Y WAWR the DAWN Gorffennaf 2018 July 2018
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Registered by Australia Post Print Post Approved PP 100005221 Y WAWR THE DAWN The magazine of the Melbourne Welsh Church Henry Robert Stainsby Rev. Siôn displaying his unique fashion style. Fred, Bryn and Lara Boomsma Gorffennaf 2018 July 2018 CHURCH SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES SUNDAY SERVICES Fellowship JULY 1 group 11:00am English Rev. Jim Barr 11th & 25th Communion 320 La Trobe St. Junior Church 10:30am JULY 8 11:00am English Rev. Siôn Gough Hughes Prayer list Junior Church 2:30pm Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Geelong Welsh Ladies Choir Rev. Beti Wyn James and Rev. Sion Gough Hughes JULY 15 165th Church Anniversary Please include the 11:00am English Rev. Beti Wyn James following in your prayers: Junior Church John Doré Excelsis Choir Arthur Greenacre Alan Morris JULY 22 Sarah Eldridge 11:00am English Rev. Beti Wyn James Brian Edge Junior Church and all the sick, sad, lonely, hungry, cold, 2:30pm Welsh Service to celebrate our 165th frail and scared in Anniversary Rev. Beti Wyn James our community and beyond. JULY 29 A.G.M. following this service 11:am English Rev. Siôn Gough Hughes Junior Church july 1st Vianna Lam 14th Audrey Fields birthdays 5th Rachel Holding 18th Janet Jones-Roberts Lucy Morrison Michael Min fa Best wishes and Paul Warburton 20th Bronwen Warburton congratulations to : 9th Nathan Gardiner 21st Sue Williams 11th Kimberley Dunt 28th Colleen Berry CHURCH SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES Our 165th anniversary July anniversaries July 15 at 11:00am Congratulations to all those couples celebrating an anniversary in July. Guest preacher: rev. beti wyn james Everyone at the Welsh Church is thrilled to congratulate 2 couples on the safe arrival of new additions to their families. Followed by a catered lunch On May 28 Penny and Glenn Stainsby welcomed Henry Robert, a little brother for Join in our celebrations! Olivia. He weighed in at 8ib 4oz. Penny is the elder daughter of Bronwen and Chris Holding. WRAP, PACK AND STACK Lara Jean arrived safely on June 17 to Marnie and Bryn Boomsma. Bryn is the younger son Our 2018 effort is well and truly in of Church Secretary Christine and Fred full swing. As usual, we are reliant Boomsma. Lara weighed in at 7lb 13oz. and is upon the generosity of our Church the first little cousin for Oliver. people to provide the necessary goodies. We currently require the Both the little ones and their parents are following items: doing very well, as are the grandparents who Empty adult size shoeboxes haven’t stopped beaming proudly. Greylead & coloured pencils Congratulations to all!! Erasers and sharpeners Girls shorts and skirts - sizes 5-9 and 10-14 August gymanfa ganu Boys toys eg small cars, balls etc The August Gymanfa Ganu, originally Our next working bee will be on planned for August 26th, has been July 17 in the Church Sunday rescheduled and will now be held at : School Hall from 10:00am onwards. Morning tea is provided, BYO lunch. 11:00am on August 12th at the If you can spare a few hours, your Melbourne Welsh Church assistance would be very much appreciated. with Excelsis choir jim’S mESSAGE Jane and I have just returned from a holiday, part of which was spent travelling along the Murray River. We caught up with the Revd Harry Monro (who preached at the 150th Anniversary of the Carmel Church) at Swan Hill where he is living aboard his own paddle boat - the diesel powered, 65 foot Tooraloora. We moved on to Echuca where we took a cruise on one of the old fleet of wood-fired paddle steamers dating to the middle of the nineteenth century. One that particularly took my eye was the PS Etona. Clearly identifiable by the distinctive cross standing atop her wheelhouse, the Etona was built by the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide under Bishop Harmer in 1898. The boat replaced an earlier mission vessel of the same name but the paddle steamer was to cost almost ten times as much as the first steam launch. Her construction started at about November, 1898 and the hull was in the water before Christmas. She had a cabin for a minister and his family and a small chapel that seated 12 people. At the time she was built river steamers were the major transport system for inland regions of NSW, Victoria and South Australia. Hundreds of steamers plied the river with the major river ports being Echuca (Victoria) on the Upper Murray and Mannum and Goolwa (South Australia). People living on isolated properties along the Murray and Darling Rivers and their tributaries depended on the steamers for the supplies, shipping their products to market and human contact. The Etona was a