Month: November 2025

Never had a doubt…

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

With or without a question mark? Doubt – not an enemy of faith, though it can be, or it can be a servant on the journey of faith.

First the big picture. Yes I have doubted many times and asked the question – even the question of ‘is there a God’? When all is well maybe the doubts don’t come, but I have noticed there are times when not all is well with life. Then there are the huge issues of suffering that I think demand a VERY heavy leaning into a God who does not control. Anyway what bottoms things out for me I think are three aspects:

The resurrection of Jesus. People just do not rise from the dead in that way – crucified, buried and on the third day not simply revived but resurrected. Fulfilling the Jewish hope that at the end of the ages those who died in faith will be resurrected. Ever such a crazy faith that we buy into. That in an obscure eastern province of the Roman empire someone has been crucified (there were times when thousands were crucified within the same immediate time frame) and has been raised from the dead and as a result there is a public message that Caesar is certainly not lord etc… And the first believers were Jews. WOWOOOWOOW.

The testimonies of Scripture and within history – many have gone before me, many through martyrdom. (Maybe other faiths would claim the same, but tied to the resurrection of Jesus, my convictions are strengthened.)

And thirdly my own experience. It lines up with what I read, and the Christian faith is experiential; it is relational. Paul wrote to the Galatian believers and appealed to their experience as one of the reason to pull back from legalism with ‘Did you experience so many things in vain?’. John Wesley had as one of his quadrilaterals ‘experience’.

Yes doubts, and yes if I were God things would be different! But faith like an anchor that holds on to heaven’s realities.

And the small picture. Last night we had a look at Pisa’s leaning tower. Amazing. But today we will hit the old border of the ‘Two Sicilies’. Sounds crazy but the border is between Rome and Naples – the two Sicilies being a kingdom that had a centre in Naples and one in Palermo. The night we have just had was restless and disturbed. Doubts on the one hand – what are we doing… nothing certain; no accommodation set before us… Are we simply stupid (no answers on a postcard).

And not surprising…. we are small people so small adventures can be very challenging to us; but also angels are waiting. They are often encountered at night at borders (read the entry and re-entry of Jacob). We will stay on the border two days… who knows? Maybe we will leave with doubts; maybe we will leave strengthened; maybe we will encounter some hospitality and never realise there were angels involved… maybe 100 possibilities.

Whatever takes place for sure I will have my doubts but underneath it all will not be strong faith, but the eternal God. So be encouraged today should any reader have a doubt or two!

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Only 1800kms to go

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Updates

We are en route – honestly we are. Just took a very important detour:

‘Home’ to Freiburg

The detour is simply to spend 2 days with Yannick, Jenny, Pheline, Samuel. A family we have known over the last decade or so. Honest, earthy, pray-ee type people. Why detour – to be with them, but also following the incident with Paul where he was ‘dragged out of the city… he got up and went back into the city’ we are absolutely standing with them for that. One more day here in an open city – and open of course to all kinds of spirituality. A creative, innovative city, alive with and for young people.

And a great piece of advice on the side of the kiosk: ‘pray… love… eat… sleep… repeat’. Wow – we can all do that and wherever we live would be healthier for it.

Another day here and then through Switzerland and into Italy, stopping one night (somewhere) and then on the following day to the old border between ‘the papal states’ and ‘the kingdom of the two Sicilies’. On the west side that border ran roughly half way between Rome and Napoli. The kingdom of the two Sicilies had two centres – Napoli and Palermo and was very active during the Bourbon reign – the royal line from Aragon in Spain. A few weeks ago we had a call with Jenny and Yannick (where we are currently staying) who both contributed that when we crossed a border there was to be a meeting with angels… we sensed immediately this was not a current border (France / Italy for example) but an ancient border. Research and up comes this ancient border. In Scripture angels are encountered at borders (see the travels of Jacob in and out of his land. Who knows what that will look like, but if there is a contribution that heavenly servants of God are to make to these two ‘close to clueless’ earthly travellers we are up for that.

Anyway that is 2 days away… and I must quickly get a shower as the next few days showers might not be accessed on a daily basis!!!

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The time has arrived

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Very dramatic title… and not as significant as similar statements from John the Baptiser and on the lips of Jesus, but somewhat significant for us. Well we were so sure we would be going on Friday, so maybe this is the first plan of ours not to be exactly as we envisioned it? (Cut us some slack even Paul twice tried to move in a direction and the Holy Spirit had to resist him… oh and least he had a dream of a ‘man’ in Macedonia so followed the dream and met a… woman.)

We were not ready on Friday but today has arrived. And I also had ordered a package on Oct. 15th that I was unaware was sourced in China. It was due Friday, but they could not deliver it on Friday. Apparently a traffic issue; digging a little deeper the ‘last mile’ of the company is delivered by electric scooters – I think the traffic issue was the battery needed recharging. Anyway after multiple contacts with the company it arrived yesterday.

Anyway we are now an hour or so away from going ‘por la mañana’. That last phrase is definite – ‘in the morning’, but we (in good Spanish custom) when asked about when we are going could always reply (until today) with ‘mañana’. We think that might mean ‘tomorrow’, and it kinda does but also means ‘not today’. In English we have all kinds of ways to express uncertainty, but the (joke) in Spanish is they have nothing as definite as those phrases, they do have that word ‘mañana’ but it is certainly not as definite as ‘maybe’, ‘one day sometime’ etc. Anyway ‘mañana por la mañana’ has come and we will be gone – as soon as cup of coffee is drunk, floors are washed.

