SALVATION

The signs of Spring that I wrote about earlier are beginning to show and we have hope that the virus is beginning to ebb. It looks as if we will have to live with it as we do with so many illnesses.

Yesterday was St David’s Day. We cannot celebrate it properly this year but I hope that the time will soon come when Parliament will give consent for us to have a National Holiday like other nations. We must not let it slip.

The Bible teaches us that God always gives us new hope even when all seems lost. Hope is not only for ourselves but for the whole of Creation.

Mozambique is a country in the south-eastern part of Africa. Global changes have a direct effect on it. It is open to droughts, cyclones and flooding. This makes economic growth very difficult so that poverty and hunger are chronic. When young people join the Church there, they must plant trees as part of their course.

St Augustine of Hippo wrote: “Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are Anger and Courage; Anger at the way things are and Courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”

The Bishop of Mosambique writes: “We are sure that global measures and policies to address climate injustice will restore the integrity of Creation and enable survival, better living and bring the planet into its full potential as a place blessed by God for all Creation.”

If he can say that I am sure that we can.

St Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, chapter 8, that, not only humanity needs to be saved, but also the whole of Creation. He describes a time of waiting for this to happen. The human race has thought too much about itself and not enough about the whole of Creation. We both need to be saved.

Hymns:

Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,

pilgrim through this barren land;

I am weak, but thou art mighty;

hold me with thy powerful hand:

bread of heaven,

feed me now and evermore.

Open now the crystal fountain

whence the healing stream doth flow;

let the fiery cloudy pillar

lead me all my journey through:

strong deliverer,

be thou still my strength and shield.

(W. Williams. 1717-91) Tr. P. and W. Williams)

O fy Iesu bendegedig,

unig gwmni f’enaid gwan,

ymhob adfyd a thrallodion

dal fy ysbryd llesg i’r lan;

a thra’m teflir yma ac acw

ar anwadol donnau’r byd

cymorth rho i ddal fy ngafael

ynot ti, sy’r un o hyd.

Rhod fy nhroed y fan a fynnwyf

ar sigledig bethau’r byd,

ysgwyd mae y tir o danaf,

darnau’n cwympo i lawr o hyd;

ond os caf fy nhroed i sengi

yn y dymestl fawr a’m chwyth,

ar dragwyddol graig yr oesoedd,

dyna fan na sigla byth

(Eben Fardd 1802- 63)

Prayers:

Our climate is changing, and we are changing with it. We confess our carbon footprints, our failure to consider the consequences of our actions, our slowness to react. We are sorry for all the times we knew the right thing to do but chose convenience instead.

Your earth is exploited, and we are complicit in its exploitation. Species are lost, soil erodes, fish stocks decline, resources dwindle. We confess that many of us have taken too much, and not considered the needs of future generations. Forgive us, Renew us, Inspire us.

Dduw’r Cenhedloedd, sydd â’th deyrnas yn rheoli pob peth, trugarha wrth ein byd drilliedig a rhanedig. Llewyrcha dy dangnefedd yng nghalonnau dynion a brw allan yr ysbryd sy’n creu rhyfel; fel y gall pob hil a chenedl ddysgu byw fel aelodau o un teulu yn ufudd i’th ddeddfau Di, trwy Iesu Grist ein Harglwydd. Amen.

(Cyfoeth o’I Drysor. Golygydd Enid Morgan)