Category: Personal Perspectives

Forgiveness is easy?

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by Martin Scott
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A while back I interviewed Michele Perry where she made a plea that the standard Christian response that ‘you need to forgive’ is a little too simplistic. In there she referenced a video of a pastor making confession (part confession) and all the support / understanding / forgiveness for the ‘misdemeanour’ going his way, while the voice of the victim was pretty much silenced… The ‘Christian’ expectation is ‘forgive and get on with it’.

I come back to the Lord’s prayer. If Scottish ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors’; and if English ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’. (Surely the Scots don’t favour the ‘debt’ cos it has a monetary application?)

Either way it is not ‘forgive our debtors as we know they were somewhat damaged so I understand that they were not reacting cleanly, so I give them a whole load of understanding…’ Now that is true, but not the focus. The focus is ‘they owed me something’, ‘they crossed boundaries and so disrespected my space’, and in the prayer no allowances are made for how they approached the situation with their own wounds. It is name it for what it was. I consider that too often we rush from – yes that is what you experienced but forgive, and do not allow the process.

Monica Lewinsky later came to realise that the approach from the then president was abuse. Not primarily at the sexual level (consent?) but at the power level. President of the USA and an intern… not exactly level ground. Same goes for parents to kids – not equal. (BTW maybe David’s relationship with Bathsheba would be viewed that way in our culture…)

Forgiveness is central – after all ‘and if you do not forgive (and I take that at the root level of ‘release’ being the same word to untie a boat and let her sail) neither will your Father in heaven forgive you’. That’s pretty heavy… but the pathway is ‘they crossed boundaries, they owed me’ not one simply of ‘I need to get over this’.

I think if we insist on a simple forgive with no process there will remain a trigger in place. We meet another person, another situation and all of a sudden we are off on one. Why? Probably because the situation reminds us (consciously / subconsciously) of the former scenario where the boundary was encroached on / they did not give us what they should have.

So some honesty, not total 100% accuracy is needed. They owed me, they trespassed! And this is so often true of parents, or those who were older and in authority.

Quick forgiveness insisted on… probably no great solution.

And finally… come on all you readers of this post. Just consider for a moment how reflective and even pastoral I am. (A brief fleeting moment!)

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Zooms: discussion on the best books

Well the best books I have written on these subjects!!

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by Martin Scott
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Yes… books books books. I used to have around 4000 and left them in the UK, leaving them with friends and packing up a couple of boxes that one day I will get to Spain – maybe. Good for me though as I wasn’t a great reader! I have discovered if I hear someone I can pretty much grasp what they are on about and then read what they have written. My books, though, are so easy to understand – even I get what I am trying to communicate! Enough…

I am starting a discussion by Zoom on Book #2, Significant Other, on September 12th, 8:00pm UK time. You would be most welcome to join, though I would recommend reading through Vol. 1, Humanising the Divine, before joining as it will give something of a foundation.

I am also hoping to start a new group with Vol. 1 in January. If interested in seeing if that would work for you drop me an email with what times work for you (I prefer evenings, but have run a day time group (UK times)). Go to the ‘About’ label on the menu and there find the ‘Contact Me’ to drop me an email.

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October 4th Open Zoom

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by Martin Scott
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Almost 3 months ago we were privileged to have some very insightful input from Pete McKinney, a perspective from Ireland (as well as heaven!). Now we have another voice from the edge joining us in October. Rosie Benjamin has an African heritage and carries that joyful love of life so characteristic of that continent. I do believe she has insights to offer us on how to keep joy and hope alive as we look to navigate the challenging times that we are entering.

October 4th, 7:30pm UK time.

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

Meeting ID: 572 803 9267
Passcode: 5GkMTA

These evenings are not for experts, but for open sharing. Hearing, presenting our own perspectives and questions we carry. As we do that I expect we will all be enriched.

Look forward to seeing many of you there.

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Six words – second reflection

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by Martin Scott
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Feels like I am treading on thin ice, any minute now it could break. Vulnerability is not a location with which I am familiar! So many helpful tools out there, I am pretty ignorant of most of them, have a small acquaintance with the ‘enneagram’ which like all those tools does not put one in a box, but helps one to see what box you are already in. Gayle and I have almost completed an online course, so I am now pretty qualified to write about all of her weaknesses… maybe I have got the wrong end of the stick? It has been ever so helpful. We are so alike and so unalike, though thinking to myself, she does have plenty of time to adapt and change… surely?

