It was Mary Oliver the poet who wrote ‘attention is the beginning of devotion’ in her collection of essays, Upstream: Selected Essays.[1] One of the things she does is say hello to individual trees, flowers, butterflies, because she knows them as friends. She has walked by them many times. She names them as well. This seems to echo St. Francis when he says hello to Sister Moon and Brother Sun. I think this recognizing and naming is the beginning of devotion, being attentive to the creation all around us.
Many of us are devoted to Scargill, something here has caught and retained our attention. Perhaps, we have had an epiphany, a moment of meeting with God, an experience of wonder. Wonder is a form of attention, sometimes something captures our attention, occasionally we train ourselves to wonder at even the most ordinary of things.
Next time you visit us say hello to your favourite bench, or view or tree. Find out its name or give it a name with the same sense of wonder creatures must have been named in the Garden of Eden. The estate bears repeated considerations of its beauty.
Devotion is an interesting word, and although it is used less and less in literature it is an important word. We should reclaim it. It implies loyalty, selflessness and an act of consistent attention toward something. Originally it had the strength of making a vow or promise. I have seen devotion in the community, devotion amongst working friends, devotion from guests. One thing I have noticed is that this devotion is freely given, not begrudged. It doesn’t seem to come out of a sense of duty, but because somehow the place, the people have caught the attention of our heart.
[1] Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays (New York: Penguin, 2016), loc. 166 of 1669, Kindle.
This week Jo Penn has been writing Morning worship reflections for Sanctuary First (Sun 17 to Sat 23 March 2024). These are based around Mary Magdalene and the women who followed Jesus, and the commandment to love God, love neighbour and love self. Here are three monologues from the perspective of Mary Magdalene: around the cross, the burial and Easter morning (see Sanctuary First for the other reflections):
Shaun Lambert has been writing for the Baptist Times on ‘the upwelling of the Holy Spirit’ – you can see his article here:
Shaun Lambert has written this article for the Baptist Times as part of Mental Health Awareness week (15-21 May) whose focus this year is ‘anxiety’. Shaun shares how his understanding of mindfulness helped to change his perspective and find agency in his anxiety. See here: https://baptisttimes.co.uk/Articles/663616/Finding_agency_in.aspx
One of our resident community (Jo Penn) is guest writer for Sanctuary First this week (Sun 14 to Sat 20 May 2023). Here are the links to the first three of the series – catch the rest on Sanctuary First website.
We are glad to announce that the new Scargill Programme (covering new events both in-house and online from September 2023 to February 2024), combined with our latest Momentum magazine, will be available to book online from Monday 17th April (from after morning coffee) – please place booking requests via the website if possible, as our ‘phone lines will be busy.
Our lovely Admin Team will be working their way through your requests in order, and will respond to specific requests as soon as they are able. We hope that you enjoy our new publication as you read, browse and start to make plans to come to visit us.
We very much value your prayers as also on Monday 17th April Phase 7 of our building work begins, the main focus being the Marsh Lounge.
In the Programme, there is one weekend that we would love to highlight – that is the Coronation Renew Refresh Restore weekend (Friday 5th to Sunday 7th May). We had a group booked for this weekend, that subsequently cancelled, so that gives us an opportunity to open our doors to anyone who would like to come for a relaxing weekend – to watch the coronation, enjoy the Dales and share in the life of the Community. We would love to see you.
Here is a prayer that I wrote for a church weekend, which I have now adapted for us all:
Risen Lord Jesus,We bless you that you have come to bring us transforming life,Brimming over, generous, a life that cannot be contained.Come Holy Spirit and fill us afresh with this lifeSo that together we can live the love and compassion of the Father.We ask this in your glorious name. AmenWe look forward to welcoming you through our doors or seeing you online.
With much love and prayers
Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
At the recent Scargill Movement weekend where Phil Stone was addressing the trustees and other friends of Scargill he spoke about the importance of continuity and change at a time of transition and exciting advance.
That working out of continuity and change happens within a unique space here at Scargill. Psalm 18:19 says ‘He brought me out into a spacious place.’ And psalm 31:8 ‘You have not handed me over to my enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.’ That is also the testimony of many of our guests that when they come to Scargill, it is like being placed in a spacious place by God, a space full of generous hospitality.
But in that spacious place here at Scargill people are enabled to find the spacious place within their own head, a cathedral of spaciousness if you like. They are also helped to move from the small fear screen in their heads where our culture often bounces us. Scott Symington who is a Christian clinical psychologist calls this his ‘Two Screen Model.’ He says ‘imagine your internal world as a media room with two screens. On the wall you see facing forward is the front screen, which represents the present moment and life-giving internal activity…Off to the right, still inside your mind, is a side screen – the place where the fears, worries, unhealthy urges, and destructive moods show up.’[1] It is helpful to know that we can move from our small fear-based screen to our more spacious awareness within.
[1] Scott Symington, Freedom from Anxious Thoughts & Feelings: A Two-Step Mindfulness Approach for moving Beyond Fear and Worry (New Harbinger Publications Inc, 2019, Kindle location 116.
View from Stone’s rest on Scargill estate
One of the tasks of community, working friends and trustees of Scargill, according to Jo, who helps articulate the wisdom of community, is to hold this space for our guest and friends. It’s not all on the community to make things happen, a lot of it is ensuring the space is held for others. It is a bit like being a musician or singer where you extend your own personal space through singing and invite others in. One singer puts it like this:
Something happens and that is I feel the attention comes to me and step into it. I step into a sort of position or place where I feel now my personal space opens up to invite everyone. It’s like you’re welcome to come into my house.[2]
In that sense, part of being on community is to learn to extend our own personal space to hospitably and generously to include others. This is very counter-cultural and takes a while to learn. It is not just that community holds the space of Scargill for others, Scargill itself is what psychologist Donald Winnicott called a holding space or holding environment. He argued that mothers create a holding environment/space for children, but also that therapists can do that, and of course the idea can be extended to the environment of Scargill. Friends and guests come to Scargill feeling fragile, and perhaps about to fall apart but feel held in the space of the house, grounds and the communitas of Scargill. Communitas or the spirit of community is something many people sense here and feel is lacking in their own environment.
Another way Scargill is counter cultural is something Rebecca Solnit reflects on in an article in the London Review of Books. In the article she laments the losses and drastic changes to our lives that the communication and media technologies have wrought since their rise to dominate every waking moment. In particular she laments the loss of open spaces:
The fine art of doing nothing in particular, also known as thinking, or musing, or introspection, or simply moments of being, was part of what happened when you walked from here to there alone, or stared out of the train window, or contemplated the road, but the new technologies have flooded these open spaces. Space for thought is routinely regarded as a void, and filled up with sounds and distractions.[3]
One of the rhythms of Scargill is to allow open spaces during the day and to not try and fill every moment of the day with activity for our guests. This is an important act of cultural resistance. In our own lives it is essential to notice whether we fill every moment and struggle with the open space of free time and nothing to do.
So today may you find the cathedral within, and move out of the small fear-based screen in your mind. In your everyday may you be placed in a spacious place by God. When you come to Scargill may it be a holding space, and may you in turn be a spacious hospital space for others.
[3] Rebecca Solnit, “Diary,” London Review of Books 2013, (my italics) quoted in Andrew Epstein’s Attention Equals Life: The Pursuit of the Everyday in Contemporary Poetry and Culture (Oxford University Press, 2016) Kindle, location 1014-1015.
[2] Freinkel, P. D. (2015). Freinkel, P. D. (2015). Singing and participatory spirituality. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 160, International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34 (1). https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2015.34.1-2.152
Shaun Lambert is a community member currently living in West Hampstead, London. He writes for the Baptist Times about ‘Finding guidance in today’s uncertain world’. See here.
Shaun Lambert writes about the gift of ‘free play’ and its link to creativity
I have been reading a book called Wayfinding by Michael Bond. It is about ‘the art and science of how we find and lose our way.’ Being good at finding your way is something that develops in childhood. Exploring is something we do naturally as a child. As Robert McFarlane puts it in his book Landmarks, when we are children ‘nature is full of doors…and they swing open at every step.’ In the world of imagination ‘A hollow in a tree is a gateway to a castle.’[1]
As we know, however, Michael Bond reminds us ‘the opportunities for children to wander have greatly diminished.’ What he calls a child’s ‘home range,’ how far they are allowed to roam from their home by their parents is drastically reduced right now.[2] This is largely due to traffic and the perception of ‘stranger danger.’[3]The rise of technology, smartphones and the virtual world have also contributed to this ‘living in our head’ rather than exploring our neighbourhood.
If you are reading this and from an older generation, you might have fond memories of going out on your bike all day or wandering around with your friends as a child, playing football in the streets. Clare, my wife, talks about a spinney and a stream they used to play in as children in Coventry. They would jump on their bikes to get there.
This wandering around without any particular purpose or structure is called ‘free play.’[4] Being able to wander about a larger space and work out how to navigate that space is very good for our children’s development. I am struck by how much children love Scargill. The house is a maze in which they can run around, and play hide and seek. They can get lost and find themselves again. They have the joy of discovering what feels like a secret room, or a magical wardrobe.
Then there is the space outside, the 90 acres of land. They can enjoy the playground, run through the meadow, look for butterflies, see a deer eating from the compost heap. They can meet a dog, cats, chickens – see swifts, swallows, house martins – hear the pheasants and curlews. They can look for water beetles, and newts in the pond (safely supervised of course)! They can paddle in the river Wharfe on a sunny day followed by an ice cream in Kettlewell village.
This year, at our three Summer Fests, children have been on our amazing waterslide, learnt archery, done treasure hunts, been introduced to singer-songwriters, actors, and magicians. At Scargill the community has learnt to trust the space around us, it begins to weave its spell of healing and freedom when allowed to do so.
Psychologist Peter Gray argues that ‘free play is the means by which children learn to make friends, overcome their fears, solve their own problems, and generally take control of their own lives…Nothing that we do, no amount of toys we buy or ‘quality time’ or special training we give our children, can compensate for the freedom we take away.’[5]
‘Play’ is of course a core value at Scargill and reflected implicitly in the community Pathway promises. I have seen it in action many times! Play leads to the release of creativity. Creativity is the antidote to our world of fear and uncertainty and the narratives that offer us no hope.
[1] Quoted in Michael Bond, Wayfinding (Picador, 2020), 23.
[2] Bond, 24.
[3] Bond, 25-26.
[4] Bond, 29.
[5] Peter Gray, Free to Learn: Why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life (Basic Books, 2013, 5, quoted in Bond, 29.
‘If you build it they will come’ is a famous line often misquoted from the film Field of Dreams (it was actually, ‘if you build it he will come’). In this homage to baseball the farmer hears a voice telling him to build a baseball pitch in his cornfield to attract the ghosts of former baseball players who need a chance at redemption.
As a saying it can be applied to wildlife ponds, ‘if you build it (a wildlife pond) they (the wildlife) will come!’ That’s exactly what we have found with our pond here at Scargill. We have water beetles, pond skaters, water boatmen, dragon fly larvae, mayfly, and at least one tadpole. Most excitingly we have three newts. An interesting question is how did the newts find the pond?
Apparently, newts follow the scent of water, or by following the mating calls of common toads.
Pond in the Sensory Garden
The pond began life with a team from A Rocha working with the Estate team between the 24-28 May 2021, just over year ago. It was carefully located above the chapel lawn, to be in a flat area, with light and shelter. It has a shallow end so that creatures like hedgehogs coming for a drink can crawl out.
Since the initial work, the pond liner was laid, the pond filled and oxygenating plants like Marsh Marigolds, Water Lilies and others placed in it in pots. There are rocks around some of the plants to provide platforms and shelter. Bees and bumblebees have loved the plants as they have flowered. There are plants around the edge which will trail into the water along with the grass that surrounds the pond which newts also like.
We have called our newts names like Sir Isaac, Olivia, Ron and King Can! A little video is attached of the Scargill newts. We believe they are common or smooth newts. As a Scargill first we led a mindful newt spotting workshop recently.
Trying to spot the amphibians or the other wildlife is a very mindful exercise. Firstly, you must be patient. If you are bored within 30 seconds, then notice the feeling and switch your attention back to the pond. Attention and awareness is a created gift from God with different elements. We can focus our attention on one part of the pond, perhaps one of the plant pots the newt might be sheltering under, a bit like a spotlight of attention. Or you can have a more open awareness where you are openly aware of the whole pond, more like a floodlight of awareness. Your eye will be drawn to any movement, and you will be led back into a focused attention.
If this practice of sustained attention is new to you your mind will wander frequently, taking you out of the present moment and an observant state. You have a beautiful capacity called meta-awareness, where one part of your mind can notice that another part of your mind has wandered. Do notice what your mind has wandered too and bring it back to the pond. With practice this will enable you to learn to both sustain and switch your attention – eventually leading to a capacity to be more deeply attentive – which is life in all its fullness! One of the joys here at Scargill is being part of a community that takes ecology and the care of creation seriously. It was one of the aspects of community life that drew me here. How about you?
If you want to know more about joining community please visit our Joining Community page.
We are glad to announce the publication of our new Programme combined with Momentum (covering new events from September 2022 to February 2023). 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.
Search for new Scargill TrusteesExciting opportunities are arising for you or people you know to join our group oftrustees on Council. Most of you will know that the Trustees are legally responsible for Scargill and, with Phil (the Director) and the leadership team, set the strategic direction of Scargill. Trustees are not involved in the day to day operations except maybe as working friends. Over the next 6-9 months it is likely we will have at least 6 vacancies covering the following areas of skills we need:
– Urban ministry
– Inclusion
– Environmental issues and planning towards zero carbon emissions
– IT and Social Media
– Building maintenance and estate management
We need to enhance our balance of gender and ethnic representation on the Council.
So if you feel able to offer your skills in any of these areas and would like to be part of walking with God as he leads us through the next few years of life and ministry of Scargill – or if you can encourage others you know who might – please get in touch by sending a CV to the secretary of the Council Sheila Thompson (council.secretary@scargillmovement.org) outlining the areas you think you can best contribute.
Or email Phil (phil@scargillmovement.org) to arrange a phone conversation if you’d like to discuss it first!
We live in a world of information overload and where knowledge is easy to find online. What is more difficult to access is wisdom. Intentional communities have accumulated wisdom since the early church and the days of ‘all the believers were together and had everything in common.’ (Acts 2:44)
Part of the oral wisdom here at Scargill that appeared in morning prayers a while back was, ‘not what do you want to do, but what sort of life do you want to live?’ This is a profound question, and one whose time has come. One of the most common experiences we have heard from guests during this COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown is an amplification of loneliness. Perhaps your answer to the question, ‘what sort of life do I want to live?’ might be, ‘not a lonely one.’
We have been created for relationship, and yet community and the sense of belonging is a scarce commodity in this uncertain new world. Perhaps your answer to the question about the sort of life you want to live, is ‘one lived in community.’ This goes against the flow of our individualistic and materialistic society, where even more we have learnt to live in little bubbles, on our own, or with just a few others.
Intentional community is a place of shelter, but as one of our members of community put it, ‘it is not all jelly babies and peace!’ In community we live by the accumulated wisdom of others who have wrestled fiercely with the theory and practice of living a common life together. If you are to live in community then you need to give something up. In our culture we are taught that freedom is found when we are not beholden or bound to anyone else. The truth is freedom is only found with each other not separately from each other.
One answer that Jesus offers to the question, ‘what sort of life do I want to live?’ is ‘life in all its fullness.’ (John 10:10) I believe life in all its fullness is found in community. If you are asking a new question in your life which isn’t about doing, but more about being, then perhaps it is a whisper from God to consider living in community. We would love to hear from you.
There’s a series of videos on our Join Community page entitled Life in Community which are various community members sharing some of their reflections and experience of being part of the Scargill Community.
Hello, my dear friends! My name is Remiel from Hong Kong, one of the newest members of community. I am so happy that one of my friends, a guest here, suggested me to come here. Because at that time I wished to join a community and also, I can learn about how to build good community life in Europe. And learn how to be a good community builder in the future, especially in the European church. So now I was invited to join the kitchen team. We work hard every day but I am learning a lot form the kitchen team. I am learning to work with people from different backgrounds. I’m learning very practical skills both in the kitchen and our daily life. I hope I will learn a lot and that I will find an enjoyable life here at Scargill.
What have you enjoyed so far?
I have enjoyed the work in the kitchen, the bible study group time, prayers, and having some time for silence and learning. I can learn how to adjust my manner with the people and the guests.
You’ve got the practical stuff in the kitchen, preparing meals for people, a bit like Jesus prepared a meal for his disciples, that’s the spiritual principle. Are there any other spiritual things we do you’ve enjoyed?
I think it’s quite hard to separate out different parts of one’s spirituality. Because when I was serving the meals to the guests, I think this is very important to my spiritual life. I can try to practise how to be hospitable to different needs, as well as pick up on people’s feelings. I would also like to practise group leading during the dinner times. We are invited to talk to our guests, to listen, perhaps to draw out someone who is quieter.
Brilliant! And what were you doing in Hong Kong?
Before coming to Scargill I was working as a freelancer, doing translation, teaching, and telephone interviews. Before that I was finishing a Master’s degree in theology.
You’ve already visited London, Leeds, Skipton and Grassington, what motivates your curiosity?
I have visited friends and of course curiosity is a very good reason. For Skipton I want to experience and feel how life is lived by people here. Another reason is going to a church which has a connection with me.
You’re from a Lutheran background?
Yes, yes, I am!
Can you say a prayer for us?
Dear Lord thank you that we can meet in Scargill and keep learning here. And keep growing as well. We can come together in a community the way Jesus came together with his disciples. Jesus, I pray you shape us in this kind of community life. Also, a blessing on our guests from different places, from Britain and different cultures. I would like to send blessings to people from different countries. My prayer is also for the Hong Kong people. Please hear our prayer in Jesus’ name Amen.
Thank you Remiel, may your stay here be a blessing as you bless us!
Dear Friends
We are delighted to say that our new Programme with Momentum magazineis released today. It covers new events from March through to August 2022, and lists events with spaces remaining for January and February 2022.
We are very pleased with the variety of events and speakers you have to choose from. You can find it on the website, and those of you who signed up for a paper copy will have one coming through your letter box.
The programme lists both in-house and online events. We have made a couple of our events in January and February 2022 into hybrid events (previously these were only in-house), so you can now also join us from the comfort of your own home. Do check out the list of ways that you can join us and form community by either visiting in person or gathering together online.
The Programme is not as full as it has been in the past as this reflects the size of the Community, which remains small, but also the desire to care for our guests and Community as we continue to navigate through the Pandemic. We look forward so much to welcoming you again through our doors.
We still long for new Community members so would you continue to pray for us and spread the word. Thank you! Details of how to join Community areon our website.
So, we would like to welcome you to come alongside us as we pray on Monday 13th December from 10am, specifically for God to increase the number of people on Community. A prayer sheet will be available on our website to help you in your prayers.
In the evening, you are very welcome to join us for our Praise and Prayer Meeting which will be on Zoom from 8-9pm. Please be open to the Holy Spirit for words, scriptures and pictures as we pray and worship together.
As Jacob said in his wrestling with God, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ (Genesis 32:26). We believe that we need to wrestle for a blessing.
If you want to book for the Praise and Prayer evening via Zoom, which we would strongly encourage you to do, then book your free ticket here.
With much love in this Advent Season,
Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
Dear Friends
Looking to 2022 we are faced with a real challenge. Our current number on Community is about 23 and our desire, to fulfil the ministry of Scargill, is to grow the resident community to 32.
In the Programme, that will be with you on Monday, we have had to limit the number of guests we can take to balance the number of community available to offer hospitality.
[Note that our programme will not be available to book online until office hours have begun on Monday morning. Please be patient with our bookings team as we try to process your booking requests in the most efficient way that we can.]
