Parish of Llandudno North Wales, Rector's letter

March 2013

I'm writing this letter on a beautiful sunlit February afternoon. Everything is bathed in a glorious light and the sky is completely blue without a cloud in sight! This comes as a real tonic after the cold, dark, dismal winter we have had over recent months. Of course it's early days yet and the weatherman is even now warning that it's going to get cloudy and very cold again in the next few days; winter hasn't finished with us yet. But this beautiful day has given a glorious hint of the spring to come and of the awakening of new life and hope and I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

During the month ahead we will be commemorating the events which give us hope for something deeper and more worthwhile than just the promise of spring and summer to come. When you read this, Lent will have been underway for several weeks. Whatever shape your own Lenten discipline is taking I hope that it is helping you to grow closer to Our Lord. One of the purposes of Lent is to prepare us for the commemoration of His Passion, Death and Resurrection.

If we are taking this commemoration seriously it can be quite a rollercoaster of an experience - the joy of shouting our Hosannas as Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday; the sharing of the Last Supper with both the joy of the gift of the Eucharist and the command to love one another expressed in the washing of the feet; the time at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday, when, like someone watching a loved one suffer on a bed of pain we stand with Mary and John unable to help in a practical way but simply just to be there. Then if you are literally 'up for it' on Easter Morning, you might join us in St. Tudno's for the Easter Liturgy when we will keep vigil as darkness turns to light and then sing our alleluias to welcome the risen Christ. (Don't forget that the clocks to go forward on Easter Sunday morning so although the service is at 6.30 in the new time, it will be 5.30 in terms of the day before! - and that of course applies to all the later services too).

In the midst of busy lives it is worthwhile to give as much time and commitment to the keeping of Holy Week and Easter. It isn't a comfortable time, far from it, you may experience deep emotions, perhaps a new sense of the love Christ has for you, a new insight into your own life with all your faults and failings, a deeper sense of penitence, a new awareness of what Christ may want you to do with your life. If we come to this very special time with love and attention who knows what may happen?

Above all, when we sing our Easter alleluias - whatever services we attend on that day, we will have in the depths of our hearts a true hope which will be so much deeper than our longing for a lovely spring and summer.

Fr. John

top of page

Previous letters: