Our website events pages are now live, coinciding with printed copies of our publication starting to reach your doorstep. When the programme is released, do put in your booking requests via the website (rather than by ‘phone) to help our lovely Admin Team deal with your booking requests in the order that they are made, and we thank you in advance for your patience as we work through each booking in turn.
Also do look at our websitefor online and in-house events (May to August 2025) that still have space – we would love to see you!
We would like to highlight the following upcoming on-line events for you to join from the comfort of your own home:
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
Dear Friends,
This comes, as ever, with much love and prayers as we move closer to Holy Week and the wonder and mystery of Easter. The Community this week is closed to guests as we have our own retreat – it’s good to have an ebb in the usual flow, sometimes strong current, of the everyday life of Community within our offer of hospitality.
You are very welcome to join us online for our Holy Week and Easter reflections – check it out here. Please note there will be no Sanctuary services for the next two weeks – our next service will be on Wednesday 23rd April.
We are beavering away on the next Momentum and programme (covering new events from September 2025 to February 2026) which should be on your doormats during the week beginning 28th April. When the programme is released, do put in your booking requests via the website (rather than by ‘phone) to help our lovely Admin Team deal with your booking requests in the order that they are made, and we thank you in advance for your patience as we work through each booking in turn.
We are now beginning to plan for Phase 8 of the Masterplan. Our buildings are always about making a guest experience beautiful and enriching. Please do read this ‘Building a future letter’ which is an invitation to join this adventure through an Appeal we will be running from Easter to Pentecost.
Please find below Di’s reflection on Maundy Thursday. Enjoy!
Fra Angelico (Italian, ca. 1387–1455), Agony in the Garden, ca. 1450. Fresco, Convent of San Marco, Florence.
Phil and I were leading our recent Lent Retreat looking at various pieces of art and poetry. We as a group noticed the lack of women in the images we were looking at. So I was delighted to find that in the 1450’s Fr Angelica was making a positive statement about women, here in the Easter story.
This fresco comes from Cell 34 of 44 in the Dominican convent of San Marco in Florence, where in the mid-fifteenth century Fra Angelico and his assistants painted on the walls various religious scenes. It is very unusual, not only in having women present but also because Fr Angelico gives us the names of each of the figures in their halo. From left to right we have James, John and Peter asleep in the garden. Whilst within the house, we have Mary and Martha awake and at work. Also have a look at the angel holding out the cup of suffering, a reminder of Jesus’ pleading with God the Father to let the cup of suffering, pass him by.
As you can imagine it was the two sisters who drew me in. Hidden from view in the garden Mary is reading a book, continuing her study, her learning from Jesus and Martha is praying, actively praying – of course! I love the idea that Fra Angelico not only deliberately added women but also gave them positive roles to play in the scene. They are awake, vigilant and watchful, waiting through the night, whilst the disciples on the other side of the wall have their heads in their hands, emotionally exhausted, sleeping. You can’t really blame them! But they do seem to have lost their trust in the prophecies leaving the women to keep vigil, to hold their friend, their teacher in their prayers.
But for me, this fresco primarily speaks into the times when we find it difficult, impossible even to pray, when we no longer know how or what to say, when hope has vanished. It is into those times, on the other side of our walls, that I believe people have been called to pray, to hold us in their prayers, to sustain us. Those are the prayers we are invited to join each lunchtime, in the Chapel. They are the prayers we are all called to pray for a remembered friend. A nudge! a letter received, a ‘feeling’, a dream, a word spoken can help us become aware that we have been called to pray.
The women watching and waiting through the night trusted in the prophecies and kept vigil supporting their Lord in his suffering. This Maundy Thursday we are asked the same, we are asked to “keep vigil” to be fully present to Christ’s suffering and spiritually awake to his will and direction. A direction that I hope leads us to grow in expectation, ready to hear the call to pray for others, to ‘keep vigil” for them, to bring them into the love of God.
