EGLWYS GADEIRIOL LLANDAF Registered Charity Number 1159090

The Weekly Notes Online www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk

The Sunday before Lent / Transfiguration Sunday 14th February 2021

Live-streaming: click here to find the 11.15 am service for this Sunday.

The Collect and Readings for today Almighty Father, whose Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross: give us grace to perceive his glory, that we may be strengthened to suffer with him and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A reading from the second book of Kings.

When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I know; keep silent.’ Elijah said to him, ‘Elisha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.’ But he said, ‘As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they came to Jericho.

The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the LORD will take your master away from you?’ And he answered, ‘Yes, I know; be silent.’ Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.’ But he said, ‘As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’ Elisha said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ He responded, ‘You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.’ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 2 Kings 2.1-12

Psalm 50.1-6 - Our God will come and will not keep silence. The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. Out of Zion, perfect in beauty, God reveals himself in glory. R

Our God will come and will not keep silence; before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm. He calls the heavens and the earth from above to witness the judgement of his people. R

‘Gather before me my loyal followers, those who have made a covenant with me and sealed it with sacrifice.’ Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; for God himself is judge.

Response: Our God will come and will not keep silence.

A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians.

Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4.3-6

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark

Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with , who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Mark 9.2-9

Prayers of Intercession for this week Let us pray to the Lord our God, whose glory fills the earth and whose radiant light shines through the Son.

We pray for anyone who lives under a cloud of war, terrorism, oppression or natural disaster, asking God to dispel the darkness, bringing peace and harmony.

We pray for anyone who lives in the shadow of illness, pain, poverty or bereavement, asking God to shine into their life, bringing freedom and light.

We pray for the Church, that it may faithfully reveal the light of Christ in a dark and troubled world.

We pray for our own communities, friends and families, asking God to bless us and reveal God’s purpose in our lives.

Loving Father, reveal your Son among us and help us to listen to him. May we perceive your glory and shine as lights in your world. This we ask in the name of your risen and glorious Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

THE WEEKLY PRAYER INTENTIONS and PRAYER RESOURCES

Those who are sick and have asked for prayer: Roger Rathbone, Catherine Hughes, Archie Conway-Gardner, David Barron, Jane Craig, Kate Robinson, Alison Lewis, Alyson Grant, Rhys Ghazaros, Lisa Wright, Peter Brimmell, David Enoch, John Bethell, Gerwyn Capon, the .

The long-term sick and housebound, among them: Mary Wines, Sid Baldwin, Tom Bailey, Dafydd Hughes, Ray Edwards, Alan Robinson, Marjorie Mudge.

Those who have died recently: Gillian Conners, Sue Rayner

Those whose anniversary of death falls this week: 14th February Albert Archibald Randall, John Frederick Valentine Curtis Stinchcombe, William Lewis Rowlands Margaret Elizabeth Walker, Doris Rendal Jones, Sister Constance 15th February Arthur Hatton Evans, Patricia Joy Richards, William Terrence Roberts 16th February Kenneth John Charles Clayden, Robin Duncan, Jim Cooke, James

17th February Huw John Huws, Katie Olwen Edwards, Thelma Muriel Milward, Mary Doreen Morgan, William Patrick Davey

18th February Gwynno James (Priest), Denis Robert Gornall, Lesley Evans, Ethel May Broomfield Wyatt, John Thomas Lewis (Priest)

19th February Francisca Altmore Brown, Arthur Maurice Sansom, Vivienne Mary Lewis, Eva Ashe, Jean Margaretta Checkley, Maureen Vera Manning, Keith Harrison Watkins, Beverley Brumfitt, Marion Sarah Watkins, Roger Gordon Elias

20th February Anne Margaret Parker

Please pray for the 1Family project preparing to welcome a refugee family to West Cardiff at the end of February.

The Cycle of Prayer for this week in the Anglican Communion and in this Diocese: Sunday: The Anglican Church of Canada The Parish of Merthyr Tydfil, St David & Abercanaid: the Rev’d Mark Prevett

Monday: The Diocese of South Ankole (Uganda) The Parish of Troedyrhiw with Merthyr Vale: the Rev’d Stephen Barnes

Tuesday: The Diocese of West Ankole (Uganda) The Rectorial Benefice of Caerphilly: the Rev’d Mark Greenaway-Robbins

Wednesday: The Diocese of Antananarivo (Province of the Indian Ocean) The and the Greater Chapter

Thursday: The Diocese of Antsiranana (Province of the Indian Ocean) The Deanery of Penarth & Barry: the Rev’d Andrew James, Area Dean

Friday: The Diocese of Araucanía (Chile) The Rectorial Benefice of Barry: the Rev’d Robert Parrish

Saturday: The Diocese of the Arctic (Canada) The Parish of Penarth, All ’: the Rev’d Jimmy Young

Cathedral News

Lent begins this week. Canon Jan hopes to lead a Lent Study Group through ‘zoom’, probably during the daytime. Please email her for details if you are interested.

