Introduction from our minister, Clare
Dear friends
As I write I am almost three-quarters of the way through my whirlwind tour of getting to know all four churches in the pastorate and am very much looking forward to being with you at the end of September. Thank you for your patience! Thank you too for the support of those who were able to be part of the ordination and induction service either in person or online, it was wonderful to be able to celebrate our new beginning together.
As part of my ongoing induction into Welsh life and culture, I took the opportunity on Owain Glyndŵr Day to find out more about this last native-born Prince of Wales. Over 600 years later we still remember this lawyer-cum-soldier who led a successful uprising against the English, became recognised as prince and made plans for a Welsh Parliament and Welsh universities before being forced into hiding.
It got me thinking about public figures, how some endure and become cultural icons, and others are less ‘legend’ and perhaps more correctly described as people who capture the public imagination at a particular moment in time. It feels as if in our society right now there’s a deep desire for public figures or slogans or movements that people can get behind. There’s a sense of a need for figureheads or a cause to provide a way forward through dissatisfaction and fear into a new future. Politically the landscape has been thrown wide open as the centre ground cedes some support to more radical positions. The danger here is as we have no doubt seen, that as the distance between positions becomes wider, division sets in, and dialogue becomes difficult between people who see both different root causes for society’s problems and how they might be tackled.
Here I am reminded of how Jesus came with deeply radical visions of his own, taking the opportunity of preaching in Nazareth to use Scripture to announce that he would bring good news to the poor and set captives free in fulfilment of God’s ancient promise. His bold claims were shocking and caused division between those who were inspired by his message and those who felt he must be silenced. So far perhaps this feels familiar – a charismatic speaker claims to be able to meet people’s deep need and divides people in the process.
But as Jesus’ ministry developed, his followers slowly – oh so slowly! – began to see the difference that we are invited to see and to live out in our communities today. Jesus came to earth not for himself, but for humanity and creation, Jesus came not to say who was in and who was out but with a message that the least-suspected people are loved by God, that we are all profoundly connected and made to be reconciled with God. Jesus brought together radical vision with reconciliation, a mantle that we are asked to take up in these unsettling times.
And perhaps it is in exactly times such as these in which the timeless message of God’s work has an opportunity to be heard. So many people are desperately looking for a story that enables them to belong, feel purpose and identity. And in this challenge we can draw from the legacy that we inherit, knowing that through all the situations and climates that have come and gone, our eternal God has sustained vastly different communities who have sought to share the story of a Palestinian Jew and the new horizon he showed us.
And in a way that sets Jesus apart from all figures of history, Jesus endured what was thrown at him, even humiliation and execution by the powers that be, coming through death and bringing life and hope. So, we, as followers, can be rooted in the new beginning of all time as we start out on this new chapter together. I’m so excited to see what lies ahead as God’s universal message speaks into our very particular circumstance and context here in the Valleys.
Wishing you God’s every blessing
Clare
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