REPORTS FROM THE CHURCHES
St David’s, Llanddewi
Thank you to everyone, including the little band from Port Eynon, who joined us at St David’s Church, Llanddewi for our celebration of St David’s Day. The Welsh language was used with some English to centre our worship on the faith of the Saint who so influenced the culture and ethos of this land, so beautifully expressed in the words and music of Wales. It was lovely to share the service and the company with folk gathered there from other places.
At a meeting in March our small congregation received reports, took stock of our resources and began to consider plans to make best use of the church, people and building.
Easter celebrates Jesus’s final confrontation with the power of evil that besets all humanity, facing mockery, false trial, flogging, crucifixion and death itself, and it culminates in His resurrection. Jesus’s resurrection is central to the Christian faith, dying then rising again, fulfilling all that Jesus claimed, with the power and authority to give us new life in a permanent relationship with God. This gospel message is good news.
Easter praise expresses the wonder of what Jesus has done for us. We experience a sense of Easter joy through many aspects of creation, like the appearance in spring of stems, buds and blooms after winter dormancy and the sounds of birdsong breaking winter silence. Easter praise emanates from the sense of new life and hope. Psalms, poems, hymns, spiritual songs and other literature express the desire to give thanks to the creator who has revealed his existence to us and love for us in such wonderful ways. Easter praise is implicit in most of our worship songs, such as ‘All heaven declares the beauty of the risen Lord’, but there are some that explicitly offer Easter praise, notably ‘Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son’. Ponder the sung or written words of praise to God emanating from the hearts and minds of those who have experienced the wonder and joy of the resurrected Lord, which are available to inspire us.
Penny Henderson
St Illtyd’s, Oxwich
The snowdrops have bloomed, the crocus faded but the daffodils are everywhere. At every turn on Gower there are great splashes of yellow so Easter must be near. For many people this is just a sequence of spring flowers but for those with a Christian belief they signal the most important time of the year, when we remember Christ’s crucifixion and then his amazing resurrection. For those of faith this is truly a time of great celebration. We read of the harrowing time of Jesus on the cross watched by his mother and close friends, followed by the discovery of an empty tomb. Mary goes to the tomb the following day and makes the discovery and does not recognise Jesus dressed as a gardener. Hardly surprising after the trauma of the previous day. It was not until Jesus calls her name that she recognises her Saviour.
We too are called in some way or other to respond to the risen Lord and to demonstrate our faith to all around us. This is none too easy but especially at this time of year we should try to demonstrate our beliefs and tell of the real meaning of Easter and dismiss the appearance that it is not all chocolate eggs and bunny rabbits! May the power of the Cross, the joy of the resurrection and the presence of our risen Lord, be with us always.
Rosemary Wigley
St Andrew’s, Penrice
We are fortunate that our service time will remain at 8.30am when Canon Roger retires. We shall miss him hugely but hope he and his family have a healthy and peaceful retirement in their new home.
Easter will soon be here bringing hope and joy at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We hope to welcome many local residents and visitors to the service on Easter Day at 8.30am.
The Plant Sale will be on Saturday May 2nd and will be held in Port Eynon Village Hall. Cathy Dorran has spent an enormous amount of time purchasing plugs and bringing them on, as well as acquiring plants and cuttings to provide stock for the sale, so hopefully, as in previous years, the event will be well attended. The proceeds are to be given to the Sisters of Mercy in Swansea, a local charity which feeds the homeless. The Sisters are a branch of the Missionaries of the Charity of Mother Teresa Trust.
The World Day of Prayer Service, which was prepared by the women of Nigeria, was celebrated in Reynoldston Chapel this year. It was a humbling and joyful service as the women told their stories and encouraged others to trust in God and unite in prayer and action. Many thanks to the congregation of Reynoldston Chapel for their welcome and hospitality.
The first lecture for this summer will be on Wednesday April 15th at 7pm and will be given by Ian Prothero. Further details are on the advert elsewhere in the magazine. Ian is an old friend of St. Andrew’s and has attended many lectures and events in the church. The title of his talk is ‘A Simple Geology of Central Gower and a Couple of Related Historical Consequences’. He is well known as an enthusiastic and knowledgeable speaker and we look forward very much to welcoming him to the church.
