Category: Personal Perspectives

Yes! An apology

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

The pope has travelled to Canada and to lift a few sentences from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62296834

In his first public remarks in Canada, Pope Francis has asked indigenous residential school survivors for forgiveness.
“I am deeply sorry,” the Pope said on the grounds of a former residential school in Maskwacis, near Edmonton.
He said his apology is a first step, and that a “serious investigation” into abuses must occur to foster healing.
The pontiff is in Canada to apologise for the Church’s role in schools meant to assimilate indigenous children.

A start.

And that is what apology from the heart does, and when it comes from someone / a group who are in relationship to the original perpetrators it is so powerful. This, I know, is not the first work done on apologies into the first nations people of Canada (who of course do not recognise the artificial border).

Plenty of Old Testament passages that can be pulled up – forgive us our sins and the sins of our forefathers / mothers. And all of it seems to undergird the work of Jesus, from his baptism that launched a movement. John was very reluctant to baptise ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ in a baptism for the ‘forgiveness of sins’. Understandably so! But once Jesus said it was to fulfil all righteousness, into the water John plunged Jesus. Jesus, confessed sin – for that was the baptism of John – not his own sin, but the sin of the nation. Going all the way back to the wanderings in the wilderness, for therein lies the background to the 40 days in the wilderness and his meditations on those passages of Scripture. A door was opened, not all came through it, for to do so they had to separate themselves from this perverse generation.

First nations peoples. We need this start that the pope has taken on in and through his apology. The land is crying out for it. Talk to anyone in our neighbourhood who is over 60 years old and they will verbalise (in non-scientific language) the earth / climate has changed beyond all recognition. Sit as we do in 39°C (98°F) heat without air-conditioning and we do not need much to persuade us of the changes! Ask first nations people and they without scientific language will tell us.

I wonder what might happen if the start gets momentum. In Canada a nation of mercy, then beyond?

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Beni Johnson

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Many of you will know Beni Johnson, married to Bill, where with many others they have dedicated themselves to a ‘culture of honour’ amidst a pursuit of the miraculous. Yesterday, Beni, passed away having battled with cancer in recent times.

I first met the Johnson family in April 1998 as they graciously invited me to address the church on a Sunday evening. Flowing on from that I had many visits there and had many private conversations with Bill. A public figure, and as such will always attract criticism; I think though there is never a higher accolade than ‘what a person is in public that is what they are in private’. He never promoted himself, and held to a line based on his convictions when many others would have deviated.

Of course there will be many questions and insinuations that will now come their way. I wrote to Kris, at Bethel, earlier this year that since March 2021 I had been praying for them, as a number of attacks were being set up against them. There are ‘days of evil’ or ‘opportune times’; not all of life moves forward at an even pace.

The global body of Christ. The multiplicity amidst diversity. I honour the partnership that I have observed close up as well as at a distance. They held to a true line. 2009 was my last visit (with Gayle) to Bethel. We had to personally dig into our new geography and be more hidden than before. The occasional communication has taken place, but nothing face to face.

A few years back I had a tattoo placed on my spine. It simply reads ‘TRUE NORTH’ with an arrow and a compass for the ‘O’. I sometimes wish it was more visible for me to see, but up my spine it has to be.

I honour what I have seen in the Johnson family, holding to their true north.

Beni has entered her rest. We will all follow. In the in-between time we too must hold to the line of our convictions.

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Not fulfilled – repentance

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by Martin Scott
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Jonah, you old false prophet you, where is the destruction you prophesied? Although I don’t think there is any reason to think Jonah was literal (and I am not sure if Jesus thought he was literal… OK just a rattling of the cages in those totally aside, probably irrelevant comments), there is so much to learn.

Jonah did have some internal issues. And those were not dealt with after getting on with the job. He came to the city of Nineveh that never took three days to walk across(!) but probably did symbolically. Three days of being in the place of death, covered in whale vomit, is the only way to walk across any city. And certainly there is no way a city can be walked across and words of judgement be brought without carrying the vomit of one’s own failures with us.