We all know and love Scargill, and we are always wonderfully surprised at how our loving God speaks into people’s lives when we try our very best to offer a Jesus-centred hospitality. The testimonies since we have re-opened have been so encouraging and amazing.
So, we would like to welcome you to come alongside us as we pray on Monday 13th December from 10am. A prayer sheet will be available on our website to help you in your prayers.
In the evening, you are very welcome to join us for our Praise and Prayer Meeting which will be on Zoom from 8-9pm. Please be open to the Holy Spirit for words, scriptures and pictures as we pray and worship together.
As Jacob said in his wrestling with God, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ (Genesis 32:26). We believe that we need to wrestle for a blessing.
If you want to book for the Praise and Prayer evening via Zoom, which we would strongly encourage you to do, then book your free ticket here.
Scargill Chapel Foundation stone
With much love in this Advent Season,
Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
On Saturday 23 rd October 2021 at 2 p.m. a tree was planted in memory of the martyred Ugandan Archbishop Janani Luwum in the Marsh Garden at Scargill House by his son Andrew Luwum and the Revd Canon Phil Stone, Director of Scargill. A plaque originally erected in memory of the Archbishop at St. John’s College Nottingham on the 18 April 1977 just two months after Janini’s tragic death was also relocated, following the closure of St. John’s. In the original ceremony in 1977 in Nottingham a tree was also planted, which sadly blew down in high winds in 2012. The service of remembrance was attended by many people including, Andrew the Archbishop’s son, his wife Harriet and daughter Precious Samalie, as well as Canon Dr Christina Baxter CBE and Bishop Colin Buchanan, both former Principals of St. John’s Nottingham, former students, and Mrs Kate Galpin (86) who was a missionary with her husband Alan in Northern Uganda when Janini was Bishop there. A longer article will appear in the next Momentum magazine.
COP26 in Glasgow the 1st to 12th November 2021 is the UN’s 26th annual climate change conference of the parties who signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1994.
The headlines say that climate change is the biggest risk we face as human beings. We have all read about increases in global temperature causing devastating storms, floods, and wildfires. The carbon emissions from our way of life are responsible for this rise in temperature, and significant problems with air pollution. It is developing industrial nations that suffer the most from climate change.
Like our eco-partner A Rocha UK we are committed to not only caring for our small piece of creation but the whole earth. For this reason, we are following COP 26 closely, and praying regularly for good outcomes. COP26 has been called the world’s ‘last best chance’ to control runaway climate change.
The big challenge set at COP21 in Paris in 2015 was to limit the increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees this century. We are not on track to do this and so a major focus for COP26 is to revisit this and set new emissions reduction targets.
It is also clear that all nations need to work together and that rich nations need to help developing nations. A Rocha point out that it is not just a frightening change in dramatic weather patterns at stake, there is ‘even faster global biodiversity loss,’ even greater ‘disruption to human life,’ and increasing eco-anxiety amongst young people.
This week pray in the words of A Rocha, that there will be a ‘rising to the moment.’
Our very own Jo Penn, Community member, is guest writer for Sanctuary First Daily Worship this week (Sun 12 to Sat 18 September). Check out the first two posts here, and follow them for the rest of the week:
Tim is interviewed by fellow community member Jacob about his summer spent as part of the Community at Scargill House.
What took a year to build and cost £15,000? What has panga panga blocks and Columbian pine beams? Where do we find unpolished mahagony and limestone sourced locally, some from the estate? Where do we find something shaped like a carpenter’s bench, and what is it? What are panga panga blocks resistant to in their native country?
The answer is of course the chapel which was dedicated on the 8th of April 1961 by the Lord Bishop of Liverpool. For the other questions, why don’t you have a guess and email us at admin@scargillmovement.org with your answers.
Since we have been open at the beginning of June this year a number of new guests have treasured their time in the chapel, and there has been at least one life given to Jesus over these last few months. We have also had folk who have been here in the past come in just to look at the chapel. We even had an architectural student who stopped by to admire it.
It is a Grade II listed building designed by York architect George Pace in the Modernist style, wood, and rock and sky glued together. At its dedication the Bishop of Bradford said the blessing and Revd Geoffrey Rogers, the then Warden of Lee Abbey said prayers. Dr Donald Coggan a famous friend of Scargill was that Bishop and went on to be the Archbishop of York and of Canterbury.
The spectacular sweeping roof is made of grey cedar shingles. The architect was also involved in the design of the wrought iron cross behind the altar, and the pattern for the kneelers. The clear latticed windows are designed that a worshipper might be encouraged to lift their eyes up to the hills (Psalm 121). They also let in all the light of the sky and the Dales.
In stormy weather the chapel creaks and groans like a ship in sail, and you are transported to Galilee and imagining yourself on a fishing boat with Jesus. Shaped like praying hands it has held thousands of people, young and old from every background in its embrace, in joy and in sorrow, a thin place where heaven and earth can meet.
At the moment the community prays three times a day. It is a place where in silence and solitude you can be alone in its light, but not lonely. Or you can worship with 150 others and be taken out of your own self into God’s presence. If you have a memory or a photo of the chapel do send it to shaun.lambert@scargillmovement.org. In remembering the good things of the past, we can be grateful in the present and hopeful for the future.
We are Partners in Action with the Christian eco-charity A Rocha UK. A Rocha are creating a community of ordinary Christians they are calling ‘Wild Christian’ which explores ‘the connections between our Christian faith, the natural environment and how we live.’ You can find out more via this link https://arocha.org.uk/wildchristian/.
You are encouraged by A Rocha to get attentively and creatively involved, in themes like nature and climate, nature and the UK, nature and the global, nature and the local, nature and celebration. You can explore the connections between yourself and the wild through art, poetry, action and so many other ways. We can also immerse ourselves in the wild.
Here at Scargill Movement on community we have an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the local, in the wild Yorkshire Dales around us. Whether it is wild swimming in the river Wharfe, rock climbing Kilnsey Crag, paragliding with views of Scargill House, cycling, fell running, walking the Dales, braving the steppingstones, or toasting marshmallows over a fire pit – there is so much for the adventurous soul!
And then there is the wildlife. You might catch a slug bungee jumping! Or help identify spittle bugs, Bird-cherry Ermine moths all wrapped up in silken webs on bird cherry trees, or Speckled Yellow, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Peacock, and Speckled Wood butterflies. You will have deer outside your front door in the hay meadow, barn owls and tawny owls haunting your dreams with their calls and silent flight.
We have the huge privilege of enabling others as guests and friends, young and old experience something of the ‘wild Christian.’ We might be maintaining the 90 acres of unspoilt creation on the estate team, or feeding the community, guests and friends after adventure, or creating beautiful and comfortable rooms for them to sleep…we might be hosting, and welcoming, and praying, and leading our retreats and Quiet Days, or helping with our online ministry – together creating a space of hospitiality and thin place to experience God’s presence and generosity.
Whether we are cultivating holy noticing of an otter or kingfisher on the river Wharfe or possible moments of meeting with a guest, friend, or God – we do learn to be attentive to the little details of the wild around us, we learn something of the creative Word God has placed in each member of community, as well as the joy of sharing in the stories of our guests and friends. This is an apprenticeship in discipleship with community and kingdom at the heart of it.
If your heart is strangely warmed reading this, then perhaps God is calling you to experience the adventure of community, to immerse yourself in an Acts 2 moment, being together and sharing a common life. That’s pretty wild and adventurous! Here is a link to explore this: https://old.scargillmovement.org/join-community/.
A working party from A Rocha UK were with us here at Scargill Monday 24th May to Friday 28th May. They were leading a bioblitz, an intense period of biological surveying, especially focusing on plant and bird life on our 90-acre estate. They were also working with the Estate team at Scargill in building an accessible wildlife pond and sensory garden, with pathway, seating area, stumpery (see later), and hazel arch entrance.
Here at Scargill we love caring for God’s creation and we are part of A Rocha’s Partner in Action conservation network. Our lead with A Rocha is community member Chloe Leigh. We asked Chloe some questions about the bioblitz and pond project.
Chloe, how was it working with A Rocha? Now be honest!
‘Oh, it was brilliant! They’re such a lovely and dedicated group to work with. Andy led the bioblitz group in surveying the estate, and Regina led the group working on the pond area. Every meal and break time we would sit and compare notes on how we were getting on, and it was lovely to hear everyone’s achievements and experiences of the day. Everyone had a very positive working attitude and we achieved so much in just a short length of time! I really hope we can work together again in the future.’
Can you give us one exciting finding from the bioblitz?
‘Well, we’re yet to find out the survey results, but I did hear that we have several rare species onsite. They also set up a wildlife camera at the top of the estate, so it will be fascinating to see what species they managed to capture on camera.’
How pleased were you with how far you got with the wildlife pond?
‘Very pleased! We managed to dig the pond, shape it, make a raised seating area, dig, and line the paths, build a stumpery (a rockery made from tree stumps), build a bench and extend the dry-stone wall – all in just three days! It was very impressive how everyone was so dedicated and worked so hard to complete their tasks, and I appreciate the working friends coming to offer their support as well.’
What needs to happen next?
‘Next we actually need to fill the pond! However, before we do that we need to put up natural fencing (for health and safety reasons) and put the liner in. We also need to weave the arch, make a path through the woodland and build an insect hotel! We’ve come such a long way from just a piece of paper with a sketched drawing on and an empty plot of land– we’ve got a wildlife garden well under way! I can’t wait for more guests to come and sit on our benches to admire the beautiful view down the valley, and to praise God’s wonderful creation.’
A new opportunity for guests is to visit our new Lament sculpture in the walled garden commissioned by Scargill from former community member and sculptor Lizzy Taylor. We asked her a few questions about being on community and the genesis of the sculpture.
Tell us about living on community?
‘Living on community is a special experience that I don’t think you can fully understand unless you’ve experienced it yourself. It was a time for me to grow as a person and learn to be comfortable and have confidence with my decisions…or lack of decisions in life and faith. Being surrounded by such accepting, lovely people who give you the freedom to explore and ask questions and love you for who you are whilst challenging you to do the same for others, loving and accepting others for who they are.
The biggest challenge for me wasn’t living in community itself, but actually working and welcoming guests and letting them share a snippet of community life-feeling safe in community makes you vulnerable to people coming and going as guests. But of course, it comes hand in hand and community life wouldn’t happen like it does without the guests!’
How did you get interested in sculpture?
‘I have always been creative. Since I was very young, I was interested in woodwork and art which led me to do sculpture and then furniture design and craft. Working in 3D comes naturally to me and I’m able to visualise things. Sculpture enables me to be more experimental and work without constraints.’
You’ve done some other work for Scargill?
‘I have changed many of the beds and cleaned a lot of toilets in my time at Scargill! I also had fun carving an owl from a tree that had fallen which you can find on the estate walk. Suz, a previous community member on the Estate team asked me to do it!’
Tell us about this new commission for Scargill ‘Lament’?
‘I was approached to design a lament prayer station and it was suggested to have a small, portable one that could be used in the chapel and provide a safe place for someone to engage with.
When thinking more about the brief, I felt that maybe the Chapel wasn’t the best place for this as personally I don’t find it easy to express difficult emotions in Church spaces. For me, being outside in nature is where I feel closer to God, and it’s somewhere I feel the freedom to feel whatever I feel – positive or negative emotions. The walled garden seemed the perfect safe space for this to be.
The small, portable prayer station soon didn’t seem appropriate for what we were trying to achieve. When faced with grief and sorrow, it doesn’t feel small, and I wanted the sculpture to recognise that. It can feel like you hit a wall…. something that’s impossible to see beyond, something overpowering and bigger than you. The lament sculpture came into sight and it needed to be big!
The following Psalms were mentioned in an early meeting about the idea:
Psalm 22 “My God my God why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 56 “You have stored up my tears in your bottle and counted each one of them” Psalm 88 “Darkness is my only friend.”
These have inspired the different aspects that have been incorporated within the sculpture. The large sculpture represents the wall you can feel faced with and the darkness is shown in the scorched surface. It provides a safe place to question and entrust your laments within the holes and cracks of the wall, and the water is to recognise peoples tears and cry over their questions and thoughts.
I hope people find the space that has been created helpful, and although the vision for it came before the pandemic, perhaps the timing of it is especially needed after the challenging year and months everyone has faced.’
What would be your dream as a sculptor?
‘I would love to work full time as an artist/craftswoman. I just love to make beautiful things for others to enjoy.’ We believe Lizzy’s sculpture is a prophetic and timely piece of art that will resonate with many of our friends. We also believe it will help us express both our sorrow and our joy, our tears and our laughter as we meet God in the thin place that is the walled garden.
As a community here at Scargill we are currently studying about different sacred spaces we inhabit. In lockdown we have heard consistently that our online presence has been a ‘sacred space’ for our guests and friends. As lockdown eases and we can welcome guests and friends to stay with us physically we want to still offer a vibrant online programme.
To enable us to substantially improve our online presence we are planning to invest in improvements to our technology and digital capabilities. This will continue to ensure that people experience Scargill Movement online as a sacred space, where they can be part of an online community. Allchurches Trust have given us a generous grant to help us launch this new project.
Dave Lucas our Operations & Project Leader who put together the grant request, and will run the project of digital improvements says, ‘I am delighted with the Allchurches Trust grant from the Hope Beyond project, and I believe that is what we can continue to offer with their financial help – hope beyond lockdown!’
Allchurches Trust is one of the UK’s largest grant-making charities and gave more than £23 million to churches, charities and communities in 2020. Its funds come from its ownership of Ecclesiastical Insurance Group. Visit their website: http://www.allchurchestrust.co.ukfor more information.
If you want to know more about this digital improvement project and our plans to get in touch with Dave at dave.lucas@scargillmovement.org.
Hugh Warwick is an ecologist, author and leading expert on hedgehogs. As part of our A Rocha partnership we at Scargill have started a hedgehog project, and we approached Hugh for some advice. He was not only very helpful for the estate here, but if you have a garden at home Hugh has some great tips for being hedgehog friendly. Chloe is our lead on the A Rocha partnership. This is the first of some exciting blogs with an ecological theme – do look out for more.
After the Second World War there was a turn to community inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, and communities and retreat centres like Lee Abbey were set up. Some believe there will be a similar turn to the kingdom and early church value of community in our post-pandemic lockdown world, as many reassess their priorities in the light of the shaking of all our old certainties.
Scargill Movement as a vibrant international community of all ages set in 90 acres of God’s beautiful creation offers the hospitality and the generosity of the kingdom to guests coming on retreat looking to experience wellbeing, healing and transformation.
We are now asking God’s Holy Spirit to lead to us those called to join community in this new season as we move forward on the road map to recovery along with so many others. If that is you, and your heart is being moved to explore the more of God’s life in all its fullness then follow this link and send us an inquiry.
Jo Penn has been writing Daily Prayer reflections for Sanctuary First this week (Sunday 17th through to Saturday 23rd Jan 2021). Here are the links to the first and last in the series – check them out.
During these strange times, familiar relationships can be even more important than ever. Whilst we are unable to welcome guests to Scargill, one of the ways we would like to stay in contact is to write a fortnightly letter. These will include reflections and encouragements from different Scargill folk, news of upcoming online Scargill events and other community updates.
We are very thankful for the donations and messages of encouragement that we have received in recent days. Thank you so much for your generous support.
We continue to hold a rhythm of prayer and it would be a privilege to pray for you and the situations you are facing. You can e-mail us at: prayer@scargillmovement.org
We would very much value your prayers for us as we journey through this unfamiliar and challenging landscape. Please pray for the Community as we discover what is to be our ‘voice’ during this time.
Generosity is a ‘Kingdom Value’ that we keep learning about at Scargill. Here are a few thoughts from Phil:
What we love about Jesus is that he shows us the heart of the Father. In John’s gospel Jesus says ‘I can only do what I see my Father doing’ (John 5:19). And we see that Jesus is always generous, always giving more than enough, some would say he is gloriously extravagant, others would say over the top. I mean water into wine (John 2) is a miracle of transformation and such generosity showing the heart of God – isn’t that just wonderful! And again, in Luke 5, enough fish that boats began to sink, and then later plenty of bread and fish to feed thousands (John 6). Jesus shows us the nature of God, who always has been generous, never more so than in wilderness situations. A wonderful example of this was the giving of manna (Exodus 16), where the people of God surprisingly found abundant grace. I photographed this art installation at St Anne’s, Manchester, portraying the wonderful gift of manna.
Our current situation has forced us into a wilderness, and it has been heart-warming to hear the stories of generosity from many people. I heard of a family who put a table at the bottom of their drive with toilets rolls and packets of pasta on it with a notice saying ‘please take one’. Walter Brueggemann points out:
‘That journey from anxious scarcity through miraculous abundance to a neighbourly common good has been peculiarly entrusted to the church.’
Our narrative is shaped by Jesus who calls us to be generous. What would that look like for you? In what ingenious way might the Holy Spirit be asking you to show the heart of God? Where can you bring hope in these wilderness days?
Gracious God, Confront us with your heart of generosity, Your extravagant love. Unlock our hearts, free us from our anxious ways, Show us through your Spirit how to be a generous offering. In Jesus’ name – Amen
With our love
Phil, Diane & the Scargill Community
Dear Friends
This comes with much love and prayers from the Scargill Movement during these very challenging and disorientating times. The coronavirus has truly turned all our lives upside-down.
Since our last guests left, followed then by the National lockdown, the Community have taken specific precautions to protect themselves from the virus and we are glad to say that the Community are well. To mitigate any risk, the Community are living under restrictions which go beyond those being asked by the Government.
As we pray for you, please pray for us as many of our overseas Community are unable to go home, even if they wanted to do so. Community life during this time is challenging and when the lockdown is eventually eased we will be finding ways to make the Community gradually smaller for now, which will help us to manage the situation in many ways.
From a Council perspective, we are enormously grateful to Phil, Di, Dave and others in the Leadership Team, for the pastoral care and support given to the community during this time, along with all the attention to detail which has gone into navigating different aspects of this unchartered territory.
As for all of us, the situation we find ourselves in has huge financial implications. We are very grateful for the financial support that we have received from many Scargillians. People have been wonderfully generous, and we know that others are planning to support us in this way. This will sustain us for we know it is going to be a considerable time before we see guests again. Thank you for this practical expression of your love and commitment, and you can be assured that the Council and Leadership Team are, as always, working closely together, as we monitor the financial and business aspects of Scargill’s life at this challenging time.
As we go forward in a landscape which is so unfamiliar we would like to connect with you. In these times we need the support of one another more than ever. The Community are keeping a rhythm of prayer, and if you have anything that you would like us to pray for please do e-mail it through to prayer@scargillmovement.org
We are also hoping, in the relatively near future, to try our hand at some on-line retreats, and we are beginning to keep in touch with people through the wonders of Zoom and other means. Again, please be in touch (hello@scargillmovement.org) if these are ways that you would like to connect. What we have treasured always at Scargill is relationships, our relationship with God and one another, and maybe through all this we are learning how we may nurture this deep truth, which may be reflected in the ‘new normal’ when we come out of this crisis.
Our doors will one day be open again to be God’s hospitality, but in the meantime let us stay connected, with encouragement, compassion, humour, love and prayer.
To finish, a short reflection from John’s gospel (John 20:19) where the disciples are locked for fear in the Upper Room. The risen Jesus comes amongst them and they recognise him through the wounds of love. It is love that dispels fear, as St John in his letter reminds us (1 John 4:18). Jesus speaks twice the words, ‘Peace be with you’ and breathes on them that they may be filled with the Holy Spirit. During these times, when difficulties and dark days can envelop us, may we hear and know these words from Jesus for ourselves.
Here is one of our prayers from our morning prayer sheets:
Spirit of peace Quiet our hearts Heal our anxious thoughts, Free us from our fretful ways, Breathe on us your Holy calm So that in the stillness of your presence We may open ourselves to trust and be transformed.