creative missionary response to a sparsely settled pioneer environment. Using the technology of the day the church reached out to evangelise and pastor the scattered residents of the Murray Darling Basin. However, by 1912, churches had been constructed at a number of the towns visited by the Etona and she was retired from mission work and later ‘laid up' in about 1944. In 1961 she was steamed to Echuca and restored. What fascinates me is that Etona is another part of the history of itinerant preaching in Australia. Together with the Bush Brotherhoods of around the same period in outback Queensland and NSW, the churches of our nation have responded to their context with creative and mobile forms of ministry. A modern equivalent is the Uniting Church’s Frontier Services which covers inland Australia with ministers and mission workers using planes and four wheel drive vehicles to support isolated workers and communities. Itinerant preaching is a central element of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist tradition. From 1735 our tradition had ministers hauling sled-mounted pulpits behind horses the length and breadth of Wales. It was not until 1845 that the Llanelli Association made the ‘first move toward the pastorate’ and by the end of the nineteenth century the settled ‘pastorate model’ had supplanted the itinerant model of ministry. If in the early twentieth century churches were being planted and growing along the Murray, by the early 21st century that process is declining, as it is in many rural communities in Australia. Perhaps the time is here to rediscover what creative, vital forms itinerant preaching may take in our contemporary world? In that spirit of faith and exploration, the Mission and Outreach Committee of the Melbourne Welsh Church is planning to row Cariad 80 km along the Murray in November this year. IF you would like to be a part of this adventure please contact me. Grace and peace, Jim Sion’S mESSAGE Dear Friends, This month we celebrate our 165th Church and Sunday School Anniversary. For this special occasion we have invited a minister from Wales to come over and lead our celebrations. Her name is Beti Wyn James and here is a short biography she has provided: Born and raised at Clydach, Swansea Valley Graduated from the United Theological College Aberystwyth Ordained and inducted as Minister of Tabernacl, Barry in 1994. Moved to Carmarthen in 2002 and inducted as Minister at Priordy Chapel, Carmarthen, Cana and Bancyfelin . Holds a lot of other responsibilities (too many!) locally and nationally. Has just been elected Vice President of Undeb yr Annibynwyr. (Union of Independent Churches). Does a lot of work on TV and Radio. Married to Philip and has two daughters, Elin Wyn (19) studying Theology & Religion in Birmingham University and Sara Llwyd, (17) still in school. We look forward to welcoming Beti Wyn and her family to Melbourne. Yours, Siôn pEtEr’S mESSAGE The tongue Proverbs 18:21 The Message: Words kill, words is where give life; they are either poison or fruit - you the mind choose. comes out into the open. I’ve been speaking at our Sister Church Carmel, in Sebastopol from the book of James. One of the matters it Lips move discusses is that of the use of the tongue and what we say, our so to speak. words. The tongue I wonder if you, like me, are sometimes too quick to say the first is where thing that comes into you mind?? the mind I recently had a friend whose grandson took his life, after receiving comes out text messages from his dad. His parents were going through a into the open. bitter and difficult separation, and the dad was telling his son he was worthless and should kill himself!! Mind Now this is an extreme example, BUT our words are powerful, what you say. poisonous or sweet like fruit, you choose…. What are your/my words - poison or fruit?? ~ S Turner THE DAWN Each month almost 300 copies of The Dawn are sent out. Whilst the majority are sent locally here in Victoria, a large number are sent interstate and internationally, including to Wales (naturally) England, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan. On the cover of The Dawn this month is a picture of Teresa Kent and her friend Hilda, both from Townville in far north Queensland. Church organist, Wendy Couch, has regularly sent issues of the Dawn to Teresa ( who is now on our mailing list ) and below is an email she recently received: (Carmarthen) and is travelling to Melbourne with her husband and 2 daughters to take part in various services in both Dear Wendy, Thank you so much for sending up the Dawn, to us here in Townsville. My church here has a mature age group who go out to different cafe's every 2 weeks. For many of the people who come along, this is their only outing.