For some of us this may be easy, for others like the disciples, it may be a bit of a challenge but if we listen, we will hear the call: Stay with me Remain here with me Watch and pray Watch and pray
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
Dear Friends,
This weekend at Scargill we are having a ‘Renew, Refresh, Restore’ event focused on Candlemas (the presentation of Christ in the Temple) and it is wonderful to welcome many guests who have never been to Scargill before. It is a joy to see how our gracious God beautifully moves in people’s lives. The Scargill adventure continues.
We are now beginning to plan for Phase 8 of the Masterplan. Our buildings are always about making a guest experience beautiful and enriching. Please do read this ‘Building a future letter’ which is an invitation to join this adventure through an Appeal we will be running from Easter to Pentecost.
We also invite you to pray for us for new Community members to join. This continues to be an ongoing challenge, with a number of key people leaving late Spring. Here is a link to the current vacancies. We are also seeking a new Chaplainfor which the closing date for applications is 17th February.
It may be that you know someone that is right for joining this community – if that is the case then prayerfully let them know about these opportunities.
Here is Di’s latest reflection on our recent visit to the Van Gogh exhibition in London. Enjoy!
Diane writes:
A couple of weeks ago Phil and I nipped down to London, mainly to see the Van Gogh Exhibition and to catch up with a couple of old friends – which we did.
The exhibition was entitled ‘Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers’ and we were encouraged to ‘be blown away by Van Gogh’s most spectacular paintings in our once-in-a-century exhibition. Walk with a pair of lovers beneath a starry night. Look up at swirling clouds and cypress trees swaying in the wind. Stay a little while in Van Gogh’s favourite park, the ‘Poet’s Garden’, or under a shady tree in Saint-Rémy.’
I’m not convinced it was such an idyllic visit BUT amidst the large number of other viewers, all of which were dawdling and dancing around each other, lingering as long as possible to view the next painting. It was certainly stunning; it was certainly amazing and it was at times emotional – emotion being uncovered as we read the pamphlets we were given. In our own time, at our own pace, we could read and reread the blurb for each painting. On returning home from the exhibition, I realised that without the written information I would have missed so much of what the exhibition was offering and I certainly wouldn’t have seen the poetry and love.
It also rather worryingly dawned on me that, unless I am writing these reflections or the occasional talks, when I am reading the Bible I fear I often miss the wisdom, the insight offered, a deeper understanding because I rush through the verses – there is always much to do!!
Images though speak volumes and I recalled a beautiful painting by Jim Norton. Jim Norton is a great friend of ours and Scargill, he frequently visits nearly always bringing a few new paintings to display in the Dining Room. Recently he brought this one, quite simple but also powerful, which I hope will be displayed outside the chapel, on the landing. I asked him about this and discovered that many years ago Jim saw a chained Bible under a plain glass window in Barnsley. It made a profound impression which stayed with him. Jim wanted to capture ‘the simplicity of the light through a window onto the Bible’ and here we have a red Bible sitting on a lace cloth with light streaming through a village Church window, Jim writes, ‘It’s a simple demonstration of the eternal power of God through the written word… a simple but profound message, and to me the painting embodies that through the power of light.’
I also love the lace, it adds a sense of caring, reverence and love drawing us in. The addition of a candle waiting to be relit reminds me that the Bible can rekindle my faith and with the light pouring in through the windows I am reminded of Jesus’ promise that those who follow Him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12).
Our visit to London has encouraged me to look and look again at the scriptures, to learn to dawdle and linger with the words as long as possible, because God’s word is full of treasures for each of us, now, today, for this very moment and every moment.
In Psalm 119 we read. ‘Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your Word’ Yes Lord! Amen
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community as we begin this new year.
‘By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us.’ Luke 1:78 [photo credit – Diane Stone]
Dear Friends,
We wish you a joyful and peaceful Christmas, through the celebration of Immanuel with us.
