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A reflection and prayer to start the day with Iwan Russell Jones, a lay reader for the Church in Wales

Bore da, good morning!

Last week I visited St. Teilo’s church in a little village called Merthyr Mawr on the coast of South Wales. I was there to listen to a folk duo called Filkin’s Drift, who’ve spent the last couple of months walking the coastal path around Wales. And like mediaeval bards and troubadours, they’ve been giving wonderful concerts along the way to very appreciative audiences.

But the venues where they’ve been playing have particularly intrigued me. Many of them, like St. Teilo’s, have been churches, tucked away in magical places close to the sea and founded during the great age of the Celtic saints. The names of most of the pioneering men and women who built these Christian communities are now lost in obscurity. But I think it’s remarkable that,1500 years later, these churches are still open for worship, still acting as signposts and gentle reminders of what really matters.

Today – hot on the heels of Halloween – is All Saints Day, when the Christian church gives thanks for saints throughout the world and in all ages who’ve borne witness to Jesus Christ and who, through their words and actions, have kept the flame of faith alive. The poet Gwenallt, in a tribute to Dewi Sant, the patron saint of Wales, wrote that his nation was founded on ‘the crib, the cross and the empty tomb’. It’s an amazing legacy to consider and one for which I’m very thankful.

Gracious God, you’ve called people in every generation to love and serve you. Help us to join with that great cloud of witnesses so that we, too, may carry your light and point to you, the source of life and goodness. Amen.