When we do that we think we do well… until it does not turn out right. Yes, we all deserve judgement, but I have repented… so still show up and expose this city as evil. God doesn’t do it and then plays a game with Jonah. Up grows this shade, this protection only for it to go again. The shade of our repentance hiding the bigger issue of not understanding the mercy of heaven. God’s mercy is extended… even because in the city are many cattle! God’s respect for and love for creation, his sight of cattle is bigger and more merciful than all of us who have been so repentant and humble. That is just a cover for when the shade goes it is exposed. ‘I have gone through this and that…’ get’s exposed with and ‘I still don’t understand the love and mercy of God’.

Prophecy is not automatic. I love when we get warnings. Gayle hates it. She is the ‘glass is half full’ and never wants anything that changes that opinion. I need her cos I am ‘look the glass is half-empty’. In my glass half-empty scenario the real issue is to find how we can fill it right up or at least as close to the top as possible. For me warnings help! When we hear this is before you, set out for your destruction, I think OK now what are we to do as none of that is ‘predestined’.

Thank God for unfulfilled prophecies. For what can be turned.

So to the negative people, those who see demons here there and everywhere (OK simply writing to me in this paragraph)… you see some of that cos of internal issues. Getting swallowed by the whale was not enough. You do stink with the vomit, but there are deeper issues. Issues about understanding how God sees cattle!

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals (cattle)?

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I know what that means

Expectation is not enough

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

I have used the Peter example before… ‘You are the Christ’ meets expectation that the Messiah kicks out the enemies (Roman occupation in that era), so he is bold enough to stand on the word in order to keep Jesus in line – ‘not so Lord’.

It is nigh impossible to silence expectation. Our memories are so alive and important, and it is for this reason God says ‘forget the former things’, the irony being that s/he had just spent a number of ‘verses’ reminding them of the former things!

In that passage in Isaiah the former situation and the current one was similar: captivity by Egypt / captivity by Babylon, but the deliverance would be so different. I spent many years looking for a repeat of ‘the Welsh revival’ or the ‘Great Awakening’. Not now. And I see God at work everywhere. And is Jesus there present? Well we got to go and find out, and if we go then guess what? Jesus will certainly be there!

Peter discovered that something was happening at Cornelius’ house. But is it Jesus? Go find out, go humbly, cos you will be converted, and when you get there you’ll discover that the lines you drew, the in / out lines were not simply inadequate but wrong… and you are there Peter to bring Jesus into the centre of the party.

Could we in a move of God that is so inclusive that our tiny minds could be blown? I think that really is possible. But we got to find out, and we can’t find out if we stay put and continue to prophesy the ‘greatest move of God ever’, ‘the month of the holy breakthrough’.

National / continental timelines are unique. I wrote a short review of the ‘Slow death of Europe’. Maybe should be expanded to ‘of the West’. For sure. Death of what was, and dare I say even some of the good things that seemed to be part of our heritage. I am not looking for a repeat of ‘Wales’ or… I am looking to be re-educated, and am still probably a little resistant to being converted, and just hope that it might be a process.

Let’s be careful about bringing our expectation into what we prophesy, and let’s be slow to put expectations on what we hear. And maybe get our shoes ready for that journey to Cornelius.

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A New Way

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by Simon Jones
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Simon Jones joined the ‘open zoom’ this past Tuesday evening and sent me a reflection that he wrote a little while back entitled ‘A New Way’. I asked him to add something at the beginning to give a context. Evev if you skim that background drop down to read ‘A New Way’. You can follow Simon’s ongoing reflections here:

http://www.simonswritingandwalking.com/

I really appreciated joining the open zoom on Tuesday. Peter really opened up for us thoughts to do with land, a new way ahead, and the old falling away. What struck me as he spoke and as I listened to other people’s reflections was how a new way has been opening up for some time, but that in the light of the last few years ‘shaking’ the new way and new ways we will need in order to find a way forward within society and communities, is being grasped by more people. We don’t know what the next few years will bring, but it seems that we are looking at a bigger change than we might have thought possible 3 or 4 years ago… potentially to the extent where established ways of life on macro or micro scales will be almost impossible to maintain. But even for those of us who may have sought to live a different way of life (perhaps semi counter-culturally from within or from the edges of society) for some years before the more recent ‘shaking’… the actual question of how new ways of life within society, new ways of living with people and as nations, and new ways of ‘expressing’ faith outside of pre-conceived concepts and constructs, remains just that – a question.

