Dear Friends
This comes with much love and prayers to you in this Easter Season. We pray that you may know the love and power of the Risen Lord in your lives.
It was a real joy for the Community to welcome guests for Holy Week and Easter, the first time since 2019. You can catch up on our Good Friday Hour at the Cross and Easter Sunday Service on our YouTube channel.
We are glad to announce that our new combined Momentum magazine and Programme (covering events from September 2022 to February 2023) will be coming through your letter box on Monday 25th April (and go live on the website from around 10am that day). We do hope that you find much to encourage you to continue to journey with us and to plan to book a visit to stay here, amongst the wide variety of events on offer both in-house and online. Please complete your booking forms via the website if at all possible.
Thank you for your prayers for new Community. We are pleased to have welcomed a couple of new members, from Brazil and Pakistan.
We offer enormous congratulations to Sarah and Dani who have added to our Community numbers! Ezra Daniel was born on April 9th, weighing in at 6lb 2oz and is such a wonderful blessing from God. Mum and baby are doing well and we’re all thrilled with the new addition to our Scargill family!
We would very much value your prayers at the beginning of May when we will be interviewing for a new Chaplain, who will be an additional person to work with Mike and the rest of the Pastoral Team.
There is a very helpful blog from Shaun entitled, ‘Closing the wound within’, first published on the Baptist Union of Great Britain website. We are aware that many of us are living in a Holy Saturday moment and this article could be helpful.Thank you Shaun!
Below is Di’s article on the Emmaus Road – Enjoy!
Diane writes:
Nusi, a dear friend of ours from Hungary, first introduced me to this painting one Easter whilst here on community. The painting is entitled Emmaus Road by Miklos Somos. Miklos Somos was born in Hungary in 1933 and died in 2009. Unity and relationships in the world were important to him with his paintings always having a reference to transcendence, state of grace or divine existence, often with a Bible theme.
At first, even though it was Easter! I didn’t recognise the shadow on the wall as Jesus, alas, I don’t think I even saw it! I hope you did! I hope you were drawn to the shadow walking just a little apart from the despondent disciples, perhaps unbeknown to them even leading the way! Anyway here is a clever, gentle painting showing the travellers too busy talking to notice they have been joined by a companion. They are blind to Jesus’ presence; their friend will appear as a stranger, their teacher as a traveller. This painting made me wonder how many times have I been too busy to notice what is happening around me, too busy to really listen to what is being said. Probably far too many. And how many times I have sat in Chapel willing myself to be open to God, to listen for his voice when instead I find myself listening to my thoughts, my concerns and my worries of the day. Again far too many!
But when walking, walking alone or with Ossie, the dog, I find my thoughts disappear and I can begin to feel a companionable presence alongside. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden and he walks with us now. God has promised throughout the scriptures he will be with us always. From Moses to the Jews in exile, from the early persecuted Church to the church of today we can all recall God’s promises to accompany his people.
This past week I have seen community members, Working Friends and guests sitting alongside another, being a companion. They had noticed a need and responded. They had looked with eyes that saw and acted. They listened and shared, probably not for the hours of a long walk, although I know many conversations take place on the walk to Connie Pie, but for the time they have been given. There have been times when we have all been a companion to others. There have been times when we knew we should walk alongside another when perhaps we did, perhaps we didn’t.
As we travel onwards, in this Easter Season, can we seek to be more aware of those who are actually walking alongside us? Can we be a ready companion, an encouraging friend, a listening ear, a source of joy and laughter, a giver of chocolate?
Can we be bringers of hope into this tired and distorted world? I do hope so.
With love and prayers from