With love and prayers
+Chris and Phil
Bishop Chris Edmondson (Chair of the Council) and Revd Canon Phil Stone (Director and Community Leader)
Dear Friends
This comes with much love and prayers to you all as we continue to be in these bewildering and unknown times. Please continue to look at our Facebook page and website where we will do our very best to give hope through prayers, reflections and no doubt some humorous stuff that will make us smile. We do see the priority in physical distancing but our intention is to be very social for we will need each other.
The last few guests left last week and we are now in to a 14 day ‘lock-down’ where we will be living in small household groups. This is to make sure that if any of us are carrying the virus we have a plan to contain it. During this time we will be continuing our rhythm of prayer, and please do e-mail us if there is anything that we can specifically pray for you.
As we pray for you, please pray for us as many of our overseas community are unable to go home, even if they wanted to do so. As for all of us, the situation we find ourselves has a huge financial impact but we are committed to continue to support the Community in regard to allowances for the long-term future.
Our doors will one day be open again to be God’s hospitality, but in the meantime we are becoming a Community with a focus on prayer. This is a wonderful opportunity to develop our relationship with our gracious God as well as to learn to truly listen.
To finish, a short reflection from John’s gospel (John 20:19) where the disciples are locked for fear in the Upper Room. The risen Jesus comes amongst them and they recognise him through the wounds of love. It is love that dispels fear, as St John in his letter reminds us (1 John 4:18). Jesus speaks twice the words, ‘Peace be with you’ and breathes on them that they may be filled with the Holy Spirit. During these times, may we hear and know these words for ourselves.
So here is one of our prayers from our morning prayer sheets:
Spirit of peace Quiet our hearts Heal our anxious thoughts, Free us from our fretful ways, Breathe on us your Holy calm So that in the stillness of your presence We may open ourselves to trust and be transformed.
Phil Stone
Strong Foundations, New Beginnings
‘Rooted and Grounded in Love’
The order of the Holy Paraclete and Scargill Movement are delighted to announce that we are joining hands to create and support a new charity – St. Oswald’s Community.
St. Oswald’s House, nr. Sleights, Whitby (currently St. Oswald’s Pastoral Centre) has been a place of prayer, rest and retreat for many years; lovingly looked after by sisters from OHP. Both communities are excited about the birth of St Oswald’s Community.
Paul and Jackie Reily, who have been part of the Scargill Community for the last five and a half years, will be leading the new ecumenical community. They look forward to welcoming visitors, old and new. We are thankful for all that has been and are excited to see what God will do in a new season of St. Oswald’s life. The beautiful and challenging prayer of Ann Lewin comes to mind:
Flame dancing Spirit Flame-dancing Spirit, come, Sweep us off our feet and Dance us through our days. Surprise us with your rhythms, Dare us to try new steps, explore New patterns and new partnerships. Release us from old routines, To swing in abandoned joy And fearful adventure, And in the intervals, Rest us, In your still centre.
Ann Lewin, Watching for the Kingfisher
St. Oswald’s Pastoral Centre will close at the end of September 2020 and after a very short pause, St. Oswald’s House will open to receive visitors at the beginning of November 2020.
We value your prayers at this time.
Ruth Yeoman recalls a childhood of picnics, extended family and growing up as part of the very first Scargill Community.
I was born at Amber Cottage, Kettlewell in September 1960. After their marriage in April 1959 my parents joined the Scargill Community; my dad, Richard as the Estate Manager and my mum Shirley to work on the House Team.
It was incredible to be a first-born among such an array of loving and supportive adults; surrogate ’aunts and uncles’, who popped up all over the place; to babysit, to share in a task, to sit next to in the chapel or come to our house so that Mum could share in prayers, to encourage me on through snow up to Hag Dyke at New Year where there was lunch and roaring fires all waiting for us, or pile into the cottage for coffee on a Sunday morning after worship at Kettlewell Parish Church, where Dad became a churchwarden.
The House and grounds at Scargill and the surrounding Dales were a wonderful playground and source of endless adventure and opportunity: Throstles Nest for summer picnics by the river, children’s games during the holidays with families staying at Scargill. Much of the time dad drove around in the Landover. Occasionally I could join him strapped in, as we climbed up rough and ready tracks or down into the valleys. We would meet guests out in the Dales with food and drink to sustain them for the afternoon.
Was the House running low on water? Dad showed me where to look up at the reservoir at the top of the Scar to see if the marker on the water was visible and if not we would cross the road below the House to turn on the pump to bring water up to the necessary level. Apparently dad’s instructions for this are still being used!
Dad seemed pretty fearless and endlessly practical. He was soon taking groups potholing and was a member of the Wharfedale Fell Rescue for almost a decade.
There were sorrows too. I remember a large more muted gathering to dedicate the new Marsh Lounge. Later I was to learn of how Dick Marsh and his fellow climber had both died in an accident on Coniston Old Man.
It was a busy life, but always one where people were ready to pray and be supportive, where needs were the mother of invention, with laughter and fun accompanying the daily round to be ready to welcome the next group of guests.
Looking back I am sure that this early experience of community and lived out Christian faith has shaped my life and the person I have become, together with the many Scargill members from the 1960’swho are still life long family friends. I had a privileged childhood. Thank you Scargill and many congratulations on reaching 60! May you go on shaping lives for good through faith and fellowship in Christ Jesus.
Peter Lewis tells how his holiday at Scargill had quite an unexpected twist!
I first came to Scargill on a Parish Weekend from Nottingham when I was new to the city and my parish church. (It was an excellent way to get to know others in the Parish over the weekend and I made friends amongst the community from that first weekend!) Having returned a number of times on my own or with friends for holidays or workshops, I came in 1991 for a holiday week and became aware during the walks that there were a number of children there with just one parent and keen to be more active, so we organised some extra football games and took a whole group of children off to the swimming pool twice during the week. Amongst the children were two boys from Nottingham who were on holiday with their father immediately after their parents’ divorce. The younger boy attached himself to me, telling me jokes all the time and wanting to walk on the rambles with me. At the end of the week the two boys told me they were singing in a concert in Nottingham shortly with a youth choir and suggested I should come. I didn’t think too much more about it and had no way of contacting them, but about a week later some close friends at church asked me if I’d like to come to a youth choir concert which their own son was singing in and I joined them for this. As soon as I entered the concert hall the two boys I’d met at Scargill recognised me and waved. In the interval they came and got me to take me off to meet their mum. She said she’d heard an awful lot about me and perhaps I’d like to bring my Scargill photos round for tea some time. This was the first stage in a quite unexpected new relationship and we were married in 1994. We are next month celebrating our Silver Wedding and have two grandchildren – the offspring of the younger boy who wanted to tell me jokes. Our elder son now lives in Australia and whilst we have visited him there we also maintain contact digitally on a regular basis. Both my step-sons continue to be amused by the way that this encounter at Scargill changed all our lives! My wife and I have been back to Scargill many times, as she had also been there in the 1980’s, and we actively promote Scargill in the Derbyshire village churches where we now live. I am a Reader approaching my 34th year of ministry and my wife is active in church music, leading worship and counselling.
I recently told a version of this story at a celebration for the anniversary of the Youth Choir in Nottingham where it caused lots of laughter and amusement!
Peter & Rae are due to visit Scargill again later this summer.
Catherine and her sons Dylan and Oliver have been visitors to Scargill many times since the house reopened in 2010. When asked what Scargill meant to them the family said the following:
“Scargill is awesome
I really enjoy staying there, meeting new people and doing new things.
I have been going for 5 years and every visit is as enjoyable as the last.
I love the themed events like Summer Fest and Paddington (half term) as it’s really fun and there is lots of other kids there. Going to chapel for morning prayer is special.” says Dylan
Dylan & Ross Summer fest 2017 and Dylan in the chapel Summer Fest 2015
Oliver, who has become increasingly unwell over the years he has been visiting Scargill says “I love that everyone just accepts the changes to my health and mobility and that I am included and enabled to join in.
Summer Fest is a great joy, meeting up with regulars/friends and making new friends.”
Oliver before making his pathway promise.
As a family Catherine say’s “We all get so much from the all age, come as you are join in as much as you like worship of Summer Fest. The boys both still sing the songs they learn and have screen print T shirts for each year/theme.”
Nick Barker (son of Arthur) shares childhood memories of growing up at Scargill
Scargill was a great place to grow up. I enjoyed the wide spaces and camping on the ledge above the House. The stars were amazing.
I remember my mother cooking for thirty each day when working parties came up from Bradford churches to prepare the House and grounds for opening.
My Father was usually up at the house so we didn’t see a lot of him, but the fun of living with the community made up for that.
Apart from my parents, Brenda Bracewell was the first to come as secretary, and after that others joined.
They were great folk and the picture of us all brings back happy memories.
Father’s and Son’s weeks were fun with caving and climbing as activities. Dick Marsh was a great speaker, making the Christian faith a reality.
I remember the television coming and doing an outside broadcast of a service in the field.
I helped Stephen Butcher who kept sheep in the field. We enjoyed river bathing at Throstle’s Nest where he and Moira lived.
We helped clean out the main water tank on the hill, which seemed enormous inside.
One day there was a huge thunderstorm. A tree behind the house was struck. Sparks leapt from the phones. From my bedroom window I saw a great fire ball hurtle down the dale towards Kilnsey.
A few keen folk used to walk the Yorkshire Three Peaks all the way from Scargill. I can remember returners in the evening dragging themselves up the drive to finish.
My memories of Scargill 60 years ago are of a different age. For example, little traffic. I could run (O golden days,) from the house to Kettlewell, over the bridge, and then to Kilnsey, then back over the bridge to Conistone, then back to the house and only have to watch out for the Post Office van.
When I was a member of the community I looked after the pigs, four: Hands, Knees, Bumps and Daisy. When it was time for them to be butchered, the butcher came to us. The meat was put in the freezer, but the ‘innards’ were shared out. This is what happened up and down the valley so nothing was wasted. The heads were raffle prizes at the local WI. The WI met in the village hall. There were dances in the village hall, but ladies could not go without a male partner, so I was co-opted. I would turn up with 4 or 5 other members of community and they would dance with the RAF rescue team, handsome young men who danced in their thick woolly socks. They came dressed in their outdoor gear so they could go ‘rescue’ if called out. I found a nice corner near the food table, a long trestle table piled with homemade food – pies, every pie you could think of. The dance didn’t start until 10 o-clock, supposedly after milking, but it was accepted that that was earliest you could get the ‘band’, a piano and a fiddle, out of the pub. It was fun. The thing you needed to be a community member was faith, and energy.
This area has miles and miles of stone fences dividing pastures.
To my American eyes, it is so beautiful. (And I also see dollar signs everywhere 💲💲💲 because I see a long stone wall and my mind starts calculating how much it would cost to have one of these built in the United States. First, you would need to purchase stone from a stone company, then you pay to have it delivered, then you pay someone to construct the wall.) I suppose all these stones were just lying around on the ground somewhere close by in the beginning, so that when the first walls were started, it was just a matter of stacking them up. For Free! Of course, over the years, they have been re-stacked and re-stacked. What are they fencing in? Mostly sheep, and some cattle, but mostly sheep. And they are also fencing out predators to keep the herds safe.
So my mind also turns to the familiar scriptures about Jesus being my Shepherd, and being the gate. …Which means that I am a sheep. 🐑 I like that. 😊
Enjoy these photos I have taken all around Scargill in the last week…
Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything that I need.
He lets me rest in meadows green and leads me beside the quiet stream;
He keeps on giving life to me and helps me to do what honors him the most.
Even when walking thru the dark valley of death, I will never be afraid, for He is close to beside me, guarding, guiding all the way,
He spreads a feast before me in the presence of my enemies He welcomes me as his special guest
with blessings overflowing, his goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life,
and afterwards I will live with him, forever in his home.
(Lyrics from “The New 23rd” by Ralph Carmichael)
Is this really Day 10? If it is, our Journey must be coming to a close?
As we say goodbye to a number of our hosts outside St James Church, Bradford I try my hand at a selfie. I have the idea to use a 10 second timer on my phone (I’ve seen PK doing something similar). Success! A selfie in which we’re all in the picture.
We arrive at Scargill an hour later. Balloons adorn the driveway, and bunting too. It may be in part for the royal wedding, but in our now found humility we decide it’s for us! Community and friends form a human tunnel for us to walk through as we make our way the final few yards into the doors of Scargill House. After the Bradford selfie I’m still feeling confident, and I pass my phone to Jonathan to take a pic of us passing through the human tunnel. Afterwards, I see Jonathan looking perturbed. It seems I left the 10 second timer on. We seem to have left the tunnel by the time the photo is taken…
We do still miss and love our fellow pilgrim PK, for all that he brought to this Journey (and not just because he really did know how to work a camera). Oh, and in case PK was wondering – the jigsaw has now made it to Scargill where it was gratefully received…
So, we’ve now travelled 900 miles, spent 9 nights in 9 different beds, never quite being quite sure where we are or have just come from. We’ve met many people in different situations and have had so many conversations. Some areas have been affluent, others deprived. But we’ve been made so welcome at every location.
We’ve really bonded too, becoming our own little community – loving, laughing and supporting each other through the ups and downs of the journey. We have experienced what it means to BE community in addition to DOING community. And we have felt God’s presence with us throughout.
And so it only remains for us to thank all who have provided support along the way and to those who have followed us on the blog. Over the coming weeks we will compile and publish the whole blog and will invite and include our own reflections plus any we receive from the communities we’ve joined along the way.
To you all,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, wherever we journey in this world…
Fri 18th May : Day 9
Day 9 dawns bright and sunny in Southport. We have had a lot of sunshine on this journey, and have discovered warmth in every place we’ve been.
Esther gets in the quote of the day before we even set off. After getting into my car she asks, ‘Sorry to be a pain, but can I get into the boot?’. And now we can’t set off because we can’t stop laughing. Is my driving really that bad?…
As ever, we extend our gratitude to our various hosts for opening their homes to us and for their warmth and hospitality.
Paul and Sheila go ahead to St Stephens Church, Bradford and spend time with kids from the St Stephens C of E Primary School. When they arrive, children are playing football and other games in the yard. They find a beautiful chalk design drawn onto the pavement. There is fun and enjoyment all around – a picture of God’s Kingdom: different nationalities, even different faiths all coming together and experiencing God’s love. Wendy (of Scargill descent) is there too. Referring to Samuel choosing David she explains to the children that no matter how clever we might think we are, it’s what’s on the inside that matters to God. Craft activities and a film follow.
Meanwhile, back in Southport, Esther, Jonathan and I are releasing a little of God’s love, in the form of chocolates, to the people we meet on the street. This is fun – we share in some great conversations and find opportunities to talk about the Journey. Esther even strikes up a conversation with a real photographer who takes our photo for us (though it’s important to note that we still miss PK!)
We share a meal at a Bradford Balti restaurant which has been recommended to us by one of our hosts. We are not disappointed. Even Paul feels there’s enough naan to go around!
We finish the day at a social event which has been organised for us at St James Church Hall. It is so fitting that Chris Edmondson and his wife Susan are here too. Chris, formerly Bishop of Bolton is chair of the Scargill Trustees and is a former Warden of Lee Abbey. There are around 20 others from the local area too, many with connections to Scargill which is now only an hour’s drive away. We answer questions about the journey. We’ve had a lovely day and evening, and we are grateful too for those who provided hospitality along the way.
And finally, Scargill – end of our journey, is now in sight…
Thu 17th May : Day 8
As Day 8 dawns here in Manchester, we begin to sense that the end of the Journey is coming into sight. There are mixed feelings. We’re all tired and a little disorientated by now, but we’ve developed such strong bonds together, supporting each and ‘being’ in addition to ‘doing’ Community.
We gather at St George Church, Tyldesley and chat with others from the wider church team over tea before setting out on a short prayer walk in the local area.
There are issues to be addressed in any community, but such potential too. We sense a beating heart just below the surface of this locality, and we pray as we walk for the realisation of new hope. We pray that the churches would become stronger as they work together, reaching out in the strength of God’s love to all corners of Astley, Tyldesley and Mosley Common.
Soon we are on the road again, and on our way to Southport in the Diocese of Liverpool. We don’t know what to expect, but as we arrive we realise that we are at the seaside. It is somehow unexpected. The pent-up child in each of us is unleashed and we spend an hour just being, well a bit ‘silly’. What JOY, what laughter.
We’ve been told to go to Westminster Café for lunch. Sheila is in charge of our limited funds and orders her lunch… Wow!
Esther seems to be living out the parable of the Talents (Matthew 25 : 14-30), and we learn that investing in ‘two-penny shove machines’ isn’t a wise growth strategy. We console Esther and move on.
The biggest news is that we ALL get to enjoy ice-cream at the end of the pier, and we even manage a half decent selfie there (though we still miss PK!).
The evening turns out to be amazing. We join members of various church denominations for a meal out, and then are treated to a sensational ecumenical evening service at St John Stones Roman Catholic Church. The various churches meet together for prayer on a Tuesday, but this joint service has been inspired by our Journey. So many people have come, and the Salvation Army band and singers are here too. The service is filled with a heady mix of praise, worship, joy and fun. And of course, a demonstration of churches united and working together for one God. Amen to that…
The service is followed by cake and tea in the hall, and a chance for us to talk more about the Journey. Each day takes us by surprise, and this is no exception…
Wed 16th May : Day 7
Day 7 opens in Great Longstone. A much cooler and breezier day today. But before we step out together into the cold morning, I need to share a revelation : I have never seen a ‘Lazy Susan’ before. Why doesn’t everyone have one of these on their breakfast table? I watch as Jonathan misses the point, reaches for the butter and nearly sends a glass of orange juice flying, hey ho. Esther is looking pleased today – she has named a local hill after herself. What a humble group of travellers we are!
We finish breakfast and make our way to the Methodist Church for prayer, stopping off at St Giles Church. Here, we admire the creativity of local people in the shape of their annual flower display on the theme of Nursery Rhymes.
We pray again for this village and locality in the Methodist church and prepare to move on to our next location… Thank you Pat and the people of Great Longstone for your warm welcome and hospitality.
The journey continues, and we arrive at a Community Café in Tyldesley, Manchester and meet members of the three churches of Astley, Tyldesley and Moseley Common over lunch. The café takes food close to its sell by date, provides free meals and acts as a family drop in centre, particularly for young families.
Paul and I head off to different primary schools to take part in assemblies – once again we talk to the children about the Journey, being friends together and friends pointing others towards Jesus. We re-enact the story of the man lowered through the roof – deftness and cardboard-prop gymnastics are back in play(ish). It is such a privilege to be here and able to share Jesus in this way.
We split into three groups and spend time within the three different parishes, at the churches of St George, St John and St Stephen, reflecting, praying / prayer walks. It is clear to us how much the church and local people care about this community, but as ever there are some real obstacles and challenges to be prayed into.
After finding our hosts and dropping off bags we make our way back to St Stephen’s School and church. The church communities have prepared a veritable feast. We enjoy conversation, learning more about the area and sharing about the Journey. A talent evening follows the meal. Whilst we are outgunned by the local talent we are still able to contribute to the evening with stories, poems and testimonies… We thank you all for a wonderful afternoon and evening.
Tue 15th May : Day 6
This morning some of us had morning prayer with the Aston Community, whilst the remainder set off to Aston Parish church to take part in morning prayers there. As ever, we are also so grateful to our various hosts for opening their homes to us, and for showing us such generous hospitality.
This morning we say goodbye to one of our pilgrims, PK, as he remains in Aston preparing to travel to London and then Hungary on Wednesday. It is with heavy hearts that we bid him farewell and re-pack the car. Our load is lighter without PK, but at least we have a giant jigsaw to remember him by, safely packed away and destined for Scargill. Enough said about the jigsaw. We are also reflective – PK was by far the best photographer in the group, and we wonder how we will survive without him.