In other words, those who may have been living towards, praying for and prophesying a change – a falling of certain elements of unsustainable living and oppressive systems, macro and micro… don’t really know what to do when these things and these changes actually do happen, when certain things/trees do actually come down and when a new way, and many new ways begin to be called for. How do we live them? What are they? And what on earth could the role of little old me be when most people around will be so busy trying to hold up and hold onto the things which are falling away, that they want to keep there.

I know the choices I have made to live and struggle a semi-counter cultural existence with a family – mainly from within society than fully from its edges – and I know some of the things I want to be part of my own life, and some of those things that the land around and the earth in general is calling out for… but, do I really know the way ahead in this rapidly changing season? No, I definitely don’t – and what struck me on the zoom session is that none of us do really. But perhaps to live focussed on love, life, play and creativity in the midst of falling trees and collapsing walls, may be a better response than despair… and may, if we continue, begin to open up new ways that others can follow, or at least hook in with and forge their own new ways from there. So, I wrote this as a grappling with what is happening. I was struck in one of Martin’s posts where he said that Europe, despite its troubled history, may be entrusted with a calling to open up some new ways for the future.

I don’t think it should surprise us if it’s hard to see what the way forward is.

But together – listening to one another’s thoughts and different stories and perspectives, may in fact open further doors. I wonder if programmes like Ben Fogle’s ‘New lives in the Wild’ may be helpful for engaging and thinking outside of the boxes around us not necessarily to cause us to withdraw, but to help us to engage with the question, ‘what could life be like?’ in a way that is different to what we have seen, known and been told by the systems around that it should be like.

A NEW WAY

A new way is opening up,
But how do we find it?

A new way is opening up,
But how do we grasp it?

A new way is opening up,
But who will reveal it?

A new way is opening up,
But will we conceal it?

It is time for the nations to embrace reconciliation.
It is time for the peoples to embrace new creation.

Love opens the door ahead of us.

Love has caused much of the shaking.

Not because love is violent – no, love is gentle.

But the outpouring of gentleness reveals and repeals mankind’s law of violence.

How do we find a gentle way in relation to the land?
To love it, grow out of it and work with it, rather than simply work it or exploit it.

How do we find a gentle way in relation to economics?
To live independent of unjust economic systems – by faith and in trust.

How do we find a gentle way in relation to community?
When most of us fear it – for it has not always been an unconditional embrace of our
uniqueness and vulnerability.

Many want to hold onto the old ways.
But they won’t cut it.

But many of us who want the new ways, the new things, and the new season,
do not know how to walk it, talk it or live it.

But if we walk, talk, live, create, sing, dance, listen, pray and play…
If we do these things… these slower and more gentle things,
anyway… even if we do not yet know what the new way is…
What the new ways are…

Then in our being and resting and waiting and living, and praying and playing and occasional
thinking…

A new way will open up.
Many new ways will open up.
And we will see, and others will see.
And people will know.
And many will think the thoughts of love – the new ways of love
that are being thought by the few…

And perhaps the many will, in time, embrace some, if not all, of the ways and thoughts of the ‘few’.

Gentleness will open a door and a new way will come.
The past will be left behind…

And a glorious, but gentle future will unfold.

We don’t know what the new looks like fully yet, but we will.

Love has come, love will come and love is coming to heal and renew.

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Forgiveness – used as a weapon?

