Christ Church Roath Park

05/06/2026

This Sunday: 7 Jun
The First Sunday after Trinity

10am All Age Eucharist
Fr Orion presiding; Eleanor preaching

6pm Holy Communion
In Traditional Language (BCP 1984)
with prayers for Healing and Wholeness
Led by Canon Alison

image: https://www.thesweetiejar.co.uk/products/dew-drops-sweets-100533r

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The weakness of our mortal nature

These Dew Drops look tempting don’t they? Their sugar-coated jelliness appeals to ‘the weakness of our mortal nature’, a phrase from this week’s Collect.

In the Collect, we ask God to ‘grant us the help of your grace’. Which may be just as well, since no reading this week (especially the one from Hosea where God accuses his people of having compassion that disappears like the dew) is particularly sugar-coated!

Warm regards,

Eleanor

31/05/2026

The Paschal Candle beautifully decorated at evening worship tonight. Reflective worship at 6pm this and every Sunday!

29/05/2026

This Sunday: 31 May Trinity Sunday

10am Parish Communion
Beginning with Congregational Annual Vestry Meeting
Fr Orion presiding; Eleanor chairing CAVM.

6pm Evening Worship
Led by Eleanor

📷 Alimurat Üral: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-disposable-cup-with-coffee-15707334/
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Ready, steady...

This Sunday is Trinity Sunday — the only day in the Church's year that celebrates a doctrine rather than an event. We might think this is an abstract thing about God being somehow one and three at the same time.

But our Gospel reading says differently, as Jesus gives his disciples a great commission: 'GO...and make disciples...baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.'

He's inviting us to get moving, confident that the story of Jesus that we've been re-telling, through his birth at Christmas, death and resurrection at Easter, his Ascension into Heaven and sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost — it's the story of the God who made the world, the God who was with us in Jesus, and who goes before us to meet every person by his Holy Spirit at work in the world — and, who, when we have said 'yes' to him, promises that 'I am with you always.'

As ever,
Fr Orion

22/05/2026

This Sunday: 24 May
The Day of Pentecost

10am Parish Communion
Fr Orion presiding, Eleanor preaching

6pm Evening Worship
Led by Fr Orion

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Fountains

The palace of Peterhof, where the Russian Tsars used to go to relax, has trick fountains in its grounds. This is the umbrella fountain. Initially, it just looks like a decorative feature, quietly adorning one of the paths in the gardens. But, as soon as people gather under its roof, water begins to flow out of a hundred and sixty-four tubes hidden behind the elegantly carved festoons. Leading to rather a soggy shock.

In this week’s Collect, we ask God to, “open for us the fountain of living waters” so “that the outpouring of the Spirit may reveal Christ’s glory.” A much more splendid surprise than the soaking at Peterhof.

Warm regards,

Eleanor

Image: https://en.peterhofmuseum.ru/objects/peterhof/fontan_shutiha_kitaiskiy_zontik

16/05/2026

This Sunday: 17 May
The Seventh Sunday of Easter — Sunday after Ascension Day

10am Parish Communion
Fr Orion presiding, Richard Grabham preaching

6pm Evening Worship
Led by Alison

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As I prepare for ordination at Petertide and come to the end of my time as an ordinand at Christ Church Roath Park, I simply want to say thank you.

Over these past two years, you have been far more than a congregation to me; you have been companions on the journey. You have prayed for me, encouraged me, supported me, laughed with me, and patiently embraced even some of my more wonderfully mad ideas, including the scarecrow festival! In so many ways, you have helped shape the person and priest I am becoming.

In our readings this week, the disciples stand in that in-between place after the Ascension: looking ahead with hope, trust, and perhaps a little uncertainty too. That feels very true for me at this moment. As I prepare for this next step in ministry, I do so carrying with me the love, faith, and witness of this parish community.

One of the things I will treasure most is the friendships formed here, and I am reminded of those beautiful words from A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh: “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

Thank you for walking alongside me. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I promise to keep you in mine.

With love and gratitude,

Richard

08/05/2026

This Sunday: 10 May — The Sixth Sunday of Easter

10am Parish Communion
Canon Alison presiding and preaching

6pm Evening Worship
Led by the J-Walkers with Eleanor

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Supper Talk: Unaccompanied Week

Quantum entanglement is a mysterious physical phenomenon where groups of particles become linked, sharing a single quantum state.

This week, our Sunday morning service will be 'unaccompanied.' It is our week to lift our voices together and give the musicians a well-deserved rest. As in Psalm 149: ‘Sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise in the assembly of the saints.’ Saint Augustine once said that a song is a joyful thing, and an offering of love. He challenges us to ensure our lives sing the same tune as our tongues: "Sing with your voices, sing with your hearts, sing with your lips, sing with your lives."

We gather still in Eastertide, looking toward Ascension and Pentecost. Attending to our Christian story, keeps us close to that inner knowing — seeing more clearly God with us - in the guiding of the Spirit, the Advocate in John's Gospel. Aha! We are accompanied after all and with the psalmist we sing a new song. Cry out with joy to God, all the earth.

Please come and sing; be part of a conversation about faith amid struggle... as we meet around the supper table, just as Jesus had supper with his friends. All are welcome, there is a place saved for you.

Quantum entanglement? The 'I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you', well that's a bit of a mystery....

Alison ☺️

01/05/2026

This Sunday: 3 May — The Fifth Sunday of Easter

10am All Age Eucharist
Fr Orion presiding; Eleanor preaching

6pm Holy Communion in traditional language
from the Book of Common Prayer 1984
Led by Canon Alison

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God the Builder

In this week’s Collect, there’s a lot of building language – we ask God to deepen our faith, as if God were digging foundations; then we ask God to complete our faith, as if God were ticking off a snag list.

It’s comforting to think we’re still under construction, that the edifice of our faith can have Jesus as its cornerstone, and that we’re in the hands of a Master Builder.

No need to ask:
Can God Fix Us?
Yes, God Can!

Warm regards,

Eleanor

24/04/2026

This Sunday: 26 Apr
The Fourth Sunday of Easter

10am Parish Communion
Fr Orion presiding and preaching

6pm Evening Worship
Led by Eleanor

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Led or Driven?

This Sunday is 'Good Shepherd' Sunday — when we sing Psalm 23 and read from the 'Good Shepherd' story in John's gospel.

Unlike modern western shepherds, shepherds in the ancient middle east did not 'drive' their sheep from behind, but led them from the front. The sheep followed him not through fear or being enclosed by gates and coralled by sheepdogs. Instead they followed — knowing that the shepherd was the one who fed them, and took care of them, and would lead them 'in quiet pastures' and 'by still waters.' And Jesus invites us to know and trust his voice even if we can't understand what he is saying.

What is it that draws you to him? Where might he be leading you? What does it look like for you to know safety, healing and love in his fold?

I look forward to being with you tomorrow.

As ever,
Fr Orion

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Image: Icon of the Good Shepherd (Benedictines of the Mount of Olives).

19/04/2026

17/04/2026

This Sunday: 19 Apr
The Third Sunday of Easter

10am Parish Communion
Canon Alison presiding, Eleanor preaching

6pm Evening Worship
Led by Richard Grabham

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Transforming Our Landscape

Throughout the month of April, there’s a tulip festival in Amsterdam. A sight like this makes you glad, doesn’t it? New life abundantly springing forth.

In this week’s Collect, we’re told that the sight of the risen Lord ‘gladdened the disciples’. As disciples ourselves, perhaps when we see a sight of new life abundantly springing forth, we might be reminded of the risen Lord, transforming our landscape….

Warm regards,

Eleanor