Day 26

On now to the third of Peterson's books on Spiritual Theology. He begins by asserting that "the Jesus way wedded to the Jesus truth brings about the Jesus life." As Christians we live as part of the Kingdom of God( where Christ is King). We can and must refuse to let the culture dictate the way we go about our lives. He is strong on the importance of the community of faith and suggests - "the priesthood of all believers is not an arrogant individualism that, at least, in dealing with matters of God doesn't need anyone else. It is a confession of mutuality, a willingness to guide one another in following the way of Jesus."
He reminds us that at beginning of the Jesus story the imperatives to 'repent' and 'believe' come before the call to 'follow'. The temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness were about the way in which Jesus would go about his work. In rejecting the temptations Jesus refuses to do good things in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. In this book I think Peterson will have much to say about the means and not just the end. Following Jesus is as much about feet as it is about eyes and ears. He suggests that the slogan 'what would Jesus do' should really be 'how does Jesus do it". I am presuming he is emphasizing that it is not just about what we do that matters, but also about the way we do it as followers of 'the Way'.

Jesus is our way to God, but also God's way to us - it is a 2-way highway.

Peterson then goes on to bring into this conversation 6 people whom he describes as those who embraced, prefigured and prepared for the way of Jesus - Abraham,Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah of Jerusalem and Isaiah of the exile. But more of that another time.

Its the weekend and some more sport to watch on television tomorrow or I might even wander across the Stray and watch Harrogate Town in the second preliminary round of the FA Cup. Although I have been reliably informed that the garden is calling out for some tidying( a prayer for rain tomorrow, perhaps??).

Day 24

The various lectures I have listened to over the past two days produced some points to ponder.

Ruth Haley Barton, Director of the Transforming Center in Illinois (a retreat centre) makes the interesting point that Moses lived so much of his life towards a vision which he never experienced. That might be a reminder that we do not always see the fruit of our work. She also suggests that Moses encountered God in solitude and this is what shaped his leadership.

Brian Maclaren - described on his website as an “author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists” - encourages us to ‘be a friend to ourselves’. He makes the point that at times we are much harder and less gracious towards ourselves than we are towards others. We should know what re-charges us(e.g. walking, running, sport, reading, drama, films, museums, places of interest) and he reminds ministers that ‘life bigger than our ministry’. That comment certainly applies not just to ministers.

Mark Labberton (senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley, California.) suggests that the central purpose of worship is to re-order reality in the light of what is true. He has a concern that worship must not simply turn us inwards but turn us outwards. He tells the story of a worship leader who got so caught up in leading worship that he was oblivious to the fact that as he walked up and down the platform he was treading on the toes of those who were sitting there. We cannot worship God and be oblivious to our neighbours.

Some thoughts from a few of the lecturers given at the National Pastors Conference, 2007.

Tomorrow it is back to the books.

Day 22

Annette and I enjoyed our trip to the Open Air Museum at Beamish on Saturday. The weather was ideal for strolling around the various areas. I was particularly interested in the reconstructed Colliery village from the year 1913. The little work I have done on my family tree revealed that my father, grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather were all coal miners. The town Annette and I grew up in had originally been a mining village with its own coal mine which was the major source of employment. I would expect that the reconstructed village at Beamish would not be all that different from what our grandparents would have known. At the reconstructed town site we made a beeline for the Confectioners which had a good selection of sweets from days gone buy.

Today’s sabbatical work has been slightly different. I have listened, courtesy of the internet, to a number of lectures given at a recent pastors’ conference in America. The subjects ranged from ‘ what are pastors for’ to the ‘primary paradigm of Christian ministry’. One lecturer suggested that pastors need to beware of being so busy that they don’t give time to the burning bush, while another reminded his hearers of some of the difficulties and challenges facing pastors in this day and age. I came across some names I had never heard of and also did some more digging on the internet to find out more about them. It was good to be able to listen to a variety of speakers.

But I didn’t care too much for the singer and his songs at the end of each lecture!

Day 19

In the final chapters of this book Peterson writes about the need to translate the Word of God into the language of the people. He tells how he came to produce his widely used paraphrase of the Bible, The Message, in order to do just that. A vital task of the Church is to speak the Word of God in a language the people can understand. That brings us back to the central theme of this book - the need to take the message into ourselves and live it.

Peterson suggests that, in his opinion, there is some irony in that the King James Version of the Bible is still the best selling edition throughout the world and yet it was written in the kind of language used by the royal court of James and not the everyday language of the people at that time. It is certainly not written in the everyday language of our day and age! Is it possible that this version is still popular because it may be used at times to keep the word at a safe distance because the language and expression is not what we use in our daily lives?

Peterson himself has a great gift for language and this comes across in his writing. He is passionate about communicating the Word and encourages the Christian Church to be equally committed to the Word and to making it available to the people around us.

