St. Mary’s Church News February
FEBRUARY REPORT
The January Church News page ended with the words ‘We look forward to seeing you at our services’. Bishop Mary in a recent prayer for the diocese used the ‘Come and see’ taken from the Gospel according to John, when Philip told Nathaniel that he had found Jesus, the promised Messiah, much to Nathaniel’s scepticism. Philip issued the invitation ‘Come and see’. These words are an invitation to all in our community who are not used to churchgoing, to come and experience for yourselves the warm welcome that you will receive from the greeters in church, the help offered to follow the service and to make you feel at home in the love of Jesus. The church is a warm safe place, the music is uplifting, the singing will benefit from your participation and is good for your own wellbeing. If you are baptised, you can take part in the Communion or simply receive a blessing at the altar rail. Come and see and you will not be disappointed.
The congregation and many in the community were saddened to hear that Sheonagh Ormrod, the wife of Vicar Jon, had passed away after five months of declining health. Jon and Sheonagh had moved to the parish Worle near Weston Super Mare in 2021, having been here for seven years. Her funeral on 23rd January was attended by many from Wenvoe, St. Lythan’s and Sully as a mark of respect for Jon and his two daughters and was a loving caring service, a real tribute to the work Jon had done in the short time he and Sheonagh had been in the parish. May she rest in peace and rise in glory. For those who were not able to travel to Worle, Vicar Lyndon led a short service of prayers and readings being used at the service in St. Mary’s.
At the same time, we also received the news that Colin Jenkins had passed away after a long illness. Colin was well known in the community for his work in many areas including the preparation of “What’s On”. His funeral took place on Thursday 25th in St. Mary’s Church followed by cremation at the Cardiff and Vale crematorium. We offer our prayers and thoughts to Anne and her two daughters as they now face the future without him. ‘Well done thou good and faithful servant’. RIP.
Looking back at our Christmas celebrations, it was a very busy time with Carol Services and Midnight Eucharist followed by a service at St. Lythan’s on Christmas Day. The collection taken at the Community Carols and Nine Lessons for Ty Hafan came to £400 and a letter of thanks has been received. This can be viewed on the notice board in the church porch.
Now we are approaching the Season of Lent with Ash Wednesday on 14th February. This year the Imposition of Ashes will be at 10.00 am at St. John’s Church in Sully and in the evening at 7.00pm at St. Mary’s. Lent is a time of preparation for the great feast day of Easter, and Vicar Lyndon has arranged a series of Lenten talks on Zoom on Tuesday evenings at 7.00pm-8.00pm. Vicar Lyndon writes ‘I will offer
some insights into the structure of the liturgies of Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day beginning on Tuesday 20th February. We experience these liturgies but we don’t often have the opportunity to reflect on their structure and content and what they say to us through our Lenten journey’ To take part please email Lyndon on Lyndontssf@outlook.com and he will let you have the details to allow access Zoom.
The congregation marked the many years of service by Robert Lloyd who played the organ and now wished to stand down. We thank him for the contribution he made to our act of worship, at funerals and weddings. Gareth Williams our other organist has agreed to continue to inspire us with his expertise at the keyboard. We will try and find a replacement for Rob. Is there a fledging organist locally who Gareth could train? Please contact Vicar Lyndon for full details of what we can offer.
We also wish to thank Kenneth Mathews for his work organising the weekly newsletter. This has now been taken over by Helen Kennedy of Sully. Ken had many roles in St. Mary’s as churchwarden, Secretary to the church council, Server at the altar, in charge of the church heating and other duties. So, we thank you Ken for all your diligence in church affairs, but thankfully we will still see you in church. Da iawn.
Please see Jude Billingham’s article on the Food Bank on page 11.
To all our readers, and the friends of St. Mary’s keep warm in this very cold weather. We welcome all to join in our Sunday and Wednesday morning Service.
God Bless,
Parry Edwards