We reach our new destination within the Derbyshire Dales, and Esther has bravely stepped up to the plate and volunteered to take the group photo…
We miss PK…
Pat is the host, and has bravely invited all five of us to stay in her wonderful house in Great Longstone within the Derbyshire National Park. The group heads up to nearby Longstone Edge to take in the beauty of the local landscape. Whilst there, Paul decides he will try his hand at photography, and he lines up another group selfie.
We miss PK…
Pat has invited quite a few friends of Lee Abbey and Scargill to her home, and we enjoy tea, cake and good conversation in the garden, with a backdrop of beautiful Derbyshire countryside.
Afterwards, we all make our way through the village, stopping to pray at key locations. The village is very vibrant – alive, very much a working village. But there are still some significant areas in which God’s breakthrough and protection are particularly needed.
{Photo 4 – Group prayer walk} Sorry this picture is missing at the moment. Maybe PK has it? – ed.
Our walk eventually leads us to the Crispin Pub, where we tuck in to some wonderful food. After the meal, a pub quiz has been organised. Paul seems to have prophetic tendencies – his table adopts the name ‘Winners’ and beyond anyone’s expectation it actually comes to pass. He’s as humble as ever. We are pleased for him!
The evening finishes back at Pat’s house with evening prayer.
Mon 14th May : Day 5
Some of us forgetting what day it is, or what date, or even both. But we’re pretty sure that this is Day 5, which must make it the halfway point for the Journey.
So, Day 5 begins with a prayer meeting in St Peter’s Church, Kineton. We are so impressed at the creativity of the local community in constructing a prayer tent within the church.
Once again, we are treated to an unexpected but lavish breakfast. We thank our generous hosts once again for their wonderful hospitality which help us so much on the Journey.
A short time later we’re back on the road. We do a car swap as we pass my home near Warwick. It’s also an opportunity to lose some luggage – the hand drill is deposited here, but PK’s unreasonably large jigsaw journeys on. Perhaps it will help us see the bigger picture?
We arrive at the house of the Lee Abbey Aston Community and are made to feel welcome by two of the Community – James and Will. A couple of us go to see the work of the local Foodbank and to chat with the volunteers and clients.
Paul and I spend a few hours at the Salvation Army Youth & Community Centre, where Jo and Paul (also members of the Aston Lee Abbey Community) are leaders. They show us around, and we spend time with some of the local kids as they enjoy some time out and games together.
On our way back to the Community house Paul and I receive a photo of our colleagues enjoying chocolate ice-creams. This is perfect… Or is it?! When we catch up with them, their excuses are contradictory and flimsy – ‘last ones in the shop’ and ‘they’d have melted’. Only an hour earlier we’d acknowledged that nothing is impossible for God, and yet… We will decide later whether to forgive!
After a meal, the Aston Community has arranged a prayer meeting / prayer walk at the local church. We pray for their work here, and for the local area. This is a predominantly Muslim area, and our prayers extend to the Muslim community as they prepare for the start of Ramadan.
Sun 13th May : Day 4
Day four dawned bright and sunny in Oxford. As ever, we are hugely grateful to our hosts for their warm welcome and generous hospitality. Today will be a long day. But, before it begins, we’re treated to a wonderful cooked breakfast in the church hall. Now we’re ready for the day!Between us we’re able to cover four different church services at St James and St Francis Churches in the parish of Cowley, including a Punjabi service (providing a very different cultural and interesting experience for those attending).
During the services, we’re each asked questions about the Lee Abbey and Scargill Communities, the purpose of the Journey and its links to the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative. It’s a great opportunity to share what we’re doing.
And then it’s time to hit the road again. Miracolusly, even PK’s jigsaw manages to find a place in the cars (did we leave something behind?!). Then, we’re on our way, but where?!
We arrive at St Peters Church in Wellsbourne (near Stratford-on-Avon) in time for coffee, cake and an early evening service presided over by Kate Mier. Kate, who’s currently coming to the end of a year in Scargill’s Community served in this church from 2004. Those who came along were clearly delighted to steal her back for the evening. During the service, she takes the opportunity to put us on the spot with some questions. I am prepared as I can be, having memorised key information about last night’s Eurovision Song Contest. But instead, Kate is interested in our experiences of Community, Hospitality and the Journey (probably just as well). One thing we all agree on – the Journey is helping us to see clear links between these three things – and we see God’s heart at the centre of them.
Following the service, we travel to nearby Kineton where we are treated to the most lavish and sumptuous bring and share meal I can remember (the equivalent of slaughtering the fattened calf?!). Not for the first time, we are humbled by such generous hospitality.
It has been a long day, with many different and fruitful encounters, and late in the evening we finally make our way to the homes of our various hosts… Tomorrow is another day…
Sat 12th May : Day 3
The third day of the Journey began where it left off last night – at Lee Abbey London… We awoke refreshed and ready for the day ahead.
We reflect on the difficult work undertaken by the Community here. The students who stay in this accommodation are young. Many are international, and faith isn’t generally so high on their agenda. When we join the Community for morning prayers we pray for the Spirit of God to fall anew on this place, supporting the Community in their valuable Kingdom work. As ever, we are hugely grateful for the hospitality we’ve been shown.
We reach Oxford, and join a church plant sale at St James’ Church, Cowley. We’re made to feel very welcome, and enjoy conversations about the Journey with many who are there. Paul’s former barrow-boy skills are soon in evidence, and we’re impressed by how easily he had the punters eating out of his hands – queuing up for chili plants, rhubarb and other garden delights.
Having become slightly obsessed by the amount of baggage we have, my plea for us not to fall for anything in the sale is quickly forgotten in the excitement. Firstly by PK as he succumbs to an unreasonably large jigsaw, and then by me as I find myself in possession of an old fashioned hand drill – all within the first five minutes of the sale. More luggage!
As the day winds down, we enjoy prayer time in the vicarage, and plan our involvement in Sunday’s church services. Despite the impending rain clouds, some go out in search of the largest ice cream they can find – and find it…
We are hugely grateful to our various hosts for their hospitality this evening… Before close of day we reflect on what we have each learned so far on the Journey. Highlights are:
· Community is not a place – it’s a people. We are reminded of the vastness and variety of God’s people. Members of both Scargill and Lee Abbey can work together in a ministry of reconciliation between God and fallen humanity.
· The importance of simply being with people where they are – sitting alongside and listening.
· The importance of being in the present moment, which is where God will always be found.
· The power to bless. The people that we visit are changed by us coming and being with them and blessing them. We can make a difference to people and their situations just by being God’s people and presence there.
· That we should set aside our own agendas and trust that the Lord has gone ahead of us on this Journey and then fall into step with the way He has planned for us.
Tomorrow we will spend time talking about our Journey at a number of different churches, culminating at our new destination in the locality of Wellsbourne and Kineton.
Fri 11th May : Day 2
Day 2 began at the Knowle West Community with morning prayers, reflecting on the previous day’s activities, the mission of their Community, and the day and journey to come. And, following a photo call by the front door, we readied ourselves for the journey to ou
We split into two groups – one striding out with Esther for South Ealing Tube Station, to continue their journey to London by rail. The other, (Tim and Paul) had been invited to do two morning assemblies at a local school – the School of Christ the King Primary School.
The school assemblies were a real joy – the kids were attentive and well behaved. Paul had created a fantastic prop (aka four card strips, hinged) which was used to help tell the story of the man lowered through the roof of a house by his friends, to be healed by Jesus. Through a series of amazing cardboard contortions, the strip became a bed, morphed into a pair of legs, then a window, a door, a figure ‘4’, a pitched roof, flat roof and a rope. The kids seemed to really enjoy it, learning in the process about the Scargill/Lee Abbey journey, the importance and value of friendship, and how friends can work together to help point people towards Jesus.
We eventually all gathered at the next destination – Lee Abbey London. Another warm welcome awaited us, and wonderful hospitality.
The Lee Abbey London Christian Community provides accommodation for students of all faiths or none. The evening was spent mingling with students, following which Christian Comedian and Magician, Tom Elliott, provided the evening’s entertainment. Jonathan was clearly keen to be involved – why else would anyone sit on the front row?! And involved he was, much to our great delight. A wonderful evening had by all, good conversations and good fun.
Lee Abbey Devon to Lee Abbey Knowle West Community in Bristol
Thu 10th May : Day 1
After meeting last night to discuss the itinerary, (and an insight by Esther about wine bottle tops), the intrepid group (Paul, Sheila and Tim from Scargill and Esther and Jonathan from Lee Abbey) prepared for the off.
The cars were loaded high. Should we have brought a trailer and some roadies? We’ve agreed not to talk too much about the sizes of our individual bags in case we lose our sense of shared harmony (a diplomatic way of avoiding reference to the size of Paul’s suitcase). This must be how it was for the disciples – only I thought they agreed not to carry bags?
The send off from Lee Abbey was amazing. We, and another mission team destined for South Wales left at the same time, with the Lee Abbey community praying for us as we prepared to leave. Amidst a fanfare, party poppers and bunting we finally left.
The sun shone brightly and the coastline was amazing. 15 minutes later the decision was taken to stop for lunch at a coastal beauty spot – the sun beaming. And 3 minutes after that it rained. Paul’s shorts?
The Lee Abbey Knowle West Community in Bristol was our first proper ‘journey destination’. ‘PK’ (who has previously served at both Lee Abbey and Scargill) joined us here. Having flown in from Budapest this morning, he will now travel with us to Derby.
We received a warm welcome and met with some of the people closely associated with this Community, which represents a beacon of light within the locality, working hard to bring new hope to the area. We gained a greater understanding of the locality and work of the Community through guided prayer walks, and were able to offer our own prayers of blessing and hope.
We’re so thankful for the wonderful hospitality – food, conversation, insight and learning at Lee Abbey Knowle West, and for being made so welcome.
And tomorrow, after helping out at two school assemblies, we travel onward to the next leg of the journey : Lee Abbey London…
After a long journey across a grey landscape on a dull and damp day, I finally arrive back at Scargill. It’s been a few months.
The decorators are in – a few dedicated Working Friends are there too, all busy, hard at work. The smell of fresh paint fills the place. Dust sheets all over the floors. The Old House is enjoying a little bit of TLC. What is it about this place that makes it so special? The new paint on the walls is light in colour, but there’s another palette being used at Scargill too. Somewhere, seemingly in the very fabric of this place, is something quite remarkable – I think of it as ‘God’s great colour palette’. It’s always overflowing with colours and it’s always in use. Everyone has access to this resource – even guests.
There are many colours to choose from, but the main ones go by the names Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness and Self-control. I should warn you – the last one, Self-control can sometimes be a bit tricky and it does catch people out. For some reason it often results in a lot of laughter. Community (and Scargill’s extended Community of Friends and Companions) all have their preferred colours – the one’s they’re good at using. But there are also the ones that they’re less practiced at, and are trying to learn how to use. The colours can also
be combined to create some wonderful shades. When properly blended you can achieve compassion, a listening ear, care, understanding and acceptance to name but a few. There’s one mix that everyone here is keen to create – it’s a shade called ‘Hospitality’. It’s hugely popular, so much so that it’s now become Scargill’s ‘House Mix’. There’s a lot of Love poured into that one. But all God’s paints are good, however mixed. This place is so full of colour. It can get messy at times, but this is God’s art room, God’s picture, and there’s ‘work-in-progress’ everywhere. There are paintings containing laughter, others display understanding, reconciliation, forgiveness and even healing. They are simply stunning. Some people use paint rollers to apply God’s colours, others thick brushes. Some splash colour, others select fine brushes and focus on intricate detail. Some of the children add colour with stickers, felt-tips and
even thick crayons.
The guests tend to get a lot of colour on them while here – it’s inevitable. Some are a little reluctant or shy at first, but so many seem to end up leaving like walking graffiti art, but so often smiling too, even if they weren’t when they first arrived. Messy? Perhaps. Beautiful? Yes, and amazing. After a few days I have to get in to my car and drive back, outside the gates of Scargill. After a while I reach the motorway where I get cut up and shown the middle finger by a white-van driver. (Hang on – it was you that cut me up?). I reach some drab services and stand in a grey line of largely silent people, to get a rather sad, overpriced and somewhat flaccid sandwich. Not many people laughing here. It’s also a bit devoid of colour – a world containing mainly shades of grey. But now I’ve got my eye in, I’ve noticed one or two people who also seem to have some of God’s colour palette, and they’re splashing it here, into this grey environment. I watch what’s happening. It’s surprising what even a small speck of colour achieves, even if it’s just a kind smile towards another person. Usually well received, brightening up a few surprised souls. Some people are just looking on, not responding – well, not yet anyway. I’m really beginning to see that we should ncourage those who step out to paint a little of God’s colour palette into this world. And perhaps we can join them, painting God’s colours in to our own communities, and into any environment in which we find ourselves?
By the way, did I mention that these colours can be taken away from Scargill? And the more you use, the more they will replenish. But, even if you did find yourself running low, you can always come back and get more. It’s funny – it seems to me that even the ‘white-van driver’ might find himself knocked sideways by one or other of the shades – there is a shade called Grace that God fully perfected through his Son, Jesus Christ. And of course there’s that simple
but timeless primary colour called LOVE…
Follow Helen’s journey through Lent as she attempts to eliminate plastic from her life.
Here at Scargill we really do mean it when we say our home is your home, here you are welcome. Sometimes we meet a person once, they have a lovely stay, we serve them as best we can, and they go on their way. More often though we have the joy of welcoming our guests back through our doors time and again. And it is often this extended relationship which gives us an opportunity as Community to form deeper friendships with our guests. Barrie Renwick was one such guest and sadly when we heard the news of his death in the New Year it was only natural that we would want to be a part of his send off as we had so often had the pleasure of welcoming him.
Despite many other commitments Michyla and I were able to go to Barrie Renwick’s Thanksgiving Service last week.
It obviously was an occasion filled with sadness, and with great thanksgiving for Barrie was a lovely man who loved God.
I was given the opportunity to say a few words in tribute to Barrie, and below is what I said:
Since Scargill re-opened, back in 2010, Barrie became a regular guest. And when I say a regular guest, I mean at least 8 visits a year. We enjoyed his visits and Barrie in many ways became an extended part of our Community. I was told that he loved the silliness and fun. He enjoyed Community life and being part of it. Barrie was one for banter, and I would foolishly take him on, and often lose. Last year Scargill did a Railway week and it was to Barrie almost a heavenly combination. All we needed was some singing and a bit of cricket and it would have been totally sorted.
And talking of cricket, Bishop Chris Edmondson also wanted me to pass on his love and appreciation of Barrie: Chris having known him first as a guest at Lee Abbey (where Chris was Warden), and then Scargill, and would sometimes bump into him at cricket matches at Headingley!’ Barrie would often speak to Chris saying that Scargill and Lee Abbey were like a ‘home from home’.
Barrie was a great encourager, he often came to listen to me and generally speaking you always knew what Barrie thought or felt. Barrie and I would laugh together often.
What Barrie loved was friendship. And friends were very important to him. In that friendship he was kind and warm, and would often take a fellow guest out to visit a local attraction or tea shop, if we weren’t feeding them enough cake.
It was a privilege to know Barrie and I counted him as a friend coming back home to visit. We will miss him dearly. And of course, Barrie was not just a good friend to us, he was a friend of Jesus. He entered wholeheartedly into worship. His prayers were honest and sincere; he was open about his struggles. I am reminded of those words from Jesus that we find in John’s gospel, saying ‘I no longer call you servants but I call you friends’. Barrie and Jesus were and are good friends. I would imagine that they are now enjoying heavenly banter together. I am not sure who will win! Perhaps Barrie has met his match.
It has been a little while, but here is the latest Blog from Director Phil Stone, and it is well worth the wait!
Today we have said goodbye to David, one of our young community members who has been with us for a year. He has taught us much about gentleness. He has been one of the best community members we have at interacting with guests, helping them to feel at home. One of the things he loved doing was making himself available to carry people’s bags as they arrived, with a welcoming, smiling presence. Francis de Sales said, ‘it is wonderful how attractive a gentle, pleasant manner is and how much it wins hearts.’ This could have been written about David.
Gentleness is a beautiful gift, so here are some thoughts about it. We can learn a lot about gentleness from Jesus. He says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you find rest for your souls.” Jesus gets tough with those who should have known better yet shows fundamentally that his Kingdom is radically different from that of society around us. On that first Palm Sunday Matthew, quoting the prophet Zechariah, speaks of the Messiah “gentle and riding on a donkey”. Jesus comes not in power but in peace, vulnerably riding on a donkey. It reminds us that Jesus is gentle and humble in heart.
St Paul, at times not really known for his gentleness, realises that this godly characteristic should be practised in the Christian community. In Ephesians 4:2, ‘Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.’ I love Paul’s realism in showing love by ‘bearing with one another’. How true is that when living in community!
So how do we grow in gentleness? What I think Jesus does is instead of giving us overwhelming feelings of warmth, especially towards those who get up our noses, he gives us opportunities to practise gentleness – that is how it works. There is no doubt that living in Community is an apprenticeship in becoming like Jesus! A lack of gentleness often betrays our inner feelings, our frustration with a situation or someone (sometimes justified), as well as our anxiety. It is often in Community we learn to live not just with each others gifts but with each others limitations – the easy way out is to be dismissive of one another.
Gentle, patient encouragement is the way forward, speaking words and actions that bring life – to build people up. Max Lucado writes, ‘Choose gentleness… Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.’
At Scargill we have a beautiful walled garden, it is stunning at this time of year. There are many delicate plants and flowers which are both beautiful and fragile. They are a picture of our own fragility and vulnerability, and if not treated carefully, gently, and patiently we break, yet if treated gently we flourish and grow.
Living in Community is one of those places where we can become the people Jesus wants us to be, where our gifts are celebrated, where we can face our limitations and find ways to grow through them with the gentle patience of each other. As we learn to be gentle with each other we can learn to be gentle with ourselves. This helps us on our road to wholeness, not allowing the old inner critic to whisper harsh and unyielding words about ourselves.
‘It is wonderful how attractive a gentle, pleasant manner is and how it wins hearts.’ Thanks David. Let’s choose gentleness.
BREAKING NEWS…
Our aim has always been for Scargill’s Community to fully reflect God’s kingdom, and we’ve warmly welcomed into Community Christians from all denominations and, importantly, from all around the world. From June 2017 we’re making a few changes to consolidate the processes for welcoming international volunteers within Community. It also means that we’re making a few changes to some of the terminology we use to describe how we all fit together here at Scargill…
In future, our Community will be made up of Community Members supplemented by International Community Volunteers. Those wishing to become Community Members must have unrestricted rights to work in the UK. Typically they’ll be UK nationals, EU nationals or those with visas allowing unrestricted working (such as the international ‘Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme’).
The International Community Volunteer Programme
We’re also delighted to announce the launch of a new International Community Volunteer Programme. This will provide placements of up to 12 months to those living outside of the EU with certain UK immigration restrictions. They will typically shadow our full Community Members and will still remain fully immersed within Community life. They will also continue to share their faith and hospitality with guests, and to make an important contribution towards meeting our charitable aims. Our International Community Volunteers have always brought with them a huge wealth of new experiences, culture and stories which have been shared within Community and with guests. They have been such an important part of life here at Scargill and we look forward to welcoming the first of our International Community Volunteers through the programme very soon.
Changes to how we fit together…
Scargill couldn’t function without its many volunteers, Friends and Companions. However, to remove the potential for confusion in the immigration processes, we’re going to be ‘re-labelling’ our external volunteers as ‘Working Friends’. But don’t worry – we’ll be gentle in the transition and no volunteers (or should I say Working Friends?!) will be harmed during the transition. We just wanted to make you aware that this change will be taking place.
A special request for prayer from our Chair of the Scargill Council, Bishop Chris Edmondson.
Dear Friends and Companions,
May I please ask for a special covering and support in prayer for Phil and Di Stone, and the community at Scargill, as, for at least an initial period from mid October to early December 2016, Phil and Di will be at Lee Abbey, Devon, during which time, Phil will be the Acting Warden there.
