Dear Friends
This comes with much love and prayers from the Scargill Movement during these very challenging and disorientating times. The coronavirus has truly turned all our lives upside-down.
Since our last guests left, followed then by the National lockdown, the Community have taken specific precautions to protect themselves from the virus and we are glad to say that the Community are well. To mitigate any risk, the Community are living under restrictions which go beyond those being asked by the Government.
As we pray for you, please pray for us as many of our overseas Community are unable to go home, even if they wanted to do so. Community life during this time is challenging and when the lockdown is eventually eased we will be finding ways to make the Community gradually smaller for now, which will help us to manage the situation in many ways.
From a Council perspective, we are enormously grateful to Phil, Di, Dave and others in the Leadership Team, for the pastoral care and support given to the community during this time, along with all the attention to detail which has gone into navigating different aspects of this unchartered territory.
As for all of us, the situation we find ourselves in has huge financial implications. We are very grateful for the financial support that we have received from many Scargillians. People have been wonderfully generous, and we know that others are planning to support us in this way. This will sustain us for we know it is going to be a considerable time before we see guests again. Thank you for this practical expression of your love and commitment, and you can be assured that the Council and Leadership Team are, as always, working closely together, as we monitor the financial and business aspects of Scargill’s life at this challenging time.
As we go forward in a landscape which is so unfamiliar we would like to connect with you. In these times we need the support of one another more than ever. The Community are keeping a rhythm of prayer, and if you have anything that you would like us to pray for please do e-mail it through to prayer@scargillmovement.org
We are also hoping, in the relatively near future, to try our hand at some on-line retreats, and we are beginning to keep in touch with people through the wonders of Zoom and other means. Again, please be in touch (hello@scargillmovement.org) if these are ways that you would like to connect. What we have treasured always at Scargill is relationships, our relationship with God and one another, and maybe through all this we are learning how we may nurture this deep truth, which may be reflected in the ‘new normal’ when we come out of this crisis.
Our doors will one day be open again to be God’s hospitality, but in the meantime let us stay connected, with encouragement, compassion, humour, love and prayer.
To finish, a short reflection from John’s gospel (John 20:19) where the disciples are locked for fear in the Upper Room. The risen Jesus comes amongst them and they recognise him through the wounds of love. It is love that dispels fear, as St John in his letter reminds us (1 John 4:18). Jesus speaks twice the words, ‘Peace be with you’ and breathes on them that they may be filled with the Holy Spirit. During these times, when difficulties and dark days can envelop us, may we hear and know these words from Jesus for ourselves.
Here is one of our prayers from our morning prayer sheets:
Spirit of peace
Quiet our hearts
Heal our anxious thoughts,
Free us from our fretful ways,
Breathe on us your Holy calm
So that in the stillness of your presence
We may open ourselves to trust and be transformed.
With love and prayers
+Chris and Phil
Bishop Chris Edmondson (Chair of the Council) and Revd Canon Phil Stone (Director and Community Leader)