Almost time now to put the books away for the weekend. Tomorrow it is off to the North of England open air museum at Beamish which has long been on the list of places we have wanted to visit.

Day 18

Peterson, as we know, has a wonderful gift for language and continuing to read through 'Eat this book' means coming across some wonderful quotes. As stated before, the author is anxious that as Christians we don't just read the Scriptures but live them. We need to listen to the Word and not just read it, remembering that it emerged in the beginning as spoken word before it was written.
Bible verses are not fortune cookies to be broken open at random. The Bible is not an astrological chart to be impersonally manipulated for amusement or profit. The Scriptures read and prayed are our primary and normative access to God as he reveals himself to us. Prayer is engagement with God. The Psalms are our primary text for prayer and Jesus is our primary teacher. We are called to live the Word - living what we read. We need to remember the context out of which the Word came and also remember that the Bible is full of metaphor. A metaphor does not explain or define - it draws us from being outsiders to being insiders, involved with all reality spoken into being by God's word. We need to enter into the world of the text.
Maybe during Lent next year we need to have a go at a 'Contextual Bible Study Group' where we explore a text in the setting not only of the context of the actual text but also in the context of our own lives in order to discover how we can live that word.


And on a completely different subject - what a result for Rangers last night in the Champions League. A much better result than their Glasgow rivals had :-)))

Day 16

Another meeting with a colleague and then into the next of Peterson's books on Spiritual Theology - 'Eat this book'. As the title suggests this has to do with reading the Bible, the title being taken from Revelation 10:9-10.
Peterson considers that we need to let the Word get into our bloodstream and live it. We need to approach the Word as a dog would approach a bone - wrestle with it, chew it, enjoy it. The Bible is not as book to be placed on a 'devotional pedestal' which we can read with 'devout indifference'. He quotes Barth who describes the Bible as 'pulling us into participation with God'. We are called to submit our lives to the text that is 'endlessly bringing together heaven and earth'. He acknowledges the huge challenge involved with this.

But that is enough for today. Time now to go and watch Scotland - Romania in the Rugby World Cup( and if that is going badly I can always switch over to a Champions League game). Annette is delighted at the thought of all this sport on television!

Day 15

Back to the books after a very enjoyable induction weekend at Stourbridge. Here is a picture of the new manse family.
Today I have spent reading the 3rd part of Peterson's book. In this part he turns to the importance of community and suggests that there can be no maturity in the spiritual life apart from immersion in and embrace of community. Holy living is not a 'self project' and in this section he highlights the dangers of selfish living. He uses Deuteronomy and Luke/Acts as grounding texts. He suggests that for the Old Testament people of God getting saved was easy( in the Exodus), but becoming a community was difficult!
He goes on to remind us of the importance of the Christian community into which we are baptised and of the love we are commanded to express.( Peterson turns to the first letter of John as the best place to seek orientation in this).
In the epilogue he writes - 'but what tops the agenda for me is the Christian life as lived, lived with this sense of congruence between who Christ is and who I am; lived in this busy, heavily trafficked North America intersection with the Kingdom of God'

Day 11

After some more meetings with colleagues to get a clearer picture of how other churches operate in terms of 'church membership', it was back into the second major section of Peterson's book, Christ plays in ten thousand places'.
In this section he writes strongly about 'salvation history', suggesting that the death of Jesus provides our entry into the reality and responsibilities of history. Jesus embraced the world and it could be said that his story is not a 'success story' but a 'salvation story'. Peterson uses the story of the Exodus and the Gospel of Mark to ground this 'salvation story'. He frequently reminds the reader that we cannot bring about this salvation story but we can embrace it and with God's help live it. He considers that one of the threats we face is that of moralism - constructing a life which has no need of a saving God.
Towards the end of this section he writes about the importance of the Eucharist and sees this as central to our lives. ( with the 4 basic elements of taking, blessing, breaking, giving shaping our worship and our lives).
This weekend Annette and will be at the induction of our son-in-law, Andy, to Hanbury Hill Baptist Church in Stourbridge. This is his first church after training at Bristol Baptist College. I am sure it will bring back some thoughts of an induction that took place at the beginning of September 1978! As you will see from the photo on the induction leaflet, in those days I had hair that was black and slightly longer. Note also the trendy tie!

Day 9

I enjoyed our visit to Amsterdam. The ferry crossings were smooth, the food was good and the cabin was small! We spent Saturday in the city and mingled with the many Dutch football fans there to watch their national team play at the Amsterdam arena. We travelled around the city on the canal boats admiring the fine canal houses along the way. We visited Anne Frank’s house and saw where she and her family hid away from the Nazis before they were betrayed. We did a bit of shopping and a fair bit of walking too and managed to stay out of the way of all the cyclists. We chose our coffee stops very carefully and certainly gave the ‘Mellow Yellow’ café a miss!