The reason for this is that back in July, Simon Holland, the recently appointed Warden in Devon was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Following surgery, he now has to undergo a minimum of seven weeks of radiotherapy in Exeter, starting on the 17th October. Simon’s necessary ‘absence’ from the community also coincides with a significant shortage of people on the chaplaincy and pastoral team there, though a new senior Chaplain has just arrived, which is good news.
Phil was recently speaking in Devon, and while there. had a strong sense from the Lord that, given Scargill’s relative strength currently in Leadership and chaplaincy provision, he should offer to ‘step into the breach’ while Simon has his treatment.
Phil shared this conviction with Simon and the Chair of the Devon Board, James Denniston, who described it as a ‘remarkable and wonderfully generous offer’. In addition to my personal support from the word go, this offer has subsequently been unanimously endorsed by the Scargill Council, as well as having the full support of the leadership team and community at Scargill.
All of you who know the story of Scargill’s ‘resurrection’ in recent years, are aware that we wouldn’t be where we are today, had it not been for Lee Abbey’s generosity, both in terms of finance and expertise that was offered in those early years. To be able now to ‘give back’ in this way,takes to an even deeper level the the ever-growing partnership in the Gospel, which the two communities, their leadership and councils, are sharing.
So, please do pray for Phil and Di, for our Operations Manager Dave Lucas, as he becomes Acting Director at Scargill, and for others in the community, especially members of the Leadership Team as they take on extra responsibilities during this period. And of course, please also pray for Lord’s healing and peace for Simon and Anne Holland as well as for everyone involved at Lee Abbey, Devon.
Thank you so very much.
+Chris Edmondson.
Bridget and Adrian Plass talk to Patrick Baker about their involvement in bringing Scargill House back to life
As well as a new look, the site will adapt better if you’re viewing it on a mobile or tablet device, as so many people do now.
We’ve given the content an update at the same time, though much of the information from the old site is still there too.
We hope you can find your way around the new site; do drop us a line if you spot a bug or have a problem, and we’ll do all we can to help. Bear with us especially in the first few days after launch if you have any issues, but we hope it will be plain sailing!
Hello – I have been musing about the church festival celebrated today which I love. Today is the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, often know as Candlemas and it ends the Christmas and Epiphany season, and you can read all about it in Luke 2 22-40.
One reason why I love this festival, is that it’s a wonderful excuse again to go over the top with candles, to fill the church with candle light as we celebrate the one who is the light of the nations. It is good and proper to go over the top!
The encounter of the holy family with Simeon and Anna is deeply moving and the long wait for them to see the Messiah is at last fulfilled. Simeon, in the Orthodox Church, is referred to as St Symeon the God-Receiver, as the Greek text indicates that he receives Christ into his arms. It is a beautiful and vulnerable encounter. Simeon in the fraility of his old age receives in his arms the vulnerable, totally dependent Christ child. Simeon’s arms are open to receive Jesus, there is a willingness to receive, to hold close, the “consolation of Israel.”
When thinking about Simeon’s encounter as the God-Receiver it led me to consider my prayers and my willingness to be open to Jesus, to hold me and receive him. I’m not sure I’m that good at it. Henri Nouwen in his book “with open hands”, says that prayer is no easy matter, and that the first challenge we face is to open our hands which are often clenched (metaphorically and literally). It is difficult, if not impossible, to receive when our fists are clenched. So why do we have clenched hands? Well for all sort of reasons, we could be holding tightly to jealousies, resentments, anger, our ambitions, failures, perhaps our need to be in control. Whatever we are holding tightly, seem indispensable and they begin to shape our lives.
When we dare to open our hands we are making ourselves vulnerable, as we begin that long journey of trust that all Jesus has for us is unconditional love, for as he gives himself in this love it is vulnerable, generous, self-giving and transformative.
I pray that you and I might be like Simeon, a God Receiver, hands and arms open to receive all that God has for us – I think we will be joyfully surprised! And as we are to able receive we will begin to shine his love to those around us, yes perhaps like a flickering candle, vulnerable and inviting.
So, one final blog on 2 Kings 5. It is a story of healing, grace, unexpected unsung heroes, and a surprising answer to a tricky situation. Check out the story if you haven’t read it yet.
The story so far – Naaman has gone down to the River Jordan, swallowed his pride, (and who knows what else!) and dipped himself seven times. He comes up cleansed from his skin disease, grateful, with a changed heart, acknowledging Elisha’s God ‘that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel’. And of course, it was this exclamation from Naaman that made him realise the difficult and complex situation he was going to have to face when he went back to Aram.
He tentatively and apologetically asks for forgiveness for when he goes back he will have to go with his King to the house of Rimmon and bow down while the King leans on his arm. Poor Naaman, having just experienced and realised the truth about God he finds himself in a place of compromise where he would be outwardly going against his earlier emphatic declaration. Adrian Plass, who writes on this wonderful passage, says, “Well is it OK to do that? Or not? Or what? Have I got to make a stand?”
Elisha’s response is surprising, liberating, and gives hope to all of us faced with on-going difficult times or impossible situations, ‘Go in peace’. Not exactly the response he expected yet what beautiful three words they are! Adrian goes on to say, “that was all Elisha said and it seemed to be all that was needed on that particular occasion. Through a prophet, who is more interested in hearing the authentic whisper of the Holy Spirit than blindly following patterns and pre-conceptions, God was cutting Naaman a little slack, and this new follower of the one true God was probably even more grateful than before, don’t you think? How lovely to be told that you can go in peace when you are expecting a thick ear or a thunderbolt.”
The wonderful truth about these words ‘Go in peace’ is that it gives us opportunity to have a dynamic, life-giving dialogue with God. These three words are not closed but are open and spacious words.
Elisha cut Naaman some slack, and Jesus cuts us slack too. Our community promises has the response – “with the encouragement and guidance of the brothers and sisters who share this pathway, we will try our very best to follow the example of Jesus”. Each night I reflect on my day and sometimes I realise how my relationships or attitudes has not lived up to the promises I have made. I have messed up, and I can’t quite get it right at the moment. Jesus forgives, he says have a good night’s sleep, lets work together on the difficulties, ‘Go in peace’. And he says this with affection and love.
Elisha begins to give us an understanding of God’s compassion and Jesus shows it to us fully. I pray that we will learn to live and move in it. In the All Age services during SummerFest we sang our Naaman song – words by Bridget and Adrian Plass, sung and produced by Anna Andersson on the attached music file – enjoy! We had three weeks of it!
I love Summerfest! I love the variety of ages (grandparents, grandchildren, teenagers, parents, singles, babies – in fact I love the lot). I love to see people being able to express how they feel. I love the laughter and silliness. I love the sense of community with Jesus at the heart that grows within a few days. And now we have finished Summerfest 3 and it has been a wonderful time.
Our theme has been Naaman’s story from 2 Kings 5 – check it out it is a good read. It is the story of Naaman’s healing of his skin disease that came in a very unexpected manner, it is a healing, which was far more than skin deep, it was conversion of his heart. It was a radical and life-changing experience.
We read that Naaman arrived outside Elisha’s house with all his soldiers and chariots, and mules laden with gold and silver. Naaman’s identity was bound up in his wealth, his position and his success. He came to Elisha displaying how powerful he was, desperately wanting to buy his healing. You can imagine that Naaman was well put out when Elisha would not come to greet him as he felt his rank deserved and, adding insult to injury, he is told by Elisha’s servant to go down to the murky Jordan and dip himself in it seven times if he wants to be healed. Naaman was besides himself with anger. He was a huffy old Naaman! Yet with the courage and love of his servants he is persuaded to go down and dip himself in the Jordan. Isn’t it good that we too can have friends who are able to speak the truth in love, to save us from messing up?
It is very significant that Naaman ‘went down’ into the Jordan. He had to make himself small. He had to give up his identity that meant so much to him. He went down as a proud and successful general with a serious skin disease and came up with the skin of a young boy, with a childlike heart, declaring, “there is no God in all the world except in Israel”.
It is a story peppered with grace, yet it is grace that could only be received if Naaman was willing to go down. John Stott writes, ’Pride is your greatest enemy, Humility is your greatest gift’. It is true for us all that if we want to discover the grace God has for us we have to make ourselves small, we have to go down. If you are ever privileged enough to go to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity you have to bow down to get through the doorway.
So like Naaman when we go down, bow down or make ourselves small we understand a bit more of who God is, and what He is about. As it says in the Jerusalem Bible, “The fear of Yahweh is a school of wisdom, before there can be glory, there must be humility.” Proverbs 15:33
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at Summerfest with good friends from St Stephen’s – great fun!
Summerfest joyfully invades Scargill during August which is our 3 week all age fun-packed arts festival where about 100 guests join the community. Along with the rest of the Community, I love it!
Every year we have a different theme from the Bible and this year we have been looking at the story of Naaman the Aramean General seeking healing for his leprosy. It is a great story – why not check it out in 2 Kings 5.
It is a story full of surprises and unknown heroes, with kings, prophets and servants and it is one of these servants I want to focus on. The story tells of a servant girl captured by an Aramean raiding party. We don’t know her name, or where she came from, but we can only imagine the heartache and trauma she must have felt being literally trafficked from her family to a foreign country and culture into servitude. Yet she does not allow herself to be defined by this part of her history and is gracefully able to offer words of hope into the household she is now serving which just happened to be Naaman’s. She knew from her own country that there was a prophet who would be able to help Naaman in his desperate need. I am not sure that I would be able to offer such words of hope if I had been held captive. I reckon I would be full of resentment. Sheridan Voysey, a recent speaker at Scargill, commented ‘the greatest tragedy is not the broken dream but being forever defined by one.’ This gracious attitude was within this slave girl and she truly is the unsung hero in this story of restoration.
What is also remarkable about this story is that Naaman listened. Perhaps there was something in this slave girl that made people listen – people who are grace filled are attractive. St Paul says ‘be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.’ Colossians 4:5-6. Perhaps this grace filled attitude lived within this young slave girl.
Being channels of grace will at times be costly and may go against our better judgement and yet Jesus would call us to be people of grace in our words and actions. The little slave girl ,who had a conversation with Naaman’s wife, led to restoration in Naaman’s life beyond his wildest dreams.
Martin Luther King said that anybody can be great because anybody can serve. He goes on to say, “You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
A bit of All age Summerfest worship in the Chapel
This last week Di and I have been in London and Canterbury, where we have experienced a cocktail of emotions.
On Wednesday we were in Canterbury where it was a privilege and an honour to be at the consecration of two women bishops, one of them being a good friend Rachel Treweek. It was very moving and a truly joyful occasion.
On Friday, we were at the funeral of a close friend, Malcolm, and I was given the privilege of giving the address. Malcolm and his wife Caroline had been great friends of ours while I was vicar of their church in London, and since we have been at Scargill. The service was a celebration of a life well lived, with grief at the loss of someone we loved dearly.
You may ask, “What does a consecration and a funeral have in common?” Unsurprisingly, yet joyfully, we caught up with old friends and had time to share laughter and tears, but most importantly the tale of these two friends is a tale of hope.
Rachel is now the Bishop of Gloucester – the first woman Diocesan Bishop in the Church of England! It has been a long struggle with a great deal of patience and perseverance, often much heartache, which has now culminated in this most joyful celebration – and it is full of hope. Having worked with Rachel, when she was our archdeacon in London, it is wonderful to see that her gifts, and the person she is, can be experienced within the Episcopate. There is hope for the Church as Rachel and other gifted women are called by the Holy Spirit to become bishops. It will be so life giving for the Church!
Malcolm, who was 60, struggled with cancer over the last eighteen months, and through his illness was such a person of hope. Malcolm lived in the knowledge that he was deeply loved by God, and however dimly or partially he saw it, he believed that he would know it fully. Malcolm died in this hope, being literally “sung into heaven” by those he loves, and those who love him.
And the hope in which Rachel lives, and Malcolm died in, is the hope that is gifted in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul’s words to Timothy (1 Tim 1 v1) ring with truth for whatever lies before us, “Christ Jesus our hope”. Shawshank Redemption (a must see film!) is full of great hope quotes – “hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” So the Risen Lord Jesus is our hope, that we live, move and have our being in, and it is this Hope that longs to make his home in our hearts for eternity.
One thing about living in community, that we have been learning here at Scargill, is to live generously. And what I mean by living generously is being willing to forgive, to go the extra mile, and have a desire to serve. A godly hospitality will be generous and open-hearted.
The life of Jesus was always abundant and extravagant, a generosity that never stopped at what was strictly necessary. For instance, a meal time with Jesus was wonderfully over-the-top such as the wedding at Cana with the miracle of turning water into wine, these six stone jars full of water would have been equivalent to 900 bottles transformed into the best red wine ever. How mischievous and wonderfully outrageous is that! Jesus picnics with 5,000 and there are 12 baskets left over. The resurrected Jesus, who not only cooked breakfast on the beach for his friends, preceded this by a miraculous catch of fish that was so big that they were unable to haul in the nets. Just 3 examples!
In Luke 15, we read the parable of the ‘Lost Son’ which could be better described as the parable of the ‘generous Father’, who is extravagant and lavishes his love upon the homecoming of his son. Jesus shows us an aspect of the Kingdom of God, which is one big heart of generosity – nothing stingy here!
And it is this that we are caught up in at Scargill, that in all our fragility and weakness, and at times getting it wrong, our desire is to reflect this generous heart of God to those who come through our doors. So what does generosity look like at Scargill? Chocolate on the pillow, beautiful flowers round the House, well kept grounds and gardens, a variety of cake on arrival, willingness to have a conversation as to how we can make a guest’s visit the best it can be, care taken over special diets, food made with love, willingness to carry suitcases on arrival and departure and an invitation to our guests to make our home theirs while they are with us.
Walter Brueggemann, in his inspiring book ‘Journey to the common good’, writes that the Church has been given a different narrative to that of the culture and society around us, which often speaks of scarcity. He says, “ that journey from anxious scarcity through miraculous abundance to a neighbourly common good has been peculiarly entrusted to the church.”
Living as Kingdom people, people of faith, creates a mindset of generosity. Let us remember what Jesus said, “freely you have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8
And, of course, being generous is not about what we can get back, as Piero Ferrucci says, “Generosity is, by definition, disinterested.” Think about it.
Last Sunday afternoon, I was invited to preach at the service at Manchester Cathedral launching the Peregrini Community, on the Festival of the Baptism of Christ. Peregrini draws inspiration from Irish wandering monks and the Anglo-Saxon saints St Cedd and St Chad, who continued the tradition of moving from place to place sharing the love of Christ. Both were sent from Lindisfarne.
What excites me about the new Peregrini Community is their commitment to live by the unforced rhythms of grace (Matthew 11:28 from The Message). As they say in their little booklet, ‘it denotes a series of aspirational statements that, when embraced, will nurture spiritual growth, foster Christian discipleship and enable missional encounter.’
So, here are the 5 rhythms which all begin with ‘By God’s grace….:
– I will seek to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.
– I will be open to the presence, guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
– I will set aside time for prayer, worship and spiritual reading.
– I will endeavour to be a gracious presence in the world, serving others and working for justice in human relationships and social structures.
– I will sensitively share my faith with others: participating in God’s mission both locally and globally.
Aren’t these just brilliant?
I have been thinking about The Message’s wonderful translation of Matthew 11:28 – living by the unforced rhythms of grace. I love it – but what does it mean?
I think we get an idea of what it means when we look at the baptism of Jesus as we glimpse the wonder of the Trinity. It is by God’s grace we are called to join in with the glorious love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which is a community of self-giving love and joy. The early Christian Fathers used to describe the life of the Trinity as a round dance – a sort of Godly Celidh! It doesn’t matter if we have two left feet for we are all invited to participate. Thank goodness we are not talking ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ expertise here. As David Runcorn says, “it is a dance that is wholly possible because the life of the Trinity is one of pure giving. Nothing is claimed, nothing is demanded, nothing is grasped”.
It is this unforced rhythm of grace that you and I are called into. It is creative, full of self-giving love, and fun. Let’s do it!
There is a lot of talk about immigration, and it will be a major factor in next year’s general election. I find the rhetoric, that we hear from the politicians from all sides and most of the media, very disturbing. No doubt the election in Rochester this week will be partly decided with this issue in the forefront. In the Observer this last Sunday a survey by the thinktank British Future, speaks that there is more openness towards the stranger, “rather than being overwhelmingly hostile to immigration and immigrants. Most people appear to hold far more nuanced views.” If this is true, thank goodness. Yet what we hear often is such a hardened view.
So what should be a Christian view towards the strangers and those who come into our midst? Have we something positive to add to this debate? In the Old Testament we get some commands from God himself who in my understanding should not be messed with! In Leviticus 19 it says that we should treat the foreigner as if they were a native born Israelite, and love them as we love ourselves. It also says in Deuteronomy, “you shall love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” And in the New Testament St Paul in Romans speaks about extending “hospitality to strangers”. And of course, Jesus, as well as many other Biblical heroes, was a refugee, displaced and living in exile.
I wouldn’t want to be a politician, what a nightmare job, but it does seem clear to me that treating immigration with a hardened heart, indifference and resentment is not the way forward. There does needs to be fairness for all, and understanding that is peppered with a great deal more compassion.
The rhetoric such as ‘let’s get tough…’ and a hardened attitude I feel is motivated out of fear. For when we are fearful, walls go up, our lives shrink in every way and we become less open to those around us. Someone said that “fear is the darkroom where Satan develops our negatives” and the media feeds our fears until there is no room left to welcome the stranger. St John reminds us in his letter it is that perfect love that casts out fear. We live by a different attitude.
So Christians have a prophetic voice, a different message to what we are reading in our newspapers. A message that is based on fairness and compassion but also honours the stranger among us. I wonder what honouring the stranger would look like in our churches and communities?
Not that we have got it sorted here at Scargill, far from it, we are a work in progress. Our Community Promises say, that with the help of God, and with the guidance and encouragement from one another we will try our very best “to welcome the stranger as we would welcome Jesus himself, putting their needs before ours and treating each one as a royal guest.” It is deeply challenging!
St Paul puts it succinctly again in Romans – “Welcome one another, then, just as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God”. Christians are working from a different script from the loud, fearful rhetoric that we often hear around us.
This week, in what has been a mini heat wave at Scargill, we encountered a six foot Bore (tidal wave), which came down the River Wharfe, the aftermath of an old dam bursting up near Great Whernside. It actually made the local news!
At the time we were pumping water from our spring, which runs close to the river, and this swept into our water supply making it undrinkable. We had brown water with bits in – not nice. And, of course, we then had the challenge of having no drinking water for 70 people. It made me realise just how dependent we are on water, this life giving stuff, and we soon found ourselves down in Skipton buying out all the 5 litre bottles of water. We got through 40 of these in one day. We take clean water for granted but, of course, for many in our world it is not so easily available.
On the Wateraid website it says that “every minute, every day, people suffer and lives are lost needlessly because of a lack of safe water and sanitation. This daily reality is for 748 million people.”
One of the things we did at Scargill during our Summerfest programme last year, which was great fun, was to raise money to twin our toilets to provide safe and clean loos across the world (see www.toilettwinning.org).
One of our pathway promises is about speaking out for those without a voice ‘ will you speak up bravely for people who are rarely heard, helping our heavenly Father to fulfil his dream of seeing the hungry fed, the sick looked after the naked clothed and victims of injustice release from their chains.’
This week made me think that perhaps there is more we can do to help our brothers and sisters across the world. Wouldn’t it be good if we all twinned our toilets? It only costs £60 and it would make a real difference.
Back to our water. The Estate Team worked hard pumping out our reservoir – cleaning it out. Today our water is running nice and clean, and tomorrow we will be able to start drinking it again.
We love our Estate Team, and we also love our spring water – and we are grateful to God for it.
When I was thinking about all this, I was reminded of Jesus’ words from Matthew 10 v 42 ’And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.’
Not a bad incentive!
