PARTNERS The Usk Ministry Area Newsletter EASTER 2019 Llantrisant Llangybi Llanbadoc Usk Coed-y-Paen Tredunnock Wolvesnewton Kevin’s Easter Message Dear Friends, As I write this having just watched the news of the fire that ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral my thoughts have turned to the many challenges and difficulties that seem to face the Church and undermine our faith and our beliefs in this secular world in which we now live. No doubt Jesus’s disciples, following his trial and crucifixion felt something similar. All seemed to be lost – the things that were so dear, destroyed; hope itself obliterated. As we watch the television news stories of the Paris fire and the burning of age-old treasures and see the now crumbling masonry settling into the dust, we can only wonder if this is some kind of metaphor for Christianity and our faith itself. However, as well as the inspiring stories of faithful individuals and groups praying and singing hymns during that conflagration we also saw that wonderful picture of the Notre Dame altar cross illuminated by sunlight, golden amidst the debris, destruction and smoke filled the interior of the building. There is a reason we call the Christian story: the Good News. There is a reason why this Easter season is so life- changing. That reason is a person – Jesus Christ. God identifies with all our pain and suffering because his son Jesus suffered the worst that humanity could throw at him on that first Good Friday. He suffered that unspeakable death on the Cross so that each one of us might have the opportunity to know God intimately and live lives of true freedom and justice. Lord Rowan Williams wrote: “Wherever you are, however lost you are, however much darkness there is around you, you have not gone beyond the reach of God.” What we remember and celebrate about Jesus this Easter changed everything. His death on the cross and glorious resurrection gave to humankind a true and certain hope for the future. Not just a hope, but a promise. A promise that one day all will be well. Revelation 21: 4 declares: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” In the meantime, though, we have work to do, joy to bring, goodness to share. Our divine challenge is to accept Christ’s invitation to follow him and bring a taste of God’s Kingdom here now. To be hope and light. To be kind and generous. To be forgiving and slow to anger. We are all God’s work progress and we can all make a difference whoever we are, wherever we live. The cross is a powerful symbol of truth over falsehood, hope over despair and life beyond death. St Paul writes, "The message of the cross is sheer folly to those on the way to destruction, but to us, who are on the way to salvation, it is the power of God." I wish you a truly joyful and life-changing Easter. Kevin St Cybi’s Church Llangybi At St Cybi’s we continue to try to mark the church’s special festivals with something out of the normal run. Since the previous edition of Partners, have we celebrated Candlemas with a Christingle service which raised funds for the Children’s Society’s work with disadvantaged children and young people. On Mothering Sunday a small number of children engaged in our activities centred on the discovery of Moses in the bulrushes and congregation members received a gift of a flowering plant for their gardens, thanks to the generosity of Morris’s Garden Centre. On Palm Sunday we kept up our tradition of the Palm ceremony and a dramatic rendering of the Passion Gospel. Holy Week saw the third of our Bring and Share Fellowship Suppers, marking the time Jesus shared with his friends in the Upper Room before submitting himself to the Cross. We have a valued, long tradition of marking the Last Hour of the Crucifixion on Good Friday with readings, poems and sacred music. Yet again this year we and our friends from St Madoc’s were privileged to have the beautiful singing of the Byrdsong choir to enhance our remembrance. On Easter Day our family service of Holy Eucharist will be followed by an Easter Egg Hunt for children, in churchyard or church, depending on weather. Our one time “experimental” Drop-in Café is now into its third year, having only once failed to be open on a Wednesday, on Boxing Day 2018. It is also proud to have helped to spawn the Pop-Up Post Office that arrives in Llangybi every Friday morning. Now that the long drawn out travails of our big building renovation project have just come to some sort of closure, a friendly dog-walker unlocks and locks our church every day. This has certainly increased the names in our Visitor’s Book and our wall paintings continue to attract interest. The conservator who kept watch on the medieval paintings during the work, uncovered what we knew was on our chancel arch, damaged medieval bits and pieces and a damaged Royal Arms. What to do about this and stopping the damp ingress on the south wall remains a dilemma. More pressing, to our minds, is trying to halt the decline of interest in Christian worship in rural areas, a problem not confined to this Deanery, Diocese or Province we understand. Rev’d Pamela Love. SS Peter, Paul and John, Llantrisant Regular Worship The pattern of service since the highlights of Christmas have been a bit of a challenge, although a joint service with Tredunnock in February went well. We look forward to joining them on Palm Sunday. Mothering Sunday We made a special effort this year to encourage the attendance by local families: children, parents and grandparents – in total 8 young children and 19 adults, most of whom do not attend regular services. We might have had one other family had Mum not been on Air Ambulance Duty – she received her flowers on Monday. A simple service, songs from school, a potted flower for mums and a colour-in drawing (courtesy of Tredunnoc for each child. Refreshments and chats were enjoyed after the service. Looking Forward of course to Easter Day – service at 11.15. Then there is much work to do in our two churchyards and more thinking needed about the style and pattern of our worship and witness. We are still awaiting action by the RB on the future use of St Llywell’s church. We are planning our bi-ennial Church and Community Party for 7th July – for fun and fundraising. There is to be a village wedding in August – best wishes to Emma and Sam Sandy Blair The Priory Church of St Mary, Usk Lenten Lunch On Sunday 7th April members of St Mary’s attended a Lenten Lunch in support of Raven House. Guests enjoyed homemade soup together with cheese and pate followed by an informative talk by Maggie Smith from Raven House. Thanks to the generosity of Church members, in addition to the donations of food, a donation of £150 will be passed to Raven House. Looking forward to the summer, the team are planning a strawberry tea and hoping for a sunny day to share with members of the church, their families and the Usk community Debbie Harper St Mary’s Church Choir A few weekends ago, Usk reverberated with the harmonious sounds of many voices taking part in the inaugural Usk Choral Festival. Twelve months before, the St. Mary’s Church choir heard that their application had been successful and that they would be participating. This was a big step out of our comfort zone – singing in front of the screen and so near the audience??! Help!! Preparations began in January and we narrowed down our programme to include five modern sacred items which we had previously sung in church. However, a concert performance was an ideal opportunity to open up our repertoire so two secular pieces were added…Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Barbershop Blues (complete with Swanee Whistle) ….another first! The weekend of the festival duly arrived and we were fortunate not only to be singing on our home turf but also to be the first choir on the Saturday evening programme. Robes were dispensed with and a new all black concert strip was adopted with our new cowls adding a blaze of colour. Our vestry warm ups took an even more lighthearted route than usual (if that’s possible?!) mainly to dispel the sudden onset of nerves mixed with excited anticipation. ...and we were on. The choir really pulled out all the stops, taking all the tips (and cajoling) from rehearsals to give a very special performance. So many lovely compliments were later received from members of the audience ... “a lovely sound” ...”a truly polished performance” ...” great enthusiasm combined with a very musical performance” . All I can say is that I hope our lovely ladies were as proud of their performance as I was – they rocked! I should like to take this opportunity to thank our choristers for their hard work and dedication to the choir, not only for this concert but throughout the year. Many thanks must also go to our wonderful, patient accompanist Peter Alan. Thank you all! Judith Lee St Andrew’s Church Tredunnock Advent and Christmas services were well supported by the community and friends of St Andrews. We were delighted to see so many of our village children at our festival of Nine Carols and Readings.