Dyffryn Clwyd

I hope everyone is keeping well and has had a good week.

As we move towards the tail end of our Easter celebrations we’ve got a very busy week ahead of us with plenty of opportunities to gather together…

Tomorrow (Saturday) it’ll be great to see as many of you as possible as we celebrate a group of our young people being confirmed by the Bishop at 2pm in Llanfair DC Church

Then into next week as well as our usual round of mid-week services and activities we’ve got – 

Tuesday – Dyffryn Clwyd Singers is now officially started and we’ve got the makings of a 20 strong mixed choir, if you want to come along and join then just turn up at 7pm in Llanbedr Church

Wednesday – at 8pm in Llangynhafal Church we’ve got our monthly 30 minute Taize service, a relaxing contemplative time by candlelight, great if you’re feeling stressed or anxious. Personally I’m finding incredibly helpful as I find myself rushing from thing to thing!

Thursday is Ascension Day and we’ve got 2 opportunities to come together as Mission Area –

1st in Llanarmon at 10am for a special service followed by Bacon Butties (I so often miss breakfast so I’m really looking forward to this!)

2nd in the evening we’ll gather at the Old Church in Llanbedr for an Ascension Day Mass. The old church sits atop the hill which will become our Mount Olivet as we look over the whole of Dyffryn Clwyd to mark the last appearance of the resurrected Christ before he ascends…

Friday – 9am-2pm Drop in Fridays continues in St Peter’s Ruthin. If you haven’t had a chance yet then do drop in and see what’s going on, we’re regularly seeing 50-60 people come and enjoy refreshments, activities but more than that each others company.

Then on the Friday evening we’ve got Teen’s Go Wil at 7pm, our monthly youth group gathering around the fire-pit in Llanbedr Churchyard.

Saturday will then see us up at the Barn on Llanbedr Drive for a coffee morning & plant sale 10.30am-12pm.

There’s plenty more coming up after that, check the newsletter for more…

Before I end this week, I’d like to share a story of the beautifully random ways that God can work…

As you’ll all be aware we have permission now to begin the re-ordering of Llanbedr Church, the only thing holding us back, the fundraising, and I’ve been praying for ways to raise the necessary funds…

Well, last Sunday in Llanbedr we celebrated a baptism. I mentioned in the service how I always use water from Holy Wells, this time I had a mix from Llangynhafal and Llanrheadr Holy Wells.

After we’d finished I was chatting with one of the Godparents and he asked if I had any water left over so I poured some in a bottle for him and asked him what he wanted it for…

Turns out on the 28th he’ll be in Paris for Liverpool’s match in the final of the Champions League and thought the Holy Water might help them, and why not, it might help!

But then as he was leaving, he said that he knew we were fundraising for the re-ordering of the church and all the stuff we were doing and wanted to help so he went to his car and came back with a Liverpool shirt signed by all the current team and gave it to me to raffle or auction off! A fabulous gift, so if you know any Liverpool fans out there tell them to keep an eye out as we work out the best way to raffle or auction the signed t-shirt… and while I’ve never really followed football much I just might watch and cheer Liverpool on…

And as we pray, week by week, for a hundred and more different reasons… always be ready for God’s response, sometimes the answer to prayers comes from very unexpected directions…