MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF WALES

NOVEMBER 2020

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The Firebreak Closureof Churches

At the same time that 64,000 people havepetitioned the Welsh Government abouttheir decision not to allow supermarkets tosell ‘non-essential’ items during lockdown, agroup of church leaders from across Walesare questioning the Government’s decisionto forcibly close churches for worship forthree Sundays. They rightly contend thatchurches have been highly responsibleduring the pandemic, and the lengths towhich the Presbyterian Church of Waleshas gone in this regard is testimony to that.They invite the Government to engage withthe churches and provide the evidence thatproves that it is necessary to close placesof worship. While not all members ofChrist’s Body will feel this to be an attackon the Church’s freedom, itis understandable that forothers this recent closure isanother hindrance to theirmission, ministry and vitalsocial endeavours in theircommunities. In a fastmoving exchange ofcorrespondence that can beviewed on the website ofChristian Concern(christianconcern.com), theGovernment is requested torespond by the afternoon of26th October. Should theban continue the ChristianLegal Centre is set tosupport the group in seekinga judicial review.

RemembranceSunday

It is regrettable that the thirdof these Sundays shouldinclude Remembrance Day,which falls one day beforethe Firebreak lockdown isdue to end. While the FirstMinister did say that anexception would be madefor officially organised smallscale RemembranceSunday events, churcheswho would normally includean Act of Remembrance in

their morning service are left questioningwhether they can open to observe the twominutes silence, and if they are includedamongst those ‘officially organised events’?An answer may be to revert to a sociallydistanced observance on Armistice Dayitself, 11th/11th at 11am.

After Dunkirk: 1940

On this eightieth anniversary, we areespecially reminded of Dunkirk. The Irishpoet, Robert Irwin (1933-2018) writes inrecollection, as we do remembering theexperience of one mother who livedalongside Nazareth CM Church, Cwmcarnwhose three sons were all killed during thecourse of World War 2. His penultimatelines capture that mother's thrice repeatedexperience of

reading the tensemessage,face transfigured.’Irwin's description of thetelegraph boy's knockepitomises the experiencein many homes,

so many telegrams then:so many homes wherelivescould never again be thesame.’Twenty-two years earlier inFlintshire another mother,who perhaps died of abroken heart a decadelater, must have grieved tohear of her only son's deathin a military hospital justtwelve days before the endof World War 1. Her boy'sbrief life and career, likethat of thousands of others,summed up in a briefepitaph,

'From school to war'.

Were it not for 'the peacethat passes allunderstanding' all ourhearts would break. Oursorrow would beinconsolable!

‘Our generation[became] history

instead ofgrowing up’

DUFF COOPER21 January 1918

EDITORIAL

Soldier reading a letter sittingon a bench near Flint CastleLest we Forget 1914 - 1918

TREASURY

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Those of us with children orgrandchildren who were caughtup in the GCSE and A Levelresults fiasco this summer willhave suffered with them all thestress of the waiting, and thenthe grief and disappointment forsome when the grades werefinally awarded, and then thehowls of unfairness andconfusion that followed. What amess!

A damaged generationChildren have been very badlyaffected during this pandemic,some through the exacerbationof inequality and poverty, somethrough inescapable cruelabuse, and all through thedisruption of their education; awhole generation sufferingthrough no fault of their own –or anybody’s, as far as thepandemic itself is concerned. Soif ever there was a generation ofkids to be kind to, to show somegenerosity to, especially at atime of maximum childhoodstress (awaiting exam resultsthat determine their immediatefuture), this was it. But insteadthey were subjected, (culpably, Ithink we have to say, throughsomebody’s fault), to thedamaging impact of uncertainty,anxiety, chaotic swings ofexpectation, disappointment formany, and complete loss ofhope for some. Of course, thereare those who will sail onunscathed to future success.But many of this generation ofour children have sufferedmental stress and social harmthat will haunt their long-termfuture. And the suffering of Britain’s