Hey I’m back! In fact we have been back just over a month from our travels to Australia and New Zealand. You will be hearing about our trip – plenty of interesting things to talk about. But those who have been following my blog will realise that it was no mean feat that we managed to get on the right plane on the right day at the right time!
Back at Scargill , we have just said goodbye to our Easter houseparty. An amazing week where we journeyed with Jesus through Holy Week to the joy of Easter Sunday.
One of the things that struck me is how Jesus went out of his way to show people who he was through his actions. A good example of this is Palm Sunday where Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey, and the significance of entering the city from the Mount of Olives. Jesus didn’t speak a word yet he was saying so much through his actions. He was saying, ‘Look, I’m your King!’. And, of course, the Resurrection is the amazing sign of who Jesus is and what he came to do, but yet even though some his closest friends didn’t get it. Just look at Luke 24 and the story on the road to Emmaus.
So some of the questions I have been asking myself are, “how do I recognise Jesus today?” and “is my life dulled to the presence of Jesus or preoccupied with self-interest ?”
On another point on the same subject, I challenged the Community recently to think how people could recognise Jesus just through our actions, through the way we treat and serve people? Loving actions, a welcoming smile, to be kind, a willingness to say ‘yes’, to go the extra mile can say much more about God’s love than words that are divorced from action. And, of course, Jesus longs to show his love through us even though we are weak and fragile. St Paul reminds us: ‘But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.’ 2 Corinthians 4: 7
I heard a lovely story about Rowan Williams when after they had walked the stations of the cross he rhetorically asked the question, ‘Why is there no stations of the resurrection?’, which he answered, ‘we are the living stations of the resurrection’.
So, how do people recognise Jesus? Through you and me.
Well we have made it safely to Australia. – no dramas. We managed to get on the right jets at the right time in the right place. Thanks for asking (if you do not understand read my last post).
So this January we are concerned about having enough sun screen rather than thinking of shovelling snow which has been our usual occupation at Scargill. It is nice and warm in Brisbane, and tomorrow we travel down to Sydney for a week. Such hardship!
With more time to reflect, one question I have been asking is how thirsty am I for God? King David has such a desire to know more of God in his life and in Psalm 63 he speaks of this yearning.
“God – you’re my God! I can’t get enough of you! I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God” (The Message)
Can’t quite remember when I last felt like that. One thing for sure though is that I would like to have David’s desire. The sentiment “I still haven’t found what I am looking for” resounds often deeply within me. St Paul in Ephesians 5:18 speaks about go on being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is constant asking and probably should be a daily discipline. For without the Holy Spirit I am stuffed (hope you like my profound theological vocabulary). How can I know Jesus, how can I have a blazing love for him? How can I be inwardly transformed and therefore a lively witness to all that Jesus is and all he has done in my life? Where do I get the desire to read scripture and hopefully make sense of it? Through the grace and love of God, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Simon Ponsonby, who recently spoke at Scargill, speaks of how we settle for less, when there is so much more to experience and know of God. He quotes Billy Graham who says “the desperate need of the nation today is that men and women who profess Jesus be filled with the Spirit.”
Jesus says “let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As scripture has said, ‘out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living waters.'” (John 7)
Come Lord Jesus pour out your Spirit on us today
Not sure how this happened but this blog has gone missing – so here it is again….
Traveling can be bit of an ordeal. Di and I are on sabbatical, having a break from Scargill, and today we were hoping and expecting to fly to Australia only to find we had got to the airport a day early. Oh yes! I’m obviously not that good with dates…And not only being a day early, I thought I had lost my wallet only to find that I had left it in my daughter’s car back in Milton Keynes. It had all the usual cards which, without, would have made traveling very difficult. All a bit stressful, particularly to my long suffering wife.
What I have achieved today is to be an embarrassment to my daughter and caused a lot of laughter and head shaking. But no harm done, we will try again tomorrow with tickets checked and wallet safe.
Traveling though can be exhausting even straightforward trips. The bible are full of journeys many that are very hazardous.The Israelites in the Old Testament journeyed for forty years in the wilderness, full of trails and difficulties, learning huge life lessons on the way. In the New Testament we read of the the holy family’s trip to Bethlehem, (Mary on a donkey = virgin on the ridiculous. You can thank Adrian Plass for that!). A couple of years later fleeing for their lives as refugees to Egypt, an enforced journey. Jesus identifies with refugees and we keep in our prayers all who find themselves along way from home. Their plight makes my experiences insignificant and yes, ridiculous.
Yet the “inward” journey is also never straightforward, far from it. Christians, often speak of their walk with God, or their desire to discover God, with phrases such as a desert experience or walking through a valley, or mountain top experience. The inward journey for the majority of us is exhausting and hazardous. St Augustine wrote in one of his prayers, “our hearts are restless until they rest in you”. Very true. This is the journey which will bring life, love and hope, and like the younger son in his parable, we stumble along in the hope of coming home to the unconditional love and welcome of our Heavenly Father. The road can seem long and tough but let us not be discouraged, as Jesus promises to journey with us, speaking to us, and that “if we listen carefully we discover we are already home while on the way” (Henri Nouwen).
Will I make it to Australia, will I journey more into the love of God? Both journeys are keenly on my agenda – I’ll let you know.
This last week we have had a lovely time at Scargill. We have had a Community retreat, which was led by good friends of Scargill – Ken and Liz Whiteway. They were very gentle, warming and encouraging of us.
It is lovely when we have people who know us well and come with love and blessing. And talking of blessing, they shared that often blessing does not come through life being easy or our prayers being answered in the way we would hope. There was a wonderful song from Laura Story called ‘Blessings’, which they shared with us. The chorus is:
‘Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise’
There are a lot of ‘what if’s” in the chorus, and the song is asking the question, does God bless us through the disappointments and difficulties of life?’
Many guests who visit us at Scargill are living with very hard and stressful situations, and it is difficult to see where God is in it all, but what if that somewhere, somehow, in the darkness our compassionate God wants to bless us with His love? I wonder if Romans 5 v 3-5 echo something of what this song is saying?
‘And not only that, but we also boasting our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.’
Just what if?
Laura Story: Link to the explanation and link to the song itself on YouTube
Thank you very much to those of you who take the time to read my blog over the last year, and I am sorry that I haven’t written anything for a while. Life here has been hectic and I have been waiting for some inspiration to encourage the perspiration to write. Now I’m back!
Someone, after their second visit to Scargill, said that it was like coming home. We often hear that from people, when referring to their visits. I love it and I am very appreciative that people feel this way about Scargill.
I love the bit from the ‘Last Battle’, the final book of the Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis, when the Unicorn cries, “I have come home at last, this is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I’ve been looking for all my life.” Not everybody feels as over the top as this when they visit Scargill, but for many it does feel like Home.
I was questioned recently, ‘Are you a Christian hotel?’ I was surprised by my strong reaction to that question. “No way!”. Of course we have many marks of a hotel (food cooked, bedrooms prepared) but we are definitely not a hotel! I have been to some fine hotels, some of them Christian ones, and they are very different from Scargill. You sit and have your meal, not usually with other people, and you don’t have prolonged conversation and share your lives with the staff, however nice they seem to be. And that raises the first big difference between Scargill and a hotel: we don’t have staff, we are a community. That means that we have a very different model of hospitality. We eat on shared tables where Community serve and eat with guests. We have conversations and relationships that at times go deeper than superficial. Scargill Community are very much about inviting people into our home. It’s a hospitality that is relational and can be transformative in a deep way.
Scargill at its heart is ‘lives shared – lives transformed’, with Jesus at the centre. So Scargill is a place of sharing, mutual laughter, a place where we are encouraged to be open to one another and particularly to those who may be very different from us. A safe place where people can meet and be open to the love of God through His Holy Spirit.
Every week we welcome another group of guests, some of them come on their own and by the end of the week we have grown into a community of mutual respect and love. At our best (and of course we are not always at our best) the words of Jesus have a truth and reality, ‘By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.’ John 13 v 35
J.R.R. Tolkien describes Rivendell in ‘The Hobbit’ as the ‘last homely house, which is a sanctuary and refuge for the weary.’ Not a bad description of Scargill.
Jorgen Moltmann said that, ‘when others look at us in a friendly way, we feel alive and vital. When others recognise us just the way we are, we feel fulfilled. And when we feel accepted and affirmed, we are happy for we human beings need acceptance as the birds need air and the fish need water. Acceptance is the atmosphere of humanity.‘
Acceptance has to be an important characteristic of life at Scargill for guests and Community. The Community here is so diverse. We have people from different countries, languages, and different experiences of God. Community life is dynamic and it most definitely stretches us, yet what enriches our life is the acceptance we try and offer one another. Interestingly our particular spiritual flavour or denominational backgrounds never really come to the fore, as what is so important to the Community is to offer an accepting safe place which allows people to encounter the living God. As someone once said after a visit to Scargill, ‘It’s a safe place to say dangerous things.’
Of course, accepting people can make others think that we agree to everything they believe in, that we have the same world view or theological understanding, and that may not be the case. Accepting isn’t the same as agreeing. Bishop Chris Edmondson, in ‘Leaders Learning to Listen’, writes: ‘I believe we often confuse acceptance and agreement, or, to use a road sign analogy, giving way and giving in….acceptance and agreement are not the same.‘
I suppose what’s key for me about life at Scargill is not trumpeting a particular theological, or ethical stance, but being a place of love and acceptance, and to allow space for the Holy Spirit to do His renewing work in the lives of all who come to us. We want to be about ‘lives shared – lives transformed’ with Jesus at the heart. As Anne Lamott puts it, ‘God loves you as you are, and far too much to leave you as you are.’
I want to talk about eating. It is something that we do a great deal of at Scargill: three times a day we sit round table as a community with our guests.
We have found here that eating together has been the place where lives are most shared, where joy and laughter can be freely expressed and opportunities to behave in a childlike way are encouraged! I think that eating together is one of the special gifts that Scargill offers to guests as we share our lives and welcome them into our home.
Eating together is one of the best of things. It stretches us, and I am not just talking about our waistlines! Eating together is not about entertainment or show. Eating together is about creating community.
Jean Vanier writes: ‘Meals are celebrations where we meet each other around the same table to be nourished and share in joy.’ And he goes on to say, ‘you cannot build community without wasting time together.’ There is nothing more spiritual and more human than the activity of eating together around table.
Jesus obviously enjoyed eating and it would seem that he had a particular gift at cooking fish. Being creative in finding time to eat with others is such an important part of what it means to be human. In fact, self-service could be one of the worst inventions ever with our own sachets, trays and prepared meal (Vanier says it could be like spending every meal on an aeroplane). Eating together, within a warm, accepting atmosphere, allows us to be real and vulnerable. Where mutual laughter can be shared and, through each other, we encounter Jesus.
In Latin the word companion literally means ‘to break bread together’. Whatever our tradition is to do with Holy Communion it is full of power and wonder as Jesus is both our host and our life-giving food. Jesus calls himself ‘the living bread’ (John 6:51). It is important to us that Holy Communion is the central act of worship as a community.
Whether we live alone or in a family, or as we do in community here at Scargill, let us dare to create space to eat with others; to share lives; to celebrate laughter and joy; fragility and tears; and share good simple food which will create community and transform lives.
Then I will begin…
I have just returned from an inspiring couple of days at Greenbelt where Scargill were privileged to lead an act of worship. What inspired me about Greenbelt was the passion and commitment from many young people to God, and to see His Kingdom worked out on earth. Justice, peace and reconciliation are themes that run through much of Greenbelt. I was reflecting, after hearing an inspiring talk from someone a lot younger than myself, ‘where has my passion gone?’ Being passionate and angry about injustice in our society is not the prerogative of young people. I think it is fair to say for most of us that as we get older, when life can become more comfortable, we can loss that cutting edge. Complacency can settle in. Perhaps when we get older we lose the fire within our belly that calls us to be radical and, instead of being passionate about what we do, we strive for a balanced life. Beware of balance!
Mike Yaconelli [once a Greenbelt great] wrote, ‘Balance is a dangerous, illusionary characteristic and a seductive temptress. Disguised as normal and sensible, it is silently destructive crashing the unbalance of giftedness, taming the extremes of passion, snuffing out the raging fire of a genuine relationship with Jesus. Jesus and his disciples were constantly criticised for being unbalanced.’
We are never too old to be passionate about the things that are close to God’s heart. As an well known saying goes: ”the Holy Spirit comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable”. Lord get disturbing…
I found this prayer the other day which invites God to challenge us:
May the God who dances in creation,
who embraces us with human love,
and shakes our lives like thunder,
bless us and drive us out in the power of the Holy Spirit,
to fill the world with his justice,
this day, and always.
Amen
Today we remember that amazing speech by Martin Luther King Jnr. If you haven’t listened to it yet, there is a modern recording on the BBC Radio 4 website where the original speech is overlaid with modern voices speaking those same words, voices of those who have also campaigned for justice and peace.
This inspirational speech, which I feel must have been inspired by God, began to change American society. But how did it all start?
It started with an act of defiance from Mrs Rosa Parks, a 42 year old Montgomery seamstress, who refuses to relinquish her bus seat to a white man – and then is arrested. I doubt if Mrs Parks though her act would gain the momentum that would lead to the march on Washington and the amazing speech that we celebrate today.
She says, “At the time I was arrested, I had no idea it would turn into this. It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in.”
Rosa with her quiet eloquence, her commitment to her faith, was a role model of courage. God often uses “small” acts of courage to bring about change. I doubt if many of us will become like Dr King: charismatic and powerful in speech and a leader of many people. But we can all be like Rosa Parks where we can make a stand for courage against what is wrong around us. It could be something in our community; it could be at work or at home; and even in our church! It will often make us unpopular and there may be uncomfortable consequences to being courageous.
Someone said, “don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is”, and as Edmund Burke said, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing”
Courage will never be easy, its risky. But as the speech proclaims,”No,no, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Wet and Wild at Scargill Summerfest
These last 2 weeks we have been enjoying Summerfest at Scargill. Summerfest is an all age arts festival where we have guest artists, all age teaching, a myriad of activities and a chat show every evening. It’s full on!
These last 2 weeks I have doing quite a lot of speaking and succumbed to ‘foot in mouth’ when trying to quote Jackie Pullinger. It is funny that when we are tired when brain and mouth sort of come disconnected. I found myself saying she had lived for many years in the Walled Garden, and yes, we do have a beautiful Walled Garden at Scargill but sadly this is not where we will find Jackie Pullinger. For those of you who don’t know, Jackie spent many years working in the Walled City area of Hong Kong, bringing ‘cups of life giving water’ to prostitutes and drug addicts.
The verse from Matthew 10 that speaks about giving a cup of cold water to one of these little ones….has been resonating in our hearts and minds. There is nothing so refreshing as a cool glass of water. It is worth spending some time thinking about those who have been living water to us, those who have shown us kindness and compassion, who offered us ‘a cup of water’. It is good to give thanks for those who have brought us to life by their generosity and their belief in us, and, of course, not all these people will be Christians. I was remembering my primary school teacher who encouraged me and helped me believe in myself when education was such a struggle. Who are those who have offered cups of water to us, that have made a difference to our lives?
But, the challenge then is how can we be living water for others?
We are privileged to have this living water within us and we are called to give it away, not to hold it for ourselves. I’d like to encourage you to think about who you could give a ‘cup of living water’ to this week. It could be a word of kindness, it may be a ‘phone call to a friend we have not spoken to for some time in order to show them how we love them, it may be a listening ear. It will be an act of love that will bring life. Jesus brought life to the woman at the well (John 4) and we too have this opportunity to give Jesus to others, as the source of living water. Isn’t this just a wonderful gift that we can offer?
A friend posted this wonderful prayer on Facebook.
Holy Trinity, Well of love, Refresh us with your presence. May we drink of your life-giving water, Filling us with you, Overflowing to all those around us.
Although it might seem like old news, I was delighted that Tony Robinson was given a knighthood for his work in politics and in the public arena. It also made me smile when I think of Tony Robinson playing Baldrick in Blackadder. I love that programme, with Baldrick and his ‘cunning plan’, love of turnips, and clueless nature which often made me laugh out loud.
Baldrick, who was valued less than a garden slug (he would like to eat them – hmmm yummy), was often undermined. I can’t help think that most of us have Baldrick-type tendencies and feel as though we are pretty worthless. The Bible tells us something different as it speaks of God who honours us, who loves us, and says that we are precious in His eyes (Isaiah 43). Jesus views us very differently to how we feel about ourselves, and what we think others say about us. Jesus is not like Edmund Blackadder.
There is a wonderful song we have been singing quite often in Chapel in the last few weeks:
‘I will change your name,
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, outcast, lonely or afraid.
I will change your name.
Your new name shall be,
Confidence, joyfulness, overcoming one;
Faithfulness, friend of God,
One who seeks My face.’ [D.J. Butler]
God has a marvellous plan, which is far from cunning, that in Christ we are new people. In fact, we are elevated to being heirs with Christ, with all the privileges as well as the responsibilities that go with that. For me, it is a lifetime journey to fully understand that I no longer have a ‘Baldrick status’ but a ‘Beloved status’. Yet it is in this truth that I am to live and move have my being.
As Brennan Manning wrote: ‘Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.’
What has your experience been of coffee (and refreshments in general) after a church service?
I am glad to say that church communities are waking up to the truth that good coffee is not just peripheral to their life together, a sort of tagged on extra, but says something important about valuing people.
I wonder if it is too bold to say that good coffee is as important as an inspiring and thought-provoking sermon. The smell of percolating coffee is inviting and the aroma is as enjoyable as the drinking.
As I said, decent coffee at the beginning or end of the service, is saying an important truth about how we value people. When you go to places and you are offered a weak, instant coffee in a plastic cup, which is almost impossible to hold, with rich tea biscuits (and then with a little bowl asking for a donation) – what are we saying?
When we moved to Scargill to begin this adventure one of the first things I decided is that we were going to have decent coffee. This was not just for my own benefit, but was hopefully saying something important to our guests: they matter. Being generous with the quality of our refreshments reflects God’s generosity to us. God is not stingy! He wishes the best for his people and of course good refreshments also show our heart of hospitality.
Jesus shows us what our gracious God is like. In fact, Jesus could only do what he saw his Father doing (John 5 v17) and we see a God who gives abundantly in turning water into wine (900 bottles of the stuff, and the best). We see how Jesus treats people with respect. Jesus treats as first class citizens those who are particularly broken or forgotten by society, and we as his followers, who share his generosity and love of people, are called to do the same. And so, even the coffee matters!
This, of course, can be Fair Trade or Rain Forest Alliance certified which will make the experience of coffee drinking even better.
Over the last week, or so, life has been very hectic: We turned Scargill into Narnia which was such good fun, then I was at Lee Abbey speaking on ‘Laughter and Lament’ with David Rowe, followed swiftly by my son’s wedding which was an amazing occasion.
There is a huge amount to be thankful for.
Psalm 111 says: ‘ I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.’ Meister Eckhart once said,’if the only prayer you say in your entire life is “thank you” that would suffice.’ Gratitude is a crucial spiritual discipline to foster in our lives for it is the great antidote to cynicism which has the capacity to suck the life out of us. Gratitude, I think, is the gateway to playfulness and childlikeness.
Mark Yaconelli in his book ‘wonder, fear and longing’ writes, ‘It is good to give God thanks not only because God has given us so much, but perhaps more importantly because of what gratitude does to us. It is hard to be anxious when you are grateful. It is difficult to keep you guard up, to be cold and defended when you are overcome with thankfulness. Prayers of gratitude open the gates of the heart so God’s love can enter in.’
A good friend of mine, who I worked with on the Lee Abbey Youth Camps, taught me the importance of gratitude even when life can seem so tough and difficult. He encouraged us to think of at least 5 things we could be thankful for, like the taste and smell of good food, the love of friends, the pleasure of sunsets, the beauty of flowers, the freshness of toothpaste, the nourishment of sleep, and the sugar rush obtained from jelly babies. Wouldn’t it be good if we could just open our eyes to give thanks daily for all of God’s grace and love that we see around us.