Thank you so much for all your love and support this year, it means a great deal to us.
Tomorrow, the residential Community disperse for their Christmas break, and will return ready to welcome guests for the New Year House Party which begins on Sunday 29th December. Our next livestreamed Sanctuary service will be on Wednesday 1st January from 4:30pm.
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the whole Scargill Community.
Last weekend, I was visiting All Souls Church in Leeds and for most of the morning I found myself comfortably sitting in front of this altar table.
I was repeatedly re-drawn to its gentle depiction of the nativity story. It was the curve of cloths uniting the Magi with Mary, then Jesus and finally Joseph which held my focus. In this world of war and conflict, fear and pain, Jesus came in all simplicity to save and to serve.
Here I also saw humbleness and respect flow between the Magi and the Holy family, perhaps asking the same of us but also reminding me that Jesus came to bring peace and healing.
After a while I became aware that the curve continues with the candlesticks, forming perhaps a cup or a chalice reminding me that this is also the place to come before God and receive both bread and wine. A place where we can commune with God and God with us. A place where forgiveness is given, and love is offered.
This publication opens bookings for new events from the end of February to the end of August 2025, as well as having lots of lovely articles and updates from the life of Scargill.
Our website events pages will be made live to coincide with printed copies of our publication starting to reach your doorstep. When the programme is released, do put in your booking requests via the website (rather than by ‘phone) to help our lovely Admin Team deal with your booking requests in the order that they are made, and we thank you in advance for your patience as we work through each booking in turn.
Also do look at our websitefor online and in-house events (November 2024 to February 2025) that still have space – we would love to see you!
We would like to highlight the following upcoming on-line events for you to join from the comfort of your own home:
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
Dear Friends,
Thank you, as always, for your continued love, support and prayers – it means a great deal to us. This Autumn we have been welcoming many guests, and this week we have had a Creation themed Half Term, working with A Rocha UK (one of our partners), and we are very glad to have welcomed 28 young people with their parents and carers.
We have also welcomed some new Community members: Martha (UK), Paul (Pakistan), Richard (UK), James (UK). We could still do with another 4 or 5 members of community so please keep praying, and on our website you will find the latest vacancies – we are particularly looking for someone to lead our Estate Team, beginning in the early new year.
Our new programme taking us up to the end of Summer 2025, which has been delayed for a number of reasons, will be going live (we hope) on Monday 18th November. (When it comes to make booking requests for events please do so via the programme event pages on the website).
We also have a new prayer diary covering November 2024 to April 2025, available now. Thank you for your ongoing prayers for the life of Scargill and our guests.
See below Di’s latest reflection- Enjoy!
Diane writes:
Lord we come before you in anticipation of what you bring us today. Help us to wait for you creatively, expectantly and courageously, To honour you With our time, love and imagination. May we engage in the pursuit of you wholeheartedly, unreservedly, tremendously.
(From ‘We Welcome You’, one of our morning prayer liturgies adapted by James Cathcart.)
Here is a prayer that describes a relationship that is alive with expectation and participation. Here is a prayer that recognises God wants a relationship with us that is open and honest, full of anticipation and hope. Here is a prayer that ignites faith in a God who is able to, and wants to work in us and through us. Here is a prayer that encourages me to pray.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to the Ordination and Consecration of a great friend of mine to be a Bishop. It was a very grand affair made even more so because as I had been asked to help with communion. I was allocated a seat in the front row – How about that! Throughout the service I was looking for a little nugget to use in this reflection and had to wait until page 32 (!) when we were led into The Lord’s Prayer with these words:
‘Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us, each praying in the language of our hearts.’
Now I have heard these words many times but this time the words confidence and language of our hearts jumped out at me and I realised I had again been invited to have the confidence to pray confidently from my heart, to engage with Our Father ‘wholeheartedly, unreservedly, tremendously’.