children this one summer seemsbut a pin-prick in comparison tothe mountain of misery enduredby children the world over –think of Yemen, Syria, and theRohingya, and the millions oflittle lives enslaved andtrafficked into the sex-trade andsweatshops. According toUNICEF, 385 million children

live in extreme poverty, many ofthem enduring brutalizingviolence in conflict zones. Andin our own country, “the numberof children living in poverty hasbeen steadily increasing inrecent years. There are aroundfour million children in the UKgrowing up in poverty. Andthose poverty rates have risenfor every type of working family– lone-parent or couple families,families with full and part-timeemployment and families withdifferent numbers of adults inwork. This is the first time in twodecades this has happened,”according to the government’sown Children’s Commissioner’swebsite. And this means “pooroutcomes, poor health, poorprospects, social problems thatend up costing billions to dealwith.” Last Christmas Day (of alltimes), 210,000 children inBritain woke up homeless,either in cramped “temporaryaccommodation,” or “sofasurfing.” It’s more than heart-breaking.

Does the scandal and shameand indictment of suchchildhood deprivation not makeyou angry? If it does, then youshare a tiny fraction of the griefand anger that, according to theBible, the suffering of childrenbrings to God’s own heart. Butlet’s look first at the positive sideof the Bible’s perspective onchildren.

Every generationclaimed by GodWhen God brought the Israelitesout of Egypt, one of the firstthings he required was thatevery firstborn son in theirfamilies was to be consecratedto God and redeemed bysacrifice (Exodus 13:1-2, 14-16). Of course it was a way ofremembering that God haddelivered their firstborn fromdeath during the last terribleplague on Egypt. But it was alsoa way of claiming every newgeneration as belonging to God.

Children matter to God becauseGod’s plan and purpose istrans-generational through thecenturies. And then every new

generation of children was to benurtured and diligently taught bytheir parents (Deut. 6:4-10; 20-25; Ps. 78:1-4). Childrenparticipated in the ceremoniesand festivals that confirmed theirsense of identity and history andGod’s blessing for the future(Deut. 16; 31:11-13).Vulnerable children (thefatherless) were to besystemically protected under thelaw, along with widows, thehomeless and landless, such asforeigners and Levites (Exodus22:22-23; Deut. 24:19-22).Daughters were not to be soldinto prostitution, or children

punished for their parents’crimes (Lev. 19:29; Deut.24:16). Children were God’sprecious gift, as multiple storiesillustrated and as the Psalmistscelebrated with delightfulmetaphors of arrows and oliveshoots (Psalms 127:3-5; 128:3-6). And even under God’sjudgment in exile, the Israeliteswere to have children andgrandchildren who would inheritGod’s future restoration (Jer.29:4-6). God the Son was therefore

only reflecting the lovingpriorities of God the Fatherwhen Jesus welcomed littlechildren in spite of the disciples’objections (Matthew 19:13-15),and placed a child right in themidst of them as a vivid visualaid of the values of God’skingdom.

At that time the disciplescame to Jesus and asked,“Who, then, is the greatest inthe kingdom of heaven?” Hecalled a little child to him, andplaced the child among them.

And he said: “Truly I tell you,unless you change andbecome like little children,you will never enter thekingdom of heaven.Therefore, whoever takes thelowly position of this child isthe greatest in the kingdomof heaven. And whoeverwelcomes one such child inmy name welcomes me(Matthew 18:1-5).

The suffering of children And whoever hurts one suchchild hurts me, Jesus mighthave added. Indeed, he more orless did say that, when he wenton to severely condemn thosewho cause harm to, or despise,“one of these little ones”(Matthew 18:6). His expression“little ones” has moved on tomean not just actual children,but ordinary believers howeverinsignificant they may seem. Butthe whole tone of the passageand its astonishing beginningshow that Jesus includedchildren in that category. Harmchildren, and you have Jesus,their angels, and the Father inheaven to answer to (Matthew18:10). The book of Lamentations is

