The Invitation of Heaven

Music: Morriston Orpheus Choir

Preacher: Heulwen Davies

Service Leader: Mal Pope

Reader: Heulwen Davies

Accompanist: Helen Roberts

Playout: Ieuan Jones

Music Director: Nathan Jones

Location: The Calon Lan Centre, Swansea

Welcome and call to worship - Mal Pope

Hello, and welcome to the Calon Lan centre, here in the north part of the city of Swansea.

My name is Mal Pope, and I am delighted to welcome you to this wonderful building, formerly known as Mynyddbach chapel.

Before this chapel was built people started gathering here to worship in a local farmhouse sometime around 1640. The chapel itself dates back to 1762.

My family’s connection to this chapel goes back over 150 years.

With life on the land getting harder and harder in rural Wales lots of agricultural workers were attracted to this part of Swansea because of the work provided by the Copper and Coal industries.

That was the story of my family, touched by Revival but needing to move to find work. Having left West Wales this chapel gave them a warm welcome and a sense of home.

And that’s what we hope today’s service will also bring to you.

This chapel is most famous for its connection to the Welsh Second National Anthem: Calon Lan. The author, Daniel James, is buried here and there is an exhibition to his life and work in the school room.

We begin our service with a well know hymn. Amazing Grace, with an arrangement by former Morriston Orpheus Musical Director, Alwyn Humphreys

Choir: Amazing Grace

Introduction to theme & opening prayer - Mal Pope

The theme of our service today is the invitation of heaven. Central to the Christian faith is the belief that God is One who welcomes all. Just as this chapel has stood here, with its doors open, the gospel of grace is one that says: come.

And so we begin with a prayer of illumination.

Blessed Lord, you have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning— grant us that we may in such a way hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience and comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our preacher, Heulwen Davies, will now read our first Bible passage that comes from the New Testament. The Gospel of John, chapter 10 verses 1 to 11.

Reading: John 10:1-11

Hymn introduction

The Morriston Orpheus Choir sing a wide selection of hymns and songs. I always think to be really Welsh you have to love the hymns in the minor key. This is one of my favourites. Deus Salutis. Commonly known as Llef. The Welsh lyrics by David Charles, "O, Iesu mawr, rho d'anian bur", the first verse prays:

O Jesus, let Thy spirit bless

The Arrangement is by Mansel Thomas.

Choir: Deus Salutis (G H Jones, Mansel Thomas)

Our preacher for today’s service is Heulwen Davies, Pastor at Century Church in Llanelli.

Sermon part 1: Heulwen Davies

I was nineteen, in my uni halls in Cardiff, when I prayed a strange kind of prayer.

“God, I’m not going to speak with you anymore.”

It wasn’t that I suddenly believed God didn’t exist. I just didn’t want him in my life. I gave him a

kind of goodbye speech, deciding, like so many do, “I’ll do it my way.”

I grew up in Church, a Pastor’s kid, surrounded by melodies of majesty, hymns of hope, songs

of the sacred. Sunday mornings were for church, and I had grown up loving it.

But somewhere between middle-child mischief and teenage arrogance, I decided church was

too restrictive. I thought I knew better than God Almighty.

So off I went to Cardiff Uni, to live an independent life, more concerned with moving out than an

actual education. And I have this vivid memory, this moment, crystallised in my mind as I

fossilised my faith, made it something of the past, something to look at, but not live by.

I gave up attending church, no longer listened to worship, let alone cracked open the pages of

my dusty Bible. I began to live like everyone else.

As I spiralled downward, I became lonelier and lonelier, felt lower than ever before. I was empty

and lost, and didn’t even know it, let alone how to fix it.

Until a song somehow got stuck in my head. A ear-worm I just couldn’t shift. An anthem of a

bygone age, a Welsh hymn my father loved but I had hated.

‘Mi glywaf dyner lais yn galw arnaf i…

I hear your tender voice, calling on me’, the hymn begins.