To find a painting that encompassed all this seemed nigh impossible. There was an abundance of despondent, earnest, solemn, intense, devout, sincere pray-ers. I didn’t want gay abandon but I did want energy, excitement, expectation and eventually I found Pietro del Po’s etching from around 1650 of The Canaanite (or Syrophoenician) Woman asking Christ to cure her daughter, which seems to me to display them all.
Pietro del Po – Syrophoenician woman
Here is a woman not cowered by her status or ethnicity. I believe she is proud to be a Syrophoenician woman and a mother. Driven by a deep love for her daughter with an intuitive perception of a greater truth, she has allowed herself to display not only humility in her words and actions before Jesus, but also the power of persistent faith.
This beautiful woman has become an icon of faith. There is also a humble confidence as she kneels low before Jesus, as she challenges his answers, as she waits refusing to waver in her faith and hope for Christ’s response. She perseveres, she is humble, the boldness in her never wavering but strengthened by her faith and hope in Christ and in her love for her child.
Today let us awaken within each of us a desire to pray courageously from the heart, maybe we can start with James Cathcart’s opening prayer using the slight adaptation below.
Lord I come before you in anticipation of what you bring us today. Help me to wait for you creatively, expectantly and courageously. To honour you With my time, love and imagination. May I engage in the pursuit of you wholeheartedly, unreservedly, tremendously. Amen.
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
Dear Friends,
As we have said goodbye to the summer, we have now been welcoming the autumn over the last couple of weeks. The leaves on the lime trees down the drive have turned golden and the air has definitely an alpine bite about it. This time of year the Community is also in transition. We have said goodbye to a good number and welcomed a couple of new people to the Community. We would value your prayers during this changing season and your prayers for others to join the Scargill adventure.
We are currently working on the new programme; it will be published, all going well, in the first week of November.
As always we so much appreciate your love and prayers, and if there is anything that you would like us to pray for please email at prayer@scargillmovement.org .
Our new website is now up and running so please check it out.
Below is Di’s latest reflection on the book of Ruth – enjoy!
Diane writes:
Two weeks ago, we started a new series of morning prayers looking at the book of Ruth. Ruth is only four chapters and it is a delight to read, a marvellous story of love and grace – both from a human and a heavenly perspective. It is a sign post to Jesus and there is a happy ending – what more could you want!
Well, what I didn’t want was Chapter 1 v1-5. Probably in literary terms a good opening to a gentle but exciting story – a family tragedy. The family are all named then half of them die! leaving Naomi, whose name refers to the kindness of God, having encountered everything but God’s kindness.
We meet a family displaced by famine, seeking refuge in a foreign land. ‘What initially appears as a practical choice for survival soon turns tragic and we are confronted by a moment of deep grief and uncertainty’ (Chat GPT). Naomi loses her husband and two sons, leaving her in a foreign country without the support of the men who provided for her. She has been abandoned, forsaken even the future must have looked and felt desperate.
Fortunately we know that Naomi will not be left alone. Ruth was prepared to walk beside Naomi and Naomi to walk beside Ruth. They had both felt loss, bereavement, fear of the unknown and loneliness – but they supported each other. And we see this beautifully in the painting Ruth and Naomi ‘Whither Thou Goest’ by Sandy Freckleton Gagon. Ruth with an arm around Naomi’s shoulder holding the billowing cape is sheltering and protecting her against the storms of life. Naomi though is leading the way -staff in hand, her grey hair signalling wisdom and experience. Together, the figures form a unified whole, stronger together perhaps than they would be if they had gone their separate ways.
Phil often talks about lament; he is far more in tune to lament than I am and was determined we would have a lament prayer station in the walled garden, which is absolutely the right thing to have done. The lament station, so well used, allows us to say it is ok to acknowledge the hardship without rushing to a hopeful ending, it is ok to sit with God in our brokenness, trusting that even though we cannot yet see the way forward, He is with us in the sorrow and hurt.