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

I recently read an article from Michele Perry on how forgiveness being branded as (e.g.) ‘if you do not forgive (and move on)’ can be and is weaponised in many / most Christian circles. A conversation starter for sure and something that makes us go much deeper than a quick fix mentality. I interviewed her (video below). The original article is at:

https://dmperry.com/2022/05/29/please-stop-weaponizing-forgiveness/

In the article there is a link to a ‘live’ confession of a pastor (bravo) but also an exposure of the lack of transparency, followed by the covering of the pastor and no support for the one who has lived with the abuse. Painful to watch but if able to is informative and very challenging.

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OK so a little bizarre

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

I like to walk when I pray, as I said to someone yesterday for me ‘prayer is a whole bodily function’… maybe does not quite communicate what I meant, but pace of walking depends on nature of the praying, and even hand movements kinda sync when I pray. (Perhaps when I get mature, that elusive second half of life – elusive for me – I might settle down, be able to meditate, pray properly etc…, but as I say just a little too elusive for me as my DOB on passport does not seem to signify expected maturity level. Ah well, I am happy.)

I was pryaing into a situation today that involves something that needs resolving, and (OK let me use the charismatic language of ‘God said to me’ even if clinical tests were to show that it is overactivity inside my head) God said to me:

Do not seek legal resolution but seek a redemptive solution.

Those kind of phrases are just too clever for them to be solely the activity of my head. Really helpful with regard to the situation, for legal resolution often means court finds in favour of xxx and by implication not in favour of the other party.

Redemptive solution might / might not align with a legal resolution, but essentially will bring about a win / win. Even if I ‘lose’, I win for the outcome is to align me with God’s favour.

And the cross… I don’t think was about legal resolution. The ‘law’ was and remains broken (like the Prodigal Father whose outrageous behaviour undermined the societal norm, the one set by the Mosaic law). But the solution is redemptive. Oh yes! The result of redemptive solutions is a move toward the perfection that will come, it results in ‘I am not who I was, even if I am not yet who I am going to be’.

Certainly helped me pray.

As I finished today I said something crazy to the Lord (OK you have never done this). I said in the light of new way of communication how do you sign off? Zero time gap, and with the question out there from a somewhat mindless head… ‘With a smiley face’. I like that!

In Oliva, where we are currently, we still have a tradition that has all-but finished in Spain of an announcement being made in each street when someone has died. Final words… ‘Rest in peace’. Still meditating on heroes who have passed away recently from within my world – Christine Noble and Gerald Coates – I thought of Simeon in Luke 2. Now I may depart in peace. Rest in peace is something we say not inappropriately, but how much stronger is ‘depart in peace’. Having fulfilled what I was about, and fulfilling will mean somethings were not fulfilled for there is always a percentage that seems to ‘die’ in order for there to be a resurrection… way to go.

A little bizarre, the sun was shining but no evidence of sun stroke, just a sweet way to walk.

Go find and pray for redemptive solutions, live in peace, depart (when that comes) in peace, and in the meantime read the notes I leave you – you will recognise them by the smiley face at the bottom.

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Europe is dying?

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by Martin Scott
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Flew back to Spain a few days ago and with a few hours to spare in the airport I went for a quick peruse through the book store. I saw this book ‘The Strange Death of Europe’ which caught my eye, but quickly moved on. At the other side of the shop I had this strong impression – go back and buy that book. So I picked it up and bought it. If I had skimmed through it I probably would not have done so, it is not exactly on my page!! Glad though I have read it, and if one follows the trajectory laid out, the destination does seem to be ‘the death of Europe’. Of course, I am of a different persuasion (and biased) that Europe is being privileged and carrying a responsibility to open a whole new path regarding the kingdom of God. I with faith / optimism / delusion hold to the rebirth of not simply Europe but of the globe with the seeds sown from the first Century truly coming to fruit… a ‘reformation’ (not sure that is the right word) beyond that of the 16th Century. Also given that reading is a challenge for me, let me get in to it!