Anyway one of the early comments was ‘there is one type on the enneagram that is really happy with themselves and don’t really see the need to change’. I thought ‘I hope she reveals that as I would love to know who that would be’. Gayle keeps quiet and at the end of the session out it comes – me!! How true.

I have 7 siblings, my mother 1 of 13 so I reckon between us all we probably hold the entire DNA for the human race, including I am sure the DNA of the Neanderthal race – I am just trying to work out who got what as I know that I know my DNA will come back as pure… of course. Anyway, a little more serious, an elder brother has written an excellent reflection on his life and in early chapters he writes about the Scotts and the Eunsons (parental lines). As I read this I shout to Gayle, ‘You have to read this chapter in Ken’s book. It’s about his parents, it is incredible!’

Although I do realise they were also my parents, there was more to the comment than a little bit of humour. First, we all have different experiences of parents and home life. Mine was independence. A farm has fields, many fields, a boy has a football. Perfect. Eating? Well that can be done in 6 minutes and off again.

#8 on the enneagram is quite happy in their own company. They normally learn to spell relationships / friendship much later in life, as those elements can simply get in the way. Unbelievably I had another birthday this year, and so now I can begin to think occasionaly about reflecting back to an earlier life (I have not read stuff on ‘second half of life’ but probably should get round to that in one of the coming decades). So with deep reflection, that I will think about a few times as I go on my four trains today to get to my destination tonight, here are my six words for today:

Standing strong alone or leaning in?

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Six words for today

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by Martin Scott
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I am in the UK and tomorrow travel to Amblecote (where is that I hear you ask)… the who is more important than the where, so it is with Adrian and Marion Lowe and then a team on Friday for the day. Adrian introduced me to ‘The Six Word Story’. Here is a good post to read expalining it:

https://churchanew.org/blog/posts/char-rachuy-cox-six-words

Here are a couple of examples:

  • Born in the desert, still thirsty.
  • Followed rules, not dreams. Never again.

The idea they summarise something that helps focus. So me being one who never excelled at the ‘reflect back’ / meditation exercises decided I will give it a go today (who knows about tomorrow and whether I will have a go then!).

Not always right so discovering life.

OK… it is only my first attempt so I will improve (oh no, did that sentence reveal something about me always striving and never coming up to the line? Surely not… hey, it was only an aside so no comments about ‘ever thought of therapy, Martin?’)

I love the right / wrong divides. I have realised the first word out of my mouth when in conversation is the word ‘no’, particularly when I agree. I have come to realise this in Spain more than elsewhere as when one puts the word ‘no…’ followed by something like ‘estoy de acuerdo’ one is actually saying fairly strongly ‘I disagree…’ In my head I am saying ‘I really agree with you whoelheartedly’, and I guess somewhere in there emotionally I am saying – ‘I will tell you I sooooo agree with you, but first I must let you know that I am not about to submit to you, I am independent’. So ‘no’ means I insist on my own autonomy while agreeing, without acknowledging that you came up with the position. Gayle now just let’s me get on with it as she knows she is the one who knows about mutual submission… Dang how did she get to that understanding before me?

Anyway, I am making progress. I am not always right, on many issues and situations I simply don’t have a clue, and have started to realise that if we all were to get it right (translation – line up with Martin’s reality) we could well end up in a big corporate unity of independence (now there’s a concept worth exploring!!!!!!). There is something so much bigger than getting it right, it is of discovering life, kind of ‘train a child up to discover their life and what makes them really come alive and they will love that path, feel good about themselves, and go on to make their contribution to humanity as they develop’ (a very rough translation of the Hebrew, or nowhere near a translation but I think I got the sense).

Celebrating life. Seems that is what God has always done. Not tied to rights and wrongs (and of course there are some rights and wrongs, but they are not best discovered as if they are a set of edicts), but the Author of life, the one who came to bring life, even abundant life. The one who died so that we might live; the cross that does not deal with the issue of justice from a right / wrong aspect, but one that releases life that overcomes death, and if death is overcome, life is embraced and we will then discover that any rights and wrongs were written in invisible ink.

So today my six words are along those lines. Probably will need to think about them throughout the day, and likely to forget them many times also!

Discover life. Why ‘discover’… cos many times life is hidden, covered over.

