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Good Morning. Today the Church in Wales remembers the Reverend Griffith Jones, born in 1684.   A Welsh shepherd, after attending grammar school, he was able to fulfil his ambition of ordination. He became an enthusiastic supporter of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, which encouraged Christian education at all levels. And so, in the early 1730s, Griffiths Jones – by now a parish priest in rural Wales – set up what became known as his ‘circulating schools’, teaching both children and adults basic reading skills in their mother tongue – Welsh for the most part. Using the Bible and Prayer Book as their textbooks, and meeting in churches, barns or private houses, these schools would run in one place for about three months, and then move on to the next location. By the time of Griffiths Jones’ death in 1761, his circulating schools had reached perhaps 200,000 people, close to half the population of Wales at that time. Griffiths Jones had been motivated by a desire to save people’s souls. Yet the circulating schools had not only taught adults and children to know their Bibles, but given the gift of reading – well, anything. As the American Frederick Douglass – black former slave, social reformer and statesman – put it a century later, ‘Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.’ Reading is a gift almost without limit – and to those of us blessed with literacy, it opens up whole new universes to enjoy, and gives us powerful tools to explore, question, and discover. Lord Jesus Christ, living Word of God made flesh, we thank you for the gift of reading, and pray for the spread of literacy everywhere. May it lead us into ways that bring freedom and flourishing to everyone. Amen.