Dear Friends,
Thank you for your continued support and we hope that you have enjoyed the latest Momentum and Programme. If you haven’t yet seen it you can find it here.
On Tuesday 10th June, 8-9pm we will be having a livestreamed Community Praise and Prayer in the Chapel which will be available for you to journey with us online and take part through the chat comments.
https://youtube.com/live/YyoWObwXYug
In this Praise and Prayer we will be thanking God for his generous provision and we will be looking forward to the next Phase of our building project. We will also be thanking God for the ministry of Scargill and praying for new Community members to come and join the costly, yet joyful, adventure of Community life.
The Community are doing really well but we are stretched so please do continue to pray for us and our ongoing need for new members. If you know of anyone you think would like to join Community for a short or long time, then do point them to our website here.
Below is Di’s latest reflection. Di and I will be moving on from Scargill to ‘retirement’ next year in June 2026. We would very much value your prayers as there has been a lot of thought about succession planning. We will be advertising for a new Director in the late Summer into September with interviews in late November, and are praying that someone will join the adventure at Scargill at Easter time 2026, where there will be a transition period before we leave.
Di and I would value your prayers as we have yet to discern where God is calling us to live. Here is Di’s reflection. Enjoy!
As many of you will know Phil and I have begun thinking about where we might live when we retire; which seems to be quite a daunting task. Hence, I was pleased to find this painting ‘Springboard’ by Charlotte Evans who puts pools–and especially the ladders that go into them–front and centre of her delightful canvases’ (Jeff 2016 ‘Oh, By The Way’ blog). You see the task does feel a little like stepping off the top diving board! But oh, the sheer joy that comes later.
Now I only ever dived from the top board once or twice at the most but I still remember that slow climb up, then standing on the edge, trying not to look down, willing myself to dive because I knew what was to come – exhilaration, a sense of achievement, freedom – followed by the determination to reach air! But if you don’t mind, we will not mention how the actual dives went, possibly ‘nil points!!’ I would though still love to have the courage to do it again.
Courage is required because stepping out in faith and doing something that God has called us to do can be scary. When you step out into the unknown to do what you believe is God’s will, He may not give you a blueprint to work with, you might need to make that decision to climb to the top board, not knowing how the dive will go – are you going to fall crisply into the water or not? Does it actually matter? No, not really, the only thing that really matters is are we following God?
Now that is the million-dollar question to which I do not have the answer. In fact, it often feels like I am wrestling with God repeatedly asking the questions When? Where? Why? Maybe help can be found in the word ‘wrestling’ – wrestling can lead us to resting which in turn leads us to rest. Now that’s worth noting. Perhaps I need to remember to stop, and intentionally or un-intentionally create a space and invite God in. Not to wrestle with him but for a few minutes to still myself and quieten my restless mind and listen for the still, small voice of God and like Augustine of Hippo allow ‘God to speak to me in the great silence of the heart.’
One of our prayers says:
’Like the sun that is far away, but still close at hand to warm us,
so God’s Spirit is always present around us.
We live breath, work, rest and have our very being in You God.
Open now the windows of our souls so that we can see you.
And when we can see God, we are free to truly love.
Free to truly live.’
Amen
As we seek to understand out next adventure, Phil and I will walk in faith, which is one of the greatest treasures that we possess. Whether we make the wisest decisions or not I do not know but I do believe God will be walking alongside us all the way. As I have said many times before,’ if God is not elsewhere then that means God is here’; here with us now, today, and tomorrow – wherever that will be.
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community