an outpouring of agony at thesiege and destruction ofJerusalem by the brutalBabylonians in 587BC. And thewriter, who was an eyewitness,cannot get the children and theirappalling suffering out of hismind, just as it’s hard for us toforget television images ofcrying infants, bleeding inbombed cities or starving in war-torn countries. Children faintingand dying in the arms of theirmothers is the repeated imagethat haunts Lamentations,stirring human and divine painand anger (Lam. 2:11-12, 19-20;4:2-4, 10). But it’s not just war that

makes children suffer. Micah(like other prophets) expressesthe wrath of God at thosewhose political power, economicpolicies, and arrogant greedpush people into poverty andeviction. And he particularlyfocuses on the impact of suchsocially caused homelessnesson children – an observationwith sharp moral resonancetoday. What would Micah say(what does God think) about theevils of child poverty in Britaintoday?

Woe to those who plan iniquity,to those who plot evil on their

beds!

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‘A Heritagefrom the Lord’

(Ps. 127: 3)

Dr Chris Wright reflects biblicallyon current events

continued on next page

Dr Chris Wright

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At morning’s light they carry itout

because it is in their power todo it.

They covet fields and seizethem,

and houses, and take them.They defraud people of their

homes,they rob them of their

inheritance.

You drive the women of mypeople

from their pleasant homes.You take away my blessingfrom their children forever.

(Micah 2:1-2, 8)

Children playing in thestreetsBut we must end on a note ofhope. The Bible lifts our eyesup to the new creation whenChrist returns. There are somany ways the Bible describeswhat that will be like (since it isbeyond our imagining), but oneI particularly love is the wayZechariah evokes the peace ofthe new Jerusalem – a placefor the elderly to enjoy theirpeople-watching, while childrenplay in safety.

This is what the LordAlmighty says: “Once againmen and women of ripe old agewill sit in the streets ofJerusalem, each of them withcane in hand because of theirage. The city streets will befilled with boys and girls playingthere.” (Zech. 8: 4-5). I love that! That is God’s idea

of a good future for our world.And it matches, of course,Isaiah’s more familiar vision ofthe Messianic reign of peace inall creation, when “a little childwill lead them” (Isaiah 11:6-9).

This article first appeared in‘Transform’ the quarterlymagazine of LanghamPartnership - a Christian charitywhose mission is to strengthenthe ministry of the Word of Godthrough nurturing nationalmovements for Biblicalpreaching, and fostering thedistribution of evangelicalliterature, enhancingevangelical theologicaleducation, especially incountries where churches areunder resourced. Revd DrChris Wright is InternationalMinistries Director and authorof over thirty books. Learnmore about the work ofLangham Partnership byvisiting www.langham.org

the TREASURY – NOVEMBER 2020      3

It’s rare for us to live through aphenomenon which affects usin Wales at the same time aspeople right across the world.Not often in our lives have weexperienced a threat that isshared by our globalneighbours in countries aswide-ranging as Ethiopia,Lebanon and Nicaragua.Covid-19 and measures to

curb its spread have heldmuch of the world in its thrallthroughout 2020 destroyinglives, instilling fear,devastating livelihoods andforcing vulnerable people intomore desperate poverty. As we approach Christmas

though, we are reminded of aperson who turned the worldupside down for good, whoselife in a time of oppression andfear introduced a hope thattransformed the globe as itspread across it.Looking to Emmanuel, God

with us, this Christmas, we arereminded that God walks withus through deeply difficulttimes and works through us inall circumstances to show loveto this world. A love that neverfails. A love that unites. A lovethat builds hope.

EthiopiaInspired by Jesus, ChristianAid supporters walk alongsidethose for whom coronavirus isyet another threat on top ofexisting ones, including theclimate crisis, conflict and in2020 the impact of locustswarms.Your gifts and actions help

people like Mekonnen Sofar inEthiopia’s South Omo region,who digs a metre deep in dryriver beds to try to find a watersource to keep his livestockalive as the climate crisispushes his family into hungerand threatens his whole wayof life.Friends, fellow herdsmen andchildren have died throughdigging so deep that the drybed collapses above them.Christian Aid is working with

families like Mekonnen’s toprovide community water

sources and explorealternative means of raisingincome such as throughmaking soap from aloe veraand planting drought resistantcrops.

