SCAPEGOAT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH – JUNE 2024 NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends

May has definitely been a month of contrasts. The weather has been mixed to say the least and there have been happy days and very sad days for other reasons.  Someone said to me that we need the bad times to remind us that we should appreciate the good times more, but it’s not always a consolation when things are going badly. 

Regarding the weather – we need rain to water the beautiful flowers and trees of summer, but sometimes we get too much of this lovely rain and end up with soggy gardens and spoilt days out. It gives us something to moan about though! Let’s hope that June brings us some drier days, so that we can get out and about, or even just spend some quiet days in our gardens.  

Hope is what we need in these turbulent, uncertain times. No doubt June will bring an abundance of promises from many prospective candidates all hoping for our votes in July.  Our hope is surely that they will not forget all these promises the minute they take up their seats in the House of Commons. Much needs to be done to get this country back on the right track.  We need to pray for all the people who will form the next government, that there will be more Christian voices heard speaking out for truth and justice so that this land becomes a fairer place to live for everyone.  Political promises might 

sound very attractive, but they need to be realistic and practical or  they achieve nothing except disappointment.  Anyway, enough of the politics …………

I came across this in a little book on Friends by Marion Stroud:

Slow me down, Lord! Teach me the art of creating islands of stillness,in which I can absorb the beauty of everyday things: clouds, trees, a snatch of music.  Prompt me to lift up my heart to you in a moment of thankfulness.  Impress upon my mind that there is more to life than packing every moment with activity, and help me to fence in some part of my day with quietness.  And please talk to me and help me to listen, so that I take your peace rather than my confusion back with me into the hurly-burly of a hurting world.

Praying that God will bless and strengthen you in the coming days.

Frances