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Rebirth and Renewal in Senghenydd
Bishop June Osborne preaches in a service from St Peter's Senghenydd exploring rebirth and renewal after trauma.
The community of Senghenydd near Caerphilly knows what it is to experience both trauma and revival. The scene of two of the UK's worst mining disasters, the first of which happened 120 years ago this year, it's the location of St Peter's church, a congregation which until recently had been in sharp decline and whose building stood at risk of closure.
Just a few years after the 1901 mining disaster, in the last Welsh revival, this had been a place of such zeal that even the rugby team disbanded, its members more focussed on saving souls than scoring tries.
Tragically the shortcomings exposed in the first mining disaster were not resolved and in 1913 what remains the UK's most serious industrial disaster took place: hundreds of lives were lost. Their deaths resulted at the time in compensation payments to their families of just 1 shilling and 11 pence.
Rugby began again in the town within a few years, while the mine closed in the late 1920s, and in recent years the town has erected lasting memorials to the men and boys who lost their lives. Now too at St Peter's church a new and young congregation is growing, supported by other churches in the Llandaff diocese.
Bishop June Osborne preaches in a service exploring how after trauma can come rebirth and renewal. The service is led by Ministry Area leader Father Mark Greenaway Robbins, with contributions from members of the congregation including former miners.
Last on
Sun 18 Jul 2021
08:10
麻豆约拍 Radio 4
Script:
ITEM 1: Welcome (Bishop June)聽
Welcome to St Peter鈥檚 Church in Senghenydd; about 4 miles from Caerphilly, in the valleys which were once at the centre of Welsh coalmining. I鈥檓 June Osborne, the bishop of this diocese of Llandaff, and I鈥檓 joined today for worship by some of those responsible for regenerating the life of St Peter鈥檚 after years of decline in which this building has come close to redundancy.聽聽St Peters is not a glamorous building鈥�
Other voices:
鈥溾�t鈥檚 got a big car park outside, kind of painted like a basketball court but it鈥檚 a bit faded鈥︹��
鈥溾�� St Peter鈥檚 is like a Victorian barn, with this big brown wooden roof鈥︹��
鈥溾�s really well situated in the heart of the community next to the main road鈥︹��
鈥溾�as lots of colourful windows鈥︹��
鈥溾�� it鈥檚 seen by virtually everyone who drives by鈥︹��
鈥溾� mean, it鈥檚 a nice building 鈥� it鈥檚 got lots of space and potential 鈥� it might need a smidgeon of paint鈥︹��
+June:
Our opening hymn is 鈥楲ead us Heavenly Father, lead us鈥�.
ITEM 2: MUSIC 1: Hymn: Lead us Heavenly Father, lead us / 麻豆约拍 National Chorus of Wales聽 麻豆约拍 Recording
ITEM 3: LINK to Mark (+June)
Revd Mark Greenaway-Robbins is the Ministry Area Leader for the parishes of Caerphilly and the Aber Valley, which includes St Peter鈥檚 Church, and Charis Britton is the location minister for the new congregation here.聽
ITEM 4: Introduction and opening prayer (Mark, Charis)
Mark
Northwest from Caerphilly stretches the Aber valley towards Eglwysilan mountain: Senghenydd is situated at the northern end. This is a beautiful South Wales valley, lined with houses; before the 1890s, rural farming shaped the countryside. Today it is the legacy of mining which has marked the valley.
颁丑补谤颈蝉听
The community of Senghenydd has experienced painful trauma. In both 1901 and 1913 the Universal Colliery near to this church was the site of two tragic mining accidents. The second of these was the worst such colliery disaster in British history. In a community of little over 6,000 people 439 men and boys were lost.
