Scott's Blog

Judy is a Punk

Scott — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:02:16 +0000

I’m up to the Ramones in my Whole Collection marathon. I’ve also culled some of the clunkers from the playlist so I’m down to 2,641 tracks left to play.

See more progress on: Listen to all of my mp3s

U.K. Trip

Scott — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:50:01 +0000

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

Just Like Heaven

Scott — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:52:19 +0000

I’m up to the Cure in my listen to all my mp3 marathon. 3728 songs left to go.

See more progress on: Listen to all of my mp3s

Renew

Scott — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:49:00 +0000

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

I was watching the cartoon movie Cars with my children the other day. The movie begins with the main character Lightning McQueen in a race. He is in the lead but ignores his pit crew’s advice to make a stop and change tires. In the last lap his tires blow out costing him the first place spot he easily had. The movie reminded me the story author Stephen Covey tells of a woodcutter who works himself to exhaustion while producing less and less lumber because he is too busy cutting wood to stop and sharpen his saw. The movie also reminded me of my own tendency to focus more on working, producing, and doing things while ignoring my own need to take time for resting, praying, and listening — to “sharpen the saw”.

God has ordered his creation with a rhythm of alternating a day of work with a night of rest, periods of productivity followed by times of lying fallow. This is most explicitly seen in God’s gift of the Sabbath – a day of rest and leisure after six days of labor. This pattern is seen in the story of creation, the laws of the nation of Israel and in the example of Christ himself who reminded the Pharisees (who would have made the Sabbath another burdensome item on a to-do list of righteousness) that the “Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

I can notice the difference very quickly in my own life if I don’t take regular time for prayer, meditation, and study. I learned very early in my ministry that the pastorate is an easy place to “fake it”. Feigned devotion and religious cliches delivered with a “stained-glass” voice can cover a lack of thoughtful prayer and attentive listening to the scriptures for awhile, but eventually the well runs dry. But this true for all Christians. If we don’t set aside time regularly to rest in the Lord who restores our souls we can find our faith wearing thin. If the busy-ness of our life pushes out time for prayer, for letting our “requests be made known to God” we find ourselves even more overwhelmed. And if our service in God’s name isn’t balanced with mediation on God’s Word even our Church life can become just another group of activities and commitments to fill up our already crowded calenders.

May I suggest a New Year’s resolution? Resolve to do less. Do less so that you can spend more time being aware of what God is doing. Do less daily so that you can take a few moments to read the Bible and pray. Do less weekly so that you can enjoy God’s gift of Sabbath rest. Make time on a regular basis to go to a park, or to read, or to listen to an inspiring song. Make time, as Jesus did to find a “desolate place” and pray there.

Forgotten Mission

Scott — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:40:11 +0000

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.

Quote on Pastoring

Scott — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:42:32 +0000

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

Run On

Scott — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:48:46 +0000

The Blind Boys of Alabama

Scott — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:42:33 +0000

All groups that begin with “the” are under T. I’m currently into The Blind Boys of Alabama – good stuff. I especially like their version of Run on for a Long Time, it’s the song Johnny Cash recorded under the title God’s Gonna Cut You Down.

See more progress on: Listen to all of my mp3s

Moving into the Neighborhood

Scott — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:30:08 +0000

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.

Statement of Faith

Scott — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:30:17 +0000

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.}