These five opening verses have encouraged me to embrace the honesty of lament and the fact that there those in our communities who need to sit with God. The news daily reminds us that around the world there are many whose lives have been and continue to be besieged by fear and violence, with whole communities living in lament.
So what can we do? As well as prayer, maybe there is an answer in the painting. Albert Camus wrote “Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
Perhaps this what this reflection is all about.
With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community
Dear lovely Scargillians
This latest epistle comes with much love and prayers particularly as the ongoing situation with the virus continues to dominate our lives. It is not easy for any of us, so it is really lovely that we can keep connected, encourage one another in our prayers, and meet up in creative ways.
This coming Thursday will be sending another mailing where will set out our online programme to the middle of December. Not to give too much away, we are delighted to be working with: Dave Hopwood, John Bell, Felicity Lawson, Michael Mitton, Chris Edmondson, Shaun Lambert and others. Watch out for Thursday!
In the meantime here are the online events you can book for October. It is will be lovely to welcome our guests in the Forum and Gemma Simmonds CJ as she leads our Quiet Days. Details are below. You can go to the online booking page here to book for all these events.
The Quiet Days and Forum events are free and on Zoom. If you would like to donate then we suggest an amount of £10 for a Forum and £20 for a Quiet Day. Our Eventbrite system has two types of tickets for each event. You can either book a Free ticket OR a Donation ticket (minimum donation is £1) – please do choose the ticket that suits you. If you prefer to donate to us directly rather than through Eventbrite then choose a Free ticket and send your donation to us as usual. Thank you!
The next Scargill Forum will be on Thursday 15th October (8-9:30pm) on Zoom and we are delighted that our guests will be Diane Stone (Scargill Leadership), Mat Ineson (member of Scargill Council) and Gordon Dey (Founder of ‘Jesus shaped people’ (JSP)). JSP is helping grow urban and estate churches and we at Scargill are in partnership with JSP. Like the other Forums, this should be a thoughtful and enriching evening (as well as some fun!). Book here.
We are running two separate Quiet Days in October (identical content on both days) on Zoom on Tuesday 20th or Saturday 24th October. Do book for one of these. Again there is the option of booking a Free ticket or a Donation ticket for the same event:
We are delighted that Gemma Simmonds CJ will be leading our two Quiet Days in October, and hosted by Scargill. Gemma and Phil both met at Lee Abbey when they were guest speakers there. Gemma is a regular contributor to the BBC and other Radio station programmes, teaches on Ignatian Spirituality, and is also a Spiritual Director. She has written some reflections on the art of Sieger Köder. Her Quiet Day will be an opportunity to contemplate and gather insight on the Gospel as Gemma helps us reflect on some of these paintings. A Quiet Day not to miss! Book here.
Our first online programme event will be led by Dave Hopwood and Phil Stone, streamed live from Scargill. The theme is ‘King of Hearts’ and it will run from Wednesday 21st to Friday 23rd October. Further details of this conference, including costs and how to book are available here.
We continue to share some of our Morning prayers and talks from Sunday services as audio files here.
We are extending the opportunity for day visitors through October, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, where you can be assured of a warm welcome in the House. Please see here to book.
We would love for us to be able to pray alongside each other in this way.
Please do not hesitate to get in contact with us for any situation or person that you would value prayer for by e-mailing: prayer@scargillmovement.org
And, finally, here is Di’s latest reflection – Enjoy!
Harvest. Where has harvest gone to this year? Despite the farmers busily gathering in their fields, my allotment – which I hasten to add has in the past produced winners at the Kettlewell show! – this year produced a very meagre offering. One that I was glad I wasn’t relying on for sustenance or for living the ‘Good life’! Was I thankful or not thankful for the two strawberries (a cabbage from a neighbouring allotment) and the complete lack of runner and broad beans, peppers, tomatoes and beetroot? Well, to be honest, thankfulness didn’t really enter into my thoughts, I was disappointed and disillusioned, vowing to leave my allotment fallow next year. Then on my way home after evening prayers I remembered ‘The Angelus’, an oil painting by Jean-François Millet. Wanting to catch the unchanging rhythms of peasant life Millet has shown us two peasants, who on hearing the distant church bells announcing the day’s work is over, have paused, bowed their heads over a basket of potatoes, to say the Angelus prayer. A moment of respite giving of the day’s labour and its produce to God. This painting led me to ask myself – What am I really offering to God? Not vegetables, that’s for sure!