This is a place that has often felt forgotten 鈥� whether it鈥檚 through bus routes being reduced, the doctors鈥� surgery moving away, even churches closing their doors. But today, we鈥檙e part of a community revitalising a church, a church that has been closed for two years. That means so much more than just reopening a building.聽
We have a heart to break tired stereotypes of church, to breach loneliness, to bring people home, and to build God鈥檚 Kingdom.聽
Mark
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favourably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Psalm 116 responds to trauma in words set here to music by Cristobel de Morales. 鈥淭he sorrows of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me.鈥澛�
聽ITEM 5: MUSIC 2: Anthem: Circumdederunt me / La Grande Chapelle CD: Cristobal de Morales
ITEM 6: Senghenydd disaster (Mark)聽
The disasters here in Senghenydd were tragedies which rocked this community.聽In 1901, three explosions from excessive coal dust ripped through the mine and killed 81 men. The inquest at the time said that if safety precautions had been properly observed, the explosion might have been avoided.聽
Improvements in legislation followed which were designed to make underground air flow safer 鈥� but the measures were not implemented at Senghenydd.聽
One day in 1913, after an inspection for dangerous gasses was rushed 鈥� as it usually was 鈥� two explosions again decimated the mine.聽聽This time, despite a valiant rescue effort which engaged huge numbers of people from across the region, some 439 men and boys lost their lives. Their grieving widows and mothers were compensated with the sum of 1 shilling and 1 penny.聽A journalist present as the rescue came to an end said that 鈥渢he streets were full of silent throngs of people who moved aimlessly about or stood stolidly at the street corners.鈥�
MUSIC UNDER ITEM 7 and 8:聽Gwahoddias / Beaufort Male Voice choir CD: Into the MIllenium
ITEM 7: LINK to David Newton (+June)
David Newton worked in nearby Windsor Colliery from 1954 to 1975, and remained a miner until the 1990s.
ITEM 8: Interview with David Newton (unscripted interview)
ITEM 9: MUSIC 3: Hymn: Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus / Hereford Cathedral Choir CD: Hymns from Hereford
ITEM 10: LINK to Mark (+June)
Ministry area leader Mark is also training to be a psychotherapist, and cares deeply about those things which create 鈥� and heal 鈥� trauma in our lives. With him is Bethany Pearson, who is training to be a priest.
MUSIC UNDER ITEM 11:聽Gorecki Symphony No 3 Opus 36 II Lento E Largo / Adrian Leaper, Doreen de Feis and the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra聽CD: Music at the Edge
ITEM 11: The impact of trauma (Revd Mark, alternating with reading by Bethany)
A reading from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 3:鈥淚 am the one who has seen affliction under the rod of God鈥檚 wrath;He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;Against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.
Mark: Trauma may be the wounding of our experience, our bodies, and our memory.聽
He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;He has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.聽
Mark: The experience, or threat, of violation shapes the lives of individuals and communities.聽
Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
Mark: The impact of trauma ripples through society and generations.
My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.聽But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Mark: We tell our experience to remember in safety and to mourn.聽
鈥楾he Lord is my portion鈥� says my soul, 鈥榯herefore I will hope in him.鈥橳he Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
Mark: Healthy relationships help us to reconnect and gain the courage to live into true being.聽
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Mark: Bearing witness to the trauma of survivors helps to integrate their experience into their healing journey.
Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord.聽
Mark: Hope for the future sustains us.
Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.鈥�
Item 12: LINK to Ryan and Charis(+June)
Our work of regeneration here in Senghenydd is being supported by another church from within this diocese, a city church called Citizen Church. Ryan Forey is their lead pastor, and Charis Britton is being sent by citizen church to Senghenydd as the location minister. Here are Ryan and Charis, talking to Mark about the new church community.
Item 13: Conversation (Mark with Ryan Forey and Charis Britton) (Unscripted interview)
Item 14: MUSIC 5: Song: Here is Love / Citizen Church recording
Item 15: Reflection on trauma and recovery (+June)
As Mark said earlier 鈥榯rauma鈥� has become a common description for the emotional turmoil we suffer when life becomes very tough for us. In just the last couple of weeks I鈥檝e heard people describe as 鈥榯raumatic鈥� a sudden death, the behaviour of an unruly teenager, the hardship of living with dark memories, an unwelcome change in circumstance, and a spell in intensive care with Covid. Most also spoke of the possibility of then suffering from 鈥榩ost-traumatic stress disorder鈥� or PTSD.聽 We鈥檝e become well-accustomed to using the language of trauma for what assails us.聽
The mining disasters of the Aber Valley were never the traumas of a single individual. Instead, they shaped the whole community and impacted on the industrial life and memory of South Wales. Across the coalfields there would have been many mining families feeling that 鈥榯here but for the grace of God鈥� it might have been their own who were lost. Like Aberfan 40 years later, Senghenydd became a byword for loss and tragedy and this community bore its scars bravely through several generations.聽
We live in an age of quick fixes and immediate solutions, but we know that our response to catastrophe is a long story.聽 Ask someone to tell you of a moment which changed their life long ago, and they will tell you about it with great vividness and powerfully describe its emotional landscape, still with them over many years.
