THE SEASON OF LENT on our Church calendar is one that often provides us with opportunities for growth and is a very busy time as it contains several special days to commemorate and celebrate: two Saints' Days - St David (the Patron Saint of Wales) on 1^st  March and St Patrick (the Patron Saint of Ireland) on 17^th  March.  Mothering Sunday on 2^nd  March followed by the Women's World Day of Prayer at Trinity Methodist Church on 7^th March with a focus on Guyana.   On the 30^th March the clocks go forward.  Between the 1^st  and 31^st  of March, are several other social events in the Circuit and CYTUN including opportunities to join in the Special Lent Groups and Lent Soup Lunches.

Significant to the foundation of our faith are the celebrations from Maundy Thursday until Easter Day, and, are, for us Christians, at the very centre of our faith.  Our services and meditations will be focused on the events leading to the death of Christ on the cross culminating in the wonder of his resurrection. 

Here at Trinity Methodist Church, we have just completed our visioning process for the future and we are now moving into the implementation stage of our vision following the publication of our Trinity Strategic Mission Plan. 

March has also seen the return of my wife – Emelia - finally from Zambia, thereby making our family complete.  My thanks go to all of you for your support during the time that my wife has been away.  I am equally grateful to all of you who contributed books/funds for my library. 

Lent is a time when we reflect on our own personal journeys.  In the season of Lent, we are invited to simplify our lives to focus on our relationship with God in Christ.  As we observe Lent and Easter this year, let us be mindful of friends who, through illness, family commitments, or other reasons cannot join in worship.  Remember them in our prayers and share with them what is happening through our prayers and bulletin, and, so that even if absent, they can join with us in prayerful reflection as well. 

Blessings to you all this Easter and may the presence of the risen Christ in your lives bring you joy, peace and hope.

Reverend Professor Teddy Kalongo 

Use Your Talents Wisely

  Trinity is fortunate to be blessed with a membership embracing a diversity of talents.  There are those who possess excellent organisational and practical skills, those who provide leadership and spiritual guidance and those who excel in creativity. Many have ‘hidden’ talents and prefer not to make an outward display of their gifts but carry them out in a quiet unassuming way with humbleness and sensitivity.  Thankfully there is a place for every talent and skill within the church, regardless of ability.

Trinity Women’s Fellowship is an example of a diverse group of talented individuals. Organisational and practical skills are much in evidence, but there are also the creative and artistic members of the group who have particular expertise in flower arranging, music, painting and crafts to name but a few.  We meet every fortnight and our programme encompasses a wide variety of topics including talks from visiting speakers, demonstrations and seasonal art and craft evenings.

We know that we cannot be gifted in lots of directions, but we must learn to use our talents wisely and unselfishly and share our expertise.  

One of our recent meetings involved a demonstr-ation of painting techniques, something that I find fascinating and relaxing.  My painting skills are sadly lacking but this does not stop me from ‘having a go’.  I am always filled with admiration for those who have a good eye for colour, shape and form and for the artistic tapestry that they are able to create from an empty canvass.

It reminds me of a story I once read of a painter who, when the House of Commons was being reconstructed, asked if he might paint one of the large frescoes.  He realised he was asking too great a favour, so he went on to say that if his request could not be granted he would be grateful if he were allowed to paint one of the smaller frescoes. He continued: “And if it is impossible for me to do either of these things, I would like permission to mix the paint for the man who does the actual painting.”

We can never have too many people like the artist in our midst – members who want to help and serve and don’t mind how small their contribution to the final product is.

So if you have a talent waiting to be unlocked – go on, use it.

                                                        J.P.

Can you unscramble these letters to make a word/words connected with Easter?

1. SSROC                                     . . . . .

2. SURTEECSRNOI                      . . . . . . . . . . . .

3. OTMB                                         . . . .

4. LASGEN . . . . . .

5. RMYA  GLAMENDLAE . . . .

  . . . . . . . . .

6. MNTRAIE . . . . . . . .

7. LLELAUIA . . . . . . . . .

8. SETGHEMAEN . . . . . . . . . . . .

(answers on page 24 )     

Easter is here,

There are eggs in the shops

Mothers buying for their little tots.

Lads buying for all the lasses they know

Young ladies for a special beau.

On Easter morning

The church bells chime

Tolling the demise

Of winter time.

A profusion of daffodils

Swaying in the breeze

And buds breaking out

Dressing the trees

Nature exploding

Our senses to please.

So take some time

To stand and stare

At the wondrous things

Happening everywhere.

David Williams

FINGER PRAYER

1. Your thumb is nearest you.  So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you.  They are the easiest to remember.  To pray for our loved ones is,            as CS Lewis once said, “a sweet duty”.

2. The next finger is the pointing finger.  Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal.  This includes teachers, doctors and ministers.  They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction.  Keep them in your prayers.

3. The next finger is the tallest finger.  It reminds us of our leaders.  Pray for leaders in politics, business, industry and administrators.  These people shape our nation and guide public opinion.  They need God’s guidance.

