Dear friends,

How are you? As I write this I am just a little distracted by all that needs doing before I go on retreat. The human psyche is a funny thing – suddenly things I have been procrastinating about for weeks have taken on an urgent air! While I am away I will be praying for you and all that is happening in our communities. The purpose of the retreat is to refresh and renew my relationship with God so that I can better serve you all, and together we can do God’s work. I am excited for our future. Please will you pray for me?

Just one thing of importance to share with you this week – I met this week with Fr. Bernard the priest of the Catholic Church in Usk. We had a wonderful chat about things that we can do together in the future and he has asked for our help. During the last year the Catholic church congregation has been running a food kitchen, providing hot meals on a weekly basis to people in and around Usk who are struggling in any way (financial difficulty, illness, loneliness, are some of the varied reasons people appreciate the help).New volunteers are always welcome and are in fact much needed and Fr. Bernard wondered whether any of us would be willing and able to be part of the team. Full food hygiene training will be given, free of charge (it’s online and done at our convenience) and the commitment to the project can be entirely your decision – once every couple of months, weekly, or anything in between. If you would like to know more please contact Dee Seabourne on It would be wonderful to increase our support of this much needed and valued Christian mission.

Compline will be happening on Sunday evening online on the usual link, I hope it goes well.There will be no Just FIve minutes next week.

And that, I think, is that!

Have a good week and I shall see you soon.
With love,
Sally xxxx

— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good afternoon lovely people,

I hope this letter finds you well?

What do I want to tell you about this week? Hopefully you have all received and taken note of the new rota published for the next three months. I really am very grateful to all those who are willing and able to lead services, the complexity of what we achieve Sunday by Sunday with so few resources is really rather impressive! There is still some tweaking to be done for the Christmas services, both on Christmas Day itself and the various Carol Services and Christingles etc. leading up to it. I suspect though, like me, you don’t really want to think that far ahead just yet! I shall publish a separate Christmas Invitation for the whole Ministry Area as soon as possible.

In the meantime I wonder whether I shall greet any of you popping up in churches that are not your regular ones, in the quest to worship in every church in the MA before Christmas?!

Did you go to the Usk Show last week? It was such a lovely day, a real highlight in my diary. The chaplaincy tent was extremely busy, serving free tea and coffee and I know that many visitors were very grateful for the opportunity to sit somewhere comfortable without having to buy something! The bishop was invited and came, which was wonderful and I am pretty sure that the church’s presence will have been noticed by almost everyone who was at the show.

It’s interesting isn’t it that often the simplest, small things that we do, like offer hospitality, can be our best opportunity to demonstrate the love of God? I’m reminded of that passage in Hebrews (13:2) Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 

It’s a lovely thought isn’t it?

Please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you’ve a question, a query, would like a visit, or just fancy a chat. Spending time with you is always the best part of my day.

Finally, don’t forget to join us for Compline on Sunday at 8pm on Zoom, guaranteed to ensure a good night’s sleep.
With love Sally xxx

Complinehttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/89998911774?pwd=ekF1Uk4rYUsrQklkcGpFbHRXM25uUT09

Meeting ID: 899 9891 1774
Passcode: COMPLINE

— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good Afternoon my friends,

Did you know that 9th September is International Buy a Priest a Beer Day?  🙂

I trust you are all well and that the imminent arrival of Autumn isn’t getting you down. I must confess it is one of my favourite times of the year. I love the colours, and the darker evenings, but I suspect I might be alone with that! Autumn also brings the season of Harvest upon us, such a significant time in our church calendar. Llanbadoc Church will be celebrating on 26th September at 10.30 am and the rest of our churches will have their services in October. The rota detailing these will be available early next week. I will send you copies as soon as the team has confirmed its accuracy.

In other news can I give you a date for your diary please? It’s a little way off but on Sunday 14th November, between 2pm and 5pm, you are all invited to drop into my and Will’s home for tea and cake. There is no need to bring anything, and please take us as you find us, but we would love to open our home to you and be sociable with you. I’m giving the date now because this really is an invitation to everyone so I want to have given plenty of time for our friends who don’t have email to hear the news and for you all to make travel arrangements! 

