Author: SynodCymru

Europe’s Refugee Crisis
Focus on the Need, Not the Numbers

The media of late has been full of stories of desperate people arriving in Europe, with the press focus largely concentrating on the growing numbers, rather than the conflict, injustice and oppression from which many are escaping. In truth, the reaction of many in the UK and elsewhere in Europe has been far from sympathetic and the language frequently used to describe those seeking entry to European countries has too often been deplorable, both derogatory and de-humanising.

Each year millions of people globally are forced to flee their homes due to violence, conflict and disaster. Most remain displaced within their own countries, but millions of others must cross borders to reach safety, the majority even then remaining in the developing world, hosted by some of the poorest countries in the world.

It is not a new phenomenon – Christian Aid was founded 70 years ago to assist refugees and the displaced in Europe following the Second World War. Today we support those affected by war and violence in numerous countries, including Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Colombia, providing practical assistance through local organisations embedded in their communities.

In Europe, we work with partners in the ACT Alliance to support practical and political action to help those fleeing, and address the longer term issues. The ACT Alliance is a coalition of 145 churches, working together across 140 countries to create positive and sustainable change to the lives of the poor and marginalised, regardless of faith, sex, race or politics. As part of the Alliance, Christian Aid are calling on people:

To be hospitable to “the stranger”, and to open worship sanctuaries and spaces to engage and dialogue on migrant issues.
To continue to seek and listen to the voices of migrants, asylum seekers, stateless people and refugees in attempts to make appropriate responses.
To continue to seek to understand the plight of those in distress; and to pray for them and with them.
To continue to provide support to migrants and refugees and stateless people at community level through access to shelter, information, and services.

For churches and faith based organisations & civil society organisations in countries of origin, transit, and destination to dialogue and where possible share experiences to enlighten each other’s responses.
To influence nation states to accede to international human rights instruments that protect the human rights of migrants, refugees and their families, and for states who are already signatories to effectively live up to their related obligations for assistance and protection;

You can also donate through Christian Aid to support the work of our partners delivering  refugee relief in today, via our website christianaid.org.uk/emergencies/areas-of-concern/refugee-crisis.aspx

The Cytûn (Churches Together in Wales) tent was often full to bursting during the week of the National Eisteddfod in Meifod at the beginning of August this year. The tent is much appreciated as a place of the Eisteddfod field to have a cup of tea and a sit down, to listen to inspiring talks and to take time to worship and to reflect.

It is staffed by volunteers from the denominations and local churches, including a number of representatives from Synod Cymru, who were ready to welcome visitors to the tent and to the Synod’s stall. Thanks to each one of them for their help, and especially to Delyth Wyn Davies, Learning and Development Officer, for preparing the stall.

This year’s Methodist Conference was held in Southport from Saturday 27th June to Thursday 2nd July.

Five representatives from Synod Cymru, including the Chair, joined with hundreds of other people to pray, worship, discuss and decide about the life of our denomination.

More information about the Conference is available at www.methodistconference.org.uk

Saturday 16 May  saw the 2015 Synod Cymru Historical Society pilgrimage to Eglwysbach in the Conwy Valley, where one of Wales’ greatest ever preachers, Revd John Evans, was born.

It began in the parish church of St Martin, with songs by children from the village school.

Then, an opportunity to see the home of John Evans, before gathering in Ebeneser chapel, the location of the John Evans memorial pulpit, for an address by Dr Telfryn Pritchard.

A blessed and interesting day was had by all. Thanks to Robin Jones and the members of Ebeneser chapel for the arrangements and the welcome.

On April 17th and 18th, a group of Methodist Church District Chairs and some of their friends walked in the footsteps of Mary Jones from Lanfihangel-y-Pennant to Bala. They carried with them the Welsh language section of the Bible that was written by hand by people throughout the Connexion back in 2011.

Here are the walkers at the start of their journey. From the left: Revd Ann Brown (Beds., Essex & Herts.), Revd Jennie Hurd (Synod Cymru), Revd Stephen Wigley (Wales Synod), Revd John Howard (Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury), Revd Michaela Youngson (London), Revd Peter Barber (Chester & Stoke), Dcn Lorraine Brown (Peak Park Rural Development Officer), Revd Ruth Gee (Darlington), Revd Roger Walton (West Yorkshire), Revd Leo Osborn (Newcastle).

After much anticipation and preparation, the big day of the Public Opening of the Heaven and Earth exhibition in Wrexham arrived. The exhibition consists of works from the Methodist Collection of Modern Art, which has been described  as ‘the most significant denominational collection outside the Vatican’ and is shared between two sites, Oriel Sycharth Glyndŵr University and the Methodist Church in the town centre. It includes over forty modern works of art on Biblical or religious themes, each one thoughtfully placed to inspire thought and discussion.

