Dear Scargillians
The swifts are beginning to return to Scargill and we await the house martins to once more build their nests in the eaves, and after some days of heavy rain the sun is now shining. This week we welcome a small working party from A Rocha as we develop our sensory garden with a pond as well as doing a Bio Blitz on the Scargill Estate – all very exciting!
This past week Community members have been training to prepare for residential guests coming once more through our doors from the beginning of June, wanting to make it a joyful and welcoming experience.
Before June, we are continuing to run online events. Two events coming up in the next couple of weeks are still available for online bookings – we’d love to see you:
Pentecost Retreat with Donna Worthington – Fri 28 to Sun 30 May
Do sign up for our online Spring Half Term Tournaquiz at 7pm on Wed 2 June – it will be lots of fun.
We will continue to have the Weekly Evening Prayer livestreamed service when residential guests return, and we have one on Thu 27 May, but this moves to Wednesdays from Wed 9 June. [We will not have a livestreamed Evening Prayer on Thu 3 June as we transition]
We are pleased to give thanks for a grant received from Allchurches Trust Hope Beyond programme to help provide and improve the equipment we need to enable us to offer our ongoing online ministry. “Hope Beyond aims to enable churches and Christian charities to meet changing needs within their communities, helping them and the communities they support to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the Coronavirus pandemic.” See further details in our blog here: https://old.scargillmovement.org/2021/05/online-retreats-a-sacred-place/
There is much to give thanks for over this first half of 2021, and we thank you for your friendship to us over these months. We hope that we have brought a message of encouragement and hope to you over this time, and even some laughter!
There are still lots of details to get our heads round on practicalities of opening to guests once more. In this context, Di writes today about the subject of worrying. Enjoy!
Diane writes:
Recently, Shaun sent me a poem from “Swan: Poems and Prose Poems” by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press), which seems to express so eloquently my thoughts and my fears because I am a worrier, I just am. I often lay awake with anxious thoughts running around my brain. Sometimes I awake far too early for my liking, with non-urgent concerns vanishing any idea of further sleep. Then during the day all it takes is for something to be said, especially on the news or I notice a slip-up, a blunder or even an error – heaven forbid, and off I go again. Anyway, here is the poem.
I Worried
I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrow
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it.
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And I gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning
And sang.
Well I probably wouldn’t sing, but I would go in the garden – if the rain has stopped, and sit with a ‘nice cup of tea’. And this poem makes me smile, puts my worries into perspective and reminds me of Jesus’ words:
‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.’ Matthew 10:29-31
Now I know life isn’t this easy, we all have bouts of stress and anxiety, which the pandemic has only fuelled, but this Sunday, we are reminded that on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out upon those followers of Jesus who had waited in the locked room for the Spirit, which was to give them boldness, confidence and the nerve to follow Jesus; to be empowered and encouraged to be living witnesses to a life with Christ or as one of our morning prayers says – to be companions of God. Surely that can give us hope.
So ‘sweet dreams’ everyone and remember. ‘Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me (Jesus!).’John 14
With love and prayers from