4. The fourth finger is our ring finger.  Surprising to many is the fact that it this is our weakest

         finger.  It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain.

5. And lastly comes our little finger—the smallest

finger of all which is where we should place our selves in relation to God and others.  As the

bible says, “The least shall be the greatest among you”.  This finger should remind you to pray for yourself.  By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.

20th March                   7.30pm       Celebration of the Last Supper           

Maundy Thursday                           at Dinas Powys

21st March                    10.00am    Walk of Witness from top of

Good Friday                                       Arcot Street, Penarth

10.30am Worship at Eastbrook

10.45am Worship at Trinity

  6.00pm Walk of Witness from Bethesda

Dinas Powys

23rd March   6.00am Cytun Sonrise Service on

Easter Day Penarth Clifftop

  8.00am Holy Communion at Dinas Powys and Trinity

 10.30am Easter Day Worship including

Holy Communion at Trinity

Albert Road and Dinas Powys

Easter Day Worship at Eastbrook

    6.00pm United Evening Worship at

Trinity.

PENARTH CIRCUIT

BAPTISMS

Albert Road

Leo John Abd-Alahad

Dinas Powys

Charles Edward Nourish

WEDDINGS

Trinity

15^th March               Luke Mumford and Caroline 

                                 Stringer

FUNERALS

Dinas Powys

Reg Suart

Paul Dutch

Kathleen James

Trinity

Roger Gwyn Evans

Anthony Michael Jones

Peter Taylor

Brian Richard Brooke

Joan Butler

During the fifteen-month wait for our building work to be

completed we had time to think of new ways of service the community at the ‘top end’ of Penarth.  We wanted our Church and Community Centre to be busy throughout the week and have now found a way of bringing people together for fellowship and food on a Thursday.

At 11.30am every Thursday we now have a twenty-minute

worship slot with a hymn, reading and ‘thought-for-the-week’.  In our two-row semi-circle at the front of the church this week we almost raised the new ceiling with a rousing rendition of ‘When we walk with the Lord’.  From there we headed straight to Room One (better known as the Parlour) which was laid out ready with bright table-cloths, for a home-made soup, sandwich and cake lunch—self-service apart from the soup and drinks ordered hot from the kitchen.  Albert Road is renowned for its provision of food and the cooks in our congregation haven’t disappointed with their wide selection of soups, cakes and scones.  The prize for most original flavours to date is shared between “Spicy Parsnip and Apple’ and ‘Potato and Minted Green Pea’.  But the old

favourites have disappeared equally fast.  The first lucky dozen on week three were able to sample high-rise scones with

raspberry jam, all for 25 pence.

Word is spreading and our numbers are growing every week as people find that this is a good place to bring a neighbour, and old friends from our former Luncheon Club re-discover us.  So come along one Thursday soon and enjoy the warmth of an Albert Road welcome.

Alison Norris

IT'S SPRING AGAIN

Looking through my window on a sunny windy day,

The birds are dancing on the grass or in the branches sway.

This time of year is full of joy,

The bulbs are out in force,

The trees and shrubs are showing green,

Because it’s spring of course.

Wendy Webb

 POSSESSIONS

There is always a special toy children love and one that most little girls treasure—something that Lay Preacher, Joyce Wells, made a telling point about in her talk to

Albert Road Sunday School children.  Dipping her hand into a large bag she brought out a most appealing teddy bear, which she said was still treasured.  But then, it’s hard to get rid of old possessions that mean so much.  Even books  collected through the years.  I still have my mother’s Girl’s Own Annual and my father’s Prayer Book, given to mark his confirmation when he was still in the boys’ church choir, a very special book.

The my own ‘Little Women’ and the ‘Polyanna’ series, great favourites.  Where are they now?  Well, that’s not difficult.  Having three grand-daughters, at least a way to hand things on.  Even the eldest already wants to start saving a very special dress, too small for her now, but certainly not to be passed on to her younger sister.  Of course, there are always the photographs of family and friends covering an entire lifetime.  However, it’s not always the possessions themselves that mean so much.  It is the memory associated with them that is the real treasure.

Dee Holliday

CHRISTIAN AID WEEK is from 11th-17th May this year.  It will start with a United Service at 6pm on the Sunday in Albert Road Church, where the speaker will be Aled Picard from Christian Aid.

All the churches will be asking for volunteers to put out and collect in the envelopes for the House-to-House Collection.  This is a good chance to widen the pool of donors as it includes those who don’t give through the churches.  So please do remember the dates and consider if you can help because the more of us there are, the fewer houses each of us needs to visit!

Val Major

Josephine Servini has recently moved to Ty-Gwyn

Nursing Home.  She enjoys writing and has had some of her poetry published and she is happy for us to use some of her poems in our Circuit magazine.

LIFE

“That’s life”, my mother used to say,

And with her special cloth

She’d wipe away another stain

Left by its peevish wrath.

How often her philosophies

Have risen to my defence.

But this one, though the simplest,

Has always been the best.

For life is how we meet it,

Nothing more, and nothing less

And it doesn’t look so bad

If you keep cleaning up its mess.

Josephine Servini