Dear Friends
This, as ever, comes with much love and prayers as well as a deep gratitude for all your support during these days that continue to be challenging.
We’d like to ask you to pray alongside us on Friday 24th September as a day of prayer for new Community.
The number of applications to join Community is currently very low due to the pandemic and implications of Brexit. The current Community is around 23 and, with those who are set to be leaving during the next few months, in January 2022 the size of the community could be 18. The Community are in good heart and we have been very grateful to our Working Friends, without whom we would not be able to fulfil our gift of hospitality.
We have always believed that Scargill is about ‘lives –shared, lives-transformed’ with Jesus at the centre, and we do believe that God will bring the right people to join the Scargill adventure. Please pray with us that the Holy Spirit will be working in those people’s lives to join them to Scargill.
A YouTube resource will be available on our website to help you in your prayers – but whatever you do it will be great if you can pray for Scargill and the Community on Friday 24th September.
Our next online Quiet Day will be on Saturday 9th October and you would be very welcome to join online any of our hybrid events which you can find on our website.
It has been such a joy to be open again to guests and there is no doubt that people are encountering God and His love during their stay.
We look forward to seeing you in person, hopefully in the near future.
Di’s reflection this week explores ‘Treasure’.
Diane writes:
Well Summer is almost over and I’m still waiting for a heatwave! Yes, there have been gorgeous, warm, almost hot, still days but for the most part it feels as if the warmth was lost in dull and grey skies. So here is a picture by Kelly McNeil of her son playing on the beach (Big Beach, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia).
The painting is titled, ‘Discovering a Treasure’, and shows the little boy, feet in the water, looking for something, looking for treasure. And he seems to have found it; perhaps a beautiful shell or some seaweed, a pebble or a few minnows, he will enjoy trying to catch. Perhaps the treasure is in the enjoyment of finding and chasing it! Perhaps not, but all are beautiful gifts from nature.
In Matthew 13, Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field’. The treasure the man found is so precious to him that it completely transforms his life.
Small treasures are there for the finding. I remember one morning, many years ago, when we had two small children under three years old. We were living in Cambridge and Phil was away on placement. Unlike this painting it was a damp, dull Autumn morning and we were walking the dog in one of the gardens. I was tired, annoyed and possibly a little resentful when our eldest cried ‘Mummy come here, come and see the flower’. Over I trudged and saw her standing there with a late blooming flower in her hand (sorry, yes she had picked it) and a wonderful smile on her face. I too smiled, the day was transformed, was there even a hint of sunshine? Rachel had found one of God’s treasures and I have never forgotten it.
This morning Phil reminded me of another treasure – the Holy Spirit that strengthens us from within. As we listened to this song by Alistair MacLean I was struck by the many similarities with my story.
Even though the day be laden
and my task dreary
and my strength small,
a song keeps singing in my heart.
For I know that I am Thine.
I am part of Thee.
Thou art kin to me,
and all my times are in Thy hand.
As we journey on into Autumn can we have expectant hearts to see the treasures God has already prepared for each of us.
With love and prayers from