St David’s Day: the Start of Spring: Online Service for Sunday 2nd March 2025

 

Prelude Melodia Africana I by Ludovico Einaudi

 

Opening Words by Martin Gienke

 

As we sizzle in summer, fall into fall, then wither in winter –
Now let us spring into spring!
As the joy of each bud breaks forth,
Let our hearts burst,
With the warmth and radiance of renewal.
New life, new hope.
Let us spring into spring!

 

Chalice Lighting (you may wish to light a candle in your own home at this point). words by Cliff Reed

 

We light our chalice to greet the Spring

and to rejoice in life’s renewal,

pledging ourselves to be good stewards

of this beautiful blossoming earth.

Give thanks for Spring! Here again,

with its promise ever-new,

with its many-yellowed flowers,

its bright songbirds proclaiming

their presence to the world –

a world darkened, as ever, by human folly,

by war and suffering undeserved.

But still give thanks for Spring,

the season of hope.

 

Opening Prayer

 

Spirit of Life and Love,

Be with us as we gather for worship,

Each in our own place.

Help us to feel a sense of community,

Even though we are physically apart.

Help us to care for each other,

In this world in which Covid has not yet gone away,

And the clouds of war and climate change overshadow us.

May we keep in touch however we can,

And help each other,

However we may.

Help us to be grateful for the freedoms we have

and to respect the wishes of others.

May we hold in our hearts all those

Who are grieving, lost, alone,

Suffering in any way,

Amen

Story The Song of the Spring by Annie Willis McCullough (adapted)

The King was very ill indeed and no one in all the court could find out what was his ailment or how to cure it. He had been the kindest, merriest king for miles about, always ready to help a poor subject or to stop and play with the children as he drove his chariot through the village. Now he never smiled and he seemed too weary to care what happened in the kingdom; so everything went at sixes and sevens and no one knew what to do about it.

“The King needs daintier food,” said the Court Cook, so he served broiled peacock on toast, and pomegranates and cream, and wild honey, and cheese-cakes as light as feathers, and a sponge cake made with the eggs of a bantam hen. But the King would eat none of them.

“The King needs medicine,” said the Court Physician, so he searched the countryside for growing things and he brewed rose-leaf tea, and he made a potion of everlasting flowers mixed with rosemary, and he distilled wild honeysuckle with dew gathered at sunrise, but the King would drink none of these.

“Perhaps music would divert the King,” suggested the Court Wise Man. “It might make him forget whatever is troubling him.” And as music was the only remedy for the King’s most sorrowful illness that had not been tried, the Court Herald hastened through the streets, calling as loudly as he could:

“Music for the King! Music for the King! Riches and honour for whoever can play the prettiest tune and the one that will make his majesty forget his sorrow.”

Immediately the palace was filled with music, some of it very beautiful and all of it played by very famous people. A sweet singer, a harpist and a trumpeter all tried their best, but the King’s sadness was not lightened. So it seemed as if not even music would make the King well, and no one knew what to do.

Gladheart was a boy who tended sheep in the valley. He was the youngest of five brothers, and there was little room and less food for them in their father’s house. But Gladheart had been given his name because he always smiled over a crust of bread, even when he was a baby. Now that he was a lad of ten with a great flock of ewes and lambs to tend and drive through sun and storm, he had smiles and kind words for all, and he played his fiddle all day long until its sweet tunes filled the valley.

“I must go and play before the King,” Gladheart said one day.

“They will only laugh at your small fiddle,” said his brothers, but the eldest said he would tend the sheep for a day, and Gladheart set out for the palace.

“The King will have naught to do with a shepherd lad dressed in goatskin and bearing an old fiddle,” the guards at the door said. But Gladheart touched the strings with the bow and such a blithe tune came forth that the guards opened the door, and Gladheart went inside to play before the King.

At first the sight of the King sitting so bent and sorrowful on the throne with a face as frowning and sad as a storm frightened Gladheart. But he took courage and stood as straight as he could in front of the throne, and began to play on the fiddle a tune that he had learned while he was in the fields with his sheep.

