via the app use: Meeting ID 844 6104 6313 Passcode Christmas
To join by Phone 0203 481 5237 Meeting ID 844 6104 6313 Passcode: 620851874