Dear Friends
We hope and pray that this latest newsletter finds you well.
Thank you so much for your continued love and support it means a great deal to us. As I have mentioned before, please do get in touch with us at: prayer@scargillmovement.org if there is anything we can pray for you during these strange times.
We are glad to say that on Thursday 18th June from 8 to 9:30pm I will be chairing our first Scargill Forum, and be joined by Rev’d Mike Leigh (currently Vicar in Scarborough and a Scargillian); and Jo Penn (current Community Member) to talk about what we are learning about God and ourselves through this pandemic. If you would like to be involved in this Zoom event then please email: hello@scargillmovement.org so that we can send you a link to join in.
We will also be doing two separate Quiet Days through Zoom on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th June. The theme will be: ’Waymarks for the journey’. Each will begin at 10am and finish around 5pm. Within the day there will be a couple of reflections, an opportunity for a Zoom discussion and tea and cake together at the end with some worship. Again, if you would like to be part of either of the days please e-mail: hello@scargillmovement.org
These events are free but if anyone would like to donate then please visit our website here which shows how you can do that.
Here is a reflection from Diane Stone:
A couple of weeks ago Phil asked me to head-up this two-weekly ‘keeping in touch’ letter. Possibly like you, Community seem to either have too much time on their hands or too little time, either way it has struck me that this is a waiting time, a time for us to wait on God. And two poems, both about time, have come to mind, perhaps because although I will be asking other members of community to contribute this week, alas, I ran out of time to ask anyone!
The first poem, really the opening sentence, is a song from my childhood by Bing Crosby on the soundtrack of the film ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’ (1949). To be honest it’s really the first line which seems to sum up life at the moment, well not quite for me, but for many. This song may seem trivial but I think there is a lot of honesty in it. And it makes me smile, I hope it does the same for you.
We’re busy doin’ nothin’
Workin’ the whole day through
Tryin’ to find lots of things not to do.
We’re busy goin’ nowhere
Isn’t it just a crime
We’d like to be unhappy, but
We never do have the time
I have to watch the river
To see that it doesn’t stop
And stick around the rosebuds
So they’ll know when to pop
And keep the crickets cheerful
They’re really a solemn bunch
Hustle, bustle
And only an hour for lunch
The second was a poem I found when preparing for morning prayers by William Henry Davies entitled Leisure. Wikipedia told me that this poem written in 1911 warns that “the hectic pace of modern life has a detrimental effect on the human spirit. Modern man has no time to spend free time in the lap of nature”. And not so long ago we may all have agreed, but now, for our physical and mental health, we have been encouraged to spend time outside ‘in the lap of nature’. I have never walked so consistently I don’t think in my entire life and this poem encourages us to look and see!
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
So where do we go from here? Let’s turn to Ecclesiastes 3 where we read ‘Everything on earth has its own time and its own season. There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping, for killing and healing, destroying and building, for crying and laughing, weeping and dancing, for throwing stones and gathering stones, embracing and parting.
There is a time for finding and losing, keeping and giving, for tearing and sewing, listening and speaking.
There is also a time for love and hate, for war and peace.’
This ‘song’ is followed by the heading ‘Life isn’t always fair, so live wisely’ and soon we are reassured that ‘God makes everything happen at the right time.’ The chapter confirms ‘We can never know the future.’
As a community we have promised to meet with God, to set aside time throughout the day to refresh our relationship with Him. So let’s use this waiting time wisely, whether we are busy or not, working or at home, can we rest as well as walk trusting in our God. A God who will not abandon his world but plans on redeeming it. Recently I heard, and have mentioned before, the phrase ‘God is not elsewhere’, a phrase which helps me feel very close to God, you see if God is not elsewhere then He must be HERE, here with you and me. Here in the midst of our waiting…
Please be assured of our love and prayers