Tonight France, Sunday Germany to be with Yannick and Jenny in Freiberg, then head south through Switzerland (I bought a year long permit yesterday to drive through Switzerland – runs out in January, so a little peeved that we will only use the permit for a few hours), to Italy… not sure how many stops en route (my schoolboy French, along with the word ‘le weekend’) and down to the ferry.

And then? Well we have nowhere scheduled, do not have a place to stay (come on AirBnB sort out your prices), and have no fixed plan. Old capital of Syracuse, cities of Messina, Catania and Palermo (where or nearby where we think we will settle) will certainly be visited… and definitely Agrigento: try this to get an idea of one of the 7 preserved temples there:

By Berthold Werner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23442211n

An adventure for sure but like us all we take a small step / short drive to make a contribution to the recovery of the Pauline gospel…that good news that we can ‘see’ a new creation and be heralds of and witnesses to that future.

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How fast can you go?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Maybe the question should be ‘How fast should we move at?’ or ‘What pace will get you there?’. Here we are Wednesday and not yet gone to Sicily – though Friday comes and we go! (A couple of weeks back we thought it would be Tuesday (yesterday).) A delay, or getting the right pace?

One of my mentors who travelled incessantly with me 1998 onwards used to quote Prov. 19:2,

…and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.

When praying (maybe a month back) re our entry to Sicily it seemed clear to us that we were not going to enter quickly but the pace would pick up once we arrived (It better had as we have no accommodation there!). We have slowed down, not by deliberate choice, but a couple of circumstantial issues, that initially frustrated us (‘we want to get going!’) but have come to realise that it has forced us to slow down and see what rhythm we need to run (‘walk?’) at. Then this morning Gayle says… ‘I have been awake in the night and I wonder if we need to spend some days in…’, and the ‘in’ adds some 8 hours to our already 24 hour of driving. Ah well.

But bigger picture I wonder if God is teaching us a little – and the ‘us’ could be a larger ‘us’ than ‘us’. Lazarus is dead, so let’s get there… or wait a few more days. Those who wait on the Lord… maybe could be translated as ‘Those who others think are using up valuable time when they could just get on with it…’

I remember the words from the ‘MasterMind’ quiz program, ‘I’ve started so I will finish’. The buzzer went while asking the question but the host would always finish the question. I have started, and Paul spoke about finishing the race (maybe it was Priscilla, the author of Hebrews who said that?). Whoever said it (and sadly it is not likely that Priscilla wrote Hebrews) was talking about how we end our life’s journey, but I think we can apply it to every aspect. And if we learn the appropriate pace we certainly have more chance of finishing what we were so excited to be in at the beginning.

The long haul remains something we have to focus on. Given the global crisis (combination of crises) we might need to be ‘bailed out’ so we continue to pray ‘maranatha’ but continue to work on the basis of the inbuilt arc of the universe is toward justice (as described by many) or as journeying toward new creation.

And the long haul is made up of multiple small responses. And increasingly we need to learn to make the small response (scaling out, as I heard someone recently say, and not scaling up) alongside everyone else making their small response. One sows, another waters – both take time – and then there is an increase.

Timing is important, but also the pace with which we connect to the timing. So let’s see – Friday surely is not too soon?

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After six years

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Justice

So goes the title in this Guardian article: Spain expresses regret over ‘injustice’ suffered by Mexico’s Indigenous people during conquest with the opening paragraph being:

Spain has acknowledged and expressed regret over the “pain and injustice” suffered by the Indigenous people of Mexico during its conquest of the Americas, heralding a shift in tone after six years of diplomatic spats over the abuses of the colonial period.

After SIX years…

We don’t have the exact date but in 2017 I wrote A few years ago we went up to Colon (Columbus) square, Madrid, to pray the day before the so-called Columbus Day… maybe it was in 2015 and Gayle had painted a protest piece of art proclaiming (with a question mark) whether this was really ‘indigenous peoples’ day’ rather than ‘Columbus day’. We hid the painting amidst fairly strict security in a tree beneath where a huge Spanish flag was raised. I am sure later that day the painting would have been removed as the site was secured for the national display the next day. A few years later our friends from Calpe were in Mexico and carried a repentant spirit for the historic abuse on the land.

Two ways of looking at the outcome of ‘after six years of diplomatic spats’. A one to one connection – ‘we’ did this and look what happened; or coincidence as it would have happened anyway. And probably the reality is somewhere in between. Certainly the ‘we’ did this has to be significantly softened. When we think we are the only ‘we’ we will miss it totally, but I do carry a conviction that the body of Christ carries a responsibility to help clear ground so that genuinely ‘good works’ can be done by whoever stands in that place of implementing a shift. Here is a sweet statement from one of Sanchez’ cabinet:

It’s a very human history and, like every human history, it’s had its light and its shadows,” he said. “And there has also been pain – pain and injustice towards the Indigenous people to whom this exhibition is dedicated. There was injustice and it’s right to recognise that today and to be sorry for that, because it is also part of our shared history, and we can neither deny nor forget it.

I set up a WhatsApp group a while back entitled ‘not many smart’ as I m convinced that none of us are that smart. And certainly that is something that will accompany us as we travel (hopefully this week) to Sicily. We, excellent representatives of being qualified to belong to all ‘not many smart’ groups, will probably do something from time to time that will appear so limited, small and meaningless… and I hope over the next six months a stack of other people do the same. There will be no straight lines for any of us such as ‘we did / prayed this and look what took place’; some of it might be absolutely meaningless, but maybe between us all we might just be able to read in a few years’ time that something has changed. I am encouraged to continue to give it a clueless go. Hope you are too.

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