BEULAH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROA

B E UL AH CROSSROADS B E UL AH CROSSROADS B E UL AH CROSSROADS B E UL AH CROSSROADS B E UL AH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROADS BEULAH CROSSROAD

TheMonthly

Newsletterof

BeulahUnited

ReformedChurch

December 2017

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(Continued on page 3)

Enough for everyone this Christmaswith Christian Aid

At Christmas, we cometogether to celebrate the birthof Jesus. Food is found atmany celebrations in theBible, so it feels entirelyappropriate that it is at theheart of our festivities whenwe celebrate God’s only soncoming into the world.

Colette lives in Burkina Faso,West Africa, with herhusband, young daughter andbaby. Colette’s Christmas isnot dissimilar to ours. It startswith cooking delicious foodand then getting her childrenready for church. WhenColette gets home, she greetsher neighbours and theyshare food. They gathertogether and show their joy bydancing and singing. Like us,they eat special food onChristmas Day. For Coletteand her neighbours, this willbe rice, goat and spaghetti!

But life has been hard forColette. She was forced towork at a gold mine every dayto earn money to feed herfamily. Colette spent days atthe mining site without findingany gold to sell. She made solittle money that she was notable to buy nutritious food.Her daughter Eulalie was veryill and weak, and wasdiagnosed with malnutrition.

However, Colette found hopethrough a market gardenproject supported byChristian Aid. She and herhusband were trained in howto grow crops and wereprovided with tools andseeds. She producesnutritious food to eat and sell,and can work with herchildren close by. Eulalie isnow four years old and hasrecovered, and her little sisterOrnela has, thankfully, neverbeen malnourished. Colettesells some of her vegetablesto pay for healthcare andclothes for her girls. Sheplans to extend her garden topay for her children to go toschool. Colette’s story showsthat a family can be savedfrom the horrors ofmalnutrition.

Like Colette, we enjoy andlook forward to our specialChristmas food, but we oftenhave too much. Isaiah 58:10shows God’s love for thehungry and oppressed. Jesusrevealed this by feeding thehungry many times. When werespond to the hungry andneedy, we reflect the light ofChrist – ‘’your light will shinefrom the darkness, and thedarkness around you will beas bright as the noon.’’

2

Church Secretary:Mrs. Louise Morgan,

Church Treasurer:Mrs. Barbara Rhys,

December promises to be afull and varied month withmuch to do – including theRhiwbina Festival at whichBeulah will display flowers toillustrate carols; the BeulahPlayers show, carol singingaround the village withBethany and All Saints, amusical coffee morning, theChristmas Day lunch atBeulah - and much more.

But let’s not forget to maketime to reflect on why we aredoing these things: we willcontemplate the growing lightsymbolised in our Adventcandles as the darknessrecedes and we join withothers all over the world inwalking towards the lightrevealed in Jesus. This is ourAdvent and Christmas Theme– ‘Walking towards the light’,which we will pick up in manyways, including in our Adventwritings, art work, outreachand fund raising – and, ofcourse, not least, in ourworship.

As usual, we will be able toattend a variety of services,addressing different aspectsof what Advent and Christmasmean to us. There will beevening services as well asmorning ones for the firstthree Sundays of Advent; onChristmas Eve the little oneswill treat us to ‘Blessing theCrib’ at 5.00pm, and RogerBidnell will lead midnightCommunion from 11.15pm.Finally, on Christmas Morning,we will rejoice in celebratingChrist’s birth at a familyservice at 10.45am, led by MrGeraint Richards.

There will not be a morningservice on Christmas Eve – itis such a full weekend with

CHURCH NOTESdemands on many people.There are many otherservices and events in a veryshort space of time at whichall are welcome, so we hopethat you will be able to join inas many of these as you can.

If you wish to attend any of theadditional services throughAdvent and Christmas, andwould like transport, please doget in touch with Colin Grimesor Louise Morgan and we willarrange lifts.

Thank you to all those whotook part in the nomination ofelders process this year. Atthe November ChurchMeeting we were delighted toconfirm the appointments ofMary Bidnell and Tony Webb(who are returning elders) andSarah Edwards who will servefor the first time. Theordination and inductionservice will be on January 21,2018. Church Meeting wasalso delighted to approveFiona Liddell’s request totransfer her membership toBeulah, and this will takeplace during the service onthe 10th December.

