Welcome to the website of the Shrine Church of Saint Melangell. Here you will find information about our services, events and facilities. Please use the menus at the top and bottom of the page to navigate to the page you need, or click the news links for up to date information.
Mae ein gwefan Gymraeg i’w gweld yma .
Services for December and January at the Shrine Church of St Melangell.
One of the most popular Christmas carols is Charles Wesley’s Hark! The herald angels sing. It’s in St Luke’s Gospel that the choir of angels is mentioned – a multitude of the heavenly host singing,” Glory to God on the highest! And on earth, peace.” This part of the Nativity happens outside Bethlehem, now in the West Bank and part of the ongoing turmoil in the Holy Land and Middle East today. Then, the birth of Jesus was at a relatively peaceful time in Palestine, although enforced by the Roman occupation, but the cry of “Glory to God in the highest” was revolutionary and could get you killed because it gave God the highest honour and not the Emperor. Luke writes that the shepherds were terrified when the first angel appeared – and no wonder! But they are told not to be afraid, that a Saviour has been born in Bethlehem and that they will know when they have found him because he will be swaddled and lying in a manger.
Across the years, it’s easy to forget how astonishing that message is because it’s the shepherds who are told who this child is – the Lord – which, up until then, only Mary and Joseph knew. As observant Jews, the shepherds would recognise that term with its significance but it’s not the religious people of the times – rather, ordinary working folk, doing a hard, cold job out on the hillsides, who are given the good news first. Luke says three times that the child is lying in a manger – a feeding trough for animals. Who would ever have thought that Jesus would be born in such humble circumstances?
Astounded as they are, that point, the shepherds have a choice: they can do what is suggested or dismiss it. They decide to go to Bethlehem and they do find a baby in a manger – confirmation for them that the angels were telling them the truth and wider confirmation also for Mary and Joseph of what they had kept secret until then. After a long journey of 80 miles and at a time of census and taxation, into the mess and hope of the world a baby is born who will spend the first two years of his life as a refugee in Egypt. The child will need the love and care of a human family as human co-operation is given and unlikely events then begin to unfold.
There may be times for us when we find unlikely or astonishing things happening and they may be hard to believe. Or perhaps people are telling us things we find hard to accept and there may be difficult choices to make. Might, just might, it be that events are happening in a wider dimension than we may seek or realise? That was so as Jesus was born – those waiting for the Messiah were anticipating a powerful ruler who could take on the brutal regime of the Roman Empire and yet they were sent a helpless baby in a manger. That must have been shocking and perplexing – but it was also sacred for those who glimpsed the hope underpinning it and had the courage to respond.
An angel is a messenger and many messages are heard every day, some hopeful and others not. Recent word from the Church of England has been shocking with the Archbishop of Canterbury resigning over safeguarding, his position having become ‘holy untenable.’ There is little that is holy in that terrible situation but the hope is that lessons will be learned, change will be forthcoming and safety for all will result. Each of us, like those shepherds, has the choice of whether or not to respond to the possibility of new life and hope restored which can still break through difficult circumstances if we allow it to. In our world of conflicting warfare and peace, hunger and plenty, sorrow and joy, there will still be reasons to be joyful and to do what we can to exult in glory and bring about peace on earth in our families and communities. Amidst all the woes and wrongdoing being faced may truth and new beginnings prevail so that, as Advent the time of waiting continues, it may lead to a joyful Christmas and a hopeful New Year!
With my prayers; pob bendith,
Christine, Priest Guardian.
The following services will be held at St Melangell’s and will be followed by tea with cake on Sundays and a shared lunch on Thursdays.
Services in December:
Sundays Dec. 1st, 8th, 15th, 3pm: Advent Service of reflection.
Thursdays Dec. 5th, 12th, noon:Holy Eucharist
Monday 16th, 10.30am: Julian Group at the centre.
Thursday 19th Dec, noon: Holy Eucharist. 6.30pm: Carol Service at St Cynog’s.
Sunday 22nd, 3pm: Carol Service by candlelight.
Christmas Eve, Tues. 24th, 3pm: Gathering at the Manger.
Christmas Day, Wednesday 25th, 9.30 am: Christ Mass
There will be no service on Thursday 26th, Boxing Day.
Sunday 29th, no service here – you are invited instead to the Mission Area Eucharist at Llangedwyn at 10.30am or the carol service at Llanarmon MM at 2pm.
Services in January:
Thursday Jan. 2nd, noon: Service of the Word for the New Year
Sunday Jan. 5th, 3pm: Epiphany Celebration
Thursdays 9th, noon: Holy Eucharist
Sundays 12th, 19th, 3pm: Service of reflection.
Monday 13th, 10.30am: Julian Group at the centre.
Thursdays 16th, 23rd, 30th, noon: Holy Eucharist.
Sunday 26th, 3pm: Holy Eucharist.
For further information or to book the Shepherd’s Hut, please ring 01691 860408 or contact admin@stmelangell.org
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