Message from our minister, Clare

Annwyl ffrindiau/Dear friends

One of the things about moving house and starting a life in a new place is that you notice things. You see things that for many a long-term resident have melted into the background. Newly installed in The Manse, I notice practical things such as where the post boxes and bus stops and nearest supermarkets are.  I notice cultural things such as whether or not people say hello as you pass them on a dog walk (not as many as I’d imagined – I hope they don’t think I’m some kind of mad Englishwoman!). I notice how the sun reaches different parts of the house and garden at different times of the day.

It’s quite tiring to keep noticing and to have to build up a new memory bank so that my brain can use short cuts instead of going the long way around all the time. But in a way I want to hold onto it too. It’s as if I have been lent a pair of ‘fresh-eye’ spectacles that enable me to see in a different way and I’m wondering how I can hold onto them.

All of those things listed above will not be fresh for long and don’t need to be. But what about other things and people? In the ten days of relocation leave after we had moved in, what I noticed the most alongside the warm welcome from members of St David’s, was the wonder at the views from this house on a hill and the natural landscape around as we explored the woods with the dog.  That sense of wonder and joy is such a blessing, and I hope to be able to hold onto it and not let it fade into the background.

Much of the Bible is made up of people from the prophets to Jesus and then the writers of the letters, urging people to see, to see in a new way, to strive to see God and God at work. God is recorded in the book of Isaiah as urging the people of Israel: ‘Listen, you that are deaf, and you that are blind, look up and see!’ (Isa 42:18).

How do we do it? There’s no simple formula, but it takes intent, it requires a will and desire.

One of the ways I’m building up my local knowledge is by following a few social media accounts which focus on Pontypridd and this week there were these images of the rocks of the River Taff which are usually below the water level. The hot weather has revealed how the force of the water has shaped the rocks and it was a reminder for me of the power of God, at work, on the move, a power we might discount because it isn’t always before our eyes, because our focus is blurred or elsewhere.

This summer, may we have a chance to see in new ways, to allow a trust in God’s power and presence to shape our lives and open our eyes to new wonder.

Pob bendith/Blessings

Clare

Photo credit: Martin Phillips

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