FAMILY NEWSSeveral members and friendsare experiencing healthproblems at the moment, inhospital or at home. We sendour love and prayers to Ann

Brown, Cyril Cazenave, ZenaJones, Elinor Ludlow, VivJones, Rubina Lewis and AlunJones – you are all in ourthoughts, as are those wholove and care for you.

We were saddened to hear ofthe death of Lena Cruchley’sfather this month, and sendlove and sympathy to Lenaand her family at this sad time.Our sympathies and prayersare also with Duncan andChristine Pugh and theirfamily, following the tragicdeath of Duncan’s nephew’swife, and the serious injury ofher baby.

Birthday greetings are sent toYvonne Phillips, who iscelebrating a specialmilestone this month, and wewere delighted to hear thatKeith and Gill Jones havebecome proud grandparentsto their first granddaughter.

Love and blessings to you allthis Christmas, and mydeepest thanks for yourcontinuing support for all thatBeulah tries to do,

Louise

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In our Advent theme of‘Walking towards the Light’ welook to our hope in theincarnation, and think of waysin which the Light can bereflected in us.

As we worship God thisChristmas, we can try to showthat Light by taking actions asindividuals and as church, topursue justice in all the wayswe can. Only, perhaps, whenpeople are freed frominjustice, the oppressed setfree, the hungry fed and thehomeless housed will we trulysee God’s favour shining likethe morning sun, (Isaiah58.8), and be able to stepforward towards the promiseof his glorious light in Christ.

When we walk in his way, weoffer others the chance toshare in the light which shinesthrough the darkness, andwhich the darkness can neverovercome.

At the Festival on December2nd, we will be raising moneyfor the Christian Aid ‘Enoughfor Everyone Christmas’appeal...

You can further support theappeal by committing to notbuying at least one thing thatyou know would be wasted.You can turn that pledge intoa donation to Christian Aid'swork providing life-saving aidand long-term solutions tohunger and malnutrition.

(This article includes an editedversion of an article providedby the ‘Enough for EveryoneChristmas Appeal’ churchresources).

Louise

(Continued from Front Page)

ThanksOnce again, we would like to thank ourkind drivers, who transport us everySunday morning to Beulah. Thank you toCatherine Tyler (Bronwen’s eldestdaughter) who has kindly volunteered tojoin the happy band. They are always sokind and cheerful, and we all are mostgrateful for their help.

They are: Audrey and Ian Budding, Ann and Colin Grimes, KeithJones, Harley Jones, Louise and Huw Morgan, Catherine Tyler,Mary and Mike Warsop, and Sarah and Tony Webb. Also, ourthoughts and prayers are with Mary Edwards, following the lossof Phillip, who was one of our faithful drivers over many years.

We would like to give them all, and their families, and to all theBeulah family, our thanks and best wishes for Christmas and for2018.

Best wishes,Bronwen James, Margaret John, Margaret Maynard,

Joyce Matthias, Joan Ridley and Elinor Ludlow.

Concerts at the Crossroads

Lunchtime Recital

Wednesday 31st January 2018 at 1.05pm

A group of opera students from the RWCMD

A selection of songs and arias

This concert has now become an annual event and has provedvery popular. Four opera students plus their accompanist from

the RWCMD will come and perform a programme offavourite songs and arias - plus the occasional new one to

keep us on our toes and our ears alert!

Come and hear the opera singers of tomorrow at this concert.

Tickets £5 on the door

Date for your diaryWednesday 28th February at 1.05pm

Jessica Robinson – sopranoPianist TBA

being taken forward by a smallgroup convened by Duncan Pugh.If anyone is interested in being partof this work please contact Duncan.· Fundraising - the social grouphave been working hard on theBeulah 2018 Calendar idea andthese will hopefully be ready forsale at the Beulah Bazaar. Theproceeds for this will go to thecharity Health Help International.· Outreach - all of our youngpeople at university have beencontacted and asked if they'd liketo be sent Crossroads.

There are many other ideas thatare listed in the booklet underthese three headings and alsounder the headings of 'WelcomePack' and 'Worship'. However, totake some or all of these forwardwe need willing volunteers. Ifanyone would like to help makethese great ideas a reality forBeulah please speak to Louise.Without your help, these will sadlyremain just ideas.......

