Message from our minister, Clare

Annwyl ffrindiau/Dear friends

After being on the horizon for so long as the month in which we will move to Pontypridd, July 2026 is finally upon us.

I’m discovering that moving house does strange things to time – the past, the present and the future are blurring into one. As we sift through the numerous ‘sentimental boxes’ in the loft filled with the children’s birthday cards and first shoes and endless pieces of artwork and certificates and decide what stays and what goes, we are confronted with what was and is no more (as well as learning about who is more sentimental than others!). Then in the present, everyday life still goes on with the addition of farewells to the places and people who have shaped our lives over the past years and preparing our house for future tenants. And then there’s the future – life in a new country! There’s so much that’s unknown from how many children will be moving with us and what bit of furniture will go where, to the big one, what will the future hold?

Moving house is a drastic example of how the past, present and future can collide. A more commonly experienced example is that of taking Communion, when we remember Jesus’ life and ministry, when we celebrate Jesus among us now and with that our membership of his one body, and when we look ahead to a future when God’s reconciling work of renewal will be completed and consider how we might be part of that life-giving story.

The incoming General Assembly Moderator of the URC, Neil Thorogood, who will come and spend time with us as a pastorate over the weekend of Palm Sunday 2027, has spoken as he takes up the role this July, of how our lives as a Church are about building bridges. He speaks of us together building bridges that bring our past – our history, our story, our traditions – into conversation with our present so that we might move into the future. The bridge is an iconic emblem of Pontypridd and perhaps might be a helpful image for us as we hold together what we were, where we are and where we might be heading as a church and how God is leading us in that. This month we will have a vision day as we celebrate the past, take stock of the present day, and start conversations about the future and pray for God’s guidance.

Please do share in conversations and in prayer for God’s leading as we hold all those things together as a church and move into the future, a new country of its own that we face together, with the trust that our eternal God will be with us – and thankfully without all of us having to move house!

Pob bendith/Blessings

Clare

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