It was a lovable tune, like a dozen birds and a little wandering wind and the voice of a rippling brook all joined with the sounds of the little earth singers, the bees, the katydids, and the crickets. As the King listened, his bent shoulders straightened and his face became bright with smiles. He reached out his hands to Gladheart. “I heard that tune once before when I was a boy,” he said. “It makes me well to hear it now. What is it about, lad?”

“It is about the spring, your majesty,” said Gladheart. “It is the song that I learned from the fields when winter was over. If your majesty will come with me to my sheep pasture, you may hear it there every day.”

No one could understand why the King was suddenly so well or why he went often to sit with Gladheart and the sheep, but they were all very happy over it. And they gave Gladheart the riches and the honour that they had promised whoever could heal their King.

Alternative Lord’s Prayer

 

Spirit of Life and Love, here and everywhere,

May we be aware of your presence in our lives.

May our world be blessed.

May our daily needs be met,

And may our shortcomings be forgiven,

As we forgive those of others.

Give us the strength to resist wrong-doing,

The inspiration and guidance to do right,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

We are your hands in the world; help us to grow.

May we have compassion for all living beings,

And receive whatever life brings,

With courage and trust. Amen

 

Reading Life in David’s Community in Wales from Celtic Daily Prayer by the Northumbria Community

 

When labour in the fields was finished, they returned to the monastery and spent the whole of the day until the evening in reading, writing, or praying. When evening came, and the stroke of the bell sounded, whether only the tip of a letter or even half the form of the same letter was written, they rose quickly and left what they were doing. In silence, without empty talk or chatter, they went into the church. When they had finished chanting the psalm, with voice and heart in complete harmony, they humbled themselves on bended knees until the appearance of the stars in the heavens brought the day to a close.

 

It was the custom that anyone who yearned for this manner of saintly life and asked to join this monastic community first remained for ten days at the door of the monastery, as if rejected and also silenced by words of abuse. If he put his patience to good use and stood there until the tenth day, he might be admitted and first put to serve under the elder who had charge of the gate. After he had toiled there for a long time, and many conflicts within his soul had been reconciled, he was finally judged fit to enter the brethren’s society.

 

Prayer by Judith Quarles

 

Spirit of life, bring to us beauty – the beauty of snowdrops and tulip shoots.

 

Bring to us strength – the strength of torrents of spring streams and the quiet strength of roots pushing deep into the ground for nourishment.

 

Bring to us pleasure – the pleasures of maple syrup sticky and sweet on our tongues and the wind grabbing a kite and taking it high – if only we could go too!

 

Bring to us wisdom – the knowledge that new life springs up without help. In spite of everything we do or don’t, green shoots will bring in the spring; grass and weeds and dandelions will appear.

 

Bring to us love – springtime love has magic in it. The children look cherubic, the parents look eager, the lovers look lost, the seniors look satisfied. Let springtime love be a part of our lives. Spirit of life, come to us that all the energy and power of spring will make us tall and smiling and expectant. Amen.

 

   Reading The Wonder of Reviving Life by Robert T. Weston, from Songs for Living.

 

   Who can resolve for us the mysteries of earth, the wonder of reviving life in the spring?

Not all the stars in the sky are as wonderful as the bursting seed; or the tiny green shoot, or the first brave flower defying the storm.

The birds return, and in the dawn they form cathedral choirs rejoicing in the light.

The scampering squirrels take up the glad refrain – The spring is here!

The trees sing in the wind, and little streams swell into leaping, laughing torrents,

The dead leaves nestling on the earth whisper a glorious secret to the wind: The earth is stirring with new life!

Where yesterday the drifting snow covered grey leaves, impetuous green today thrusts upwards towards the light.

All nature sings, for light is life, and warmth and rain are life.

This is the truth that passes understanding; this is the joy to all forever free:

Life springs from death and shatters every fetter, and winter yields to spring eternally.