We live at The Vicarage,25 St. John’s Road,Maindee,Newport.NP19 8GR

This invitation really is for you, and anyone and everyone who might like to come so spread the word!
Finally, just a reminder that we continue to have a service of healing and wholeness in The Priory Church of St. Mary, Usk, at 11am on Thursdays, and we will have our usual Compline Service on Zoom, on Sunday at 8pm. The link is below.

I hope you have a good weekend, and perhaps I will see you at the Usk show on Saturday? Don’t forget to drop into the chaplaincy tent either.

With love to you all,
Sally xxx
Compline
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89998911774?pwd=ekF1Uk4rYUsrQklkcGpFbHRXM25uUT09

Meeting ID: 899 9891 1774
Passcode: COMPLINE

— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good Afternoon everyone, it’s that time of the week again.

I trust you are well and I hope you are ready for an email of dates and dull stuff, sorry.

My movements over the next fortnight are complicated and my availability is limited so I thought I would share my diary with you so that you understand why I am slow to reply to email and you don’t see much of me.

Here goes – 
Monday 23rd – Wednesday 25th Holiday

Thursday 26th Working a half day – wedding rehearsal, and urgent phone calls and emails

Friday 27th Holiday

Saturday 28th working half a day – Wedding

Sunday 29th – Tuesday 31st Holiday

Wednesday 1st Sept – Friday 3rd Sept – in Swansea on the Electoral College to select the next bishop of Swansea and Brecon. This is work but availability will be limited so only urgent phone calls and emails will be responded to.

Saturday 4th Sept – work – catchup and service prep for Sunday

Sunday 5th Sept – Morning service, Alms House Fun Day, Compline

Monday 6th – Tuesday 7th – Llandrindod Wells for compulsory clergy training. Only urgent phone calls and emails will be responded to.

Wednesday 8th back to normal, whatever that is!

I can’t believe we are nearly in September.

Other things that are affected -Just Five Minutes is taking a break for two weeks.There will be no Compline on 29th August. 
I’m really sorry in advance for the lack of routine availability but please trust that I will respond to everything that requires immediate attention while I am in Swansea and Llandrindod Wells.

There are of course other clergy, wardens, and our pastoral team if there is something you think they can help with. 

Finally, just to remind you our Compline service will be available as usual this Sunday, on Zoom, at 8pm.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89998911774?pwd=ekF1Uk4rYUsrQklkcGpFbHRXM25uUT09

Meeting ID: 899 9891 1774. Passcode: COMPLINE

I think that’s all!
With love to you all,
Sally xxx
— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good afternoon friends,

I am delighted that we now have the communities of Llanhennock and Llandegfedd officially with us. Nine is such a lovely number – 3×3 – a trinity of trinities! That is probably a heresy but I can live with that! I have noticed how willingly people are worshipping in churches other than their “home” church and I encourage everyone to enjoy the opportunities our rota offers us to be pilgrims throughout the area. My mind immediately wanders towards some sort of pilgrim route, or passport challenge, in which we all try to worship in every church over a period of time. We could even have a prize! Shall I work on that as a proper idea and plan or am I losing the plot? Let me know perhaps?

My other piece of news is to ask you to save a date – all the way into 2022!

On Sunday 20th February, in the afternoon, time to be confirmed, Bishop Cherry will be with us to preside at a Service of Confirmation. In recent years, with the admission of children to Communion before Confirmation, this service has taken a slightly different emphasis, but it remains an important part of our Anglican tradition. It is a service in which we confirm for ourselves the promises that were made for us at our baptism, in the presence of our church, our family and our friends. The bishop lays hands on those being confirmed asking for God’s Holy Spirit to give them strength and commitment to live in God’s love for the rest of their lives. It is a lovely service and I hope we will be able to have a wonderful celebration that day.

