St. Wulstan's Weekend Away
27th-29th April 2001, Hebron Hall, Dinas Powys.
Our weekend away was on the theme of "drawing near to God".
Sessions for the adults were led by Rev Nick Wills
Over the weekend Nick
led four sessions which challenged us to think about how we can draw near to God by going
beyond the masks we often wear to prevent our real selves from being seen by other people
... the masks that protect ourselves from embarassment or pain by pretending we have
a confidence and self-assurance that we often do not feel.
Nick looked first at the cross, to show the cost which God willingly paid to take on our real suffering, and our real need for new relationships - the things we hide behind our masks.
In a session titled: "Ironing out the creases", we thought about the things that make it hard to draw close to God. We studied Luke 24: 13-35, the story of Jesus's meeting with the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, and thought about the things that keep us from recognising Jesus, and from drawing closer to him.We thought about the kind of 'school report' that we would write about our own lives. We realised that God can be a lot more forgiving of us than we are of ourselves and that guilt can be very dangerous in keeping us away from God.
Each of us needs to be 'ironed' over and over again - like a shirt - because, like a shirt, we keep getting creased and crumpled again.
Having looked at what keeps us away from God, a session called 'Bubbling over' led us to think about how to draw closer to him.
We studied Mark 10:13-16, and looked at what is meant by 'being like children'
We looked at the difference between being childLIKE, and being childISH, and considered how childlike we are as individuals and as a church.
Finally we looked at how we can restore a lost sense of wonder at God's gifts and creation.
We gambolled in the grounds of Hebron Hall blowing bubbles, and using these to focus our thoughts on God's goodness - and also having a lot of fun!
Youth activities for the
weekend were led by the irrepressible Helen Tomblin.
They explored the idea of getting closer to God using body, mind and spirit.
In addition to Bible study and more formal sessions, this involved racing rubber ducks in a local stream, playing human skittles and drawing a giant brain.
Children's activities were led by Hil Welch.
The children were each asked
to bring a soft toy with them. They used this to think about how lovable the toys were,
and how they are each equally lovable to God.
They also made big picture of the church and put the names of everyone on the weekend or from St. Wulstan's on it, and then prayed for them all.
It was a pleasure to
welcome back old friends - not only Hil and Pete Welch, and Nick and Becky Wills, but also
Sue Barry, who was the star of the Saturday night pantomime: Sue
Barry and the seven vertically challenged people.
She also had the opportunity to spend an afternoon in Barry Island - the true home of Barrys everywhere.
During the weekend there was plenty of time to meet together over food ...
to just meet with each other ...
and to take part in both the worship and the entertainment which were a major part of the weekend.
The Saturday afternoon gave an opportunity to see some of the local attractions, and there were visits to Barry Island for the funfair and the beach (and the parking tickets!), to the Museum of Welsh Life, and to Cardiff Castle ... where Pete Welch met his namesake Regiment ...
This site is maintained by: Chris Porter. Created: 30th April 2001 [Last updated:04 February 2005]