Louise also reported that she hadobtained some leaflets entitled‘What is the United ReformedChurch’ which briefly cover theURC’s history, beliefs andorganisation which might behelpful to members both new andold. A supply of these will beplaced in the porch or please askLouise for one. I felt particularaffinity with one quote the leafletcontains which explains that theURC has a ‘lack of hierarchy anda respect for individualconscience’.

Our next item was an update ontransitional ministry from MarionWilliams on behalf of ourtransitional ministry team. Thosewho were there, or who read myreport in Crossroads, willremember that, at our 17thSeptember Church Meeting, wereceived and discussed our'themes' which emerged from theconsultation:

· Reaching Out· Growing Together

Thirty nine merry souls braved the coldand dark for our November ChurchMeeting. It was a packed agenda and,by kind permission of the attendees,we over-ran slightly to fit all thebusiness in.

Following our prayers of gathering, ledby Louise Morgan, we confirmed thatthe minutes of the previous meeting ofthe 17th September 2017 were anaccurate record and that there wereno matters arising which were not onthe agenda. Minutes of all our ChurchMeetings are in the Church Office(along with copies of anypresentations and papers), please justask Louise if you'd ever like to seethem.

Our first substantive item was toconsider and confirm our 2018budget, ably presented to us byBarbara Rhys. As always, Barbara,together with our Finance andPremises Committees, had done awonderful job on our behalf and allinvolved were thanked by ChurchMeeting. After going through thefigures, the budget for 2018 wasunanimously agreed by ChurchMeeting.

The subject of improvingcommunications in respect ofupcoming meetings, in the form ofemail amongst members, was raisedand it was agreed to pass this to thecommunications group, led by DuncanPugh, to discuss at an earlyopportunity.

Our next item was an update fromLouise on the 'quick wins' weidentified through our transitionalministry consultation process. Thesewere recorded in the 'What Now?'section of the 'Celebrating the past,Affirming the present, Imagining thefuture' booklet that Lesley Richardsand Eleri John kindly created for us.Louise reported that there has beenprogress on a number of the quickwins:

· Communication – an article with allof Beulah’s advent activities andservices has been placed in RhiwbinaLiving. Our work on communication is

Report of Church Meeting - 13th November 2017

· Worship and Faith· Caring and Sharing· Doing Well, Doing Better?

Together with the underpinningtheme of Communication.

Since then, we have also seen our‘statements of affirmation' for eachof the themes, which were circulatedwith November’s Crossroads, andat this Church Meeting we receivedthe final instalment of the trilogywhich was a proposal for our'provocative proposals' for each ofour themes.

Church Meeting broke into sixgroups and each group discussedone of the sets of proposals. Eachgroup then fed back to the wholemeeting. The proposals werewelcomed and there were verymany helpful comments andsuggestions which were gratefullynoted down and will be used torefine and enhance our provocativeproposals. Importantly, ChurchMeeting noted and agreed thatJesus should be at the centre of allwe do. Church Meeting thankedMarion and all of our transitionalministry team for their endeavoursto date.

Our next substantive item was todiscuss the proposed annualtheme for 2018. Nigel Barwise,Anne James and I presented theoutput of an Elders' workshop thathad been held in November on thistopic.  The first thing the Eldersconsidered was whether we actuallywant a ‘theme’. Elders agreed thathaving a theme was good,particularly for framing Beulah’sfocus and narrative for visitingministers. The Elders then went onto consider a range of documentsand ideas from a list of our previousthemes to the URC’s MissionValues and 2020 Vision andChristian Aid’s 5 Key Foci, andthrough the World EconomicForum’s “Ten Biggest GlobalChallenges” to the WelshGovernment’s 18/19 budget.

4

(Cont on p.5)

5

Editorial TeamColin Grimes,

35, Waun-y-Groes Avenue,Rhiwbina, Cardiff. CF14 4SZ.

Tel: 029 2052 9422.E-Mail :

colingrimes49@hotmail.com

Huw Morgan,34, Heol Iscoed,

Rhiwbina, Cardiff. CF14 6PA.Tel: 029 2052 2782.