On the way home on Sunday we worshipped at Beverley Minster.

Monday was taken up mostly with a meeting of the liaison group with West Park URC.

Today it has been back to the sabbatical programme and a meeting with one of my colleagues to discuss how his church operates in terms of membership and organisation. Then it was lunch with 2 Baptist colleagues and a lively discussion on the front page article of last week's Baptist Times which had the headline - "Apologise for slave trade on Racial Justice Sunday".

Its back to the books now.

Day 5

Time to put book the books away for the weekend.

One of the enjoyable aspects of a 3 month sabbatical is that weekends are quite different. There is the opportunity to get away and visit family and friends or go somewhere new. There is also the opportunity to go to church and simply enjoy being part of the congregation.

Annette and I decided that on this first weekend of the sabbatical we would get away. This evening we are off on a weekend mini cruise from Hull to Amsterdam. We have never been there before, but don’t worry, I have been reminded on more than one occasion to avoid the ‘coffee shops’.

Day 3

One of the enjoyable aspects of reading Peterson is that he has such a wonderful gift for language. This makes many of his comments and views memorable. But it also means that it is so easy to get swept up in the beauty of what he writes that the reader simply gets carried along enjoying the literature.
In this book he is anxious to express his view that to be 'spiritual' is to live as a Christian in everyday life. This means living our Christian lives where we are in the world.
He writes about the link he sees between the opening chapters of Genesis and the Gospel of John. He quotes Barth - " Jesus is the key to the secret of creation" . While Peterson himself obviously enjoys the wonder of creation he suggests that if we want to really look at creation we need to look at the person( not just the person of Christ but at the people around us). I would think that most of us would say that we catch a glimpse of the wonder of God in creation rather than in the people who are part of that creation. But yet it was within a life lived on earth that God revealed himself most completely.
He sees in Genesis chapter one the description of the creation of time, while in chapter 2 it is the description of the creation of place. Through the gift of time we participate in the present and daily work of God. The gift of place gives us the setting where we live the message. He sees the account of Adam and Eve as reminding us of the challenge to live in the land of the free.( land of freedom and necessity).

In this chapter he returns to one of his constant themes - sabbath keeping. In this we find a God-given rhythm to our lives. He feels that without sabbath keeping it is all our 'unsabbathed' work which then defines the entire context of our lives. Peterson emphasizes the importance of worship with the people of God as a vital part of the rhythm of our lives. For him worship on Sunday is like weekly housekeeping - it clears the ground and helps us get ready to live as Christians in the rest of the week.
For him it is " the workshop for the practice of eternity"

Day one

After some emails to various colleagues about 'church membership', it was down to the first of Peterson's books on Spiritual Theology - Christ plays in Ten Thousand places. He begins by clearing the ground and reminds the reader that spiritual theology = the attention we give to lived theology. In this first chapter he emphasizes the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity.

In his view - "the doctrine of the Trinity prevents us from reducing God to what we can understand or need at any one time. There is a lot going on in us and this world, far exceeding what we are capable of taking in. In dealing with God, we are dealing in mystery, in what we do not know, what we cannot control or deal with on our terms. We need to know this, for we live in a world that over-respects the practical. We want God to be ‘relevant’ to our lifestyle. We want what we can , as we say, ‘get a handle on’. There is immense peer pressure to reduce God to fit immediate needs and expectations. But God is never a commodity to use. ……… we are faced with a reality that we cannot control. And so we cultivate reverence. We are in the presence of the One who is both before us and beyond us. We listen and wait.... Trinity is a steady call and invitation to participate in the energetically active life of God ( earlier in this chapter Peterson uses the image of the dance and quotes Barth - ‘the divine modes of existence condition and permeate one another mutually with such perfection that one is invariable in the other two as the other two are in the one’).

My head is hurting now and so I think it may be time to stop!

This morning I led my last Sunday service before beginning the 3 months study period. The service included an act of thanksgiving, dedication and blessing. Baby Angus behaved beautifully and smiled at all the right moments. We enjoyed having a number of visitors who had come to share in the service for Angus. When Annette was chatting to one of the visitors after the service he recognised that my accent was from the Glasgow area because he thought I sounded like Billy Connolly. Perhaps the Baptist Times should run the shock headline - Baptist minister sounds like the Big Yin!
I cant say that I am particularly pleased with the comparison. I certainly don't use the kind of language he regularly uses to get laughs and I am certainly not to be found sitting in the same Glasgow football stadium he does to follow his team.
Today actually marks the 29th anniversary of my ordination and induction to the Baptist Churches at Blackley and Elland Upper Edge in West Yorkshire. It was then that we moved to England and have remained in England since. It is not surprising that my accent has modified somewhat. My friends north of the border would now say I have a posh Scottish accent. I wonder how long Billy Connolly has lived away from Scotland to perfect his posh Scottish accent?