Palm Sunday reflection

Reflection for Palm Sunday
“They brought the colt…. and set Jesus on it…. The whole multitude….. began to praise God joyfully….. saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”From today’s Gospel, Luke 19:28-40. 
 “Our musicians wear body armour – instead of tuxedos they sing to the wounded. In hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway. President Zelensky at the Grammys.Today’s reflection is the work of Rev’d Christopher (Kit) Carter, whose ashes were interred yesterday in Llangadwaladr Churchyard which was one of the places where he served. Kit had many gifts, not least as a poet, and this is one of poems he wrote for Passiontide and Easter. Today, Palm Sunday, with the war in Ukraine still raging and peace talks as yet unsuccessful, his words are appropriate as the city is entered and the Via Dolorosa draws near. Firstly, there must be this way of suffering and death but it will eventually lead on to resurrection hope and life restored. As Kit writes of Jesus:….naked high upon a cross,You shared our sorrow, pain and loss. We for whom you gave everything Still cry, “Hosanna to the King!”
Despite all he and his people are suffering, if President Zelensky can speak at the Grammys of the music breaking through anyway, then we too can sing “Hosanna” as a sign of trust. As Holy Week begins, may it bring its blessings, despite the Via Dolorosa and the grave of which Kit speaks, because of the later empty tomb. That enables us, despite it all, to trust that hope will eventually break through so that, in the end, “All’s well! Hosanna to the King!”
With my prayers, pob bendith,Christine, Guardian.

A Prayer for Passiontide and Easter

Lord Jesus, when in state you rode

No snorting warhorse you bestrode

But jolted down the stony track

Upon a humble donkey’s back.

Yet like the children then we sing

And cry, “Hosanna to the King.”
When once within the city gate

You were not robed in royal state

But seized and bound by cruel foes.

Your naked back was black with blows.

We for whom you endured the sting

Yet cry, “Hosanna to the King“
When you paraded through the town,

You did not wear a golden crown.

They plaited sprigs of cruel thorn

To crown you with in spiteful scorn.

To shame the mindless taunts they fling

We cry, “Hosanna to the King!”
Not raised upon a lofty throne

In splendid majesty alone

But naked high upon a cross

You shared our sorrow, pain and loss.

We for whom you gave everything

Still cry, “Hosanna to the King!”
After you’d struggled and won through

No stately palace welcomed you

Only the grave we all must share.

But like a sown seed sleeping there

You sprang up and brought back the Spring. 

All’s well! Hosanna to the King!

Rev’d Kit Carter. Rest in peace, Kit. 

Sunday reflection

Reflection for Passion Sunday

”Mary took a pound of costly perfume….anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” From St John 12:1-8.

”Smells are surer than sounds or sights

To make your heart-strings crack….

I have forgotten a hundred fights 

But one I shall not forget…..

Through the crack and the stink of cordite(Ah Christ! My country again!)

The smell of the wattle by Lichtenberg

Riding in, in the rain!” From ‘Lichtenberg’, by Rudyard Kipling. 

The fragrance filling the house when Jesus’ feet were anointed by Mary is in sharp contrast with her sister Martha’s earlier comment when the grave of their brother Lazarus is opened: “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” (John 11:39) On Jesus’ command , Lazarus emerges still wearing his grave clothes and this is so controversial that, from that day, there are plans afoot to have Jesus put to death (John 11:53). Later, those plans are extended to have Lazarus killed too (John 12:10) though it’s not known whether this happened or not.
After what he’s been through, it may seem astonishing that Lazarus is present at this meal, six days before Passover, when Jesus comes to stay with them all in Bethany and the costly nard is used. This is Spikenard, aromatic honeysuckle oil, and the generous outpouring of such expensive perfume would have cost about the yearly wage of a labourer in those days. Its use is also in sharp contrast with the indignation of Judas, the treasurer and thief, who protests that the money could and should have been given to the poor. Jesus tells him to leave Mary alone, that she has bought it for his burial and that the poor will always be with them although he won’t. Was it this that began Judas’ later betrayal and led to the death of them both? 
Stench and fragrance – it was so in Rudyard Kipling’s poem about the evocative stink of cordite and the fragrance of wattle, or mimosa, written in the context of the Second Boer War in South Africa. So it is today in the war in Ukraine with evidence of atrocities being committed and implications not just for the starving but for world supplies of wheat, sunflower oil and fuel, next year as well as now. The road to the city led to terrible suffering and death for Jesus as he was apparently killed by violence and hatred, but it also led on to resurrection, when love and hope could not be defeated. This Passion Sunday, amidst the stench of corruption and what has been called the sweet smell of some success in the fighting for the cities of Ukraine, love, hope and peace talks are also battling on. May John Newton’s hymn bring words of hope that, in our own lives as well as in the ongoing warfare, grace, mercy and justice may overcome and the victory of new life eventually prevail: “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me…..‘Tis grace that brought me safe this far and grace will lead me home.” 
With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.