Why will Europe die? Murray draws the three strands together that are in the sub-title: immigration, identity and Islam. We cannot afford to allow immigration as is happening to continue, for the identity of ‘who / what is Europe?’ will be radically altered. Europe will no longer be Europe, compounded by the incredible increase of Islam eroding the shaping foundation of the Judaeo-Christian values and faith will further mean that no longer will Europe be connected to its roots and in an embrace / appeasement of Islam Europe as Europe will simply no longer exist. This death of Europe has started and the final outcome is in sight. Facts, figures and stories abound in the book, and I suggest if we project from here to the not-too-distant future his thesis is indeed compelling.

I could argue of course that what we have is a far-right perspective and so say ‘typical’ (OK maybe I cut the post short now and simply say that!), but what really provoked me was what might a faith response look like? Murray is a ‘Christian’ atheist, one who does not believe in God but in the core values of the Judeo-Christian tradition (as he sees them), hence the projection from the past is important, and the only framework he has. Across the pond the same appeal seems to be being made, hence the trajectory there can be seen in what takes place here. Re-birth becomes possible if faith is involved, otherwise we should simply begin to write the obituaries now, and write them without hope. We could slow the death, and really make re-birth difficult with (my opinion) the ‘between the lines’ appeal by Murray. Stop the immigration, restore sovereignty to the nation-state, legislate from the centre…

He is no fan of any form of identificional repentance, nor sees the validity of Imperial seed sown and the reaping of that later. Confessing guilt for the past, for colonisation, trampling over cultures has no place and only adds guilt and the accommodation of foreign cultures and values. He does not accept that what has been sown is coming back to be reaped. And of course on Christendom, this is where he as a ‘Christian’ atheist and myself part company. This is not to suggest that society has no benefits from that era of dominance, much like the fall involved in the monarchial institution in Israel was not without its benefits, but those benefits being due to God being willing to go where we go, and certainly not due to God’s approval of either monarchy nor Christendom.

But a vision?

If anyone is in Christ… sight changes. I understand that when one looks at where we are, and draws the graphs forward there is little of good cheer involved. But what if we were to be crazy. What if we thought there was ‘new creation’? What if we did not despair, but any looking to the past drew great hope from the context that the small Jewish sect (followers of the way) that grew up in an obscure Roman province, and who carried a message that was offensive to their own people (crucified Messiah) and foolish to the wider audience (one crucified of countless thousands) that was not simply being branded about in evangelistic settings (raise your hand) or in revival settings (I will put my hand on you), but in the darkest, occultic, multi-faith, politically oppressive scenarios… Hope and then… a huge big ‘forget that, for I do a new thing’. Hope from the past but not shaped from the past. WOW.

Immigration. Always a sign of new stewardship coming. Multi-faith – I don’t like that – but do we have to learn about true faith. If we start with faith defined in a box it will be very difficult to find faith. This is the biggest days of opportunity, amidst chaos, and the ‘dust of death’ to see something birthed that will be incredible. Maybe ‘The Sure start of something to get on board with in Europe’ might be a good title (yes I know a little too long, but we can work on it).

The book is sobering, but it is not the content of the book that is depressing. It is for me how much we as the body of Christ just long for a return to where things were. That might be understandable for a ‘Christian atheist’. The challenge for us as believers is whether the ‘god’ we have believed in, the ‘god’ we have commanded the Scriptures to confirm, is truly the God who makes all things new or not. Maybe not ‘atheism’, but…

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Heroines and heroes

In honour of Christine Noble and Gerald Coates

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

That is probably not a good title to use for this post for reasons that will become evident. A while back the leader of the Evangelical Alliance of Spain said that we have a problem in our charismatic world system. We have heroes / heroines on the platform and meanwhile we occupy the seats as admirers. They, the superstars, are elevated, we dream of being like them, but the gap is forever there, and the circus goes on, as we seek out the next ‘life-changing’ conference. Marcus said, in contrast to the above circus, we have to touch the reality of lives and be touched in the reality of our lives, then the superstar / admirer relationship gives way to mutual discipleship.

The title is not the right one, for I want to write about the passing away of Christine Noble and Gerald Coates this weekend. It is not the right title for they never elevated themselves as superstars, yet influenced many, and were known and let themselves be known. Human, like us, yet dedicated to pursue the Lord and the kingdom of God.

