Chapel Anniversary: Zion’s Hill, Spittal

 Matthew 7: 7-11 & 24-17        Ephesians 2: 17-22

We are celebrating the 202nd anniversary of the building of this chapel - What does it take to build a chapel?

I can recommend typing that question into a search engine if you want to give yourself a giggle.

One website solemnly describes the process of engaging an architect to help you decide the best site – and then the need to discuss “sufficient office spaces, the children’s department, the proper sanctuary size, adequate parking, church kitchen and/or café, and needed storage areas  - just to name a few”.

Or you find a man like Thomas Skeel.

Thanks to the fact that the “History of the Welsh Independent Churches” by Thomas Rees & John Thomas (published in 1871) is available online I can tell you quite a lot about Thomas Skeel – and it’s worth hearing!

Thomas Skeel was born in 1758, in Hayscastle, the son of farmers. He was ordained at Trefgarne in 1795 and later married Miss Ann Thomas, daughter of Mr Samson Thomas, a Methodist preacher. They lived at Tynewydd, between Trefgarne and Penybont. After 1821 Thomas was minister at Penybont only.

 

In 1822 he began preaching in a house named Golden Hill, the home of William Evans, a member at Penybont. In the summer of 1823 Mr Skeel and the friends in Penybont decided to build a chapel. Land was acquired from a Mr Higgan on a lease of 99 years for a rent of one pound per year. The foundation stone was laid June 25th,1823 and the chapel was opened on October 16th of that same year (that’s less than 4 months!). It was named Zion's Hill.

It is recorded that sermons were given at the opening service by  H. George, Brynberian, from 1 Kings. 6 v 7; W. Griffiths, Glandwr, from Matt. 7 v 24, and D. Warr, Haverfordwest , from Eph. 2 v 20.

(The good news is although we have taken 2 of those readings as our readings today – we have not three but just one sermon!)

 

All of the cost of the building was cleared through the efforts of Mr Skeel and his associates, along with his own personal gifts. On the first of May, 1825, a church was formed here from members released from Penybont for that purpose, and 7 new members.

Mr Daniel Davies worked alongside Mr Skeel at Penybont and at Zion’s Hill. In the same year the land below the chapel and some connected land was bought by Mr Skeel to be a cemetery, he transferred the land to the church leaseholders free of charge. In 1826 a gallery was added at the expense of the chapel. Both ministers worked together here until the death of Mr Skeel, October 6th, 1836, at the age of 78. He was buried at Hayscastle but has a memorial here at Zion’s Hill.

Thomas Skeel was clearly an amazing energetic, generous man – just the sort you need to get things built. But the foundation of the building is made clear in our readings, the same readings heard when the building opened.

You don’t build a chapel by finding the right architect, or making the right plans, or even having the right person to lead you. You build a chapel by building on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells the story of the wise man who built his house on the rock.

I bet I’m not the only one here who remembers the song:

The wise man built his house upon the Rock, (x3)
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down and the floods came up (x3)
But the house on the Rock stood firm.

The foolish man built his house upon the sand (x3)
And the rains came tumbling down.
The rains came down and the floods came up (x3)
And the house on the sand fell flat.

 

But the point of the story is not to give us advice about the physics of building foundations – the point of the story comes in verse 3.. anyone?

(I confess I had completely forgotten this verse…)

 

So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ (x3)
And the blessings will come down.
The blessings come down as your prayers go up (x3)
So build your life on the Lord.

 

Jesus is teaching his disciples to trust in God and believe in him and they will receive everything they need to live lives following Jesus – trust and faith are the firm foundations on which everything else is built.

 

And the good news of God’s love shown in Jesus Christ is for everyone.

Paul writes of Jesus Christ as the Cornerstone – the one who brings together believers with different backgrounds, just as the cornerstone ties together two walls.

 

So we, who meet here today are not just honouring the heroes of the past who have built and maintained this chapel, we are part of the story which goes on, what Paul calls ‘a holy place, built together spiritually for God’.

 

The same Jesus followed by Thomas Skeel leads us on today.

The same Spirit which filled him with purpose and strength fills us.

And may the same God praised by past generations be praised by us – in our worship here and the lives we live – to God’s praise and glory.

Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spring IS coming!

I love to dip into Revgalblogpals, and though I don't usually 'play' at the Friday five questions, I thought that with no sermon to do I would, for a change: Sally writes: Candlemass is past, and Christmas is well and truly over, here in the UK February looks set to be its usual grey and cold self. Signs of spring are yet to emerge; if like me you long for them perhaps you need ways to get through these long dark days. So lets share a few tips for a cold and rainy/ snowy day.... 1. Exercise, what do you do if you can't face getting out into the cold and damp? I do find it therapeutic to clean the house vigourously - but if you could see the dust you'd know I don't often get round to it! I also make a point of always running, rather than walking, upstairs - something my mum always did until her stroke. 2. Food; time to comfort eat, or time to prepare your body for the coming spring/summer? I try to eat healthily, but my body craves carbohydrate. 3. Brainpower; do...
Read more

Sermon 7/9/08

Following Christ. On the 21st August, Professor A C Grayling reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London, wrote an article in the Guardian about David Miliband’s future political hopes and the fact that he is a declared atheist. ‘It would be a great advantage to everyone to have an atheist prime minister’, states Grayling. His arguments are that an atheist will form decisions based on rational argument, not ‘messages from Beyond’; that an atheist PM will not give special treatment of funding to religious groups, but will treat everyone fairly; and that an atheist will be down to earth about lifting up the poor of society, rather than simply offering them a heavenly reward. All this shouldn’t surprise us from the man who in March 2007 took part in a public debate arguing ‘We’d be better off without religion’. Meanwhile, in the States, Sara Palin, the Republican Vice-presidential candidate, is making a lot of her credentials as a creationist, anti-abortion, fundamentalist Christian....
Read more

Hearing God’s word (speaking truth in Washington and in Pembrokeshire)

  Luke 4: 14-30 This has been quite a week, if you’ve been watching the news from the United States. President Donald Trump has been elected for a second term – and has received acclaim and applause from many for his bold inauguration speech in which he declared a national emergency at the Southern border and promised to end the right to be registered as a US citizen if you are born there. He has since signed dozens of executive orders, including those withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, increasing oil, gas & coal exploitation, and releasing those who stormed the Capitol building when he failed to be elected president four years ago.   But Bishop Mariann Budde, the Episcopalian Bishop of Washington, preaching at the Washington National Cathedral the day after the inauguration, directly addressed President Trump and Vice-president Vance.   She asked them, in the name of the God Trump believes saved him from a bullet, to “have mercy” on those who fe...
Read more