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Tatuajes

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by Martin Scott
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So as not to create any controversy I have used the Spanish word, and thus totally disguise what I could be referring to. There are those who use Scripture to suggest any inking is against the will of heaven. I find that a bit of a stretch, given there is considerable weight also against two kinds of material being worn, or mixed seeds in a field being sown – all under the rubric of ‘holiness’. I don’t like it when I see ‘sleeves’ or people covered in tattoos (DOB has something to do with the ‘I don’t like that’), but an ink here or there seems immaterial.

Here is a tattoo that some smart guy in Madrid slapped on me. Why the little cartoonish bear? Glad you asked.

Some while back I had on my back (no pun intended) ‘True North’ inked with the ‘o’ being a compass. I had it up my spine cos I need to have a straight spine, be upright and know where I am headed. If I get my true north then I can venture in all kinds of directions, not deviating from who I consider I am meant to be.

I am challenged by a few (understatement) of Paul’s statements. The ones I understand and the ones I don’t; the ones I think I take in context and the ones I know are out of context. So to the last category, here is one that I take out of context:

But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.

One thing I do. We all probably have 100 things we need to do, to give ourselves to, but I have long considered that I might try the 100 things, the result being I might do okish with 3 or 4 of them but not touch the ‘one thing’ that I must do, or in line with the inking, I might not align to ‘true north’. If I really focus on the ‘one thing’ I might well then end up achieving quite a few more than I expected.

So the friendly bear?

I took a piece of paper that Gayle had been doodling on, that doodle was this bear. I had the result done when we were in Madrid, the symbol of Madrid being the bear. And then… keep with it, all will be revealed as to how significant this was… How do you find ‘true north’, the pole star? Find the bear and follow the trajectory, the bear will lead to true north.

One thing – hope I am not cheating with two things here! If I lose true north I need to allow the bear (drawn by Gayle) to guide me, so I need to find Gayle, be aligned to her and from there I will find my true north; or maybe find Madrid, who is she, what does she symbolise, align to her, her future, the future of Spain, the future of Europe. If I do that I will find myself being aligned to my true north.

Maybe I am not cheating by naming two things, maybe it is not two things, but I need to pick one or the other when I am in danger of missing my way cos I suspect they are intertwined.

I don’t think tattoos are taboo, they are neither here nor there, but a focus on true north and the ‘one thing’ and when we need to the finding of helps that redirect us back to our alignement seems very significant.

Note to self:
Don’t be too concerned about all the things you have not done well… what should be your focus, Martin, that one thing?

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Interview on OGC

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by Martin Scott
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My interview with Off Grid Christianity is up and loaded. The blurb says:

Martin discusses what it was like as a Christian when his first wife, Sue, passed away. He also shares his thoughts on the house church movement and what a prophetic theologian is.

https://www.podash.com/podcast/5594148

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A non-apology?

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by Martin Scott
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I recently posted on the pope’s apology to native Americans in a Canadian context. Experience shows that such an apology is part of a chain of events, there being responses that precede and further, deeper apologies that will flow subsequently. Today I read a response from a native American (Lori Campbell) who called the apology a ‘non-apology’. Wow and does she make some points… oh yes.

Here is the link to her article: https://www.yesmagazine.org/opinion/2022/08/05/pope-apology-indigenous-canadians-catholic-church

I still maintain that the pope’s apology is significant, it is part of a chain, but the article highlights major shortfalls, and I think a comment such as:

Money flows where priorities go, and the Catholic Church clearly prioritizes renovations over reconciliation.

opens up the difficulties all institutions have. Survival is the name of the game for institutions. Having life taken from someone / (maybe I also thnnk from something?) is named as a sin, and Jesus did not allow that to happen to him… but the day came when he lay donw his life. Nature, with diverse plants growing together, the end of one set in its right season provides life to the plant growing next to it; maybe during the life cycle it also provided shade. Diversity co-habiting space… but not one of dominance and survival at the cost to others.

Yes I remain positive about the apology… but sobered at the journey we have to make. I wonder will we ever make it back to a major root apology – an apology to the planet / creation? And apparently Lori would suggest that money, apology and reconciliation have to journey together.

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Just a few thoughts

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by Martin Scott
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We have a lot going on, not least of which is seeking to avoid too much sun, for at 34+° each day with a heat wave to come (so what was the last 10 days?)… anyway as an outside observer to the UK here are a few thoughts.