 

Time of Stillness and Reflection by Terasa Cooley

 

In this time of anticipated spring, let us allow ourselves to extend the anticipation – to value the time of budding before blooming, of seeding before sprouting. [silence]

 

This is a time of revelation: the revealing of that which is eternal, which we see every year, but still need to be reminded to see it in a new way. [silence]

 

There is also the revelation of that which is new. Every spring we encounter something never before seen. It is that very newness which embodies hope and potential for the wholeness which is yet to be. [silence]

 

Let us allow spring to unfold slowly that we may appreciate the true mystery of rebirth and renewal.

 

[silence]

 

So may it be. Amen

 

Musical Interlude Primavera by Ludovico Einaudi

 

Address St David’s Day: the Start of Spring

 

Today we are celebrating St. David’s Day, which was yesterday, on the first day of March, harbinger of Spring. From now on, the days will be getting longer, the nights shorter, and the weather warmer and more clement (we hope!).

 

Spring is my favourite season. After the short, grey days of winter, with their seemingly endless rain, snow and gloomy clouds, it is so nice to see the odd bit of blue sky and sunshine!  I try to walk either around the village or up into the forest several mornings a week, and notice buds starting to form on the trees and in the hedgerows, and the first brave Spring flowers pushing their heads up through the soil of the verges. If the sun is shining too, the whole walk is a quiet pleasure, which sets me up for the day.

 

I think it is important that we can continue to experience the wonder of Spring – the sense of divine renewal, the small annual miracles of the first flowers and the first buds appearing. They have got to be a sign of hope, that Winter cannot last forever. There is the wonderful dichotomy between the revelation of the eternal round, and the revelation of that which is new. As we saw in our time of stillness and reflection, every Spring we encounter something never before seen “which embodies hope and potential for the wholeness which is yet to be.”

 

Spring is also the time when we feel renewed, and have new resources of energy. It is no accident that Spring cleaning has endured as a tradition through the centuries. Partly it is a necessity (more so in times past, when people almost hibernated during the cold winter months, and Spring was the time of the big clear out). But it is almost an instinct too – it is a time for taking stock of what we have, of discarding the broken and useless, of repairing what is worn but useful, and of setting our faces forward for the new year. If we don’t carry out a periodic Spring clean, our lives can become cluttered and stagnant, with no space for renewal and growth. You can guess by this that I’m not just talking about physical Spring cleaning, satisfying though that is, but also about mental and spiritual Spring cleaning. It is only too easy to plod along in the same old ways, carrying out the same old duties, not realising how flat and dull our lives have become. Sometimes we need to have a good breath of fresh air blowing through our lives, revitalising us and setting us on a new path in good heart.

 

So I think we need to take a periodic look at ourselves, take stock and move on. But the process of self-examination is not an easy one. One of my favourite theologians is the wonderful Rabbi Lionel Blue. Over the years, he has taught me that the only thing that God wants from us is for us to be more kind, more generous to everyone (including ourselves) and more honest, both with ourselves and our fellow travellers in the world. It is about listening to that inner voice, whether we call it God, or the light within, or our conscience, and about doing the right thing rather than the easy one.

 

The thing that makes this deeper process possible for me is the hope that comes from being part of a loving, living Unitarian community. Here is the place where I can think and reflect on these things, secure in the knowledge that there are loving arms to catch me, if I fall. I think that sometimes we underestimate the importance of our own Unitarian communities to their members. There is nowhere else that I can think of where it is possible to bring your whole self, and be wholeheartedly accepted, warts and all. And that is so precious. And our congregations have just undergone their own Spring-clean, in the form of the Sustainability Audits, which I hope will fill you all with new hope.

 

I wonder what sort of religious and spiritual community the older Celtic monasteries provided. As we saw in my second reading, monastic life was very strict, the brothers having to work very hard, both in agricultural labour, and in various different crafts. Apparently in Bishop David’s 6th century monasteries, beekeeping in particular was very important. The monks had to keep themselves fed as well as provide food and lodging for travellers. They also looked after the poor.

