Sharing some thoughts

Ascension Day is a much overlooked but important day in the life of the church. On this day we remember Jesus ascending to heaven and in doing so, entrusting his work to his people on earth. Of course, we are not to do the work alone, soon we shall celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was given to the early church, the day that’s sometimes known as the birthday of the church. And the gift of the Holy Spirit is a gift for us all – God wants to equip his people, his church… In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles (1:1-11) we have this tremendous introduction to the life of the church – of how the disciples were to wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and then Jesus was lifted up from them and taken out of their sight… It must have been incredible and it is perhaps little surprise that they were left gazing up into the sky, until two men in white robes came alongside them and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking upwards to heaven ?

Sunday 26 May 2019 St Mary’s Swansea: Anniversary of the Rededication of the Church after bombing Acts 16. 9-15 / Psalm 67 / Revelation 21. 10, 22 - 22.5 / John 14. 23-29  The Very Reverend Dr Paul Shackerley    Dean of Brecon A man came upon a construction site where three people were working.  He asked the first, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am laying bricks.” He asked the second, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am building a wall.” As he approached the third, he heard him humming a tune as he worked, and asked, “What are you doing?” The man stood, looked up at the sky, and smiled, “I am building a cathedral [Church]!” I suppose, being the Church, will depend if we see ourselves just laying bricks or building walls. Or, we can see the vision to witness to the Gospel to build the Kingdom. Still in Eastertide, I couldn’t have wished for a better reading than the one chosen by the Church and presented in the lectionary for today. It’s t

from Helen Last week was a very special week as Ian and I went to the Queens garden party in Buckingham palace. It was an amazing experience. Now I am not going to spend the whole time telling you all about our time there. I did notice a number of things though. One was as we queued to get in there was a feeling of we’re all in this together. Another was that we ended up asking other couples to take photos of us and we would then take photos of them as well. We were all telling each other to enjoy the day. Other women were annoyed by their fascinators vowing never to wear one again not just me ! We were all excited by the opportunity to see the Queen and other members of the royal family.  There was a feeling of togetherness, we were all enjoying the same experience but in different ways. In our readings this morning we heard about this feeling of togetherness, we heard about people trying to work together, to be in unity with each other and to understand one another. In the