There鈥檚 a whole book of the Old Testament telling us, in poetic format, about the experience of trauma. The Lamentations of Jeremiah are complaints after a disaster struck Jerusalem and the city was mostly destroyed.聽 People sat where once the Temple had been and pronounced 鈥業 am the one who has seen affliction鈥� and they cried 鈥楳y soul is bowed down within me.鈥� Our extract from 鈥楲amentations鈥� was read against the background of Gorecki鈥檚 鈥楽ymphony of Sorrowful Songs鈥� which itself uses prayers of lament and loss, evoking tragic separation. One of them is the prayer of an 18-year-old girl found inscribed on the wall of a gestapo cell in Poland.
Yet in that reading from Lamentations we also heard of the promised road to recovery after trauma.聽 There is no denying the reality of the tragedies we suffer.聽 They become part of us forever and they change the way we operate, the way our faith sits with us.聽 But in the heart of that reality Lamentations also tells us there鈥檚 a glimmer of hope, a sense of our rescue. Having rehearsed their sense of anguish the traumatized voices then turn to the hope they find within their pain.聽
鈥淭his I call to mind鈥� the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end.鈥�
This isn鈥檛 whistling in the dark but a deep knowledge that we are not cut off.聽 Even in our torment we often attend to the preciousness of life and we can be held by the conviction that God鈥檚 mercy will see us through. It鈥檚 a celebration of our survival in spite of all.聽 This is never a quick fix and may take much time. We might need to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord, for things to pass. Hope may seem like a very ambiguous place as our own trauma becomes a part of who we are, but faith allows us to believe that we are never abandoned.聽
And eventually, after lament has run its course, and that glimmer of hope has grown stronger, there comes time for a new start.聽
鈥淟et us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.鈥澛� Those who sat in the ruins of their city finally decided it was time for a new stage in their story.聽 A fresh outlook began to appear, which allowed them to step into a new pathway of opportunity and spiritual renewal.聽 Part of our recovery from trauma is the ability to grasp that new start.聽In a symbolic way that is what is going on here in St Peter鈥檚 Church.聽 A congregation had ebbed away, the building looked as if its life had gone, and yet God is doing a new thing, through a new generation. Nothing about the history of this community is lost, on the contrary the young leaders who are establishing the Church once more in this place are full of a sense of what has been resilient and valued.聽 They are proclaiming the gospel afresh to Senghenydd, as it is today, and particularly its younger residents who are invested in what the future looks like. They are leading the way to where young faith matters, where hope is no longer ambiguous, and where everyone can discover that new every morning is the goodness of God.
Item 16: MUSIC 6: Hymn: When Peace Like A River (It Is Well) / National Youth Choir of Wales 麻豆约拍 recording
Item 17: Prayers of Intercession:聽 (Charis and Mark, responses from Bethany)聽
惭补谤办听
God of all compassion,聽who knows the intimate and life-changing experience of trauma聽be with all those who are left in desolate places聽empower them to tell their story聽and for all who hear to receive and believe.聽
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Charis
God of all compassionHear our prayer for all who work in the mining industry, here in Wales, these islands and throughout the world聽For their safety and a living wage; Also, for former mining communities, for the healing of the scars of landscape and for the regeneration of livelihoods.
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Mark
God of all compassion,We pray for all emerging from lockdown;Hold all nations as we integrate the trauma of the pandemic聽financially, emotionally and physically in all our communities.聽
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Charis
God of all compassion,聽We pray for Senghenydd. For this community born out of mining coal and shaped by tragedy, that all its residents may know the restorative love of God.
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Mark
We join all our prayers in the words our saviour taught us:
All:
Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil.For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yoursnow and for ever.Amen.