Traditions change, loveremainsThe new restrictions placed onhow we meet and interacthave caused us to rethinkwhat it is to be community, butour supporters know that weare bound together by muchmore than a virus and haveshown a deep determination

to continue to reach out toothers. This Christmas churches

are being invited to join in amoment of solidarity andhope on Advent Sunday, 29November by using the carol‘When out of poverty is born’in their worship and taking acollection for Christian Aid.The hymn, which is freely

available to use to use fromcaid.org.uk/christmasresources celebrates Mary’s faith in theMagnificat and begins with thewords ‘When out of poverty isborn a dream that will not die’.This Christmas we cancelebrate the incredible truththat we are bound togetherglobally by a love that buildsresilience in the face ofdisease, drought anddarkness, that builds up hopefor all our neighbours.

To find out more aboutChristian Aid’s ChristmasAppeal, including how to actfor climate justice, visitcaid.org.uk/hopeThis Advent, £15 could trainone woman to make aloe verasoap, £80 could provide twogoats to help a family build abetter future and £290 couldpay for the materials and toolsto build a pond, providing life-saving, reliable water for awhole community.

Celebrate a love that buildshope this AdventChristian Aid’s Christmas Appeal

Low rainfall leaves herdsmanMekonnen Sofar struggling to

find water for his cattle inEthiopia

Mekonnen Sofardigs in a dry riverbed to find waterfor his livestock

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There are many harrowingmoments in the book Dresden:The Fire and the Darkness bySinclair McKay but one thatstands out is the image of awoman whose baby was suckedfrom her hands into a tornado offire. It isn’t an image that onecan really imagine, and yet atthe same time, it is incrediblyvivid and impossible to forget.McKay’s book examines the

Allied attack on Dresden thattook place on February 1945.He describes how dozens ofplanes flew from the south ofEngland to the east of Germanyand, just after 10pm began todrop thousands of tonnes ofbombs onto what turned out tobe an unprotected city.The bombing began with

bombs ‘the size of four menhuddled together’ smashingthrough the roofs of homes,shops and churches. Theexplosion created devastation,but also allowed theaccompanying incendiarydevices to fall onto flammableitems beneath.The third part of the attack

included “weapons thatdeployed burning corrosion:bombs with jellied petroleumand magnesium unleashed onbricks and mortar, these wouldcreate fires that could not beextinguished; this was also trueof human flesh. Anyone touchedby the searing substanceswould find no escape, not evenby jumping in rivers or canals.”The attack was brutal and the

accompanying atmosphericconditions enabled a terribleconflagration to become acatastrophe. Those who hidbeneath ground in cellars (theNazi Gauleiters having decidedit was too expensive to buildproper air raid shelters) weresuffocated as the oxygen wassucked from them. Those who

dived into water were boiledalive by the intense heat, andthose who were above groundwere incinerated or hideouslymutilated; one Nazi soldier onhis bicycle was hit so hard byflying glass that his arms andlegs were sliced off even as hisbody was carried along on hisbicycle. All of those images areawful but none seems asdreadful as thinking of that poorbaby.And yet in 1945 there was

some ambivalence about this.McKay tells of a well-educatedand intelligent wife of a seniorofficer who was asked if it wasright that the Allies should bekilling large numbers of Germanwomen and babies. She toldhim; “Oh yes. It’s a good thing tokill the babies especially. I amnot thinking of this war but ofthe next one, twenty years fromnow. The next time theGermans start a war and wehave to fight them, these babieswill be the soldiers”.Perhaps in 1945 people didn’t

necessarily know the exactmanner of death of Germanbabies in Nazi Germany. Wehave a huge amount ofdocumentary evidence, but withthe development of make upand special effects, there is agreater idea in the popularimagination of what Dresdenmust have been like. Even so,declaring the killing of Germanbabies in the crib a good thing,is quite a statement to make.And yet it makes a kind of

sense. After all, in the seventyyears leading up to 1945 theGerman nation had spent onlythirty-one of them at peace.They fought France three times,