E-Mail :crossroads@hotmail.co.uk

A ‘Wordle’ summarising the Elder’sdiscussions is below.

The Elders unanimously agreed onthe theme of ‘Walking the Way’.

Walking the Way, Living the Life ofJesus Today is a new URC initiative(not a URC annual theme per se)which aims to “focus on lifelongChristian discipleship and mission”:

“Walking the Way explores what itmeans to actively follow and learnfrom – and to be eventuallytransformed by – Christ.  It’s foreveryone at any stage of theChristian journey – whoever you are,whatever your existing relationshipwith Jesus Christ and the Church is,whatever your personalcircumstances. It’s for you whetheryou have been following Jesus forfive days or five decades.”

Elders felt this linked very well withthe powerful statement and challengethat came out of our own transitionalministry consultations: “What wouldJesus do if he turned up at Beulahtomorrow?”

Church Meeting then heard how theElders thought the theme might betaken forward which would, in asimilar approach to 2017, be ‘lighttouch’, and through a variety ofactivities.

Church Meeting approved theproposed 2018 theme of ‘Walking theWay’ and this will now be developedfurther and taken forward by a smallgroup led by Nigel and Anne andhopefully one or more of our newElders. They would also welcomevolunteers and anyone who isinterested in this should contacteither Nigel or Anne.

Our final item was to agree our threenew Serving Elders who will beSarah Edwards, Mary Bidnell andTony Webb. Church Meeting warmlyapproved and welcomed all threeand gave thanks for their time andtalents. Church Meeting also thankedour retiring Elders, Lesley Richards,Richard Edwards and myself, for their

dedication and service over the past4 years.

There were a couple of items underAny Other Business. Firstly,Church Meeting warmly approvedFiona Liddell's request to transferher membership from St David'sUniting Church to Beulah, and shewill be received into membership on10th December. Secondly, ChurchMeeting agreed that we would againexplore the proposal of havingChurch Meetings at different timesof the week.

I very much hope to see you at thenext meeting on the 26th February

Report of Church Meeting (cont from p.4) 2018. You would be very welcomeand everyone’s voices are heard andeveryone listens. As it says in the‘What is the URC?’ leaflet “theChurch Meeting of members is themain decision-making body at locallevel” so it is very important we doattend and take part in guidingBeulah and its work if at all we can.

The meeting closed with the Graceand a shaking of each other’s hands.

God Bless.

Andrew Glanfield(Chair, Church Meeting)

6

CHURCH CALENDAR #1DECEMBERSat 2nd 4.00pm Rhiwbina Christmas Festival

Sunday 3rd 10.30am Advent Sunday: Revd. Peter NobleJunior Church

Coffee served in Canolfan after service 6.00pm United Advent Service in Beulah with the Three Choirs 7.15pm Youth FellowshipMon 4th 2.00pm Women’s FellowshipWeds 6th 10.30am Midweek Meeting Point 10.30am Church OfficeWeds 6th - Fri 8th 7.30pm Beulah Players Christmas ShowSat 9th 10.00am KIN Cake Stall

Sunday 10th 10.30am Led by Members of the congregation, with Communion,and reception into membership of Dr Fiona Liddell

Junior Church in their DepartmentsCoffee served in Canolfan after service

6.00pm Light for our Loss: Revd. Roger Bidnell 7.15pm Youth FellowshipMon 11th 2.00pm Women’s Fellowship 7.30pm Elders’ MeetingWeds 13th 10.30am Midweek Meeting Point 10.30am Church Office 1.05pm Concert by Sine Nomine Singers 7.00pm Beulah Church Family Christmas Meal at Whitchurch Golf Club

Sunday 17th 10.30am Senior Department Christmas Service Coffee served in Canolfan after service 6.00pm Carol Service 7.15pm Youth FellowshipTues 19th 7.00pm Carol Singing from BeulahWeds 20th 10.30am Midweek Meeting Point 10.30am Church Office 7.00pm Carol Singing from All SaintsThurs 21st 7.00pm Carol Singing from BeulahFri 22nd 7.00pm Carol Singing from BethanySat 23rd 10.30am Carol Singing outside Whittaker Lounge 11.15am KIN Coffee Morning with Christmas MusicChristmas EveSunday 24th No Morning Service 5.00pm Blessing the Crib 11.15pm Midnight CommunionChristmas DayMon 25th 10.45am Mr. Geraint Richards

Sat 30th WRB Churches Together Prayers in Rhiwbina Baptist Church

Sunday 31st 10.30am Family Service: Mr Richard & Mrs Sarah EdwardsParadise Run Coffee served in Canolfan after service

Collection

KIN - Together we care and together we shareWe raised £336 from the Community Choir event held on 18th November. Proceeds were given to Live MusicNow.  Many thanks to John Cheer for organising this concert and to everyone involved in the event.