Giving gratitude isn’t something that comes easy to us. It is a discipline.
Joan Chittester says, ‘As he was dying, Abba Benjamin taught his disciples his last lesson,”do this,” he said,”and you will be saved: rejoice always; pray constantly; and in all circumstances give thanks.”‘
This coming week, I’m going to try my very best to be grateful. Would you like to join me?
This last week the House has been full of young people with their parents as we put on our ‘Back through the Wardrobe 3’, another wonderful opportunity to explore the truths about God in the Narnia Chronicles written by C.S. Lewis. Scargill became Narnia for the week as rooms were decorated to reflect the story.
We were focusing particularly on the Last Battle which is the last of the books and covers important topics like: deception; identity; judgement; courage; the end of the Old and the beginning of the New Narnia; and homecoming and it is this that I want to talk about briefly.
Jewel, the Unicorn, when he arrives into the New Narnia exclaims, “I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now…..Come further up, come further in!”
For many people home has been a difficult experience, something that people don’t want to remember. If, though, we were going to look at coming home as an experience that brings life what would it look like? These were some of the comments that people said during one of our sessions this week:
‘belonging, safe place, acceptance, love and laughter, finding my true self, sometimes challenging, good food, and space to be who I am ‘
It would seem to me that there is a longing and a yearning to experience coming home, and the church community should be a place where people can experience this generous homecoming.
Sister Stan writes in Gardening of the Soul writes, ‘Home is the place where we discover who we are, where we are coming from and where we are going to. It is where we learnt to love and be loved. It is where our needs of the body, mind and spirit are first recognised and met. It is where we learn to be whole, stable and yet always open to change and surprise.’
The parable of the prodigal son, or perhaps it should be called the parable of the prodigal father, highlights the generous attitude that we are invited to show when people come home, ‘but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and was filled with compassion…’ (Luke 15 v20)
Some of our guests, who come back to Scargill, describe it as a home from home. I like that…
I have been reflecting over the last couple of days on St Paul’s words, “I have become all things to all people.” (1 Cor 9 v22)
His reason for wanting to do this is his longing for people to know the wonder and joy of the saving love of Jesus. This was his agenda. Paul’s words are very challenging to us as he is asking us to put aside our own judgements, and sometimes the desire to show the error of others – It would be so nice if others could have the same understanding as us!
Accepting others and journeying with them, to be their friend and their servant is at the centre of Paul’s heart. I love the way the Message version puts it: “I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, non-religious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated and the demoralized – whoever…I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.”
Paul is not saying that by accepting people we are agreeing with them, but his longing is that through his life, in word and action, they would experience the love of Christ. This ability to accept people as they are comes from a growing understanding of our own identity in Christ, that we are his beloved, and that our lives are about showing others that they are God’s children and deeply loved. Our security is rooted in our relationship with Jesus.
We want this attitude to be at the heart of our life here at Scargill. We want to accept people who come through our doors even though they may not fit into our tidy theological understanding and this can obviously be disturbing.
Yet, however uncomfortable it may sometimes feel, our hope is that we show the warmth and accepting love of Jesus. I am sure many of us have been into churches where there have been such strong theological statements about God and life, that have felt so rigid and unyielding that it leaves very little space for dialogue or movement – It can be suffocating.
Scargill is about offering a safe place where the transformative love of God can do its mysterious work. As Ann Lamott says, ” God loves you exactly as you are and far too much to leave you as you are”.
Loving and accepting people for what they are can give us permission to adopt a different narrative if that is what is required.
Guess what? The letter is going to be Q!
First up – Quantity. One of the great joys of being part of the Scargill community is the amazing variety of people that you meet. Each week we welcome various groups and individuals and each person brings something unique and something that is life giving. Then of course there is the community we are bundled together with, all from such a variety of backgrounds and experiences of God. It’s a rich, sometimes challenging, but always growing and stretching experience.
Secondly – Quality. Joining community is an opportunity to witness and be part of the unrivalled excellence of the Holy Spirit working in the real world with real people. One of the delightful aspects which keeps us on our toes is seeing how God’s loving spirit moves and works, sometimes in the most unexpected ways. The Holy Spirit is most definitely ingenious. Being on community here at Scargill inspires an openness to what our gracious God is doing and having the courage to join in.
Finally – Questions. Many people come, as guests as well as community, with an array of questions. There is space and opportunity to ask and discuss and perhaps even solve some of the burning questions that are important to your personal walk with Jesus. As one visiting clergy said ‘This is a safe place to say dangerous things.’
And of course as one community member just enthusiastically said to me, ‘I hope you got quirky in there!’ Hmm, will have to think about that!
So quantity, quality and questions and even quirkiness… all good reasons to consider joining community. QI don’t you think?
Forgiveness is never easy. It’s a process and can take a long time. I hope I’m not the only one who, thinking I’ve forgiven someone magnanimously, wakes up in the night a couple of days later, seething with resentment. Forgiveness is hard work, and yet it is the cement of community life. Jesus, who shows us the heart of our gracious and compassionate God, calls us to be a forgiving people. Forgiveness is part of the nature of God – and Jesus shows it: for him it was a crucifying experience, and for many of us it may feel like it. Without forgiveness there is little hope of transformation and new life, yet I know from painful experience how easy it is to get stuck in the pit of resentment. Nelson Mandela puts it succinctly, ‘Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.’
In the Scargill Community we learn about the liberating and humbling nature of forgiveness. There’s nothing more humbling than being forgiven when my weaknessess and failings are brought into the light of this grace. Community would become a very narrow place if there was no forgiveness. Our rule of life speaks of keeping our relationships open, honest and loving; a tough call, yet liberating.
Professor Jonathan Sacks, once the Chief Rabbi, says we need forgiveness as it ‘helps us sustain relationships, build marriages that last, stay close to our children and faithful to our friends. We say things that hurt and do things that harm. So do others to us. The mere fact that we can apologise and be forgiven is one of the blessed gifts of humanity, and it isn’t simple at all. It is underwritten by a certain view of the universe, the belief that God forgives’.
This last week we have been confronted with atrocities in the US, unresolved and (understandable) resentments over Mrs Thatcher’s life and death, and the ongoing relational struggles that go on in our churches and communities. A lot to process, a lot to struggle with – with God, ourselves and others as we dare to climb the ladder of forgiveness, even if we’ve only reached the first rung.
Forgiveness is not an optional extra, it is a process that brings healing to communities and ultimately to ourselves. If we want a future, then an attitude of forgiveness will be working its way into our hearts.
Loving Jesus give us your mercy and grace!
This week I’ve been reflecting on Thomas, that well known doubter of the New Testament. I actually have great empathy with Thomas, and I often wonder where he was when Jesus first appeared to the fearful disciples in the Upper Room. Perhaps he was the only one who had the courage to go out to that 1st century Co-Op to buy provisions. It can be really irritating when I meet people who speak with such enthusiasm about an incident or event that I should have been at and somehow, for one reason or another, I missed. I can imagine that Thomas was thinking that the risen Jesus, who had conquered death, could have managed to arrange to turn up when he was in the room.
Thomas’ response, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe,’ is the response of a person who is both frustrated and feeling rejected. “What’s the matter with me?” could be a fair description of how Thomas was feeling. “Have I not been just as loyal, if not more so, than my fellow disciples? So why I did I miss out?” He had missed out on the this life-changing encounter, and the shiny eyes and smiles of his fellow disciples would do very little to comfort the distraught Thomas.
He had to wait a whole week before Jesus came amongst them again, and this time Thomas was there. He was offered the most remarkable, life giving, transformative encounter: the invitation to put his hands in the wounds of the risen Lord. The wounds of love that had changed the world, that had showed us the depths of God’s love: Thomas was invited to put his fingers in them. Now that is a bit of a ‘Wow’!
Yes, Thomas was a bit of a doubter, as John’s account portrays. But Thomas’ encounter with Jesus gives hope to all of us who feel that we’ve missed out, that we’re in some way rejected, that God has passed us by, that we were “out of the room”. For the risen Jesus truly wants to have a ‘one-to-one’ with us.
Perhaps Bruce Cockburn’s words in his wonderful song “Somebody touched me”, can be our prayer this week – great song, great lyrics. Thomas was surprised that he had a one-to-one with Jesus: may we also be surprised by the risen Christ this week.
Somebody touched me
Making everything new
Somebody touched me
I didn’t know what to do
Burned through my life
Like a bolt from the blue
Somebody touched me
I know it was you
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeuVJ_A0CoE
And on another note, I am sure that I’ll be out of the room if and when my team Spurs score a winning goal…
Emptiness does not usually thrill us. An empty fridge for that late night snack frustrates, getting in the car and finding it running on empty is annoying. We like life to be full, and we comment with satisfaction when our days are busy with activity; as a society we are quickly bored if there is seemingly nothing to do to keep us amused or busy. Full is good, especially in my opinion, when it comes to an english breakfast. Jesus himself, commented that he had come to bring life in all its fullness. Empty is bad and boring, fullness is good and satisfying.
The resurrection though gives us a another view – a full tomb is a bit of a disaster! Empty is liberating and life giving, Jesus is risen, the tomb is empty, death has lost its sting, sin and satan are defeated. God has had the last laugh.
When thinking of the resurrection I think of Psalm 18:19; “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me”. Jesus is risen, the tomb is empty, life is to be lived in that spacious place, and we to are to leave our “tombs”, to leave them empty, and move into the spacious place that our generous God has won for us in the resurrected Jesus. It does take courage and a fair amount of trust. Our tombs whatever they may be, come with all sorts of names, unforgiveness and bitterness, fear, feeling useless just to mention a few.. We live in these tombs they become our home, they are familiar, and disturbingly comfortable. Scargill is about “lives shared, lives transformed” and hopefully with Jesus right at the centre he will loving lead us out of our caves that we have uncomfortably conformed to live in.
The challenge is to leave our tombs, and move into that spacious place, and breath in that resurrection air.
A blessed Easter to you all.
This week Phil Stone gives us a challenge to bless, to say good things..
We have just finished our Palm Sunday service here in the Chapel at Scargill. Many a sermon has been given on this significant day in Jesus’ life. What struck me afresh is the adulation that welcomed Jesus from the crowd as he entered Jerusalem, and then in a few days time the same crowd will be shouting insults and wanting him dead. The crowd move from blessing to cursing with unnerving ease. Henri Nouwen says that to bless is to simply says good things about another. How crucial this is as we live in a world that gives out curses so liberally. If we bless one another our understanding of who we are in God grows and deepens. Curses destroy, blessings give life.
How important it is to bless, never more so than in Community which is full of relational challenges! There is nothing like living and working together to realise the need to bless when at times there is a deep desire to curse. Our community promises speak about building community for which we will need to be ‘consistently, transparently, constructively, unsentimentally loving’. People making their promises say, “We can learn and improve in our efforts to strengthen the bonds of love in this community. Sometimes we will get very cross with people and find it difficult to love them. Sometimes they will feel the same about us. We will not say anything about others that we would not say to them directly if love and wisdom required it. With God’s help, and with encouragement and guidance from the brothers and sisters who share this pathway, we promise to try our very best to follow the example of Jesus.”
As we begin to understand that we are called ‘beloved’, what a joy it is to enable others to find that truth for themselves. Henri Nouwen goes on to say that there are many ways that we can bless people:
“Therefore we have to be reminded of our belovedness and remind others of theirs. Whether the blessing is given in words or with gestures, in a solemn or an informal way, our lives need to be blessed lives.”
So may Jesus Christ richly bless you as you journey with him this Holy Week.
Sadly the towering trees which used to line the long driveway up to Scargill House have had to be cut down. At this melancholy time Scargill’s Director Phil Stone reflects on community, culture shock and how sometimes seeds need to die if they are going to live…
This last week has been sad and significant for Scargill. Our treasured avenue of horse chestnuts, which has been part of the landscape for the last 50 years and more, have become diseased and dangerous and have had come to down. Interesting and surprisingly what has been left is a new vista where the surrounding hills look even more inviting and attractive.
We are gradually becoming aware that the rhythm of life involves some small and some significant deaths so that God can bring new life and new beginnings. The rhythm of cross and resurrection are central to our lives. Scargill itself was resurrected, but not before it had to go through a death in 2008. The whole estate was up for sale and the long ministry of Scargill had finished. The place was dead. God though had not wiped the slate with either the place or the ministry.
When Di and I came to Scargill to grow and develop the ministry at the beginning of 2010, we were excited about the new adventure, but after a while I was wondering what we had done. From being a vicar in a large inner city parish, an area dean with responsibilities, I had come to Scargill where there was just a handful of us and 10,000 sheep. However lovely those sheep are, they are not great conversationalists, and regarded me as a sort of mint sauce threat (probably rightly so). After a couple of months of this I was feeling diminished, and well out of my depth. I went to see a wise friend who listened and shared a verse from John 12: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”
Something had to die in me, for something new to come alive – never easy, often painful, but necessary. We can never jump to resurrection until we go through our own cross. Three years on Scargill is alive and thriving. The place is beginning to bear much fruit, but what is most significant is that I have deepened my understanding that I am loved by God, that I am called “his beloved”. Sometimes God has to strip away old securities so he can help us find again our true identity.
This week we begin Passiontide, with the invitation to journey with Jesus through Palm Sunday next Sunday, onto the Cross, and then onto the joy of Easter Sunday. As we journey with Jesus may we also know that he journeys with us as we face our crosses We need to ask him for courage.
This week new trees will be planted down our avenue at Scargill.
Our resurrection life continues.
The community at Scargill is always warmly welcoming new members and wishing a fond farewell to others as each person’s contract is staggered so that as we grow and change we can maintain consistency. If you are interested in spending some time as part of our community or know someone who might be interested then click here (especially if you/they have professional catering experience!). Feel free to use the contact information in the link to get in touch and start a conversation going to work out if Scargill is the right place for you to explore more about life, community and God.
This week Phil Stone Director of the Scargill Movement discusses conflict.
Last week I was down at Coventry Cathedral attending a conference entitled Faith in Conflict. It was full of quite important influential people, I had to behave like a grown up! One of the things that we discovered (which isn’t rocket science) is that conflict is normal. You could almost hear a collective sigh of relief and I know that from my experience here at Scargill we have had to work through quite a bit of conflict over the last few years. Just because we are followers of Jesus doesn’t mean we are going to get on all the time.
What is really important is how we deal with conflict. Often we are either confrontational and shout with a ‘come on if you think you’re hard enough’ attitude or the other equally unhelpful attitude is to go into silence and avoid confrontation at all costs. But what we are encouraged to do and the way forward – is to speak and to listen. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow says, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
Of course living in community this is essential if we are going to grow and become a place of reconciliation. The quality of our relationships is an authentic witness of God’s love. This is the heart of the Gospel. In fact one of the speakers at conference said that reconciliation is not the warm up act to hearing the Gospel – it is the Gospel.
Whenever we are reach out (and I’m not talking about with a fist!) to somebody we are in conflict with we are doing the Gospel. St Paul reminds us in 2nd Corinthians 5 that Jesus has reconciled us with God, our relationship with Him has been put right. We are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation.
It’s not an optional extra.
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This week cheer on Diverse United with Phil Stone the Director of the Scargill Movement as he talks about how through community we can overcome insular boundaries and open ourselves and others to the love of God.
At Scargill we are about lives shared – lives transformed with Jesus hopefully right at the centre of everything. Within our community I feel there is both a high degree of unity and a wonderful diversity that needs to be celebrated. Our youngest community member is 10 and our eldest is 70. We have members from Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Nepal, Brazil, Germany and Scotland, we have someone who is about to arrive from Latvia as well as locals from Halifax and Bradford. As well as being an amazingly international group of men and women of all ages we are diverse in our understanding and experience of God within the Christian faith. We are truly ecumenical, representing many different strands of tradition. It is an incredibly diverse bunch of people all somehow bundled together to share God’s hospitality to those who come through our doors.
One of our challenges is to celebrate the diversity of one another which means learning, listening, sharing, and sometimes going beyond our own boundaries, which can be uncomfortable. It is when we mix with the ‘other’ with a heart of hospitality that we can truly begin to see our lives transformed. This is always a challenge for any community because when tired we often gather around those who we feel comfortable with, speak the same language as, who share the same food, and who tell the same jokes. At Scargill there is such a wealth and richness in our community which we could miss out on if we keep our relationships within those we feel ‘comfortable with’.
Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt in their book Radical Hospitality, Benedict’s Way of Love say this, ‘As a spiritual discipline, Benedict understood the importance of encountering those who are different to ourselves as it stretches us; it dislocates stiffness and opens us up to new possibilities. He meant for the monks to do so intentionally.’
Is not God’s Kingdom the invitation to grow and be transformed by God’s love? One way we can do this is celebrating our diversity in the unity that we share in the love of Jesus.
If you are interested in finding out more about getting involved in community life click here to see a list of current vacancies. In addition we are looking for people with backgrounds in administration or maintenance to join the team. If this sounds like you then don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Phil Stone, Director of The Scargill Movement (an intentional community of Christian men and women in North Yorkshire), talks about the fragile nature of community.
Community, wherever it is, whether or not you’re wearing a monastic habit – always has fragility in it. A community is not a strong place or at least not strong in the way the world tends to think of strength, it will always be a fragile enterprise.
We each take our weaknesses as well as our strengths to communal life. It is important that we are very loving towards each other, we need to carry each other. Out of our weakness God does something beautiful, if we allow it. Community life is not polished, it is not neat and tidy. For it is a place where we can dare to be truly ourselves, accepted and loved for who we are, and yet also challenged to be transformed by the love of God we experience together. Therefore the willingness to express our fragility and vulnerability is at the heart of who we are.
The more I live in community the more I understand that the key is the willingness to love not in a sentimental way but a love that is compassionate, self-giving and vulnerable. St Peter talks about love covering a multitude of sins and the script that Jesus asks us to play out in our lives together is one that is simple but tough and can feel extreme. In John 13 Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Brother Roger of Taize sums it up wonderfully, “Many people ask themselves ‘What does God want of me?’, when we read the Gospel we understand. God asks us to be a reflection of his presence in every situation. God invites us to make life beautiful for those he entrusts to us.”
In only half an hour I will be sharing fun and eating pancakes with my friends. There will be a great sense of belonging and togetherness.
Tomorrow will be Ash Wednesday and Lent begins! I think this season could be a good opportunity not so much for giving up but taking up. Taking up and thinking of how to be good friends. Which of course might mean, not rushing around ‘doing’ all the time. In a sense more ‘being’, taking stock of who we are with God and who we are with each other. Lent is a time for self-examination and an opportunity to open ourselves up again to the love of God and sorting out our priorities.
I have just returned from London having been down to see the church where I was vicar for 13 years. It was a bittersweet experience. It was sweet to experience such love and warmth from many people who I have not seen these last three years. But bitter because although it was lovely to meet up with many good friends, we knew we had to leave them again to head back up North, realising it would be hard to maintain that depth of friendship over the distance. Having friends is so important, they keep us alive, keep us truthful, help us experience the warmth of God! We needs friends, we need to foster our relationships. Perhaps Lent can be a time where we can decide to see some friends, restore some relationships and deepen our love. Saint Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive…” and having friends is a wonderful way of this becoming true. Our friendships help us embrace life and embrace God. As Irenaeus goes on to say “…and to be alive consists in beholding God.”
I am always staggered when I read John 15 that Jesus calls us his friends. Perhaps Lent is a time to deepen that friendship and love for him.
Phil Stone, director of Scargill Movement, talks this week about the graffiti we get on our hearts and what is obscured underneath.