I couldn’t shake it. So I searched for it online. I found low-quality videos of male voice choirs in

echoey halls with shaky cameras and poor audio, or another version by Cerys Matthews, but

regardless of style, I sat there on my bed, tears rolling down my face as they sang of this

Gwahoddiad, this Invitation, and this song broke through the hard exterior of my heart and

revived something of faith in me again.

Arglwydd, dyma fi, ar dy alwad di. // Golch fi’n burlan yn y gwaed a gaed ar Calfari.

Lord, here I am on your call. // Wash me CLEAM in the blood that flowed at Calvary.

Singing of the hill where Jesus died so that we could truly live.

After a while, I called home, and told them I was dropping out of Uni, which wasn’t much of a

surprise, But I was heading to Bible College instead. Which was definitely shocking.

And bit by bit, God pieced my life back together — heart, hope, purpose. I’ve

never been the same. All because of grace, carried to me in song.

Because of that Gwahoddiad: that Invitation that was extended to me.

One that Scripture is clear, we all have. An invitation to come, to hear that tender voice that calls

us home, calls us back, from however far we’ve wandered, to be made new, made truly alive.

Jesus says in John 10:10 ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’: this

is real life, real living, all because Jesus has already paid it all.

So I sang it then, and I confess it now: Arglwydd, dyma fi, ar dy alwad di.

Lord, here I am, on your call.

Choir: Gwahoddiad

Introduction to Morriston Orpheus Choir anniversary - Mal Pope

I suppose I should have declared a possible conflict of interest. I am one of the Morriston’s Orpheus’s vice presidents. Over the years I have taken advantage of that connection to ask them to join me on various recordings including a special song written for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

This year marks their 90th anniversary with a number of celebration and concerts.

Introduction to Y Tangnefeddwyr

The choir are now going to perform a powerful piece of music. In Welsh, Y Tangnefeddwyr. With music by Pontarddulais born composer Eric Jones

I was brought up with the stories of the horror of the 1941 Swansea Blitz, 3 days of intense bombing of this seaport.

Waldo Williams, a pacifist, saw the bombings from a distance, and moved by the experiences wrote this song – Y Tangnefeddwyr The Peacemakers.

Choir: Y Tangnefeddwyr

Introduction to reading - Mal Pope

The Family Bible was a treasured possession in many Welsh homes, but it wasn’t only in the home that the Bible was greatly loved and revered.

Not far from here was the Mynydd Newydd Colliery. Following an explosion underground in the mid 1800’s that claimed the lives of 5 young miners, the surviving workers decided to come together to hold prayer meetings before starting their daily shift. That led to them building their own chapel underground in what was known as the Five Feet Seam.

The Bible was kept in a box near the engine room and one miner was given the responsibility of making sure the Bible was kept safely away from the dust and dirt when not in use.

One of the those entrusted with that responsibility was a young committed miner named George Griffiths, my grandfather. As a young boy I remember him telling me of the honour he felt to have been given that job.

George went on to became a fine Bible teacher and he loved the Psalms.

So appropriately our second reading comes from the Old Testament. Psalm 51. Heulwen Davies will now read it and speak to us again.

Reading: Psalm 51

Sermon part 2: Heulwen Davies

Here’s the thing about the Bible. It’s not a rulebook for perfect people. It’s actually full of flawed

ones.

Eve took the fruit. Noah got drunk. Moses killed a man. Samson was a womaniser. The

Disciples argued over who was the best, and in the gospels, in God’s Holy Word, the apostle

John needs us to know that when he and Peter raced for the tomb of the risen Christ, that John

was the fastest.

And David — the giant-slayer, songwriter, “man after God’s own heart” — he tragically

committed adultery with Bathsheba, then arranged for the death of her husband and his own

friend to cover his tracks.

Take another famous hymn, one that we’re celebrating today, and whether you’re a fan of

Church or of Rugby, it’s one you’ll likely know: ‘Calon Lan’.

