A Long Night’s Work and Empty Nets By Rev. Casi M. Jones, The Union of Welsh Independents (UWI) The Rev. Casi M. Jones is an ordained minister with UWI and is currently the pastor of Emaus Church in Bangor, north Wales. Emaus is a new, interdenominational church, comprising of two former churches, Pendref (UWI) and Penuel (BUW). Her late husband, Lloyd, was an Anglican priest in the Bangor diocese of the Church in Wales. They have two sons: Dafydd Mackenzie and Tomos Llwyd.
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arlier this year, I was invited to lead a bible study for ministers and leaders of the Baptist Union of Wales and to preach in the AGM of Undeb yr Annibynwyr Cymraeg (The Union of Welsh Independents) and managed to do both from the comfort of my own home. Preparing for these Zoom meetings inspired me to look again at one of my favourite resurrection stories from St John’s Gospel, chapter 21:1–14 and this in turn became a way of reflecting on this strange new parallel universe we were flung into back in the spring of 2020. We join the disciples as they decide to go fishing, and hear that they worked hard all night but caught nothing. The disciples’ frustration resonates with us as ministers and churches as we look back on a very strange eighteen months of cancelled services and silent buildings. Even when we tentatively ventured back to worship together, with masks, sitting two metres apart, and for a while we weren’t allowed to The Revd Casi Jones (centre) with Elain Edwards and Morgan Sion on Easter Sunday 2020 sing. It may sound like a cliché but as Welsh when they became the newest members of the church at Emaus, Bangor. Christians, not being able to sing hymns has been really hard for us. If doing without our buildings was a challenge, moving back to our buildings has been even more of a challenge. We’ve had to keep abreast of the constant changes in the legislation and this has meant the constant creating and amending of risk assessments. No wonder many of us are now feeling tired and anxious. As they head for the shore, the disciples see a stranger on the beach who invites them to share their story with him. It’s the Lord but they don’t recognise him. Exhausted, and totally fed up they don’t recognise him even though they’ve travelled miles with him and shared meals with him over a period of several years. As we look back over the months since the beginning of the first lockdown in the spring of 2020 we remember the devastating loss of lives. We as a family lost a dear husband and father suddenly and unexpectedly at a time when we couldn’t gather with friends or give and receive hugs. Even those who didn’t lose loved ones will remember the anguish of months spent apart from family members and friends and the disruption to the pattern of our everyday life. Many businesses struggled and many jobs were lost. As we look back over the last eighteen months, it would be so easy to see nothing but empty nets and fail to see Jesus at work, and fail to recognize his presence in our own trials and tribulations let alone in the wider narrative. But he was at work and is still at work if only we are willing to pause for a minute, to look up and recognise him. Where might we discern Jesus at work in his Church over the last eighteen months? As we review our own story we should be aware that not everyone has travelled the same road. Some churches here in Wales have taken the difficult decision to close forever while others feel stronger and have managed to reach new people. Many like us will feel that there have been both gains and losses along the way.
30 INSiGHT DECEMBER 2021