Britain twice and even after theNazi’s, were still running atotalitarian state in EastGermany until 1990. It isn’tdifficult to make an argument tosay that the Germans are amilitaristic and war lovingpeople. The novelist ThomasMann wrote in his novel DrFaustus “We have experiencedthe destruction of our noblecities from the air, a destructionthat would cry to heaven if wewho suffer were not ourselvesladen with guilt. As it is the cry issmothered in our throats: likeKing Claudius’s prayer, it can‘never to heaven go’ ”.Holocaust survivor, VictorKlemperer had concerns too.Returning to Dresden after thewar he listened to theKreuzchor, the choir of theKirche demolished in thebombing raid. Klemperer, wasbeguiled by the black and whiteuniforms of the Kreuzchor, aswell as its stylised traditions, buthe fleetingly thought of the boysas automatons. How can we soquickly judge Bomber Harris forbombing Dresden, or thatwoman for considering that thedestruction of babies might befor the greater good of peace inthe world?But McKay has a footnote.

Klemperer thought those boysautomatons. In their uniformsthey perhaps reminded him ofthe Hitler Youth or theVolkssturm or even the FreieDeutsche Jugend. But asMcKay notes “this was far fromthe case: some of them –Including Peter Schreier – wouldlikely go on to have the mostbrilliant musical careers.Schreier joined the choir full-

time months after the bombing;he was ten years old. Evenamong many other youngtalents, his voice stood out andin the late 1940’s his solos wererecorded. After his voice broke,Schreier embarked upon adazzling operatic career. Inother words we can’t know whata child will become, or what willdevelop from a nation. And thedestruction of children becauseof where they come from, orwhat they might become, shouldbe appalling to any civilisedsociety.And yet, today, in India, it is

expected that five-million sexselective abortions could takeplace over the next ten years. InMalawi the government iscurrently debating legalisingabortion up to birth. MeanwhileIceland is lauded around theworld for ‘eradicating’ Down’sSyndrome, while Amazon sellst-shirts with the slogan “Let’sMake Down’s SyndromeExtinct”. Not that we need toworry about people not beingaware of abortion services inthis country; more than 100,000abortions were conducted inEngland and Wales betweenJanuary and June this year - anew record.Like the bombing of Dresden

there are many who say withgreat force that the end justifiesthe means. When people saythat aborting girls in India isbetter than letting them be borninto poverty, they are making aperfectly valid and rational point.Likewise when they say thatwomen in Malawi should havethe right to decide, even up tothe moment of birth.Undoubtedly Down’s Syndromecan be an unexpected burdenon families, and the emotionalstrain of Brexit and Covid,recession and family breakdowncan cause stress and anxiety toBritish women.But in the end our nation

legislates, advocates and paysfor doctors and nurses to tearbabies from their mothers, andhas done so for more than fiftyyears. Seventy-five years agoBritain spearheaded Allied airforces into a bombing raid thatincinerated children. It is hard toargue that it was a moral stainon our nation. Since 1967Britain has aborted a babyevery three minutes. This too isa moral stain, but when will wespeak out?

Revd Jonathan Hodgins isAssociate Editor of ‘the Treasury’.