Years ago I wrote a book For Such a Time as This and dedicated it to Christine Noble (and Gustavo Guitierrez). To Christine as she was such a forerunner in creating paths where others could follow, women for sure, but also an inspiration right across the genders. It has been moving to follow during the past years how the Noble family have journeyed in the situation of a prolonged illness for Christine. They have always modelled something unique as family. John posted:

Saturday 2nd of April and the love of my life finally listened to me and went to be with Jesus at 2.45pm. I had been telling her to go for ages but whenever did she take any notice of me? She always did things in her own time and way and was obviously determined that she would wait until the kids arrived together to say their goodbyes.It has been a long hard struggle but now it’s over for her and we must continue to receive strength from her example and to honour her by making sure that we finish our race in faith and good heart before we go to meet and join her in joyful reunion .So, it has been a time of tears of unbearable pain and now tears of intense relief as her suffering has ended.

As I read those words the obvious generational legacy was so clear.

A few hours later, Sunday morning Gerald passed away. On Jan. 9th, 1977 Sue (Middlemiss) and I moved to Cobham as a young (21 years old) engaged couple where for the following decades our lives were intertwined with what was then called Cobham Christian Fellowship (later Pioneer People). We moved thinking that we would be married in a few months then would be live there a year or maybe two. The year or two passed and we stayed, captivated by the community that was present. The honesty, down to earthness of it, but the desire for ‘on earth as in heaven’ got inside of us. Those characteristics flowed from the lives of Gerald and Anona Coates. In those days Gerald was criticised by so many in the wider evangelical world but always held true to what he was convinced of. Honesty, transparency and integrity.

I have been influenced by many people and, as for all of us, there are those who become more significant at a given time than others, but I think no one has influenced me as much at the core of my being as Gerald. Starting that journey when I was 21 some of what I observed and experienced is present within me still 45 years later.

Religion did not have a hope of being encouraged when around Gerald. He had a way with words and often with a phrase where one might be laughing but at the same time realising that the phrase had exposed something hidden on the inside. That something hidden was often at the same time something deep and a mask being worn to protect.

There are many stories I could recount from those decades when we journeyed together. Suffice to say I am eternally grateful that as a young 21 year old I had the opportunity not simply to sit in a pew, but to rub shoulders with someone who influenced enormously the Christian faith in the UK and beyond. I am a different person as a result.

We run a race. Not always at the same pace, not always in the same geography. That race is corporate and individual. There are those who continue to inspire. This weekend two very significant people have come to the end of their ‘race’. Their legacy lives on, so many can testify to that.

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Open Zoom: April 5

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Two more on the cross to come – Monday and Tuesday next week, and on Tuesday…

Hi everyone… or at least hi to everyone reading this. Once a month I have been hosting an open zoom evening on the first Tuesday of the month: open cos is open to anyone, and open cos it is not tied to the books I have written, though the theology from those influences where we go on those evenings. [Did I hear someone say – your books, Martin, where can I get them? Go to https://bozpublications.com – hardbacks or eBook. And in the future why not consider joining a Zoom group. OK ADVERT OVER.]

Thus far we have had one evening on ‘Transgender’ and the others have focused on the implications of a ‘political’ Gospel, particularly as put forward by the author Luke. This time round Ro Lavender will hold the space with a focus on reflections and stories, that will help us see how the big picture of a ‘political gospel’ is practically earthed, and the importance of the small story as well as anything we might consider is big.

No need to let me know if you are planning on being there. Simply log on to the Zoom link. 19:30 UK time.

Time: April 5, 2022 19:30 London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5728039267?pwd=NEozVVM0Z1NJSDFKKzNwdG9KUDc5dz09

Meeting ID: 572 803 9267
Passcode: 5GkMTA

This will probably be the last one that is shaped by the political gospel… watch out for future themes – maybe on the cross? I will pick up on further aspects of the cross in posts from Tuesday onwards.

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