Lenten Worship: in line with the Government and Church in ’ regulations and guidelines we will only be expanding our Lenten worship provision online – unless and until the restrictions relax. Sunday morning services ‘in person’ in the Cathedral will continue at 9.00 am and 11.15 am. We will also be offering an online

service on Sunday afternoons in Lent with readings, prayers and hymns you can join in with at home. This will be recorded in advance and broadcast at 4.30 pm on Sunday evenings in Lent.

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday there will be no public services but a Choral will be broadcast on the Cathedral YouTube Channel at 7.30 pm. You can access that service and all our additional Lenten services here.

The late Sue Rayner: it was with huge sadness that the Cathedral community and Sue’s very many friends received the news of Sue’s death. Her funeral will take place in the Cathedral at 12 noon on Monday 1 st March. Once Sue’s family has secured the number of seats they need, there may well be seats available for the service. Please email [email protected] if you would like to be considered for a seat when some become available. Regrettably it may not be possible to allocate a seat to everyone who asks for one although it is hoped that as many friends and representatives of the numerous groups Sue was involved in, can be accommodated. The service will be live-streamed and details of how to access the service will be available on request nearer the time. In acknowledgment of Sue’s love of and support for Cathedral music, Sue’s family have requested that donations at the funeral service in memory of Sue be given to the Cathedral Music Department.

Safeguarding: all members of the congregation are invited to undertake a short training and referesher course about the whole question of safeguarding. The course, provided by St Padarn’s Institute has to be completed online and takes about 45 minutes. It is free and you can find information here. All our volunteers are required to complete this course and should have had information from our volunteer team leaders. If you have not heard anything, please ask the Churchwardens or the clergy.

Embrace the Middle East – Update from Sue Smith A Syrian family will soon be coming to Cardiff thanks to the 1Family Cardiff initiative, for which the Cathedral Community raised nearly £1,200 in 2019. They are coming via Lebanon, where the population of only 6 million people hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees. With political unrest and food shortages in Lebanon life for refugees is particularly harsh: they have no legal status, access to work or means of support. Embrace the Middle East works with 12 local partners to alleviate this hardship. One of the beneficiaries, 46-year old Halima, who had to flee Syria with her four children, is employed in a sewing project which has produced over 15,000 masks for churches and centres across Lebanon. Your generous support for Embrace the Middle East enables it to continue to support Halima’s project and many others throughout the lands which Jesus would have known. Thank you for helping these vulnerable people in such difficult times. If you are able to attend the Cathedral, you can see more details about this and about 1FamilyCardiff on the Charities Table near the Cathedral Shop.

Llandaff Cathedral - Christian Aid Group Update Your support has brought protection and hope to so many people - thank you! This is the time of year when we would normally be making plans for Christian Aid Week, including the logistics of local door to door collections. In 2019 we raised £31,652.83 (including Gift Aid) a very considerable sum of money and can be proud of our efforts. Last year’s work was impacted by the pandemic, but many thousands of pounds were still raised by our Llandaff community. For 2021 it is vital to renew our efforts, but with an innovative

approach. As the pandemic still rages, the work of Christian Aid is more important than ever, and you can find out more by visiting www.christianaid.org.uk . You can read about work in countries such as Zimbabwe and Malawi, providing direct aid to those in extreme poverty, enabling the provision of clean water, delivering health education programmes pertinent to the pandemic, and empowering people to build their own businesses in local communities.

Kate Bates, leader of the Cathedral Christian Aid team writes: I was invited recently to a virtual meeting with the Chief Executive of Christian Aid worldwide - Amanda Mukwashi. I was able to tell her something about our initiatives and she wanted to pass on her thanks to all those who volunteer to support the work of Christian Aid, through fund-raising and education. She was particularly pleased to hear how our three schools: Llandaff City Primary School, The Cathedral School and The of Llandaff High School, had been involved, not just in raising money, but using Christian Aid Week as a focus for learning and teaching about the global concerns that Christian Aid addresses, particularly the impact of climate change.

Whilst it seems clear that there will be no door-to-door collections in Llandaff for Christian Aid this year, we remain determined to deploy as many innovative approaches as we can to promote Christian Aid Week, both within our schools and within the parish as a whole. For example, we know that Christian Aid are producing a digital version of the well-known collection envelope, to provide a cashless yet personal way to raise funds. There will also be an on-line quiz for families and local teams. Remember, with a little creativity, we can all rise to the challenge and do our bit to celebrate this life-changing week.

Christian Aid Week 10th – 16th May 2021 £20 = four taps for a water point at a dam, where families can collect water. £60 = ten bags of cement to help a community build an earth dam. £335 = training an earth dam committee to keep a dam in good repair and to run it effectively.

