Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic all Uniting Church premises in the City will not be open to the public until, at the earliest, the end of May. Consequently, the next Welsh Free Church service of worship cannot take place before the 28th June, and maybe much later.

Indeed, the whole of humanity is in trouble, with an unseen and toxic virus threatening our lives, if not our very existence. This coronavirus is testing all of us. and if we are not careful it will divide us, rather than bring us together.

We're facing an enemy we don't fully understand, and we've no idea when or how we'll get out of our current dire and worsening situation.As someone said recently, social distancing and locked doors can lead to closed hearts, but we as Christians must never allow this to happen, even though we're not at present able to worship together as a congregation.

All the more reason to remember that the Gospel tells us to reach out to the vulnerable and sick. Hence, we need to stay connected as a congregation, whilst at the same time checking on our neighbours, especially those living on their own and/or disabled. These worrying facts lead me to say:

The world darkens by the day,

All I can do is hope and pray -

The light of love will never die

As life becomes a lonely lie.

Let us therefore, as members of the Welsh Free Church, ensure that as long as we have life, the "light of love" will never die, because the God we worship is the source of all goodness and light.. Indeed the Gospel tells us, "we are the light of the world" and that, "we must let our light shine", so  that others can see the light of hope in and through our actions.