Angela Barnett
St Cattwg’s, Port Eynon
St. Cattwg’s is keeping to its regular time for Sunday services, that is 5pm. Many of the other churches in the South-West Cluster have arranged altered times, to fit in with the regretted departure of Canon Roger Donaldson, which will spread the remaining clergy and lay readers even more thinly.
‘Praise for Easter’ is very similar to last month’s topic of ‘Praise for Spring’. It evokes the same images of lengthening days, burgeoning plant life, lambs, baby birds and rabbits. In the Christian tradition, Christ’s resurrection demonstrates the same examples of welcome light in our darkness, flourishing new life and hope and also the pain of sacrifice. The festival is widely believed to have been based on the pagan goddess Eostre, who represented fertility, dawn and springtime and whose month was April. Among her symbols were little birds and hares (not as fertile as rabbits!), in turn based on Eos, a Roman goddess with the same attributes. Both belonged to the Northern Hemisphere and there does not appear to be much evidence of such worship practices in the Southern Hemisphere, where of course the Christian Easter falls in the autumn. Lambs and crops, thanks to modern agricultural practices, do occur in the autumn, but not birds’ eggs and the subsequent babies. Aboriginal people welcomed the arrival of light after the winter with ceremonial, but not resembling our Easter practices. Where did the universal chocolate custom come from?
For Christians, the arrival of light reflects the glorious resurrection of Christ, full of the promise of new life, as symbolised by eggs; there is also the suffering of the lamb who was slain, dying uncomplaining for the benefit of humankind. Let us praise Jesus Christ for giving himself and God the Father for sacrificing his son, then let us and all the world rejoice in the happiness and fun of Eastertide – rabbits, chocolate and all!
Susan Morris
St George’s, Reynoldston
St. George’s has a Memorial Book which enables those who used to live in Reynoldston and who have died, to have their names entered in this book, with house name, date of death and age. Family can also include a short statement if they wish. The names are read out at anniversaries in intercessions in our services and are included in the Reynoldston News Magazine.
We have appreciated the Welsh language communion services held at our church and the care taken by Revd Peter in their preparation. It is so pleasant to welcome to the services those from some of the far reaches of the Ministry Area and from Swansea chapels. As we also experienced at the St. David’s Day service at Llanddewi, Welsh hymn tunes bring out the best in our voices!
Very little was left of the original 13th-century church, demolished and rebuilt in 1867. The font could well be from the original church and is a block of stalagmite no doubt taken from one of the Gower caves. Originally the font was left very much in its natural state, but during the rebuild it was chiseled into its present shape.
We have made the most of Canon Roger in March with two services and his final services in April. Roger has become very much a friend to us all, with his sincerity, deep faith and, of course, his humour. We do so recognise that his stay in Gower has been combined with great sadness and we do so hope that Roger has felt the love and support from his congregations in the Gower churches.
Hugh Jones
St Mary the Virgin, Rhossili
Many visitors have spent time at the Surrender Art Exhibition in the church this month, where small posies of spring flowers have brightened the space, albeit we are in Lent, making it a welcoming place every day even to those of no particular faith. Grateful thanks to the Wellbeing team for their diligence, and to the artist Liliane Davies.
We are overjoyed that Revd Roger will lead our Communion service on Easter Day (at 9.15) and are sorry that this will be his last occasion with us in Rhossili. Roger has been a constant loving and stimulating presence in our lives since before Covid: a companion to Revd Justin, a rock during the interregnum, and a mainstay for Revd Peter during Gower’s transformation to Ministry Area. Our lives are the richer for his being in our midst. We wish him health and happiness and family enjoyment, as he moves into so-called retirement.
Recently more people have been popping in to our monthly service, and we pray for those who can no longer attend, especially Chris Beynon, Olive Hopker and Anne Morse Jones. New local residents Duncan and Lorry are embracing village life, including joining Revd Peter on his weekly reflective walks, and taking part in services – it is great to have them amongst us. Also in the congregation recently have been regular friends from further afield including Ann and Diane, Natalie, Barbara, and Nigel and Christine. Happy Easter to all!
Caroline Johnson
Gower Ministry Area 