But I was reminded of a more modern painting, ‘Feeding of 5000’ by Ray Foxell. Look closely and you may well find a Mars Bar in the offering! So what can I offer? I feel that in many ways these reflections are my offering, my offering to God, my offering to the friends I know well and those I hope to meet one day. These reflections have become a life line for me, and an offering to you. I might not be able to grow vegetables but it seems I can write a reflection, it is when I feel most alive, most close to God. And your replies have certainly been an offering to me. So thank you, thank you for not only reading my reflections but also for the many small, encouraging comments you have sent in as well as a needle threader or two! Which were most welcome – honestly. Perhaps it is the small offerings graciously given and graciously received for which we should be thankful.
After talking with Helen B about my ‘meagre offering’ and the two paintings she wrote this poem.
Small Offering
Lord, I am frustrated, I don’t have a lot to bring. Although it isn’t very much, I give you everything. I don’t just give these tiny fruits but all they represent – the love and care and all the time and energy I’ve spent. I’m mindful of the boy who gave the contents of his plate, just five loaves and two small fish but that day, thousands ate. His lunch seemed insignificant, inadequate and yet you took, broke, blessed and gave it so that others’ needs were met. Looking round, I’m overwhelmed by all the need I see but make my gift a blessing, multiply your love through me.
Helen Brocklehurst
Here at Scargill, our day’s work ends in the Chapel, at 4:30pm with silence following a psalm. This has become a precious time for many of us. A time when we too can pause, bow our heads and give the day’s labour and its produce to God. Why not join us at 4:30pm?
This comes with love and prayers from
Phil, Diane and the Scargill Community
Dear Friends
We do hope this finds you well in these uncertain and difficult times. Many of you will have been aware that we were hoping to open for residential guests at the beginning of October. The direction of travel of coronavirus infections across the country is significantly rising and, sadly, we feel that we need to press the pause button. We will review the ‘state of play’ by mid-October to see if we are able to open in November.
This is obviously disappointing for everyone: the Community as well as the Guests who were looking to return. We believe it is the right and responsible decision to take at this stage.
However, there is some positive news! We have decided, whatever happens, to publish a programme which will be delivered online from Scargill. Watch out for more details!
We are extending the opportunity for day visitors through October, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, where you can be assured of a warm welcome in the House. Please see here to book.
Here are some October dates for online events and we very much look forward to reconnecting with many of you through these events. Details are below. You can go to the online booking page here to book for all these events.
The Quiet Days and Forum events are free and on Zoom. If you would like to donate then we suggest an amount of £10 for a Forum and £20 for a Quiet Day. Our Eventbrite system has two types of tickets for each event. You can either book a Free ticket OR a Donation ticket (minimum donation is £1) – please do choose the ticket that suits you. Thank you!
The next Scargill Forum will be on Thursday 15th October (8-9:30pm) on Zoom and we are delighted that our guests will be Diane Stone (Scargill Leadership), Mat Ineson (member of Scargill Council) and Gordon Dey (Founder of ‘Jesus shaped people’(JSP)). JSP is helping grow urban and estate churches and we at Scargill are in partnership with JSP. Like the other Forums, this should be a thoughtful and enriching evening (as well as some fun!) Book here.