Thank you to everyone who helped with the Beulah Bazaar - behind the scenes organising, settingup, publicising and promoting the event, making, cooking, baking, selling , clearing up etc etc,. We couldn'thave done this without you.The next events ...................December 2nd – Rhiwbina Winter Festival – Raising money for Space4U, Christian Aid, Huggard

Mulled Wine and Stollen being served in the Margaret Whittaker Lounge.  Proceeds will go to Space4U.Flower Display - If you are interested in contributing please contact Karen Holbrook. We are inviting peopleto produce flower arrangements that represent favourite carols. These will be displayed on the window sillsin church and should create a beautiful and peaceful space for quiet contemplation amidst the hustle andbustle of the festival.  All proceeds will go towards the Christian Aid 'Enough for Everyone' ChristmasAppeal. Pledge cards in the shape of Christmas decorations will also be available for people to sign .

Canolfan – Refreshments of hot dogs, soup, bacon butties, tea, coffee, etc., will be available. All proceedswill go to the Huggard Centre to finance a days of lunches for everyone from their kitchen. This will be raisedby our kitchen for their kitchen.

Please let us know if you can help with anyone of the above events.

December 10th – Ann Grimes would be grateful to once again receive your gifts of Christmas Food/Chocolatesfor families who are supported by the Family Intervention Support Services and Cardiff Children Services[no alcohol please]. Please bring your gifts along to the Church on Sunday 10 December or hand them to AnnGrimes. Thank you.

Carol Singing around Rhiwbina in aid of Action for Children. We are pleased to join with Bethany and AllSaints again this year for Carol Singing. Please look out in the notices for further details of times/dates androutes. A list to sign for help with refreshments will be available nearer the time.

Beulah Christmas Card – proceeds will go to The Samaritans.

KIN Coffee Morning. As Christmas Eve is on Monday this year we will hold our Christmas Eve carol singingon Saturday 23rd December  – outside the Margaret Whittaker Lounge, starting at 10.30am, and then at11.15am  the KIN Coffee Morning will be held over in the Canolfan as a continuation until 12.15. FatherChristmas may be visiting too!! Bethany and All Saints will also be sharing this event and joining us.

All proceeds raised will go Ronald McDonald House in Cardiff UWH which opened in Cardiff this autumn.Ronald McDonald House Cardiff, is a purpose-built House just a few moments from Noah’s Ark Children’sHospital, and has 30 en-suite bedrooms to provide free accommodation to families of children being treated atthe hospital. There are also communal kitchens and living areas where families can spend time together awayfrom the ward. It offers support and a safe environment where families can share their experiences with othersin similar situations. The children's hospital expects to provide specialist medical care for up to 100,000 childreneach year. The existing hospital accommodation is not able to accommodate every family who needs to stayclose to their sick child, and Ronald McDonald House Cardiff will provide free family accommodation for upto 30 families each night.

The Ronald McDonald House help families strengthen coping abilities by keeping families together. Parentswhose children have longer hospital stays benefit from higher quality sleep at a Ronald McDonald Housecompared to parents who slept at their child’s hospital bedside. Ronald McDonald Houses provide spaces toplay. Playing with other children experiencing similar situations can help these children cope with trauma.

Ronald McDonald Houses could save a family with a sick child as much as £282 per week in unexpected extracosts, such as travel, eating out and hotel bills.

Eleri John7

Thanks to everybody whosupported the Coffee and CakeMorning, last Saturday, to raisemoney to send the shoeboxes.  Dueto the generosity of so many peoplewe raised a brilliant total of£452.85p.