If you haven’t been confirmed (there is no age limit, but I would suggest that those 10-100 years of age would be who might like to think about it), please do get in touch and we can chat about what we might need to do to prepare you. 

You may be interested to know that I was confirmed when I was 38, and it still remains, despite having been ordained, a really significant day in my life. The outward signs – the service, and the tea and cake after were very special, but the real difference was something deep inside, inwardly I found a degree of peace and joy in my relationship with God that was a surprise and a wonderful comfort. Please do have a chat if you are interested.

Finally, I of course want to remind you about our healing and wholeness services on Thursdays at St. Mary’s Usk, 11am, and our Compline service on Sundays, via Zoom, 8pm. The link is below.

Have a lovely weekend and keep in touch, 

With love, Sally xx

Compline Sunday 8pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89998911774?pwd=ekF1Uk4rYUsrQklkcGpFbHRXM25uUT09

Meeting ID: 899 9891 1774
Passcode: COMPLINE
— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good afternoon friends,

I trust you are all well and finding something every day that makes you smile? 

Yesterday evening I had the great pleasure to go to the tiny church of St. Peter’s in Bryngwyn for the first of our evenings – Forward Together – praying for the new Ministry Area, and meeting people from across all 20 churches.It was a very special evening rich with prayer, and I met lots of new faces who I look forward to getting to know over the coming months. The whole event was less than an hour and I came home uplifted and encouraged about our future. It is intended that we will meet in a variety of churches across the whole of the new area over the coming months. The services will all be led by lay people and I really do urge you to make time to be part of this initiative. We need to support one another and this is a brilliant way of doing it.

The next Forward Together Prayers are on Wednesday 1st September, 7.30pmSt. John the Baptist Church, Llanhennock.

Just a little reminder that our fifth Sunday service is in Usk on 29th August. There is a little change to the rota – The service will be conducted by Graham and Bill, and I won’t be there. I am obliged to take four Sundays off each year, and this seemed like a good one to take.

I’ll let you know my holiday dates around it, nearer the time. Sundays are so hard to take, so I am immensely grateful to Graham and Bill for being so willing.
I confess to having no other news! Fancy that, I’m short of things to say!!

Please do keep in mind our lovely Compline service on Zoom on Sundays at 8pm, the link is below. And don’t hesitate to be in touch if there’s anything you think I should know or if you just want to catch up.
With love,
Sally xx

Compline Sunday 8pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89998911774?pwd=ekF1Uk4rYUsrQklkcGpFbHRXM25uUT09

Meeting ID: 899 9891 1774
Passcode: COMPLINE

— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good afternoon lovely people,

How are you all? Another week has rolled by, a strange one for me as I didn’t work for part of it. Balancing rest, play, and work is so important isn’t it? I must confess it’s not something I manage with ease. Our large family means that rest is all relative, and so much of what I love to relax with might also overlap with the things that are part of my work life. It really is strange. Take reading and prayer for example – I pray every day whether it is a church day or a rest day. Is that work or play or rest or all three? And reading – I might choose to read a book with a faith theme just for fun, but if it is about mission and growth, is that work? Perhaps I shouldn’t ask these questions, I just get all tied up in knots.

What I do know is that some things energise me and some drain me, and I guess that is true for us all. The trick therefore is to make sure that I balance both, and build rest in when there are draining things to do. Do you need to do the same?

But enough rambling! What do I need to tell you? Just the usual about our Sunday Compline service, but also that I hope that by Sunday you will all have received a leaflet about our small groups that will be starting in September.

I have attached the leaflet that will be available from Sunday, in hard copy it looks really very good. Please take time to read it and think about whether you might want to be part of one of the groups. They are for everyone; long in the tooth, new to church, and everything in between! I know from my own experience that being part of such a group is where we can grow in confidence and in our relationship with God. I heartily recommend them.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to be in touch. Finally, please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested.
With love,
Sally xx

Compline Sunday 8pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89998911774?pwd=ekF1Uk4rYUsrQklkcGpFbHRXM25uUT09

Meeting ID: 899 9891 1774
Passcode: COMPLINE

— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good afternoon friends,
Have you melted yet? I’m trying hard not to grumble about the weather whilst I quietly make excuses to stand in front of the open fridge or freezer, pretending that it isn’t simply to let the cold air work its magic!