Item 18: LINK to hymn (Mark)
The hymn Calon Lan, Welsh for 鈥榓 pure heart鈥�, is often sung at services of remembrance, and offers hope for an eternal future.鈥淓vening and morning, my wishRising to heaven on the wing of songFor God, for the sake of my Saviour,To give me a pure heart鈥�
Item 19: MUSIC 7: Hymn: Calon Lan / Bangor Cathedral 麻豆约拍 Recording
Item 20: Blessing (+June)
Unto him that is able to keep us from falling, to the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, Amen.
Item 21: MUSIC PLAYOUT: Calon Lan arr. Philip Harper / Cory Band CD: Cory in Concert Vol V
Welcome to St Peter鈥檚 Church in Senghenydd; about 4 miles from Caerphilly, in the valleys which were once at the centre of Welsh coalmining. I鈥檓 June Osborne, the bishop of this diocese of Llandaff, and I鈥檓 joined today for worship by some of those responsible for regenerating the life of St Peter鈥檚 after years of decline in which this building has come close to redundancy.聽聽St Peters is not a glamorous building鈥�
Other voices:
鈥溾�t鈥檚 got a big car park outside, kind of painted like a basketball court but it鈥檚 a bit faded鈥︹��
鈥溾�� St Peter鈥檚 is like a Victorian barn, with this big brown wooden roof鈥︹��
鈥溾�s really well situated in the heart of the community next to the main road鈥︹��
鈥溾�as lots of colourful windows鈥︹��
鈥溾�� it鈥檚 seen by virtually everyone who drives by鈥︹��
鈥溾� mean, it鈥檚 a nice building 鈥� it鈥檚 got lots of space and potential 鈥� it might need a smidgeon of paint鈥︹��
+June:
Our opening hymn is 鈥楲ead us Heavenly Father, lead us鈥�.
ITEM 2: MUSIC 1: Hymn: Lead us Heavenly Father, lead us / 麻豆约拍 National Chorus of Wales聽 麻豆约拍 Recording
ITEM 3: LINK to Mark (+June)
Revd Mark Greenaway-Robbins is the Ministry Area Leader for the parishes of Caerphilly and the Aber Valley, which includes St Peter鈥檚 Church, and Charis Britton is the location minister for the new congregation here.聽
ITEM 4: Introduction and opening prayer (Mark, Charis)
Mark
Northwest from Caerphilly stretches the Aber valley towards Eglwysilan mountain: Senghenydd is situated at the northern end. This is a beautiful South Wales valley, lined with houses; before the 1890s, rural farming shaped the countryside. Today it is the legacy of mining which has marked the valley.
颁丑补谤颈蝉听
The community of Senghenydd has experienced painful trauma. In both 1901 and 1913 the Universal Colliery near to this church was the site of two tragic mining accidents. The second of these was the worst such colliery disaster in British history. In a community of little over 6,000 people 439 men and boys were lost.
This is a place that has often felt forgotten 鈥� whether it鈥檚 through bus routes being reduced, the doctors鈥� surgery moving away, even churches closing their doors. But today, we鈥檙e part of a community revitalising a church, a church that has been closed for two years. That means so much more than just reopening a building.聽
We have a heart to break tired stereotypes of church, to breach loneliness, to bring people home, and to build God鈥檚 Kingdom.聽
Mark
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favourably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Psalm 116 responds to trauma in words set here to music by Cristobel de Morales. 鈥淭he sorrows of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me.鈥澛�
聽ITEM 5: MUSIC 2: Anthem: Circumdederunt me / La Grande Chapelle CD: Cristobal de Morales
ITEM 6: Senghenydd disaster (Mark)聽
The disasters here in Senghenydd were tragedies which rocked this community.聽In 1901, three explosions from excessive coal dust ripped through the mine and killed 81 men. The inquest at the time said that if safety precautions had been properly observed, the explosion might have been avoided.聽
Improvements in legislation followed which were designed to make underground air flow safer 鈥� but the measures were not implemented at Senghenydd.聽
One day in 1913, after an inspection for dangerous gasses was rushed 鈥� as it usually was 鈥� two explosions again decimated the mine.聽聽This time, despite a valiant rescue effort which engaged huge numbers of people from across the region, some 439 men and boys lost their lives. Their grieving widows and mothers were compensated with the sum of 1 shilling and 1 penny.聽A journalist present as the rescue came to an end said that 鈥渢he streets were full of silent throngs of people who moved aimlessly about or stood stolidly at the street corners.鈥�
MUSIC UNDER ITEM 7 and 8:聽Gwahoddias / Beaufort Male Voice choir CD: Into the MIllenium
ITEM 7: LINK to David Newton (+June)
David Newton worked in nearby Windsor Colliery from 1954 to 1975, and remained a miner until the 1990s.
