Dear Scargillians
We continue to pray for you and please be assured of our love as we live through this latest lockdown. We are very aware that for many of us it is very challenging.
It has been a real joy this weekend to link up with Scargill Companions and, though we did not need to be reminded again, we recognise how important it is to connect with one another and the encouragement we can give and receive. We all need building up during this time.
It would be lovely to connect with you and our Scargill Programme is available on our website.
I would like to highlight three of the events: We are delighted that Shaun Lambert will be Zooming in to speak on, ‘Redeeming the Present Moment’. Shaun is a great friend to Scargill, an excellent speaker and practitioner on Christian Mindfulness. I would truly recommend this week if you happen to be free.
Next weekend is a ‘Friends’ Weekend’ – so that is open to all of you! Mike, our Chaplain, will be leading some reflections with his usual humour and insight.
I would also like to highlight the ‘Individually Guided Retreat’ (Tuesday 26th to Friday 29th January) led by a Scargill Team.
The Scargill Pantomime, which we were working on before Christmas, is now released. I do hope it brings a smile to your face (also available on Scargill Home Page). The Community had fun producing it, we hope that comes through!
As always, you can join us for our Tea Party on Tuesdays at 3:30pm, and our Thursday Evening Prayers at 4:30pm.
So, here is Di’s reflection thinking about ‘loving yourself’. Enjoy!
Diane writes:
When I started writing these reflections I never thought I would quote from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, but I am. On recently reading ‘The Servant Queen and the King she serves, a tribute for her Majesty’s 90th birthday’, I was struck by how Christ centred her Christmas messages to the nation have been. Under the heading Love your Neighbour, towards the end of the book, Her Majesty is quoted from her 1975 Christmas message:
‘He (Jesus) commanded us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, but what exactly is meant by ‘loving ourselves’? A good question, and one which a few years ago I would have found difficult to answer? In fact, it may well have been a question I would rather not answer, as I really didn’t know what to say. Surely it should be “God first. Others second. Myself third!’
But when the teachers of the law ask Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?” he responds, ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ ” (Matt. 22:37-38). Here, loving God remains at the top of the list, but love of neighbour and self are inextricably related. In fact, Jesus’ command implies that we will know how to love our neighbour only if we properly love ourselves.
“God is love.” (1 John 4:16) and “Beloved” means to be greatly loved. No one can love us like God. God spoke the world into existence with love, Jesus is the greatest expression of God’s love and, through the Holy Spirit, God’s great love lives in us. We are His beloved children, undeserving of His love yet chosen to not only receive it but to also pass it on; to live God’s love out in our communities and day to day encounters. And, although I think many of us find it hard to believe, ‘scripture clearly states that God sees us as His beloved, His beautiful sons and daughters who are adored, loved and chosen. To love ourselves, means recognising and accepting that God freely loves us, as we are and who we are, that we do have God given gifts and talents and whilst we’ll never be perfect this side of heaven, we are perfectly made in His image for His purpose’ (Anna Currin). It is through accepting that we are loved, that we can begin to love ourselves (as we are and who we are) and are then able to love our neighbours, out of a love filled with grace, forgiveness, compassion and empathy; having hearts open to hear and eyes open to see that God’s love is alive and active.
Which is perhaps what the Dalai Lama was also saying when he wrote, ‘If you don’t love yourself, you cannot love others. You will not be able to love others. If you have no compassion for yourself then you are not capable of developing compassion for others.’
The Queen’s answer was also about believing in oneself, recognising that we do have abilities, gifts and talents and using them for the good of others. “I believe it means trying to make the most of the abilities we have been given, it means caring for our talents. It is a matter of making the best of ourselves, not just doing the best for ourselves. We are all different, but each of us has his own best to offer. The responsibility for the way we live life with all its challenges, sadness and joy is ours alone. If we do this well, it will also be good for our neighbour.”
Her Majesty asks us to try our best, our community promises end with ‘ …with God’s help ….. I promise to try my very best to follow the example set by Jesus …’, it is what God asks of all of us. So, knowing we are beloved, can we try to be the very best we can, can we love our neighbours as we love ourselves, and see where that takes us?
With love and prayers