Dear Scargillians
It has been some time since we have been in touch so here is a quick update.
We have been beavering away here welcoming guests through our doors, which has been really joyful. The feedback is really encouraging as guests encounter the love of Jesus through Scargill. The Community still remains small and this limits the number of guests we can welcome, which is frustrating. Sometimes, we have as many on the waiting list as we have guests in the house for a programmed event.
Encouragingly the Community is slowly growing, and we have just recently welcomed new Community members from Brazil and Pakistan and there is a trickle of new applications coming in. It is wonderful to have that International flavour as it enriches our lives so much. So we have much to be thankful to God for his ongoing provision and in particular our working friends without whom we would be in great difficulty. Please continue to hold us in your prayers and if there is anything you would like prayer for please email in at prayer@scargillmovement.org – it will be our joy and privilege.
Please find here the leaflet for Lee Abbey Field event for 18 -30 year olds – it used to be the Camp that Di and I were involved in for many years – You may know some young adults who would really enjoy this experience – it is wonderful!
Also, here is a leaflet about some Wild Camping events you or others might be interested in organised by our Matt. It’s likely to be a lot of fun!
Many have missed Di’s reflections – so here is her latest on silence – enjoy!
Diane writes:
The words ‘Silence is golden, golden’ keep singing in my mind with the tune from The Tremeloes released in 1964! (Probably because last Wednesday I made a golden circle to represent the word ‘blessing’). But, perhaps, that came from a brief conversation I had a few days earlier, when at breakfast one of our guests said to me, ’I have been watching you’. Oh help I thought, what does that mean!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apparently, they had noticed during afternoon prayers, focused around silence, me being still and at peace. Well! I was flabbergasted, that is certainly not how I perceive myself and I’m sure most people who know me see someone who is always on a mission, rushing here, there and everywhere. They may also know that, yes, I do have a deep desire to rest in God, to be at peace with myself and yes I am always trying to quieten my spinning mind and find stillness. And, to be honest, I do now enjoy sitting on one of the cushioned chairs (only at 4.30pm mind!), having my bead bracelet to hand and, just occasionally, I have found myself lost in the silence and pleasantly surprised to hear the closing liturgy. I have then truly felt blessed. Yet I still find it so hard to enter into this gift of silence.
The saying though, actually comes from a proverb extolling the value of silence over speech – “Speech is silver, silence is golden”. It most likely originated in Arabic culture, where it was used as early as the 9th century. This wise old proverb simply means that the value of our words can be compared to that of silver, but the value of silence is as precious as that of gold or put another way by Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus “Speech is of Time, Silence is of Eternity.” I was excited when I read these words, for silence leads me into a spacious place with God, silence leads me into his presence. Girolamo Savonarola said, ‘Silence alone makes listening possible – in other words, it alone allows us to welcome within us not only the Word, but also the presence of the One who speaks’.
In ‘Finding Your Hidden Treasure: The Way of Silent Prayer’ Benignus O’Rourke writes, ’To lose the burden of self and rest in God’s love is a pearl of great price’ and later, ‘Our prayer of stillness is all about being with God without any agenda. It is just being there’. He also quotes the following reflection by an unknown writer which he says ‘beautifully sums up our response to the invitation ‘Be still and know that I am God’’.
The Womb of Silence
Not in the whirlwind
not in the lightening,
not in the strife of tongues,
or in the jangling of subtle reasoning
is He found,
but in the still small voice of silence.
Therefore be silent.
Let the past be silent.
Let there be no vain regrets,
no brooding on past failures,
no bitterness,
no judgement of oneself
or others.
Let all be silent.
Be still and know.
Be still and look.
Let the eyes of the mind be closed,
that you may hear
what otherwise you would not hear,
that you may know
what otherwise you would not know.
Abandon yourself to Him,
in longing love, simply,
holding onto nothing but Him.
So you may enter the silence of eternity
and know the union of yourself with Him.
And if in the stillness he does not answer,
He is still there.
His silence is the silence of love.
Wait then in patience
and in submission.
It is good to wait in silence
for his coming.
With love and prayers from