ITEM 8: Interview with David Newton (unscripted interview)
ITEM 9: MUSIC 3: Hymn: Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus / Hereford Cathedral Choir CD: Hymns from Hereford
ITEM 10: LINK to Mark (+June)
Ministry area leader Mark is also training to be a psychotherapist, and cares deeply about those things which create 鈥� and heal 鈥� trauma in our lives. With him is Bethany Pearson, who is training to be a priest.
MUSIC UNDER ITEM 11:聽Gorecki Symphony No 3 Opus 36 II Lento E Largo / Adrian Leaper, Doreen de Feis and the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra聽CD: Music at the Edge
ITEM 11: The impact of trauma (Revd Mark, alternating with reading by Bethany)
A reading from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, chapter 3:鈥淚 am the one who has seen affliction under the rod of God鈥檚 wrath;He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;Against me alone he turns his hand, again and again, all day long.
Mark: Trauma may be the wounding of our experience, our bodies, and our memory.聽
He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;He has made me sit in darkness like the dead of long ago.聽
Mark: The experience, or threat, of violation shapes the lives of individuals and communities.聽
Though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is;The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!
Mark: The impact of trauma ripples through society and generations.
My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.聽But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end;They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Mark: We tell our experience to remember in safety and to mourn.聽
鈥楾he Lord is my portion鈥� says my soul, 鈥榯herefore I will hope in him.鈥橳he Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
Mark: Healthy relationships help us to reconnect and gain the courage to live into true being.聽
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Mark: Bearing witness to the trauma of survivors helps to integrate their experience into their healing journey.
Let us test and examine our ways and return to the Lord.聽
Mark: Hope for the future sustains us.
Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands to God in heaven.鈥�
Item 12: LINK to Ryan and Charis(+June)
Our work of regeneration here in Senghenydd is being supported by another church from within this diocese, a city church called Citizen Church. Ryan Forey is their lead pastor, and Charis Britton is being sent by citizen church to Senghenydd as the location minister. Here are Ryan and Charis, talking to Mark about the new church community.
Item 13: Conversation (Mark with Ryan Forey and Charis Britton) (Unscripted interview)
Item 14: MUSIC 5: Song: Here is Love / Citizen Church recording
Item 15: Reflection on trauma and recovery (+June)
As Mark said earlier 鈥榯rauma鈥� has become a common description for the emotional turmoil we suffer when life becomes very tough for us. In just the last couple of weeks I鈥檝e heard people describe as 鈥榯raumatic鈥� a sudden death, the behaviour of an unruly teenager, the hardship of living with dark memories, an unwelcome change in circumstance, and a spell in intensive care with Covid. Most also spoke of the possibility of then suffering from 鈥榩ost-traumatic stress disorder鈥� or PTSD.聽 We鈥檝e become well-accustomed to using the language of trauma for what assails us.聽
The mining disasters of the Aber Valley were never the traumas of a single individual. Instead, they shaped the whole community and impacted on the industrial life and memory of South Wales. Across the coalfields there would have been many mining families feeling that 鈥榯here but for the grace of God鈥� it might have been their own who were lost. Like Aberfan 40 years later, Senghenydd became a byword for loss and tragedy and this community bore its scars bravely through several generations.聽
We live in an age of quick fixes and immediate solutions, but we know that our response to catastrophe is a long story.聽 Ask someone to tell you of a moment which changed their life long ago, and they will tell you about it with great vividness and powerfully describe its emotional landscape, still with them over many years.
There鈥檚 a whole book of the Old Testament telling us, in poetic format, about the experience of trauma. The Lamentations of Jeremiah are complaints after a disaster struck Jerusalem and the city was mostly destroyed.聽 People sat where once the Temple had been and pronounced 鈥業 am the one who has seen affliction鈥� and they cried 鈥楳y soul is bowed down within me.鈥� Our extract from 鈥楲amentations鈥� was read against the background of Gorecki鈥檚 鈥楽ymphony of Sorrowful Songs鈥� which itself uses prayers of lament and loss, evoking tragic separation. One of them is the prayer of an 18-year-old girl found inscribed on the wall of a gestapo cell in Poland.