Out of interest the other day I was looking at a job description (don’t worry Scargillites I’m not leaving!) and I saw in the spec that having a theology degree was essential. It raised within me some of the internal struggles I have had to deal with in my journey with God and as a human being. I left school at 16 with only a handful of O levels to rub together. Academic achievement seemed a world away. It was a huge leap from there to being called to ordination at the age of 21. It almost felt impossible as so many clergy had degrees in theology and understood so much.
As a young man my perceived lack of academic abilities was beginning to shape my life and my identity. It has taken several years of prayer and people who have encouraged and supported me for me to discover that I was not as thick as I thought I was and that I could manage the theological training that allowed me to be ordained. I remember my first day at Ridley hall at Cambridge when we were introducing ourselves. When most people were quick to share their doctorates and master degrees and all I had was my two O Levels! It begs the questions where do we find our identity? Since then I have dabbled in some further study.
The deep seated thinking, that I was thick, had become, as a good friend describes, ‘graffiti on the heart’. We’ve all got some. This is an area in which God has had to work on with me. It makes me think that negative graffiti on people’s hearts which shapes their identity stops them from hearing God’s call upon their life.
When I heard God calling for me to be ordained I said to myself, ‘I thought I was thick.’
The question we need to keep asking ourselves is – what is the graffiti on our hearts that God wants us to deal with? And will we allow him? For we have to remember that what God wants to write on our hearts, and is already there if we can get rid of the rubbish, is this – ‘You are my child, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.’
This week Phil discusses community life and what his dream and heart is for Scargill.
I am under no illusion having now lived community life for three years that while it is an incredibly rich experience it is also a very intense one. I can feel great joy and unity one day and later that same week can feel despair and disunity and I’m wondering if this is the same community it was at the start of the week! It is not without reason that the phrase lives shared, lives transformed is central to our rule of life with Jesus right at the heart of this process. We rely on this sharing and transforming. Living in community has a sort of Star Wars feel about it, in the sense that one soon realises that the ‘dark side’ is in all of us.
I was reminded recently of Carolinne White’s introduction to The Penguin Classic of The Rule of life of St Benedict, where she described St Anthony and others like him making the love of God into an ‘extreme sport’! There is no doubt that living on community feels a little extreme. As we are often asked to face difficult situations and some of that is often from within. Yet our community life also gives us the means to grow together. I can probably sum up my dream and heart for Scargill with the words of St Augustine, ‘Love and live it with your life.’ What would that love look like? It would be generous, welcoming, forgiving, accepting with plenty of laughter. The possibility of discovering child-likeness over childishness. A community where people feel included and part of.
In the next couple of weeks some of us will be going to Bose, an ecumenical monastic community of men and women in north Italy. It is set just south of the Italian Alps. When we were last there three words came to our hearts which we experienced through the welcome, food and accommodation. And they were quality, simplicity and beauty. My dream and hope for Scargill is that we may live and move in these gospel words and that our guests would experience them.
Scargill is always in a place of transition and change and we are currently looking for new community members to join the rich, intense, wonderful Scargill adventure. We get a lot of feedback saying the food is brilliant at Scargill and those of us who have been here a while are showing the proof of that! We are currently looking for a new kitchen team leader, who loves Jesus, and would love to experience living in community and of course, loves food. We are also looking for someone to take on the role of administration team leader as well as someone to develop our work with young people and to make use of the wonderful 90 acres we have.
As I write this I wonder if you are the right person for one of these posts or do you know someone who might be interested? For more information you can go here, it would be great to hear from you. Scargill is an adventure and we are looking for pioneering people who are seeking adventure, with a desire for community, with a big heart for Jesus and for people.
This week Scargill’s Director Phil Stone is thinking about the generous love of God.
Those of you who follow the Anglican lectionary will know that today’s gospel reading was The Wedding at Cana. I love this story. It must have been wonderful to taste the wine that Jesus made. Think of the best red wine you have ever drunk and imagine something even better than that! This miracle of water into wine speaks of the God who wants to transform, and the God who does so generously. At Scargill we are all about ‘Lives shared – lives transformed’ with Jesus right at the heart, it is central to our walk with God this acknowledgement that our lives need to be changed. This is a life-long process.
This miracle is about generosity. Those 6 stone jars that are mentioned, we are told, hold 20 to 30 gallons of water. That is a lot of water to be turned into wine. In fact I worked it out that it was approximately 900 bottles – how crazy and how intoxicating! One could sensibly argue that Jesus was being very irresponsible and way over the top. And yet we read that this miracle was the arch sign that revealed his glory. What is thrilling and exciting is that it is this generous love that we get caught up in and are called to give away. A generous God prompts and calls us to be a generous people, generous with our love, forgiveness and our lives. So what might this look like? Well – it might be giving someone some quality time, sharing a meal, an act of kindness or a phone call to a forgotten friend. It could be treating your work colleagues (those you like and those you don’t) to a bag of jam doughnuts and some quality coffee (that would make my day!).
As the wine is poured out at that wedding, enriching the lives of the people, so we too are poured out to be a generous offering to the communities where we live to be a sign of God’s Kingdom.
And talking of glory, just last week we had some glory at Scargill. As the sun was setting I managed to take this picture of the chapel reflecting the sun off its windows – I love this photo, it reminded me as I have been writing this how we are called to reflect God’s generous love to all those around us. I reckon this could be very transforming…
For more details of events and holidays taking place at Scargill check out the programme here which now goes up to December 2013.
As a New Year begins Phil offers some advice on a good way to start your year…
Today is January the 6th, the Feast of Epiphany, the Wise Men have turned up and how are you doing with those New Year resolutions?
It seems to me that New Year resolutions are in general just a good way of pouring guilt upon ourselves. But perhaps what we can do this New Year is make sure to focus on those main priorities and make sure we get them into our life. The things that are most important to us, the things that give us life. Get those things in! I know from bitter experience that if you don’t do this it is hard to fit them into a life busy with a lot of schedules.
So if I was to give any advice, and this advice is as much for me as it is for anyone else – get those main priorities in first before any other well-meaning plans. For us as a community at Scargill at the start of this New Year we will be having a retreat this week. It is an opportunity to reflect, to pray, to rest and hopefully have some fun together. An opportunity to take stock and ask the big questions to talk about what gave us life this last year as well as what drained us and what have we learned from that.
At the start of this New Year we celebrate the Wise Men’s devoted, dedicated journey to Bethlehem to find the Christ-child. It was their main priority. It was what they wanted to do. Let’s make sure that in the same way we have got our life giving priorities at the top of the agenda. It could be working out holidays, days off, retreats, watching a film every Friday night with a glass of wine. Whatever it may be let’s get those life giving moments in early and everything else can fit around them.
Scargill is on Twitter! To check it out click here.
As 2012 draws to a close, Scargil’s Director Phil Stone reflects on the Christmas narrative and what we can take from it into the New Year.
It has been wonderful to welcome old and new friends as Scargill fills with people for our New Year House Party. Over the last couple of days I have enjoyed being able to give a couple of reflections on the Christmas narrative in the context of the coming year. Something we have been exploring is the various aspects of the ‘traditional story’ that don’t actually feature in the biblical narrative. For instance there is no donkey, no Three Wise Men (there are Wise Men but of an unspecified number) and no innkeeper. Despite there being no innkeeper in the biblical text it can be useful to consider the role of innkeeper as it opens a new angle on the story. I was struck by the BBC Nativity a couple of years back which I felt offered a new insight into the reason why the innkeeper had ‘no room’ at the inn. The programme suggested the reason why the couple could not find lodging was that the unexpected pregnancy of Mary would bring disgrace on anybody associated with them. Mary and Joseph were not just vulnerable because they could find no room they were vulnerable because people didn’t want to make room. Mary carried shame and people didn’t want to catch it!
When thinking about the gift of hospitality it is good to be reminded of the challenges God gives us to welcome those on the edge of our communities who are far from respectable. For us to be truly hospitable to those on the fringes it requires a conversion of the heart. Let’s be honest, sometimes being hospitable can be really tiring, difficult and annoying but it is also incredibly life giving. As the Bible says, ‘Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.’ (Romans 15.7)
This year I am struck once again by the sheer vulnerability and fragility of the Christmas Narrative. It is not for the fainthearted. If we were truly to get into the reading it would make us feel uncomfortable. It involves a great deal of risk on behalf of God and of the main characters of the narrative. J Oswald Sanders said, ‘The frontiers of the Kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution.’ I think we often put Health and Safety criteria into our journey with God and of course looking at the Christmas narrative and other biblical stories that’s laughable!
And finally isn’t Bruce Cockburn absolutely brilliant? If you have the time you should check out his track Cry of a Tiny Babe. These words from the chorus send shivers down my spine, ‘Redemption rips through the surface of time in the cry of a tiny babe.’
So I wish you all the best for 2013 and that we all may have the courage to be risk takers for God and share his generous hospitality.
For more information about what is going on at Scargill in the New Year check out our online programme.
Henri Nouwen says, “Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and to let him (God) – whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend – be our companion.”
Di and I wish you peace, joy and love this Christmas time!
This week at Scargill we have been hosting a group who have been attending the local Grassington Dickensian Festival. Accordingly our food, entertainment and reflections have had a Dickensian theme. One of the most readily identifiable aspects of the great author’s work is his interest in and empathy for the plight of the poor. From Oliver Twist to Great Expectations he wrote unsentimentally but tenderly of the struggle many people have to face as they make their way in the world. Dickens’ solidarity with the poor is one of his strongest legacies – telling true to life stories that expose cruelty and oppression and rejoice in the simple pleasures of life. This week Phil talks about something he uses to keep himself ever mindful of the needs of poor people all over the world.
Some years ago I was on sabbatical seeking to discover God in different Christian traditions and spiritualties. My journeying took me to Brazil to a place called Recife. Many of the ministers there wore black rings made from the hard shell of the seed of the Tucum Palm tree. Wearing the rings symbolises identification with the poor and a desire to live a relatively simple lifestyle. There’s a story of a bishop who presented his gold ring of power and entitlement to the indigenous Tapirapé people as a gesture asking for forgiveness for the church’s complicity in the oppression of their people. He wanted the church to no longer represent taking but instead giving. In return he was given a Tucum ring as a gesture of forgiveness. This ring was an altogether different kind of status symbol – not epitomizing high status but displaying empathy with low status.
It meant a lot to me personally because of the work Di and I undertook with single homeless in London’s East End and 22 years of being an inner-city parish priest. I was very moved when the priest who I was staying with gave me his ring and it’s not left my finger since. It has always reminded me of my desire to live a simple lifestyle and have an identity with and speak for the poor and downtrodden, those on the fringes of our society. In our Pathway Promises which make up our rule of life we promise to … ‘speak up bravely for people who are rarely heard, helping our heavenly Father to fulfill his dream of seeing the hungry fed, the sick looked after, the naked clothed and victims of injustice released from their chains.’
As we enter into the Christmas story once more we see a God who identifies wholeheartedly with the poor, the homeless and refugees. There’s nothing tinsely about the Christmas story. It’s full of God’s passion for the marginalised in a world that can be so hard and cold. This Christmas despite all my failings (and being honest about my occasional desire for wealth and comfort) this ring keeps me grounded in what Jesus was saying about being good news to the poor.
The community at Scargill is always evolving and looking to welcome new members. For more information about exploring the possibility of getting involved yourself as a community member click here. We are also specifically on the look-out for new community members to take on specific roles, those of Kitchen Team Leader, Deputy Kitchen Team Leader and a Youth Worker who would work in a split role supporting our estate team in developing our 90 acres to become a resource for future generations. If any of these specific roles or generally the idea of living on community appeal then get in touch to find out more.
The nights are getting longer as the shortest day of the year draws near and Scargill’s Director Phil Stone is contemplating darkness and starlight…
Having moved from London to North Yorkshire I can say without doubt that the weather here is real. I’ve never experienced cold, wind or rain like it. Yorkshire Rain is different to any other rain. Yorkshire rain is powerful, hitting the pavement with such force that it shoots up your trouser leg. Then there’s the snow. We have just welcomed our first bit of snow this last week. MY colleague Dave tells me that in the Dales you get six months of winter and six months of bad weather! Of course we do get some absolutely beautiful, crisp, fresh days but there is no escaping that the weather here is real. At the moment it can be a bit of a struggle, life can feel like it is all about survival. It is dark when we gather for prayers in the morning and on a cloudy day it can be dark and gloomy again by three. I have been learning how to cope with that.
But it’s not all darkness. The great thing about the season of Advent is that amid all the gloom of the all too real weather, we have a lot of talk about light. Jesus described himself as the light of the world and says with him we too are to be lights in the world. We are to share this light. It is warming at this time of year to reflect on God’s light as something that is inviting and welcoming. The light of God is hospitable. It’s a bit like when you’ve been out late at night and you come home to find a light’s been left on for you. There’s maybe even a little sign welcoming you home and a tasty sandwich. It’s the sort of thing that really warms you. This light gets under your skin and transforms you. In Isaiah it says, ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…’ One of the joyful things about Scargill is that it is a place where people can experience this powerful welcoming light – the light that Jesus gives. In what can feel like such a dark an inhospitable world it is reassuring to find a light burning and a welcome ready.
Wherever we are we are called to be like lights. In Philippians Paul talks about us being like shining stars in the universe as we hold out the word of life. As it happens, this place here, in the Dales, is a designated dark spot which means there is no light pollution to dim the night sky so we get to see the stars shine beautifully and bright. At this dark time of year we have a wonderful opportunity to see the light that shines, both above and among us.
Keep watching this space every Sunday for weekly updates from Phil. If you are on Facebook click here for more information about Scargill.
As this week is the start of Advent Phil has been thinking a lot about waiting…
Those of us who have or have had children will know that long journeys can be challenging and exhausting. This is especially true when we have to endure “Are we nearly there yet?” after only having travelled a couple of miles of a long journey. If there was a similar phrase in New Testament times I’m sure the early church would have been directing it at God. They had been waiting, praying, desiring The Lord’s return. What was going on? Why was He taking so long? There have been many times in history when Christians must have felt that surely this was the time, surely the Lord was returning and yet we are still waiting. The cry ‘Are we nearly there yet?’ is frustrated and helpless but the waiting Jesus speaks of in Luke 21 is a watchful, expectant, waiting. There is something active about the waiting we are being called into. The Message translation puts it succinctly, – “be on your guard, don’t let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties, and drinking, and shopping”
Hmm – does that not sound like many people’s Advent leading up to Christmas?!
We are not good at waiting. My experience of waiting is that it’s tiring. Queuing for instance is frustrating and boring. I wonder how many times I have seen a queue and have decided just not to bother. And of course waiting can cause anger. Living in community we sometimes experience “Toast rage” during the breakfast buffet.
We live in a culture where waiting is not encouraged or fostered – John Sentamu, Archbishop of York wrote, “We are encouraged to take the waiting out of wanting, cut to the chase and get what we want right away, as though there is nothing worth waiting for.”
This impatient waiting is not the patient waiting that Jesus talks about. Henri Nouwen writes, “The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full belief that something hidden will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are. Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her womb” (The Path of Waiting)
Psalm 27 puts it nicely,
“I am still confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for The Lord, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
The Advent season of anticipating Christmas is an ideal time to foster the spiritual discipline of waiting. A waiting that is not passive, but expectant, dynamic and active, living in and making the most of the present moment. Not restlessly dashing after something which likely isn’t there, but being attentive to the subtle possibilities of the here and now. This discipline is vital in our walk with Jesus throughout our lives.
Watch this space for more posts and to find out more information about events taking place at Scargill click here to check out the programme.
According to Phil Stone, director of the Scargill Movement, joy and laughter are two subjects one should take very seriously indeed. Joy and laughter are not incidental to the Christian walk – they sustain it as they enrich it. Tricia Hillas and Andrew Corsie, both vicars in London, ran a course here last week entitled ‘Taking Joy and Laughter Seriously’ and while being an absolute blast it has also given us a lot of food for thought. In amongst the clips, quotes and brainstorms, the material covered the health benefits of laughing (reducing pain, stress and even calories), the role of humour in our spiritual development as we become increasingly self-aware and the ability to laugh in the dark – overcoming adversity and oppression. Phil is a great advocate for taking the role of joy and laughter in shared life together seriously.
It was such a joy to have two good friends from London last week leading our course. Andrew and Tricia were inspirational, thought provoking, and there was obviously a lot of laughter. One of the aspects that has encouraged us since Scargill has been resurrected is people have commented that it’s not always the talks or the worship that bring about some change in their lives, but the love and laughter they find at Scargill during their stay. Our community promises conclude with the phrase that we will try to laugh together often. Laughter is healing, it gets in touch with the heart of hospitality, and when we bring a sense of humour into a conflict situation the likelihood is that it can be sorted. If we take joy and laughter seriously it may help us to not to take ourselves too seriously. Perhaps the Church needs to take this medicine at least three times a day!
scargillphil is now well and truly up and running! This is where our Director Phil Stone riffs on all manner of subjects close to his heart while keeping us posted on community life. It’s an opportunity to get a different insight into the Scargill Movement from a unique perspective. You can catch up with last week’s edition here. In today’s post our inimitable director (picture a mischievous Pan in a dog collar) discusses New Monasticism, the movement that seeks to bring elements of traditional monastic life and give them new expression in a contemporary context…
The other week Di and I attended a dialogue between people who represent the old monastic way of life and those who represent the new monastic way of life. It was wonderful to hear from the old monastics and I would say they are very gracious to us who are thinking in a new monastic way. They have made a huge lifelong commitment to a particular way of life whereas those of us exploring a new kind of monasticism are, tongue in cheek, just playing with it really. That said there is a lot of value in taking on board the wonderful truths and lifestyles of old monasticism and reincorporating them into patterns of living today. For instance at Scargill we have a shared ethos, a daily rhythm of prayer and a rule of life, similar to that of old monastic movements, which we call our Pathway. This rule is essential to shaping our life together and links us with many people who become Scargill Companions who follow the same Pathway wherever they may be living. Real hospitality, a key cornerstone of traditional monasticism, is also central to our life together, believing that Christ is in all that come through our doors, treating each one as a royal guest.
I would say that at Scargill we are growing into becoming a new kind of monastic community. For many people labels such as ‘New Monasticism’ are unhelpful, or only have a limited application. Some find these terms useful in order to group together resources and connect new communities while others don’t, finding them limiting or insufficient. Whatever you call it there seems to be a growing momentum in small communities across the world to reincorporate traditional practices of shared living and hospitality in everyday life. One of the things about this kind of lifestyle that young people are particularly drawn to is the sense of authenticity, the opportunity to find an authentic way of expressing their love – their love for Christ. They’re looking for something, for a discipleship that is real and that really does affect their lives. They are looking for a discipleship that goes alongside mission. Really wrestling with Christ’s word, taking Christ seriously in our lives as the one who wants to make his home in our hearts. What does it really mean if Jesus takes home in our hearts? Wow! Incredible, right? That would be really transformative – that would reshape us in a way that is probably beyond our imagination.
Keep watching this space for more updates posted every Sunday.
scargillphil is now live! This is where Phil Stone, our loveable, huggable director, gives us regular updates into the weird and wonderful life at Scargill letting us know what he’s up to and what’s going on. Phil, equal parts loving encourager and windup merchant, will keep us up to date with activities, events and prayer requests and give us little snapshots of community life. There will also be plenty of information about how you can get involved at life at Scargill. To kick things off we asked Phil to give us an insight into the nature of community living…
Di and I have now been at Scargill for three years. I was musing with a group of clergy from Bradford Diocese that it has been the toughest as well as the most rewarding three years of my life. The heart of Scargill is “Lives shared lives transformed”, and at the centre is the transforming love of Jesus. Scargill is a wonderful place, set in the Yorkshire Dales’ commanding fabulous views, and living in community with thirty others from many different countries, cultures, backgrounds, is such a rich experience, where at times there is harmony, with plenty of love and laughter and at other moments discord and dis-ease. Community life will always, and should always have a fragility about it, and it is in that fragility that we can grow and mature.
Keep watching this space every Sunday for more updates from Phil.
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