Sunday reflection

Reflection for Mothering Sunday“The daughter of Pharoah came down to bathe at the river….. She saw the basket …[and] …. the child. He was crying and she took pity on him.” From Exodus 2:5-10.
“Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister…… Jesus said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From John 19:25-27.
“People opened their homes and they opened their hearts.” Kamyl, a resident in Radymno, Poland, welcoming Ukrainian refugees.  
Today’s Old Testament reading and the Gospel bring some hope as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues. The story of Moses in the bulrushes is well-known: even though her own father has ordered all new-born Hebrew babies to be killed, the daughter of the Egyptian Pharoah has pity on this hidden Hebrew child and gives shelter to him. The baby isn’t abandoned – his sister is watching from a distance and she enables Moses’ own mother to act as his wet nurse until he is handed back to be raised amongst those who want him killed. Pity enables his life to be spared and so compassion overcomes enmity. Mary, Jesus’ mother, also finds it in her heart to remain at the cross with her son in his terrible suffering – and even in his agony, Jesus gives his mother and John, the beloved disciple with her, into each other’s care. The love of a mother for her child and a son for his mother……..
In the chaos of the ongoing warfare, these accounts may bring hope, especially to people like Irina, a Mariupol librarian living in a basement, who spoke of the conditions in which she is living: “We hope for the best, to live as humans…..  Everything is broken. In a week we shall have nothing, no food at all. What shall we do?” – BBC news. So many have fled, so many have been displaced, so many are eking out an existence in the midst of terrible suffering and death – and as a son took care of his mother even as his own life ebbed away, so a daughter has brought hope to the Ukrainian people as their struggle exhausts them. Amelia, aged seven, was videoed singing the theme from the film Frozen to cheer those around her in a Kiev shelter and she recently opened a charity concert in Poland by singing the Ukrainian national anthem. Shy in the shelter, she was brave singing alone in front of many people at the concert – Ukraine has not yet perished and still there is hope, fragile though it may be. 
The word Homeland is often used to describe the country of birth with Motherland or Fatherland indicating the place ancestors come from. As the land continues to be disputed, and efforts to find a just peace intensify, the country sometimes called Mother Russia and the family of nations directly affected by what is happening are still poles apart. This Mothering Sunday, may the stories of hope, courage and shelter that are also emerging enable a way to be found for frozen hearts to be melted by love’s warmth – and in our own lives and families too.
With my prayers; pob bendith

,Christine, Guardian.

Sunday reflection

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent
“Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from the dread enemy.”Psalm 64:1.
“Those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell upon them – do you think they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?” Jesus, in today’s Gospel Luke 13:1-9.In the Gospel today, there are references to two disasters. The first is the massacre of Jews making a pilgrimage from Galilee to the Temple in Jerusalem, when the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate sent in troops to slaughter them. Perhaps he feared a riot but, for Jews to be killed as they offered animal sacrifices according to their law, this polluted the place of worship not only because of their deaths but by mingling the blood of humans and animals in a way that would cause even greater offence. The second is the collapse of the Tower of Siloam, which fell on eighteen people and killed them. These disasters then have resonances today as the war in Ukraine continues with Russia seeking to invade as did the Romans and with many civilian deaths and the collapse of much of the infrastructure resulting. 
Those present ask Jesus whether the victims had perhaps brought the tragedy upon themselves by offending God so greatly that he wanted to punish them in this way. That would chime with the thinking of the day but Jesus responds with a firm denial of their suggestion – but he also warns them that, unless they repented, they too would perish. In the New Testament, to perish was not just death but judgement too in a way that denied the possibility of eternal life as in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
In the face of so much territorial conflict and death then and now, one recent image in particular bore testimony to the true cost of suffering. The sixth Station of the Cross has an account, not in the Gospels, of the sweat, blood and spittle on Jesus’ face being wiped off with her veil by a nun called Veronica as he carried his cross along the Via Dolorosa to Calvary. The woman Veronica is legendary, although there is a saint of this name, and her name has arisen because of the relic created when the mark of Jesus’ face was imprinted as it was wiped on a piece of cloth. The true image – the Vera Iconica – of Jesus’ face during his suffering eventually led through the retelling of the story to the creation of the woman now called Veronica and a cloth relic long before the Shroud of Turin, in which the body of Jesus was said to have been wrapped. So, it was significant that Marianna Podgurskaya, who had to flee from a Ukrainian maternity hospital being shelled by Russian troops, should name her baby Veronika, a true image of the ongoing warfare and suffering today.
Whatever the origins of the relic, compassion was shown to Jesus by a bystander looking on as his suffering continued. As tragedy unfolds in the ongoing war, there are also many opportunities to be not just spectators but helpers working to relieve the suffering of so many displaced and traumatised people. In the face of such adversity, we may be able to do little to relieve the immediate suffering caused by the war but there will be more local opportunities to become a Vera Iconica too, not just a legend like Veronica, but true images of love and compassion where it is needed.
With my prayers; Pob Bendith