Oriel Sycharth was jam packed on the opening evening on 19 January. The varied programme included choral singing and talks by those representing the partners involved in staging the exhibition together with guest speakers. One such speaker was Mel Gooding, an art critic who is the son-in law of Ceri Richards, whose work Supper at Emmaus is seen in all the publicity for the exhibition, and although he admitted to being am atheist, he succeeded in conveying the spiritual nature of the works he referred to – we almost had a sermon!

Later in the Church, Sarah Middleton, a Trustee of the Collection shared the story of the Collections’ roots in Wales together with the many other links with Wales as she launched the bilingual booklet ‘The Methodist Collection of Modern Art in Wales’ and a copy was presented to the Rev Jennie Hurd on bahlf of Synod Cymru and Wales Synod.

A week later a Welsh guided tour of the exhibition was led by Andrew Parry, Head of Welsh Language and Affairs, Glyndŵr Univeristy. His knowledge of the works was comprehensive and extremely interesting and he succeeded in drawing the visitors into the world of the pictures in a real way. This was no surprise since he had managed to lead a virtual guided tour on Dewi Llwyd’s radio programme the previous day!

On Saturday 28 February a bilingual Messy Church based on some of the works was held at the Church. Through this event the exhibition was presented to a new audience with people of different ages and backgrounds. The afternoon was led by Luke Curran and Delyth Wyn Davies. Six main activities to enable people to respond creatively to the pictures were set out on tables and everyone could visit any table to enjoy creating something and chat and then to move on to other activities. A wide variety of experiences was provided with opportunities for modelling, painting and collage making, reflecting the styles as well as the themes of the pictures. This was followed by circle time to give everyone the opportunity to share with the rest what they had done and together with their feelings. Then everyone made a ‘person’ in preparation for the Worship based on ‘The Five Thousand’. Luke told the story of the feeding of the five thousand in the style of Godly Play with everyone contributing their ‘person’ as a character in the crowd. The Messy Church ended in the usual method of sharing a meal, continuing with the theme of the Worship with bread and fish!

Many people representing churches of different denominations came to the Welsh language meeting in the Lent series ‘Stages of the Way’. This was led by the Chair of Synod Cymru, Rev Jennie Hurd on the theme of anger, starting with our own experience of what makes us angry before considering Jesus’ anger in the story of the Clearing of the Temple. We had the opportunity to explore and discuss anger in the pictures in the church before moving on to focus on one picture, Clive Hicks-Jenkins’s painting depicting the story of the woman caught in adultery. We were  challenged to consider who is really being judged and where are we in the picture.

An additional Welsh language guided tour led by Andrew Parry was held on Tuesday 17 March at the request of some who had been unable to attend the first tour. Andrew’s contribution to the Welsh events and expertise in the arts is appreciated.

The last Welsh language event was the ‘Words of Art: Art of Words’ workshop led by Mererid Hopwood on Saturday 21 March. We had an interesting afternoon with Mererid at Oriel Sycharth as she shared her enthusiasm for poetry in response to art and offered guidance as we start writing poetry. She showed us ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’ by Pieter Bruegel and recited W H Auden’s poem ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’ with his response to it. Everyone was asked to choose a painting in the exhibition which has drawn our attention and Andrew Parry explained the background of those paintings. Mererid shared some ideas about poetry writing and we looked at accents in ‘cynghanedd’. We were then asked to write a few lines in response to a painting. We read our work out loud and were given further tips to improve our work by Mererid. Jennie Hurd thanked Mererid for her guidance and for a  most enjoyable and inspiring afternoon.

The exhibition closes on 26 March but it is hoped that this exhibition has encouraged churches to organise activities which use the arts to reach out into the community and that some will consider inviting the Collection to be exhibited in their area.

Eighteen young people came together overnight at Ebeneser Chapel Caernarfon at the beginning of February as part of the Big SleepOver, the connexional programme for holding local events for young people. The group included young people from Wrexham, Buckley, Menai Bridge and Chwilog, together with young leaders from Buckley. It was also a privilege to have the Methodist Church Youth President Megan Thomas join us.

There was a varied programme of activities on Saturday including a guided tour of Caernarfon, games sessions, and a login session on miracles ar wyrthiau. Megan led a session on the place of young people in the church and topics for the youth and children’s assembly 3Generate which will be held in November and we managed to hold a three way disussion via the web with the other two Big SleepOver groups in Wales, one in Llanelli and the other in Cardiff. A badgemaking session was led by Angela Roe and an epilogue led by Trish, Abby and Vikki and then we had a film before bedtime.

On Sunday morning, it was good to join with the congregation at Ebeneser in a bilingual service led by Deacon Stephen Roe with the young people taking part and then to chat and get to know each other better over refreshments after the service.

Thanks to all who helped make the weekend possible, to the members of Capel Ebeneser for their warm welcome and to those who prepared the meals or led sessions.  We had lots of fun and an opportunity to develop friendships and, believe it or not, we even had some sleep!