For more information or to help in the Christian Aid team contact Kate Bates on [email protected]

Attendance at and volunteering in the Cathedral: We know that many people will prefer not to attend public worship while the current situation prevails. This is understandable and we are all very keen to emphasise that this is perfectly acceptable. Whilst we have good protocols in the Cathedral to ensure everyone’s safety, it is equally important that people are confident and feel secure themselves. While many of our volunteers feel unable to help us for the time being, others are perfectly happy to come along and to continue to help as best they can. Our message to all our volunteers – Stewards, welcomers and others – is that we do not want anyone to feel that they ‘must’ be present to carry out their duties. No-one must feel obliged to carry out their roles and no-one will be letting the Cathedral down in any way if they are unable to help as usual. As a Chapter and as clergy, we would urge you to do what you feel is right for you and your household.

Foodbank news – Thank you for your support, it is greatly appreciated. The crate is currently positioned near the South East door.

Orders of Service – you can access the Orders of Service very easily by scanning the QR codes on display at the entrance to the Cathedral. Please ask if you have any difficulty with this. The other easy way of accessing the Service sheets is from our electronic newsletter – do sign up if you have not already done so here.

We are now displaying the QR code that links with the NHS Tracing App. If you have the app on your mobile device you can scan the code through the app. This means that if people visit the building and later test positive for coronavirus, other app users who were there at the same time may be sent an alert, if local public health teams think this is necessary.

Sunday School is being provided online for those registered this year, and participation is noted and recorded. Families are of course, still encouraged to attend the 9.00 am All-Age Service. For those who come to the service, there is now an option to tick on the ‘track and trace’ form so that children’s attendance can be registered in this way.

Llandaff Cathedral online If you haven’t already signed up for the Cathedral e-newsletter you can subscribe here.

Sunday Worship guidelines – a reminder…. Here are some of the key things to note:

• There are currently two services: 9.00 am and 11.15 am • Both services are celebrations of the Holy Eucharist with the 9.00 am service catering particularly for children and families. • Social distancing guidelines must be maintained at all times – especially before and after the services. Given that the usable rows are 2 metres apart, they can act as a useful guide when standing in the Nave. • Hand sanitiser must be used on entry. • Face-coverings: Welsh Government regulations now make the wearing of face coverings compulsory in public buildings. This includes the Cathedral. • Everyone attending will be invited to complete a ‘track and trace’ card - please bring a pen! • Communion will be administered standing and in one kind only. • There will be no congregational singing. • Ritual and ceremony will be kept to a minimum. • No service sheets will be used – the order of service will be available online to print in advance and bring with you or to follow on a phone or other mobile device. They are also available through QR codes displayed at each service. • The ‘2-metre distance’ rule means that the capacity of the Cathedral will be between 80 and 90 individuals although family groups sitting together will legitimately increase the number. • 5 cathedral chairs must be left clear between households.

Please note that there will be a legal maximum capacity number and it may be necessary to impose restrictions on entry to ensure that number is not exceeded.

The Welsh Government, the and the Diocese have all produced and issued protocols and detailed instructions to clergy and parishes. We are following them all.

Giving to the Cathedral You can now give to the Cathedral ‘online’ through the following link:

www.easydonate.org/LLANDAFF or you can give by text*: • to donate £5 text LLANDAFF to 70970 • to donate £10 text LLANDAFF to 70191

* Fundraising, payments and donations will be processed and administered by the National Funding Scheme (Charity No: 1149800), operating as DONATE. Texts will be charged at your standard network rate. For Terms & Conditions, see www.easydonate.org

Those of you who have studied the terms and conditions of the Donate website will know that, like all online giving platforms, Donate (which is itself a registered charity) takes a small commission from the donations to fund its own systems and organisation. The Cathedral Chapter carefully researched the whole issue of online giving and settled on Donate as one of the most recommended and trusted organisations in the field. All donations are eligible for Gift Aid and the gift aid administration is carried out for us by Donate.

As always, the Church encourages regular giving and the most effective and efficient way to give regularly to the Cathedral, remains the Church in Wales Gift Direct scheme. This continues to be a vital part of our stewardship and we would encourage everyone to consider regularly giving to the Cathedral through this scheme. You can find more details about Gift Direct here.

We also have contactless giving machines available in the Cathedral for giving through contactless cards.

THE CATHEDRAL OFFICE You may email [email protected] or call on 029 2056 4554. The answering service is checked regularly for messages.

CLERGY The Dean: The Very Rev’d Gerwyn Capon The Dean is currently on sick leave

Precentor: The Rev’d Canon Mark Preece Chancellor: The Rev’d Canon Dr Jan van der Lely @llandaffcathedral.org.uk : 029 2056 8842 [email protected] : 029 2115 6258

www.easydonate.org/LLANDAFF

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