It’s this cry for a pure heart – not for riches or wealth or the things of the world – but above all, a

heart that can worship dydd a nos, day and night.

And this hymn feels a bit like one of David’s Psalms – David with all his promise, was flawed,

broken, and failed like we all do. Only he did it with access to the wealth, power, and the

opportunity afforded to a king in his era.

But he didn’t fall so far overnight.

The reality is that the rift between us and God normally happens in inches and not miles. As

Hebrew scholar Robert Altar explains, David inched his way into compromise, until the man

after God’s own heart became more like the Kings of the world than the Good Shepherd.

When the prophet Nathan confronted him after his adultery with Bathsheba and the

orchestrated killing of her husband Uriah, David’s hard heart, convicted of this crime, cracks –

and he sings again. He pens this famous penitentiary psalm, a psalm expressing sorrow at his

sin and asking for forgiveness, Psalm 51 – and it’s one that I have prayed often in my own

misspent youth.

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love…

10 Create in me a pure heart [...] 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation…

And God forgave him. And what’s beautifully bonkers – He not only forgave him, he wove

David’s failure into the story of salvation.

In Matthew’s gospel, there’s this quiet but deliberate note in Jesus’ genealogy: “David was the

father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.” Bathsheba.

God doesn’t edit out the scandal. It’s included for a reason — it shows us how God makes

broken things beautiful, how he can work it all for good, somehow, sovereignly.

Take John Newton, slave trader, sinner, failure. And yet he finds hope in this same Gospel and

pens the famous words, that we started the service with today, ‘Amazing Grace, how sweet the

sound, that saved a wretch like me’.

As I read earlier, Jesus tells us: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

That’s the invitation. Not just existence — real life, deep joy, unfathomable hope and amazing

grace. Is it any wonder that after that, one has to sing.

So maybe, as we listen to this song of old, we’ll hear beyond the rugby anthem and hear the

heart of heaven: one that invites, that draws, no matter what we've done, or where we’ve been.

In Jesus, according to his unfailing love demonstrated to us on the cross, we receive mercy: that

pure heart that David was after, Jesus offers, and what joy there is in this salvation.

Nid wy’n gofyn bywyd moethus, aur y byd na’i berlau man,

gofyn wyf am galon hapus, calon onest, calon lan.

I’m not after a luxurious life, the riches or wealth of the world,

I’m asking for a happy heart, an honest one, a pure one.

One that can worship, day and night: canu’r dydd a chanu’r nos.

Choir: Calon Lan

Calon Lan- A Pure Heart - an arrangement made specially for this broadcast by Nathan Jones.

The words were written by Daniel James who as I said earlier is now buried in the adjoining cemetery. Daniel James, who was often to be found just down the road sat at the bar of the King’s Head willing to write a poem for anyone who would buy him a pint. At the time not everyone thought Daniel to be a saint but maybe that’s why he was able to write such words that still resonate with us today.

Prayer of Intersession - Mal Pope

Let us turn to our Heavenly Father in prayer.

King of glory, Lord of all, we come before you in boldness and confidence as we respond to the invitation of heaven. Thank you for sending your only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to live, die and rise from the dead, so that He could make a way back to you.

We thank you for the gift of music and song. And for those who write, perform and share the good news of Jesus though it.

We bring before you the people who are experiencing war and conflict around the world today. We remember the words of Jesus, that we have already sung, blessed are the peacemakers. Father, would you give great wisdom and courage to those who seek peace in our world.

We pray for those with no power or voice. Would you, through your people and those in power, help release them from the situations that they are in. We ask that you would release the captive and set the prisoner free.

And now the prayer which the Lord Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.

Our final piece with the Morriston Orpheus Choir is Benedictus by Robat Arwyn

‘Blessed, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

Choir: Benedictus

Blessing

Thank you for joining us for this Sunday Worship from the Calon Lan Centre with the Morriston Orpheus Choir.

 And now, a blessing:

May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his face to you and give you peace – Amen

Organ Playout