We are running two separate Quiet Days in October (identical content on both days) on Zoom on Tuesday 20th or Saturday 24th October. Do book for one of these. Again there is the option of booking a Free ticket or a Donation ticket for the same event:
We are delighted that Gemma Simmonds CJ will be leading our two Quiet Days in October. Gemma and Phil both met at Lee Abbey when they were guest speakers there. Gemma is a regular contributor to the BBC and other Radio station programmes, teaches on Ignatian Spirituality, and is also a Spiritual Director. She has written some reflections on the art of Sieger Köder. Her Quiet Day will be an opportunity to contemplate and gather insight on the Gospel as Gemma helps us reflect on some of these paintings. A Quiet Day not to miss! Book here.
Our first online programme event will be led by Dave Hopwood and Phil Stone, streamed live from Scargill. The theme is ‘King of Hearts’ and it will run from Wednesday 21st to Friday 23rd October. Further details of this conference, including costs and how to book are available here.
We continue to share some of our Morning prayers and talks from Sunday services as audio files here.
We would love for us to be able to pray alongside each other in this way.
Please do not hesitate to get in contact with us for any situation or person that you would value prayer for by e-mailing: prayer@scargillmovement.org
And, finally, to make you smile. Here is Di’s wonderful reflection on the life of the Trinity. Enjoy!
Diane writes:
Two pictures (see below) for you that although completely different in styles and themes both share visual expressions of what the Trinity means to me; with a glimpse, a hint of the joyous hospitality that is at the heart of the nature of God.
Many of you will be familiar with Andrei Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity. You may also know that it is an ancient image of a divine dance, an image of one God in three persons, perfectly united in will, distinct and unique in persons, moving together in joyful love’. I have to be honest, I see very little movement, but we are asked to ‘follow for a moment their gazes and the tilt of their heads’ and see ‘a movement of perpetual give and take’. This, it was interesting to read, is because ‘the angels are not inserted into the circle, but create it instead, thus our eyes can’t stop at any of the three figures and rather dwell inside this limited space’. And as we face the icon we too are invited to join and so complete the circle Our presence, our participation at this table is required if the circle is to be complete, drawing us into a relationship with the Father through the Son, in the Spirit.
Now you may wonder where does Skipping (in the gutter) by Robert Williams 1934-5. whose characters, often working class, come into it. Well, the other afternoon whilst drinking tea and trying NOT to eat cake, we began talking about skipping in the playground at school. For the life of me I can’t remember why. Anyway I mentioned a painting I saw at the Tate a few years ago, a painting showing women skipping. It is a small painting, originally part of a much larger piece of work entitled ‘The Gutter’. Dare I say I was first drawn to their bottoms! I rather like that, but once I looked up to their faces I said to myself – ‘Trinity!’ Here was, for me, a modern everyday depiction of the Rublev’s Icon. Here was the Trinity in the gutter, where else would they be?
Now bear with me – three ladies, different but the same, holding a rope, forming a moving circle, supporting one another as they skip, in the gutter. There is definite movement here! There is concentration but there is also fun – skipping is not just good exercise – do you remember skipping in the playground? Being invited to join the queue, the excitement and apprehension of waiting for your turn to jump in, then the count 1, 2, 3 ready? Nooo!! try again, 1, 2, 3 YES, there you are rhythmically jumping and chanting, sometimes with a partner always with the group, till you falter, and move out ready to rejoin the queue whilst the next person jumps in. Here is perpetual motion with the invitation to join.
Perhaps I see too much in the second painting, but I strongly believe God desires to draw us into the dance, that God constantly invites us to live as God lives among his people, with justice and mercy, with sorrow and joy, whether in a quiet sedate dance or a skipping frenzy, whether here at Scargill or in the city gutters.
This comes with love and prayers from
Phil, Diane and the Scargill Community
Dear Friends
Today, 4th July, has many associations, and for us as a nation it is a further easing of the lockdown. Later on you will be able to read Di’s reflection on patience which is so relevant for us in these days. There are many ‘ifs and buts’, and the future is unknown, but if the momentum keeps moving in the right direction, we are hopeful we will be able to re-open sometime in the Autumn. We are not taking any bookings at the moment, but be assured, we will keep you well informed. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you through our doors, even if it may start by being a limited number. Thank you for your continued support and prayers, especially as we plan to re-open.