The easing of Covid restrictions now makes it possible to serve refreshments after church services, if you would like to. People need to be seated in groups of no more than six and can be served from a table or counter. There is no longer any need for table service. If you would like to pursue this we do need to write a short risk assessment but I can help with that if you would like. Spending time together after a service to share coffee is one of my favourite aspects of church life, so please do think about whether you might want to try it.Less good news is that infection rates are still too high locally for us to be allowed to sing indoors. We can sing outside though!

This Sunday we will be welcoming Bishop Cherry to the Ministry Area. She will be in Christchurch Coed-y-Paen in the morning, and  Ss Peter, Paul, and John, Llantrisant in the afternoon for a 4pm Evening Prayer, with refreshments. There is still space at the Llantrisant service for anyone who would like to attend. It would be lovely to see you there. Please just drop an email to Sandy at  so that we comply with Track and Trace.

Finally can I just let you know that I will be taking three days off next week. Monday will be in lieu of tomorrow which for very good reasons I shall be working, and then two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) to spend with the children who are all free and want to spend time with their mother. I can’t complain about that can I? We will no doubt spend some time at the beach, but I also fear a trip to IKEA, why do young people like it there so much? Please pray for me!
Wishing you a very lovely weekend, be careful in the rain.

Love from Sally xx

PS, don’t forget Compline on Sunday 8pm
Complinehttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/3798406972?pwd=QXdXV0k3OGUxT3JXQldvQlRsVHB5QT09
Meeting ID: 379 840 6972
Passcode: COMPLINE

— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429

Good afternoon friends,

Such a glorious day! I trust you are well and getting a good balance between being energetic and relaxing with a cold drink in your hand?
Let’s get straight to the point – Wales has changed its Covid advice but the Church in Wales has not yet updated us with regard to what we can do differently in our churches and in our worship. I know that the small team in the provincial office has been working flat out all year trying to keep up with the changes and how they might relate to us, and I trust that they will publish specific guidance for us as soon as they possibly can. In the meantime, worship this week will be the same as it has been for the last few weeks, which sadly includes no singing.
Let’s hang on in there – we will soon see some positive difference I am sure of that, and as I have mentioned before, we can take some comfort from knowing that none of our churches have been responsible for the transmission of coronavirus, thankfully. As soon as I know anything I will of course be in touch.

Compline – I am again looking for people who might be willing to lead one of our Complines on Zoom, Sundays 8pm please. I can help with slides, Zoom room management, music, or anything else. It is a lovely service!

Thank you for your prayers for the children in our local schools. On Monday the year 6 children from Usk came to church to receive bibles, it was a lovely service. Let’s continue to pray for all those children, young people, and adults, who are going through a period of change, asking God to give them confidence and to make his presence known to them as they step into new things.

Finally can I assure you of my prayers for you? I consider prayer to be my first and most important job in ministry and it is a privilege to pray for and with you. If you have any specific prayer requests please don’t hesitate to be in touch, and if you would like to be added to the list of people who are prayed for by name in our services just let me know and I can organise that with Dee Seabourne.

With love to you all,

Sally xx

Compline Sunday 8pm
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3798406972?pwd=QXdXV0k3OGUxT3JXQldvQlRsVHB5QT09
Meeting ID: 379 840 6972
Passcode: COMPLINE

Sunday Service and Just Five Minutes – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS_MlCI7UW1xWiQm7ZxMr1AFacebook – https://www.facebook.com/Usk-Ministry-Area-1041951092519455— 

	Rev’d Sally Ingle-Gillis
Usk Ministry Area Leader
Monmouth Diocese
07813 264429