Yet in that reading from Lamentations we also heard of the promised road to recovery after trauma.聽 There is no denying the reality of the tragedies we suffer.聽 They become part of us forever and they change the way we operate, the way our faith sits with us.聽 But in the heart of that reality Lamentations also tells us there鈥檚 a glimmer of hope, a sense of our rescue. Having rehearsed their sense of anguish the traumatized voices then turn to the hope they find within their pain.聽
鈥淭his I call to mind鈥� the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end.鈥�
This isn鈥檛 whistling in the dark but a deep knowledge that we are not cut off.聽 Even in our torment we often attend to the preciousness of life and we can be held by the conviction that God鈥檚 mercy will see us through. It鈥檚 a celebration of our survival in spite of all.聽 This is never a quick fix and may take much time. We might need to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord, for things to pass. Hope may seem like a very ambiguous place as our own trauma becomes a part of who we are, but faith allows us to believe that we are never abandoned.聽
And eventually, after lament has run its course, and that glimmer of hope has grown stronger, there comes time for a new start.聽
鈥淟et us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.鈥澛� Those who sat in the ruins of their city finally decided it was time for a new stage in their story.聽 A fresh outlook began to appear, which allowed them to step into a new pathway of opportunity and spiritual renewal.聽 Part of our recovery from trauma is the ability to grasp that new start.聽In a symbolic way that is what is going on here in St Peter鈥檚 Church.聽 A congregation had ebbed away, the building looked as if its life had gone, and yet God is doing a new thing, through a new generation. Nothing about the history of this community is lost, on the contrary the young leaders who are establishing the Church once more in this place are full of a sense of what has been resilient and valued.聽 They are proclaiming the gospel afresh to Senghenydd, as it is today, and particularly its younger residents who are invested in what the future looks like. They are leading the way to where young faith matters, where hope is no longer ambiguous, and where everyone can discover that new every morning is the goodness of God.
Item 16: MUSIC 6: Hymn: When Peace Like A River (It Is Well) / National Youth Choir of Wales 麻豆约拍 recording
Item 17: Prayers of Intercession:聽 (Charis and Mark, responses from Bethany)聽
惭补谤办听
God of all compassion,聽who knows the intimate and life-changing experience of trauma聽be with all those who are left in desolate places聽empower them to tell their story聽and for all who hear to receive and believe.聽
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Charis
God of all compassionHear our prayer for all who work in the mining industry, here in Wales, these islands and throughout the world聽For their safety and a living wage; Also, for former mining communities, for the healing of the scars of landscape and for the regeneration of livelihoods.
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Mark
God of all compassion,We pray for all emerging from lockdown;Hold all nations as we integrate the trauma of the pandemic聽financially, emotionally and physically in all our communities.聽
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Charis
God of all compassion,聽We pray for Senghenydd. For this community born out of mining coal and shaped by tragedy, that all its residents may know the restorative love of God.
Bethany
The steadfast love of God never ceases, for God鈥檚 mercies never come to an end.聽
Mark
We join all our prayers in the words our saviour taught us:
All:
Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name,your kingdom come,your will be done,on earth as in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.Forgive us our sinsas we forgive those who sin against us.Lead us not into temptationbut deliver us from evil.For the kingdom, the power,and the glory are yoursnow and for ever.Amen.
Item 18: LINK to hymn (Mark)
The hymn Calon Lan, Welsh for 鈥榓 pure heart鈥�, is often sung at services of remembrance, and offers hope for an eternal future.鈥淓vening and morning, my wishRising to heaven on the wing of songFor God, for the sake of my Saviour,To give me a pure heart鈥�
Item 19: MUSIC 7: Hymn: Calon Lan / Bangor Cathedral 麻豆约拍 Recording
Item 20: Blessing (+June)
Unto him that is able to keep us from falling, to the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever, Amen.
Item 21: MUSIC PLAYOUT: Calon Lan arr. Philip Harper / Cory Band CD: Cory in Concert Vol V
Broadcast
- Sun 18 Jul 2021 08:10麻豆约拍 Radio 4
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