The Community wish you all a peaceful and joyful Christmas – that we all may know the love and light of the Christ-child in our hearts.

Thank you to those of you who joined us for the Prayer Day, and for those of you who joined us in the evening. We were very encouraged by the Prayer Day and I am working through the many responses that we received. Needless to say, we would continue to value your prayers for the Community and for new members to join us.

The Community will having a holiday from Monday 20^th December and, if all goes to plan, will be back to welcome guests for the New Year House Party starting on Wednesday 29^th December.

If you wish to join us online on New Year’s Day we are having livestreamed worship at 11:45am on Saturday 1^st January 2022. It would be wonderful if you could join us.

On Saturday 8^th January 2022 there will be an Epiphany-themed online Quiet Day that Phil Stone and Felicity Lawson will be leading, collaborating with ReSource.

Our Wednesday livestream Evening Prayers will begin again at 4:30pm on Wednesday 5^th January 2022.

Here is Di’s reflection which is all about the wonder of light. Enjoy!

Diane writes:
‘We are like moths, drawn to the light’ well not quite the quote I was expecting, but it did make me chuckle – have a think why?! 

Two weeks ago, Advent Sunday, Phil and I were walking up to the main house when I took this photo. I was first attracted to the light on the smoke from the wood-chip boiler and then the light from the dining room. But when I looked at the photo I also saw the light from the star, and the row of lights along the path.

Have you ever given much thought to light? What does it mean? On both the natural and spiritual levels of life, it dispels darkness. Do you remember when the clocks went back, suddenly the world felt darker, the nights began to draw in and soon the mornings followed. It is winter, there is a cold, dark and damp feeling to life. Often people feel low in the winter.  Perhaps darkness perhaps suggests ignorance.

Children are afraid of the dark because of ignorance, we learn that knowledge can dispel our fears and bring peace to our hearts. Maybe it also suggests uncertainty. Today we have uncertainty, often the news stirs up – fear of the future, fear of the present. The world is in a state of fear because of uncertainty. We want security and for me there is only one security and that is in God himself. 

For whom has Christ come? For whom has God given the precious gift of His Son? Christ has come for all, for the entire world.

Luke tells us Jesus was born during the night watch, at midnight, when it was pitch black outside, the time when the darkness was the deepest and most intense. On that first Christmas night, the light shined in the darkness (John), the glory of the Lord shone (Luke), the darkness has not overcome it (John), and it enlightens everyone (John).

The light of Christ can dispel fears of many kinds.

Was Phil being drawn to the light, like a moth, or was the light revealing the path he was to travel? Either way, let us in this season of Advent, look about to find the signs of light and let us be signs of light for others. Drawing them to the Good News of Christmas Day.

With love and prayers to you all this Christmas time

Phil, Di and the Scargill Community

‘The moment the sound of your
    greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
    skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,
    believed every word would come true!’

Jane Williams, in ‘Approaching Christmas’, writes: ‘it is the simple joy of the child in the womb, dancing to celebrate the presence of Jesus that is so touching’ – an aspect of the nativity story we hardly ever dwell on.

Throughout the Old Testament, God calls his people to joyfulness. In the years and centuries before Christ’s birth, God’s people waited in joyful expectation, for a Saviour promised, but One who had not yet come. Their joy was not based on the knowledge of what God had already done through his Son, Jesus Christ, but their joy was an outpouring of their faith in what God WOULD do.

There doesn’t seem to be much real joy around at the moment, and perhaps there hasn’t been for quite a while. Why? To be honest I’m not sure.  

Do we feel overwhelmed with the demands of everyday life? So much so that our joy has been buried and Christ’s light has been greatly dimmed.  Is this because our focus has strayed and we find ourselves centring on all the ‘stuff’ around us rather than God’s Kingdom. Perhaps we have forgotten that joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) given to us by God himself and no one can take it away. Perhaps we have forgotten that, ’The joy of the lord is our strength’.

Many things can bring us joy – a day of rest, entering an empty swimming pool (for me anyway), time with friends, a good book, a sunset, a glass of wine. There are plenty of Greek and Hebrew words for joy but what is important is not necessarily what joy means but rather where it comes from. Biblical joy comes from God. Like the joy of the ancient Israelites, our joy is a response to what God has already done and continues to do. It is an eager anticipation about wonderful things to come. It is the joy that flooded the hearts of the shepherds, the angels, the wise men, the hosts of heaven, Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph. It was there that first Christmas and still has the power to overwhelm our hearts with rejoicing.

This Advent can we rekindle the flame of love, revive our hope, restore our faith and unwrap the gift of joy, the ‘simple joy of the child in the womb, dancing to celebrate the presence of Jesus’, cherish and nurture it because today, our joy, fuelled by the Holy Spirit, is what God uses to spread his joy throughout the world. Mother Teresa once said “Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. A joyful heart is the inevitable result of a heart burning with love.”

We wish you all a blessed and joyful Christmas.

With love and prayers from

Phil, Di and the Scargill Community

We are delighted to say that our new Programme with Momentum magazine is 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 are on our website.

So, we would like to welcome you to come alongside us as we pray on Monday 13^th 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

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.

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.