The Community continue to be in good spirits, truly entering in to a daily rhythm of prayer which has sustained us during this time. Please do get in touch with us at prayer@scargillmovement.org if we can pray for you during these strange times.
On Thursday 9th July (8-9:30pm) we will be having our second Forum, and my guests will be: Lucy Cleland (currently our Chaplain); Andreas Andersson (Zooming in from Sweden – a former Chaplain); and Bishop Chris Edmondson (Chair of Council). A rather esteemed group and I think we can look forward to a good evening together. These Forums are an opportunity for us to continue to learn about God and ourselves through these disorientating times. If you would like to be involved in this Zoom event please send an e-mail request to hello@scargillmovement.org so we can send a link.
Thank you for the very positive feedback for the Zoom Quiet Days that we shared last week. We will be doing some other stand-alone Quiet Days on Friday 31st July and Saturday 1st August which will involve a range of Community. Please book for one or the other of the days. Each will begin at 10am and finish around 5pm. Within the day there will be a couple of reflections, an opportunity for a Zoom discussion and tea and cake together at the end of the day with some worship. Again, if you would like to be part of either of these days please e-mail us at hello@scargillmovement.org
These events are free but if anyone would like to donate then please visit our website here which shows how you can do that.
If you wish to listen to our morning prayers and the Sunday morning sermon they are to be found here on our website
We are delighted to be in partnership with ReSource where I have just written a blog. If you wish, you can read it here
So here is another reflection for us from Diane Stone:
Recently when sitting in the garden enjoying the sunshine I mentioned I wasn’t sure about what to write this week and Phil quickly responded, partly seriously, partly ‘tongue in cheek’ (I hope!) that I should write on patience, hopefully because he is thinking about a sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit. Well, I rose to the bait and replied I consider myself very patient although I did appreciate that others may find me a little impatient.
After a little naval gazing I recognised that I can be, and was, patient when working with others in my teaching and SENCO role, nursing, midwifery, motherhood and now my Scargill personnel role, especially when I have enjoyed supporting one or two community members BUT I have to be honest and say yes I AM impatient particularly when waiting; waiting for someone, waiting for something to happen and now waiting to play with, read to (side by side) and cuddle our grandchildren.
Everyone can be impatient for right and wrong reasons and you could argue that every day as individuals our patience is tested. This could be something trivial like waiting in traffic, to something vital like waiting for a friend’s COVID-19 test results. We though are called to be patient, it is one of the Fruit of the Spirit but I fear most of us need to practise patience. There is a lovely scene from the film Evan Almighty, where a modern Mrs Noah has become exasperated by her husband building the ARK outside their home and wishes she had more patience. Now Mrs Noah happens to be mentioning this to God who is sitting next to her in a burger bar (in the disguise of Morgan Freeman) where he is working! And God suggests that if we ask for patience surely we would be given situations in which to practise patience. Don’t you sometimes wish you hadn’t asked the question? But I am sure the answer is worth mulling over and as we look back there may well have been many opportunities where we could practise patience, though I wonder how many we recognised at the time?
Interestingly Faith sent in a poem that is also about, yes, you are right, patience. Faith said this poem spoke very powerfully to her and she thought it ‘very apt for us all in these times’. It is by Pierre Tielhard de Chardin SJ (1881-1955).
Patient Trust Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you. Your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time; that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will, will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that His hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
In these bewildering times it takes patience to know that we are on the right path, and while we may not be exactly where we would like or want to be, we can recognise it’s only for now. This won’t be forever. I’m still learning how to be more patient, but at least I know I will get there eventually.
Well I hope so anyway!
Please be assured of our love and prayers
Phil, Diane and the Scargill Community
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