Welsh and proud

This week, St Catherine's chancel is being redecorated, the service was held in the church hall instead and I celebrated with eight others. We agreed, chatting over coffee after that it had been a pleasant experience, sitting in a semi-circle closed by a table serving as an altar. Before the church was built in the 1880s the 'tin tabernacle' had been erected and used an an all purpose mission hall, for Sunday school, and various church groups as well as Sunday worship. 

Its roof has been replaced, not sure about the corrugated iron walls, though they have been re-painted a sympathetic green, with a modern kitchen and toilets added in the new century. The interior is still wooden panelled, and in good repair. It's a nice Victorian period piece of vernacular architecture, often used for location filming on top of its other parochial engagements. The acoustic is good, as well, which actually helps to make it a good worship space. We wondered how long it is since a service was last held in the hall instead of the church.

We chatted until quite late, so when Clare returned from a therapy session and a trip to town, I'd not been for this week's veggie bag, and lunch wasn't ready. She cooked while I went out to fetch it. After lunch I walked over the St Luke's to meet the lady I'd talked to on the phone yesterday, and continue preparations for the funeral of her friend next week. When I returned home I drafted and sent her an order of service to work on, and then we had supper early so we could get to the Royal Welsh College in time for a concert,

This afternoon, St John's City Parish Church hosted a civic service of thanksgiving for all that had been achieved in Wales by people serving together to combat the covid pandemic. The NHS, the military and police, and a host of voluntary organisations, with an emphasis on Wales's ethnic minority population which suffered disproportionately from covid, not least as so many work in the NHS in public service organisations, transport and food retailing. The concert which followed in RWCMD was organised by the Indian Consul in Wales, and was a celebration of good will and diversity. 

It included a College Jazz ensemble, another band of students led by a composer/songwriter of Welsh African, which played her compositions. Then, a wonderful display of classical Indian dancing by two dozen young woman, and to conclude, the Royal Welsh Regiment band's corps of drummers. Just three of them dressed in their traditional dark navy blue uniforms with helmets, pointed like a police helmet. At first I wondered if they were from a police band, but not so. Their drumsticks were illuminated with a red and a blue LED, and house lights were cut while they played, producing an amazing light-show that changed according to the rhythm they tapped out.

There were speeches of course, including one from First Minister Mark Drakeford, who was warmly received when he spoke, telling a few succint heart warming stories, and celebrating the way everyone in Wales, regardless of cultural background pulled together, thinking of others, working for the common good in ways great and small. He spoke about a government anti-racism policy which aims by 2030 to ensure that everyone in Wales has equal opportunities, regardless of their ethnicity. It seems we're the first nation in the world to formulate such a policy. 

We also heard from another speaker that measures taken to limit the spread of covid in Wales resulted in Wales having the lowest death rate, something remarkable considering levels of deprivation in post industrial areas. All attributed to careful monitoring and people making an effort to comply with public health requirements. Yes indeed, such a lot to give thanks for, and to be proud that we've had the extraordinary servant leadership exercised by our First Minister, who has continued undeterred on the government team's collaborative approach which has got us where we hope to go, and is now taking us into recovery, with a new vision for the future. I couldn't be any prouder than I am.

The kind of leadership we need

We were on duty at St Catherine's this morning. Clare read the lesson and the Psalm, I stood at the door, greeting people, taking their names and contact details. We were thirty one adults and three children, and that included a few visitors as well as the regulars. I enjoy the aspect of welcoming people arriving. It's a small thing, but engages the pastor still within me. It was nice to get some positive feedback about my week's reflections too. 

Another cheering thing is the resumption of weekday services this Wednesday, with the familiar liturgical balm of the Church in Wales 1984 Prayer Book liturgy. I find its traditional hieratic language a wholesome complement to the contemporary liturgical creativity I advocated for much of my working life. We have some beautiful poetic modern prayers to work with, but risk losing the simplicity of Western liturgical ethos by elaborating elementary phrases and greetings, adding un-necessarily to its formality. Something akin to taking a simple elegant melody and decorating it with grace notes or melismata. It can enhance, but not necessarily so.

Pope Francis has been visiting the beleaguered Christian minority in Iraq this past few days, and such a memorable and significant visit it's turned out to be. A pilgrimage to the ancient Mesapotamian city of Ur, from whence Abraham, an archetypal person of faith, honoured by Muslims, Jews and Christians, went west to settle in Canaan. He visited the Shiite Muslim pilgrimage city of Al-Najaf for a conversation with Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani, something his predecessors sought to do, but didn't achieve. 

In his days as the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he became a personal friend of both the Chief Rabbi and Grand Imam of the country. They attended his installation as Pope and accompanied him on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, so his latest achievement perhaps owes as much to his reputation for inter-faith friendship as it does to Vatican diplomatic effort. St Francis of Assisi is remembered for visiting Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil when his Egyptian forces were pitted against a Crusader army. Cardinal Bergoglio's choice of Papal name is an indication of a source of his inspiration as a world spiritual leader.

I walked around the parks after lunch looking for bursting buds to photograph, but the results weren't very satisfactory in producing decent close-ups, I don't know why yet. With more trial and error I'll get to the bottom of this. As I walked, I listened on my phone to a Choral Evensong broadcast from Christchurch Cathedral/College Oxford. It'd be better if I remembered to take a set of headphones with me. Background noise from road traffic or the waters of the Taff tumbling over the weir easily drown out the gentle sound of singing, audible when out in an open green space.

This evening we watched an excellent S4C documentary on the work of First Minister Mark Drakeford through the pandemic, which included interviews as well as footage shot during cabinet meetings. With an improved set of English subtitles, this bi-lingual programme really deserves be seen on UK wide TV, as it reveals the worst of Boris Johnson's leadership during the crisis as it happened. He's respectful and courteous towards a politician with whom he has nothing in common avoiding carping criticism. He does however express his exasperation at the unilateral approach to decision making taken by Westminster towards the Celtic nations. 

It's no wonder the First Minister is now bold enough to state publicly that the UK Union of nations is in effect broken, and needs re-thinking as a federation. I think he's right. It's a somewhat different approach than Plaid Cymru's advocacy for Welsh independence, which I think is unrealistic, as we don't have a long lived legal system and institutions as a foundation. These aren't easily grown. But who knows, we may have enough Welsh governance to make a start, which could be granted more self determination in a revised partnership with Westminster. Along with the SNP's push for independence, this could become a key issue in the three years before the next general election. Unless of course, the Tories rid themselves of Johnson and his cronies, and install a leader who understands the real mean and value of consultation, reconciliation and unity as leadership aims.