Churchill has reluctantly gone, and might try to re-appear (Boris as ‘Churchill’); we are about to get a reincarnation of a former Prime Minister, the one ‘who was not for turning’. (I have been convinced for some time that the next was going to be a woman.) The England football team have won the Euros with the help of a certain Dutch woman: Sarina Wiegman. As one smart person responded to the suggestion that she become the next English men’s coach – why would she want to do that and take a step down? (And on the game, apologies to our European German family – I think that was a hand ball not given…) But my comments this day are not about football so moving on.

I am thankfully not a politician and of course it is very easy to criticise from an armchair, so my comments are not personal to those involved, simply noting that they seem to act as signs. So much hope / hype from certain Christians about Churchill back in the person of Boris; and I am sure that our next will act (hopefully a little tempered) Maggie-esque. Male commentators will come along saying ‘I have always supported the women’s game’, thus getting in on the act…

It all illustrates the issue we are currently seeing in many places, the battle for true humanity, with a true balancing of the masculine and feminine; without it toxic-masculinity and also toxic-femininity manifest.

I have a chapter in one of the books I wrote about the ‘new creation’ being feminine. Or at least I went on to qualify that statement that it will appear ‘feminine’ as it is in contrast to the patriarchial one that is around us (a fallen creation). One of the Scriptures that I hold as central is the transformation that takes place for those who are in Christ:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Cor. 5:16,17).

A new creation is our context, and that affects sight. Old categories prove inadequate, with ‘a human point of view’ falling away. Indeed Paul uses stronger language – has passed away… everything becoming new.

Looking in from the outside there are signs in the UK around the masculine / feminine. Paul looking in on that one-world-government anti-Christ system challenged them – and challenges us – with regard to our sight.

Sometimes something (someone) inadequate holds space, but there has to come a time when that space is filled. Perhaps the creaks and groans will give way to substance. It is a time (when was it not?) for imagination, for a way of seeing that registers a new reality though it remains invisible if one holds to a human point of view. Imagined, responded to with repositioning, so that it truly rises.

‘From now on…’ That is a time reference if ever there was one.

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Foundational Story / Stories

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by Martin Scott
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At a personal level we all have stories, some of which we would love to have a measure of amnesia over. The young Martin is an embarrassment – ‘did I really say… no surely that was not me’. (Thankfully I have a birthday soon so will on that day no longer be young… never again to make a mistake. I am ever hopeful that one day soon I will enter the ‘second half of life’.)

Pragmatism. I am where I am today because of the journey I have taken, mistakes, wrong turns included. I am not suggesting ‘fate’ (or predestination!) but I do believe there is a God who works in all things, through all things for redemptive purposes. Some of my foundational stories I have outgrown. They were in Chapter 1 of my book, and I am now in Chapter 10… however, in this post I am going to press into the corporate area.

Many corporations (if they claim to have purpose that does not have money as the bottom line) have a foundational story – the why for which they are doing what they are doing. As time develops (thank you Walter Wink) changes take place, the corporation takes on a personality that if left unchecked is increasingly separate from the founders / foundational story. I have tracked with three organisations where I consider this is the case. I have noted in one of them that around 25 years after the start the foundational story had become unknown by those who joined from that time on.

We can legitimately move on from a foundational story, in the sense of ‘that was the young Martin’ and thankfully I have matured. We can move on by saying – that was at the core but I could not live up to that, so no longer am pushing for that. I have no issue with that. Honesty counts high in the kingdom of God; probably counts higher than getting it right (but what do I know?).

We can move on… but I consider if we move on by simply ignoring it we will find ourselves with a movement / corporation that decides the future, a future that does not fulfil the foundational story but deviates from it.

I am pondering if boards / leadership teams / eldership / blah blah blah have a couple of functions: to ensure the foundational story is alive (even if it has developed and been adapted) so that any movement does not veer off from the foundations (not a good idea for buildings… look at the Temple built on sand: although the claim was it was rock, Jesus spoke of the flood coming and the true foundations would be revealed). And maybe the second aspect is that such a board / leadership is there to hear the voice of the practitioners and seek to ensure that as much as possible is in place to help provide a decent shape for the river to flow. The foundational story brought to a suitable next level but through some centralisation but through the ‘practitioners’. In Ephesians language: growth; filling; built on the foundation of.

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