Minister’s Message – February 9, 2025

Bible reading: Luke 5:1-11.

We enjoyed belting out the songs in our Sunday afternoon boys’ Bible class: “On the victory side”, “Marching beneath the banner”, “When the road is rough and steep”, “In my heart there rings a melody” and “The Lord hath need of me” among many others, all accompanied by the piano. Many of them were militaristic in a way we’d frown on today; they were also quite old-fashioned, even by the standards of the mid-1960s. Little did we know it, but “Youth Praise”, guitars and a Christian musical revolution were lurking just around the corner.

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Minister’s Message – January 19, 2025

Bible reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

It seems to be widely accepted that there are 78 different organs in the human body. The most vital are considered to be the skin (which we probably don’t think of as an organ), the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, stomach, small and large intestines, and lungs (I’m not sure why they are so far down the list as I’d have thought they were essential!). The picture becomes less clear once we start to zoom in a bit closer: do we count our kidneys and lungs, for example, as one organ or two; and what about the bones which, in our list, have all been lumped together? And, of course, if we were to focus in to the microscopic level we’d see the complexities of the various structures and cells which, when put together, form our bodies. Truly, to echo the writer of Psalm 134, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”!

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Minister’s Message – January 12, 2025

Bible reading: Matthew 2:13-23.

I wonder what picture the phrase “small boats” brings to your minds? Do you think of yachts and cabin cruisers bobbing up and down in a Mediterranean marina (or Penarth)? Do you visualise pedalos and rowing boats splashing across Roath Park lake? Does your mind turn to children launching their vessels across a shallow pond? Or – especially if you’re both British and older – do you think of the motley fleet of fishing boats and pleasure craft which sailed across the Channel in 1940 to pluck soldiers off the deadly beaches of Dunkirk?

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Carol Service – Minister’s Message

The carol “O little town of Bethlehem” – it’s technically a hymn – is one which most of us know by heart. We love the picture, probably enhanced by years of Christmas cards, that it brings to our minds: the picture of a sleeping town with stars (possibly The Star!) in the sky, and a pinpoint of light spilling from the door of the stable. The atmosphere – just as in “Silent Night” – is one of stillness, tranquillity and calm; God is in his heaven and Bethlehem, indeed the whole world, is at peace.

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Minister’s Message – December 1, 2024

Bible reading: Jeremiah 33:1-9, 14-16.

Message.

This, of course, was no ordinary tree. It had been planted in the late 1800s by the landowner John Clayton. It was a favourite of both walkers and photographers. It had featured in the film “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” although it was many miles from Sherwood Forest. It was the setting for marriage proposals, sentimental moments and the scattering of ashes. And in 2016 the Woodland Trust named it “English Tree of the Year”. You might say that this tree was iconic – and now it was gone. People felt bewildered and bereaved as they contemplated the loss of an old friend: how could anyone have perpetrated such a senseless act? The Police and the National Trust began investigations and two men accused of committing it are due to stand trial this week. I’ll return to this story later.

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Minister’s Message on Remembrance Sunday

Bible reading: Isaiah 65:17-25.

Message.

Memories are tricky things. We may think we have a perfect recollection of something that happened five minutes – or fifty years – ago; yet that memory may be inaccurate or completely wrong. To take a trivial example: Moira may say to me, “I asked you to bring me the biscuits” and I may reply, “No, you didn’t”; this leads to an argument. Each of us may be 100% certain of what we said or heard, yet one of us must be mistaken. Much more seriously, there have been cases of parents and carers being taken to court because the children they looked after have powerful memories of being abused by them many years before. Those children, now adults, are convinced that their memories were genuine when, in fact, nothing ever happened. How hard it must be for judge and jury to sift the evidence and come to a verdict.

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Minister’s Message – October 27, 2024

Bible reading: Job 38:1-7, 34-41.

There’s an old chestnut of a story which goes like this. A small child is painting a picture. Like most small children’s pictures, it’s just a mishmash of colours, so the child’s teacher gently asks what it’s supposed to be depicting. The child of course knows what they’re painting and confidently states, “It’s a picture of God”. The teacher is rather taken aback and says, “But no-one knows what God looks like”. “Well”, comes the response, “They will know when I’ve finished”.

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