Christine, Guardian

Sunday reflection

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent and the war in Ukraine.
“Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” From today’s Gospel, Luke 13:31-35.
“What a world to be born into.” BBC reporter Jon Dennison, on the birth of baby Veronika after her mum Marianna Podgurskaya had to flee from a Ukrainian maternity hospital being shelled by Russian troops.
Today’s Gospel is the account of some Pharisees coming to Jesus to warn him that he should flee as Herod is after him. Their motive is two edged – do they genuinely want to warn Jesus that his life is in danger or are they scheming to get him out of their way too? Whatever their reason, Jesus refuses to change his plans and tells them that he must continue on his way to Jerusalem – which he does, remaining steadfast in his intent despite the opposition he is encountering. In doing so, he goes to his death – but also to his later resurrection. 
Much of this account has resonances with what’s happening in the ongoing warfare in Ukraine. President Zelensky has been advised by some to flee but would risk being called cowardly if he did. Others want him to stay but his own life and those of his family would be endangered if he does. He faces a very difficult choice and, in time of war, it’s always hard to know who can be trusted and what advice to heed or discard. The same choice affects his people – should they flee or remain? Some have no choice, others do and the consequences are shown on a daily basis as weeping loved ones part without knowing when or if they will meet again. Scenes such as the abandoned babies and toddlers hidden in a basement, a frail woman being carried in a blanket by four people  or the terrified animals panicking in the zoo indicate the terrible suffering unfolding each day and the awful consequences of what is happening as food, water, fuel and shelter begin to run out. 
When it was suggested that he should flee, Jesus was not diplomatic in his reply, calling Herod a fox. This is Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and one of the sons of Herod the Great who tried to have Jesus killed as a baby when he had the male children under the age of two slaughtered in the Massacre of the Innocents. That plan failed – at that time, Jesus and his family did flee, going to Egypt as refugees and only returning when it was safe to do so when Herod died. 
There are times in every life when, in less heightened but still painful circumstances, we also have to choose when to leave and when to remain where we are. As Lent continues with thoughts of the wilderness in mind, so the journey Jesus took leads on to the confrontation, dereliction, suffering and death of Holy Week. However, it will also lead to a fresh understanding of sharing a meal together at the Last Supper, to forgiveness for those who are penitent even at the end of life on Good Friday and to new life at the resurrection on Easter Day. In the wilderness of ruin and devastation being witnessed today, there are also people sharing the little they have and staying where they whilst over two million refugees have fled. The Massacre of the Innocents and the flight of refugees are not just Biblical accounts but continue today – and at the heart of Christianity is One who experienced it personally and whose life shows that death is not the end, though it may seem so currently.
At the heart of the war today is the capital city, now known as the Ukrainian Kyiv but previously as the Russian Kiev. One derivation of the name suggests that Kie was a king and that it may be Hebrew in origin, meaning uncommon blessing. In whatever is currently unfolding, may uncommon blessings eventually prevail – but at what cost for the Innocents and all involved?
With my prayers; pob bendith,

Christine, Guardian.

Sunday reflection

As the Guardian is away at a funeral and then a family celebration, today’s reflection is the latest pastoral letter from the Bishop of St Asaph. Writing about prayer, these links will take you to the versions in English and Welsh, the First Sunday of Lent.

With the prayers of all at St Melangell’s

Lent Prayers

GWEDDI GRAWYS YR ESGOBAETH 2022

Duw pob cariad, tyn ni’n agos atat ti,fel y gwyddom bod dy bresenoldeb gyda ni. Adnewydda ein ffydd, er mwyn inni dy helpu i gynyddu’r ffydd honno mewn eraill.Llenwa ni â gobaith,er mwyn inni ddod â’th obaith i’r byd. Cofleidia ni mewn cariad, fel y dangoswndy gariad i bawb a gyfarfyddwn.Una ni, fel aelodau Teulu Asaph,i wneud dy ewyllys fel y deled dy deyrnas trwy Iesu Grist ein Harglwydd. Amen.Annwyl Gyfeillion,


DIOCESAN LENT PRAYER 2022

God of all love, draw us close to you,that we may know your presence with us. Renew our faith, that we may help you grow that faith in others.Fill us with hope,that we may bring your hope to the world. Enfold us in love, that we may demonstrate your love to all we meet.Unite us, as members of the Teulu Asaph,to do your will and make your kingdom come through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.