A big thank you to all those

CHURCH CALENDAR #2JANUARY 2018Fri 5th 7.00pm Beulah New Year Family PartySunday 7th 10.30am Mrs Vera Ruddock Junior Church

Coffee served in Canolfan after service 6.00pm United Communion Service at All SaintsMon 8th 2.00pm Women’s Fellowship 7.30pm Elders’ MeetingWeds 20th 10.30am Midweek Meeting Point 10.30am Church OfficeThurs 11th 7.45pm Pastoral MeetingSat 13th 10.30am KIN Cake StallSunday 14th 10.30am Revd. Roger Bidnell Junior Church Coffee served in Canolfan after service 7.15pm Youth FellowshipMon 15th 2.00pm Women’s FellowshipWeds 20th 10.30am Midweek Meeting Point 10.30am Church OfficeThurs 18th 7.00pm Service for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at All SaintsSunday 21st 10.30am Revd. Stephen Best: Family Communion Service

to include the Ordination & Induction of New Elders Coffee served in Canolfan after service Church Family Lunch 6.00pm Service for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at Bethany Baptist 7.15pm Youth FellowshipMon 22nd 2.00pm Women’s FellowshipWeds 24th 10.30am Midweek Meeting Point 10.30am Church OfficeThurs 25th 7.00pm Service for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at BeulahSunday 26th 10.30am Revd. Malcolm ShaplandParadise Run Junior Church Collection Coffee served in Canolfan after service 7.15pm Youth FellowshipMon 29th 2.00pm Women’s FellowshipWeds 31st 10.30am Midweek Meeting Point 10.30am Church OfficeFEBRUARYSunday 4th 10.30am Revd James Hall Junior Church Coffee served in Canolfan after service 6.00pm United Communion, Beulah: Revd. Gethin Rhys

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wonderful Beulah cake makers; thosewho donated gifts; those who helpedon the day; and, of course, all whobought the items and donated moneyon the Saturday and Sunday morning.

My rooms at home are full ofshoeboxes and gifts waiting to besent. Colin and I are taking our first

collection this Saturday,and it looks like wehave reached over ahundred boxes. I will give a detailedaccount in the next newsletter.

Thank you again for your generosity.Love,

Elaine

Operation Christmas Child

9

The Sine Nomine Singersare very pleased to be

returning again toBeulah at 1.05pm

on Weds 13th Decemberwith a programme of music forAdvent and Christmas entitled

“Morning Star”.

This year we will be joined by arecorder group called

“The Old Grey Whistle Blowers”.

There will be a retiring collectionin support of the

Royal National Institutefor the Blind.

Peter Ferdinando

We have been increasinglyaware of the difficulties thoseattending worship areexperiencing in seeing theDigital (data)  ProjectionScreens. We have a newprojector on order, whichshould give help clarity, andare planning training forworship leaders in the NewYear on good practice inPower Point planning. I havedrawn together some simpleguidance around visualimpairment, as a temporarymeasure.

Print should be a clear fontsuch as Arial, between sizes28 to 40. For a hymn aim forone verse and one chorusfilling each screen.

Avoid picture backgrounds,and use strong colourcontrast. The use of red,dark grey, brown, green orpurple for text andbackgrounds should beavoided. Black writing onwhite or yellow is clearest.

Christmas SwagsChristmas

Swag ordersare now

being taken.Please signthe list in the

porchor

contact Karen Holbrook.

They are £7.50, and will beready for collection on the9th and 10th of December.

Thank youKaren

Keep to clear headings anduse upper and lower caselettering. Also keep formatleft aligned, rather thanrandom, both help clarity.

Use of video’s or chartsshould include a verbaldescription of unspokenaction by the personpresenting. Avoid flashing orblinking objects.

Good lighting is key to thoseseeing in their seats, butmay need reducing in theprojection area to helpclarity of the image.

