Very rarely do I blog about our church but after yesterday’s baptism I can’t help it! Overall it was an awesome day. We’re a very small congregation of which at 44 I am the youngest and though there are some of us who are Welsh speakers, Emmanuel is an English language church. We usually meet in Trearddur Bay village, but we changed venue for our time together yesterday since the person being baptised, Jean, lives in the village of Aberffraw and so it was in the village hall there that we had our time of worship and then we baptised her down in the river by the sea.

Jean had advertised the event widely in the village and had invited many of her friends to come along to witness this very public display of her new found faith. It was a little disappointing, therefore, to see only four people turn up to the service in the hall. It was a shock then to see the numbers on the bridge over the river where we were to baptise – for there must have been between 30 and 40 waiting for us there! From the conversations I could hear most were there out of sheer curiosity, though there were some there to mock. No matter, they witnessed an event that in itself speaks of God’s renewing power in the world.

A few then joined us for lunch back in the hall and with so much food prepared by our own people, our guests not only were well fed but also got some pretty large doggy-bags to take home! What was of particular interest to me was the fact that most, if not all, of those who came to join us in the hall either for the service or for food were Welsh speakers. This was surprising for our people in the village, including the new convert, are all English incomers. But somehow they managed to cross a divide that certainly exists and attracted this section of the community. Some of them were also quite poor, while we in church are very definitely middle class – another divide bridged.

So, all told, a great day. But we are now faced with a big question – what is God saying to us as a church following this day when we saw so many Welsh speakers gather with us and when life is stirring in a place that is not our usual meeting place?