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Lookingback toDresdenby Revd Jonathan Hodgins

Frauenkirche,Dresden (rebuiltfrom its bombedruins, 1994)Photo credit:Iain Hodgins

PENRHYN BAYWe are trying to make churchlife as normal as possible duringthese difficult days, and so weheld our Harvest ThanksgivingService last month when thechurch was filled to lockdown-restrictions capacity, with anoverflow of persons in theSchoolroom. Saturday morninghad been spent decorating thesanctuary with gifts of non-perishable foods, fruit andflowers. Some were delivered to

us personally and others wereleft on the church doorstep.Because of the temporaryseating plan we were not able todisplay these items at the frontas usual, so we had tablesladen with gifts down the centreof the church. Two days afterthe Service we delivered thefood to ‘Hope Restored’ which isa work for the homeless inLlandudno that is run by BrendaFogg, BEM, a member of ourchurch. Gifts of flowers and fruit

were also delivered to ourhouse-bound members.The Sunday Morning Harvest

Service was conducted by Mr.Peter Owen, now of Oldham,who was born in Penrhyn Bayand was brought up in ourfellowship. Peter is a Lay-Preacher who is kept busytaking Services on Sundays inthe Oldham area but comes‘home’ about three or four timesa year to minister to us.Back in 1964 he was the first

baby that Revd John Dowberbaptised in Penrhyn Bay whenhe began his ministry there. It isgratifying to see Peter servingthe Lord through all these years.We are now busy filling Shoe-

Boxes to go to Eastern Europeso that children there canreceive gifts of love asChristmas draws near. Cashand gifts of toys, hats, glovesand scarfs are being given to usso that we can bring happinessinto young lives.

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THE TREASURY incorporating Glad Tidings • English publication of the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Published monthly – Price 50p.

Editor: Revd IAIN B HODGINS, 1a CHESTNUT GROVE, HAWARDEN CH5 3HDe-mail: iain.hodgins@ebcpcw.cymruUnless otherwise stated the views expressed are those of the individual contributor and are not necessarily the view of the General Assembly or the Editor.

Enquiries about orders and subscriptions should be addressed toGWASG Y BWTHYN (PANTYCELYN), Tº CADNANT, ZONE 2, LÔN HEN FELIN, CIBYN, CAERNARFON LL55 2BDTel: 01286 672018 • gwasgybwthyn@btconnect.com

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Vol. XLVI No. 11NOVEMBER 2020

THE CHURCHESFROM

Sunday, 25th October, 2020,was another milestone in thehistory of the battle againstaddiction to alcohol, drugs andother harmful behaviours inWales.Once again this year, a

Sunday was designated asRecovery Sunday to encouragechurches not only to thinkabout those suffering fromvarious dependencies oraddictions, to learn more abouttheir situation, their needs andthe help available through suchcentres as the Living Room,CAIS and Adferiad Recovery,but also to encourage churches

to do something practical tohelp. This could involve afinancial contribution towardsthe work. Others may take noteof what is said in Hebrews 13:3, Regard prisoners as if youwere in prison with them. Theauthor of the letter to theHebrews no doubt refers to aliteral, physical prison, but onRecovery Sunday weremembered that addiction toalcohol, drugs, food,sex/pornography and gamblingis a prison for so many peopletoday.Elin Maher was responsible

for preparing the service and in

it she meditated on the wordFABRIC – in the field ofclothing and materials aroundus, in what makes us as peopleand how we can be used in theworld.This service, in English or

Welsh is available to bedownloaded fromwww.cynnal.walesOn this ninth Recovery

Sunday in Wales we invitedChristians to unite in prayer forthose who are dependent andtrapped in addiction, to askGod to help us to help them,but it is not too late to set asidea time in a church service to do

that, if the designated datepassed by unnoticed.

Wynford Ellis Owen isSpecialist CounsellingConsultant at CYNNAL. TheChurches’ Counselling Serviceis available throughout Walesfor all Clergy, Ministers ofReligion, Christian workers andtheir families:www.cynnal.waleswynfordellisowen@cais.org.uk

Platinum Anniversaryat Penrhyn Bay

Peter and Maureen Lowe, who are members at Penrhyn Bay,recently celebrated their Platinum Wedding Anniversary. Theywere married seventy years ago at County Road Methodist

Church, Liverpool on 23rd September 1950. They both still singin the Church Choir at Penrhyn Bay.

WALES’ NINTH RECOVERY SUNDAY