Marianne

Seeing the Power Point Screens

Together in PrayerPerhaps you might invite those wholead the prayers of intercessionweek by week in your church toincorporate this prayer calendar intotheir prayers.   A single documentcontaining the prayer calendar forthe whole of 2018  is available todownload.3rd December - Pray for BethanyUnited Reformed Church, YstradMynach, and the Moderator, staffand churches of East MidlandsSynod. Pray for Liberia and SierraLeone.10th  December - Pray for HallStreet Church, Llanelli, and theModerator, staff and churches ofWest Midlands Synod. Pray forCape Verde, the Gambia, Guinea,Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.17th December - Pray for Hill UnitedReformed Church, Mount Pleasant,Swansea, and the Moderator, staffand churches of Eastern Synod.Pray for Benin, Côte d'Ivoire andTogo.24th December - Pray forTabernacle United ReformedChurch, Mumbles, and theModerator, staff and churches ofSouth Western Synod. Pray forGhana and Nigeria.31st December - Pray for UnitingChurch Sketty, Swansea, and theModerator, staff and churches ofWessex Synod. Pray for Statelesspeople and migrants.Prayers for countries and regions ofthe world are based upon the WorldCouncil of Churches publication “InGod's Hands: The EcumenicalPrayer Cycle”

10

Editor’s NoteThe deadline for articles to be included in the February 2018 edition

of Crossroads is Sunday 21st January 2018 and Huw will be editing.

Who’s Doing What and When Driver on Rota Duty Elder Stewards Pulpit Reader Flowers

December3rd am

pm

10th am

17th am

24th 5.00pm

11.30pm

25th am

31st am

January 20187th am

pm

14th am

21st am

28th am

February4th am

pm

11th am

Huw Morgan

Catherine Tyler

Keith Jones

Ian Buddingand/or

Colin Grimes

TBA

Tony Webb

Colin Grimes

Colin Grimes

Harley Jones

Mike Warsop

Huw Morgan

Catherine Tyler

Keith Jones

Diane Burton

Alan Wilson

Nick & Tanya Hampson

Lesley & Mary Richards

Gill Grivas & Angela Holliday

Elinor Ludlow

Margaret Clee

Pam Penny

Joyce Matthias

Alan Wilson

Andy and Cathy Wales

Richard Edwards

Richard Edwards

Fleur Richards

Liz Kidd

TBA

Nigel Barwise

Jill Ferdinando

TBA

Gaynor Rees

Gill Grivas

Elaine Edwards

Anne Wilkes

TBA

TBA

Lorraine Larcombe

Richard Edwards

Peter Ferdinando

Liz McCarthy

Pat Ruddock

Louise Morgan

Kate Hampson

James Hall

Huw Morgan

TBA

TBA

John Prosser & Helen Harries

Glenys Scott & Marion Williams

Frank Kinsey & Eleanor Mills

Duncan and Christine Pugh

Betty Evans and Eleri John

Barbara Clift and Chris Phelps

Bev Hampson and Carol Coleman

Trix Pryce and Pat Agland

Lynne Davies and Mair Haywood

Ann Grimes and Rubina Lewis

TBA

TBA

United Communion Service at All Saints

Blessing the Crib

United Communion Service at Beulah

28th October 2017

Hello,On Sunday I received flowers with a smile.Thank you, Barbara Rhys. Thank youBeulah.

On Monday, more flowers arrived. It is atreat to be surrounded with them. What awonder flowers are. Their silentbeauty,  their variety of shape, size, andcolour. It is absorbing to sit alongside themand notice the delicate shades even withinone flower. They definitely have alanguage of their own yet too shy even towhisper!  Each flower is a miracle ofcreation, the product of soil, moisture, warmth andthat hidden energy we call life.How come that there is this on-going closenessbetween people and flowers? Every generation,every age and every culture share and cherish thisrelationship. That is an absorbing subject and it has‘challenged' me for years. I want to believe there is a

clue in the very word itself - flower. Thosefour letters, ‘f  l  o  w’, surely hold the secret.That is, flowers by their very name, aresocial entities. They 'flow' in our direction;they want to meet us, to greet us; they donot want to be distant or detached. Flowersare social and communal. That is why theyare such universal communicators of mutualinterest, sympathy and good wishes. Theyare indeed one with us. They carry andconvey person to person messages,feelings, shared emotions, even silentsolidarity. Flowers flow and in so doing theyexpress their own inner nature. From timeimmemorial, from one generation to theother, flowers keep on flowing towards

people, spreading their message of oneness withevery other living cell.

Beulah and friends, your gift of flowers bring to mind,emotion and spirit a whole universe of wonder.

Thank you with joy.Dewi