And so we enter the summer holiday season!

I’m a great lover of words, and especially their origins and histories. It may (or may not!) interest you to know that in June 2018 almost 900 new words and phrases were added to the Oxford English Dictionary, including ‘binge-watch’, and several words from A. A. Milne’s ‘A House at Pooh Corner’ which celebrates its 95^th birthday this year. Since then of course, words like ‘lockdown’ and ‘bubble’ have taken on a whole new meaning. The English language, both written and spoken, is constantly evolving along with the world around us.

The word ‘holiday’ has only been in use since the 1400s, coming from the Old English word for ‘Holy Day’ – a period where the day-to-day cycle of work and recreation was set aside to focus specifically on God. There are at least 8 holy days or periods mentioned in the Bible, and down the centuries the Christian church has introduced many others including Lent, Advent, Good Friday and Pentecost, as well as the more commonly known ones like Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.

For many of us these holy days (or festivals as we’re probably more used to calling them) still provide fabulous opportunities to reconnect with God and join our prayers with folk from down the ages and across the world. I make no secret of the fact that the Christmas Carol Service and the Christmas Eve Service are my highlights of the church year, never failing to move me deeply. Maybe you feel the similarly, or is there another service, ritual or practice that never fails to help you draw closer to God?

But what, you may be wondering, does this have to do with the July/August notices?

At a first glance the next two months may appear to be the absolute opposite of a traditional festival period. Indeed they have a reputation for being a quiet time in the life of the church. We don’t celebrate any major holy days, although some other denominations do. However, I would say that for that very reason August in particular (or if not August then whichever month or period has the least dates in the diary!) holds a vital role in our lives both as individuals and as a church. The prophet Elijah, sitting in the mouth of a cave waiting to hear God’s voice, listened hard through wind and earthquake and fire, but it wasn’t until the silence came that he finally heard the Lord speak (1 Kings 19: 11-13). Sometimes it’s in quieter times, when the noise and busy-ness of everyday life stops for a moment, that our minds and hearts are able to focus all the more on God.

Holy days indeed.

I hope and pray that, however you spend your July and August, you will have time to rest and relax in the love of God.

Enjoy your holy days!

The Church family at Conway Road Methodist enjoyed their annual summer picnic in Pontcanna Fields on Sunday 25^th June.

The event was well attended, and the afternoon was full of talking, laughing, and eating.  Together with an assortment of fun pack games and activities enjoyed by spectators and players alike. Including the annual rounders match, which was hotly contested and saw some excellent displays of batting, bowling, and fielding from both sides. With the player of the match being awarded to Seb for he’s outstanding display of all round skills. 

During the afternoon we also saw some remarkable demonstrations of strength and determination in the tug of war matches. With the junior church girls team narrowly beating the boy’s, in a very tightly contested bout and the adults only just managing to overcome the collective strength of the junior church team.

All in all, the picnic was a great success and a fun way to spend a sunny afternoon relaxing with friends in the park. In preparation for next year picnic a  number of attendees have already been spotted talking tactics for the return matches!

Sunday morning saw Deacon Laura leading us in our Harvest Festival Service.

We gave thanks to God for all we have been given and to those who provide, while also considering the inequalities in our world and the need to care for its resources.

The Church family brought gifts of food and toiletries which will be taken to the Trinity Centre for distribution to those in need.

The lessons were read by Emmie and Avril, (one about 10 times older than the other!).

Laura then asked us to consider the ingredients needed to make bread (as seen amongst the items on the communion table), and to see how small things can make a difference to lives and to our world.

The Church family at Conway Road Methodist enjoyed an action packed afternoon on Sunday 7th November looking at the story of Noah.

During the afternoon we made exploding bees out of balloons, origami frogs that refused to jump and bread dough hedgehogs. We installed an incredible bug mansion in the garden where all sorts of bugs will be able to live – definitely a five star residence! We heard the story of Noah and his Ark and during the afternoon finger painted a rainbow to go on the hall notice board to remind us all of God’s promise.

This was all followed by a sumptuous tea – all in all a great afternoon!

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Dear Friends,

As of January 18th I shall be on sabbatical for three months. It is a requirement of the Methodist Church that ministers should have such a sabbatical in the tenth year of their ministry and every seven years thereafter. This represents an opportunity for study and reflection as well as being an opportunity to chill away from the demands of normal ministry. I hope to chill by reading some decent literature and history whilst cheering Manchester United all the way to winning the Premier league.  I hope to engage with a few organisations that bring hope to our communities although the extent of that will at least in part be dependent on what happens regarding the pandemic. My main activity will be to produce a piece of work looking at hope in a time when the world is traumatised. That will be shared with you on my return in April.

As I am going to be local I may bump into some of you and have a chat, However, I am expected to keep away from church activities and considerations. I shall be posting on the sabbatical from time to time through videos at https://www.facebook.com/reverendpaulmartin/videos/  ,

In the meantime, my colleagues Alexis Mahoney and Alana   Lawrence will be kindly attending to any needs in our church whilst of course caring for their own churches.

Conway Road Methodist Church opened its doors for Sunday worship for the first time since the start of the lock down on 23rd August.

We had a lively all age worship led by our minister Rev. Paul Martin who spoke to us about the continued relevance of the teachings in the Bible even in today’s high speed, technicolour world.

It was great to be back and wonderful to meet as a community again.
God bless you all!

On Sunday afternoon, 15th March, Conway Road Church family got together for a fun filled afternoon of activities, stories and songs. There were sunflowers to plant, flowers to make, seeds to collect and plant at home and bread to bake – great fun for all.

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We then all went up into the church to put our beautifully constructed flowers in the Church for all to enjoy, followed by a grand rendition of the parable of the sower from our minister, Rev. Paul Martin. We then sang an action packed version of ‘this little guiding light of mine’ to finish.

Then downstairs for the usual afternoon tea – which was fabulous as ever.

A brilliant afternoon enjoyed by all ages – many thanks to all who helped to make it such a lovely event.

 

 

 

Conway Road Church celebrated its 150th birthday on 1st December 2019. A fabulous year ended with a family party for all ages in the Church hall.  Younger members enjoyed energetic family games while others took time to chat and catch up.

 

 

The afternoon ended with an afternoon tea and a special celebration cake – cut by some of our longest serving members, one of which has actually been coming to the Church for over eighty years – awesome!