Rector's Reflections


                                            

                                           March 2024


This month’s message comes from Jo Dalton-Leggett, Churchwarden at St. Mary's


Dear Friends


At 10.00 pm on Saturday, I attended a service celebrating the life of a very dear friend, who recently died after a battle with cancer. It was held in her home church in California, where it was afternoon. I was able to join the service thanks to that miracle of modern technology, Zoom. She and I first met in October 1966 on our very first day at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. Four of us lived in adjacent rooms. I shared with another English girl and our neighbours were Welsh. We kept in touch over the years and, since retirement, we have enjoyed frequent reunions, mostly timed to coincide with my friend’s trips to the UK.

Tears fell at the beginning of the service when a soloist sang ‘Ar hyd y nos’, ‘All through the night’, which it was for us in the UK! I have always loved this song and occasionally attempted, less than tunefully, to sing it in Welsh, but I have never really looked at the lyrics before. I know, as you probably do, the lullaby version in English, ‘Sleep my child, let peace attend thee…’, but that is rather different from a literal translation, which is all about starlight and ends with:

        Old age is night when affliction comes

        But to beautify man in his late days

        We'll put our weak light together

        All through the night.

A singable English version by A G Prys-Jones renders it:

        So, when age brings grief and sorrow,

        From each other we can borrow

        Faith in our sublime tomorrow,

        All through the night.

My friend in later years knew affliction, but her life was filled with music, laughter, faith, and love! The idea that we can put our weak lights together and borrow each other’s faith appeals to me.


Frequently in our daily lives and constantly in the news, we are reminded that grief and sorrow can come to people, of any age, at any time. The immensity of the pain and suffering in the world often feels completely overwhelming, which it is if we only look to ourselves, to fellow human-beings and to human governments and organisations for solutions. We need to turn to God, for with him nothing is impossible. We can and we should turn to him in prayer. When Jesus died on the cross, he provided us with direct access through him to our heavenly Father. Even if we feel that we do not know how to pray or what to pray for, God knows what is in our hearts and will answer our prayers, even those we cannot articulate. When people are unable to pray for themselves, they can be supported by the prayers of others; they can ‘borrow’ another’s faith. The Bible tells us to ‘pray at all times.’ We should pray when we are on our own but also when we are together. When we pray with others, maybe our weak lights will burn more brightly.

We shall be ‘Exploring Prayer’ in the Benefice Lent Study Course. Why not join us? You will be most welcome. You will find the details in 'News & Events'


I pray for God’s blessings on you all.