 

There is a fascinating article about St. David on the History of Wales website, to which I am indebted for some information about his life. Known as Dewi Sant by the Welsh, the tales about him are a little apocryphal, as he lived during the 6th century, and his biography was only written down towards the end of the 11th century, by Rhygyfarch, a son of the then Bishop of St. Davids. But it is a fascinating tale. My apologies for any mispronunciation of Welsh names.

 

“David was reputedly born on a cliff top near Capel Non (Non’s chapel) on the South-West Wales coast during a fierce storm. Both his parents were descended from Welsh royalty. The site of David’s birth is marked by the ruins of a tiny ancient chapel close to a holy well and the more recent 18th century chapel dedicated to his mother Non can still be seen near St. Davids Cathedral.

 

The young David grew up to be a priest, being educated at the monastery of Hen Fynyw under the tutorage of St. Paulinus. According to legend David performed several miracles during his life including restoring Paulinus’ sight. It is also said that during a battle against the Saxons, David advised his soldiers to wear leeks in their hats so that they could easily be distinguished from their enemies, which is why the leek is one of the emblems of Wales!

 

A vegetarian who ate only bread, herbs and vegetables and who drank only water, David became known as Aquaticus. Sometimes, as a self-imposed penance, he would stand up to his neck in a lake of cold water, reciting Scripture! I know I said earlier that self-examination is important but I don’t think I’d go that far! It is also said that milestones during his life were marked by the appearance of springs of water.

 

Becoming a missionary David travelled throughout Wales and Britain and even made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem where he was consecrated bishop. He founded 12 monasteries including Glastonbury and one at Minevia (St. Davids) which he made his bishops seat. He was named Archbishop of Wales at the Synod of Brevi, Cardiganshire in 550.

 

St David died on 1 March 589, at Minevia, allegedly over 100 years old. His remains were buried in a shrine in the 6th century cathedral which was ransacked in the 11th century by Viking invaders, who plundered the site and murdered two Welsh bishops.

 

After his death, his influence spread far and wide, first through Britain and then by sea to Cornwall and Brittany. In 1120, Pope Callixtus II canonised David as a Saint. Following this he was declared Patron Saint of Wales. Such was David’s influence that many pilgrimages were made to St. Davids, and the Pope decreed that two pilgrimages made to St. Davids equalled one to Rome while three were worth one to Jerusalem. Fifty churches in South Wales alone bear his name.

 

It is not certain how much of the history of St. David is fact and how much is mere speculation. However in 1996 bones were found in St. Davids Cathedral which, it is claimed, could be those of Dewi himself. Perhaps these bones can tell us more about St David: priest, bishop and patron saint of Wales.”

 

So today we celebrate St. David’s Day, the national day of Wales, which has been celebrated as such since the 12th century. Today the celebrations usually involve the singing of traditional songs followed by a Te Bach, a tea with bara brith (famous welsh fruited bread) and teisen bach (welsh cake). Young girls are encouraged to wear national costume and leeks or daffodils are worn, being the national symbols of Wales.

 

And we also celebrate the imminent arrival of Spring, the season of renewal and growth, and look forward to feeling some warmth in our bones, and some sunshine on our faces. I’m going to end with some lovely words by John Knopf, to send us out into the new season:

 

“Spring is a time for pruning and for repair, for discarding what is broken and useless, for repairing what is worn, but useful. May we have the judgement to know which is which, and the strength to do what is needed with both.

 

Spring is a time of light and glory, of the snowdrop, the crocus and the daffodil. Open our eyes to see its gifts. May the green gold of spring shine in our hearts, our spirits be filled with its coinage of beauty.

 

Spring is a time of cleansing airs. Let us open our windows to the breath of heaven, our hearts to the winds of change. Fill our lungs with new life, our sails with the breath of power, that we may live and sail to the glory of God.”

 

May it be so, Amen

 

Closing Words

 

Spirit of Life and Love,

Our time together is drawing to a close.

May our spirits be lifted, and our hearts revived

by the imminence of Spring.

May we share the love we feel,

may we look out for each other,

and may we keep up our hearts,

being grateful for the many blessings in our lives,

now and in the days to come, Amen

Postlude Stella del Mattino  by Ludovico Einaudi