One of the things I will remember about the summer of 2020 - apart from the obvious - is the sounds, or lack of them.
There was hardly any traffic in Llanmaes Road for 3 months so it was particularly quiet. During our walks, Maude and I listened to birdsong which seemed so much louder than usual and conversations of people in the town were subdued.
There were no aeroplanes, few trains and no sports going on in the playing fields.
But after a couple of weeks, things began to change. There were more people out and about - on their daily walk. There were dads with their sons in the park doing exercises, ladies stretching and running at a distance, families out on their bicycles.
As a minister in the Glamorgan Heritage Coast Parish, visiting people in their homes became obsolete and so did gathering for worship. What to do!?
Well, we have all had to adapt haven't we? Social Media has played a large part in our staying in contact. People I never imagined would take part in a Zoom meeting have come along and shared on line fellowship. Lynn and Keith Brown have held evening prayers every day since March and kept a growing number of people up to date with their news letter.
While the weather was so good, I have made my pastoral visits by standing on driveways while the person I am visiting sits in their hallway, or stands on the door step. Of course there is always the phone but if someone has not been seeing family or friends because they are simply not going out, it's good for them to actually see someone in person - even if it is only for ten minutes.
As it looks increasingly as if we may be going back to something like the lock down, and it will be colder and wetter as we move towards the end of the year, we may have to rethink some of our current ways of doing things but you can be sure that our ministry team will do their level best to keep in touch.
Please do get in touch with one of the team if you or someone you know would like to be in contact. It is important that we try to reach those in our community who need some support or company during these times and it's all too easy to think that we've got everything covered!
Click on the link above to hear a wonderful version of Be Thou My Vision.
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