Scott’s Blog

I’ve usually posted daily updates during my research trips to Scotland.  This year I went to Glasgow for my viva (the equivalent of the oral defense.)  After the big event I spent most of my time visiting friends (and missing trains) so I didn’t keep a daily blog but thought I would post a summary of the whole trip now that I’m over my jet lag.

I arrived Thursday morning and wandered around the University to see what had changed since I was there last.  I forgot how much I love Glasgow.  I met with my supervisor that afternoon to prep for the viva the next day.  I stayed at the cozy Alamo Guest house that evening.

Friday I woke too late to get breakfast at the Guest House but fortunately found a place serving breakfast.  My viva went well and after a late lunch with Professor Hazlett I was off by train to Gloucester, England to visit my friend Allan.

Saturday Allan showed me around Gloucester.  We had lunch at Robert Raike’s house, a pub in the former home of the founder of the Sunday School movement.  (I discovered gammon – good stuff.)  After dinner at an Indian restaurant (my first proper sit-down Indian meal) we went to the Fountain Inn to catch up.  Sunday we worshiped at the United Reformed Church before I caught my train on the way back to Glasgow feeling absolutely stuffed.

Window in St. Lawrence's

Things had been running so smooth.  Before I left I had tried to book a room in Glasgow close to the rail station but I couldn’t get any of my cards to work with the online reservation system and the hotels I tried wouldn’t accept bookings by phone.  (I’m suppressing a rant to get on with my story.)  The train to Birmingham was very late.  I’m not sure what caused the disruption – they announced that a train failed – but it caused a domino effect.  I apparently had missed the last train to Glasgow and was put on another to Edinburgh which wouldn’t have been a problem had it not also been extremely late.  Due to a general ignorance of English geography I really didn’t know where I was or which way I was going.  I realized that it was going to be 2 AM before I got to Edinburgh which seemed awfully late to be trying to find a  room.  Then they announced the upcoming stops – Leeds…Wetherby…York.  York – Tim!  The only other folks I know in England live in York.  Tim’s the Parish Priest at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York.  I borrowed a kind stranger’s cell phone and called to let Tim know I would be in York soon – though I didn’t know when.  I was welcomed into the Vicarage in the middle of the night.  We reenacted one of Jesus’ parables (Luke 11:5-9) with a nearby Indian take-away that was just about to close.

Since I didn’t have anything scheduled for the next day, Tim invited me to accompany him on a car trip to Wales.  He was going to visit family and I had to get a train from somewhere.  I got to spend a little time with Tim’s family before heading off.

It was good to have an unexpected visit and catch up.  Tim has recently been the subject of controversy for a pre-Christmas sermon criticizing the lack of assistance for the poor taken as advocating shoplifting.  As we discussed the sermon and media reports (and distortions) I was shocked to hear that Church of England parishes don’t have some of the basic resources available to assist those in need that I’m used to here such as a pastor’s discretionary fund.  I get the impression that the Church’s mission to the poor has been given to the priest personally, the state welfare system, or the Salvation Army.

Church in Raglan

We had time to get a bite to eat in Raglan (had Welsh rabbit for the first time) before I caught the train to Glasgow from Abergavenny.  Thankfully the train ride was uneventful and I was able to get to the hotel for some rest before a ridiculously early plane flight home.

Dynion - Gentlemen

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. -Mark 1:35

Yesterday I preached on the visit of the magi.  My main point was that the priests and Bible scholars had forgotten Israel’s calling to be a light to the nations even as God was revealing Christ’s birth to Gentiles.  I spoke about how easy it is for us, as the Church, to remember our calling and mission.

This morning I came across a New Year’s Day editorial by Peggy Noonan, via the Gospel Coalition that was pointing out the loss of mission and purpose by many of our civic institutions.  I wish I had found it while preparing for my sermon.  She writes:

Maybe the most worrying trend the past 10 years can be found in this phrase: “They forgot the mission.” So many great American institutions—institutions that every day help hold us together—acted as if they had forgotten their mission, forgotten what they were about, what their role and purpose was, what they existed to do. You, as you read, can probably think of an institution that has forgotten its reason for being. Maybe it’s the one you’re part of.

I guess this can be considered a Re-Blog. I found a great quote on Bill Streger’s Blog today:

“The two cultural characters that capture what is most important in modernity are the psychologist and the manager. These characters now define what the professionalized pastor is becoming: in the pulpit, a psychologist whose business is to spread warm feelings; in the study, a CEO whose business is to have a successful year in terms of numbers.”
- David Wells

The Advent season draws our thoughts to the miracle of the Incarnation, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) – or as the Message colorfully paraphrases it “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood”.  Our salvation was not wrought by Jesus swooping down from Heaven in a single day to fix our troubles and then ride off into the sunset. He was “born of a woman”. He was made like us “in every way”.  As a child he “grew and became strong”.  As an adult he went to synagogue, got hungry, slept, cried and celebrated weddings. In every way he lived the day to day realities of a first century Jewish peasant.  As Christians, we are called to proclaim the good news of what Jesus did and to serve as he served, but we are not simply to do the things Jesus did – feed the hungry and proclaim the gospel, welcome the stranger and pray for the sick – but to do things in the way that he did. The Incarnation is a model of ministry.  This is particularly apparent to our family.  We have packed boxes and moved to a new ZIP code.  We have sent our change of address notifications and I’ve updated my computer’s weather notification.  We’re moving into the neighborhood to minister as part of a new congregation and community.  As a pastor becoming part of a particular community and serving a particular congregation is the way my vocation is exercised.  What is true here for pastoral ministry is also true for the “ministry of reconciliation” given to all Christians.  The ministry of all the baptized is done as part of a particular culture, place, and time.  Ministry is not “Us” helping “Them”.  Christians are not to be sequestered from the world; that is we are still “in” the world though not “of” it.  We all follow Christ among our friends and neighbors, classmates and co-workers, and amid the funerals, ballgames and PTO meetings we point to Christ.

As one early disciple explained:

The Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. … inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners.

Today I was received by the Presbytery of the Mid-South, Presbyterian Church (USA).  I presented the following Statement of Faith:

^{I adhere to the classic, historic faith of the Christian Church, particularly as it has been understood by the Reformed tradition. I confess the faith of the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the definition of the Council of Chalcedon and the the Athanasian Creed. I am also in agreement with the historic, Reformed consensus as collected in the PCUSA Book of Confessions. I believe these are in agreement with the Holy Scriptures which is the infallible rule of faith and practice.}

^{I believe in a sovereign and holy God who created all things. This God is Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Humans were created in His image to be in relationship with Him and each other, but through sin have rebelled against God and impaired their relationship with other humans and the whole of creation which now longs for redemption. All people are by nature deficient due to our sinful nature and unable to know God apart from His intervention.}

^{In spite of our rebellion God sent His Son to become incarnate in human flesh. He entered history and lived a life of perfect obedience, fulfilling the Law that we could not and suffering death on the Cross to pay the penalty our sin and rebellion deserved, propitiating the wrath of a righteous God. He was resurrected on the third day.}

^{Through the work of the Holy Spirit we come to have faith in Christ and his work on the cross. Through this faith, and solely by God’s grace, we are pronounced righteous and adopted into God’s family, the Church. As the Church we are called to proclaim the good news of Christ’s work to those around us and, out of our gratitude for God’s grace, to live a life that is congruent with God’s Kingdom through our work for justice, charity to the poor, care of creation and other works of mercy.}