No Lasting City

For all the time I was in Edinburgh I regarded myself as an Edinburgh citizen, felt at home in the city and committed myself to supporting Edinburgh Rugby! This was a matter of some controversy and difficulty in my family. Our daughter and one of our sons (both of whom would regard Edinburgh as more ‘home’ than anywhere else they have lived) joined me in my support. But my wife and our other son considered that – as they are Glaswegian by origin – they should stick with their roots and continue to consider themselves Glaswegian, and (crucially) should support Glasgow Warriors.

All of which led to some interesting times when we attended the 1872 matches between Edinburgh and Glasgow as a family over the Festive Season!

I was accused of being fickle (and worse!).

But in fact I am consistent.

When I lived in Fife I went to football matches at Bayview to watch East Fife lose (often!) but I cheered them on. Also in Fife I would occasionally go to watch Glenrothes Rugby Club play.

In Perth I would occasionally watch St Johnstone play at McDiarmid Park and would happily cheer them on. They were my local team. And I often would wander down to the North Inch of a Saturday to watch Perthshire Rugby Club play, and meet up with friends who were fellow supporters (or – indeed – in some cases, players... them, not me!).

Now I am back in the West and near Glasgow (except when I am not and acting as an Interim Minister in rural Perthshire... but that just complicates things!). Will I be continuing to support Edinburgh Rugby? No, of course not! I no longer live there. I am planning to watch and cheer on and actively support Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun.

Some of my family are confused and bemused. But it all makes perfect sense to me. Wherever I am is home.

And that is the truth for me. Wherever I am, or have been, I have made my home and it has felt like home.

For the moment, the strange thing is that I have two homes... Lennoxtown near Glasgow (where Jane is Minister) and that part of rural Perthshire where the parishes I am serving as Interim Minister are situated.

And in fact both feel like home!

And yet, nowhere truly feels like home... It is as if ‘home’ is still something that awaits me.

The words from the letter to the Hebrews have long had a very deep resonance for me. ‘Here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come’ (Heb 13:13).

I have counted Perth, Edinburgh and Glasgow my home cities at various times in my life. But my real home city still awaits.

Coming to Terms 1

No, not the Referendum Result and the apparent impending Brexit (or not?)!

These may be the concerns of ‘Coming to Terms 2’.

I am thinking about something more personal here.

Today I was (again!) at the doctor and was told that I may have to attend hospital for a wee surgical procedure entirely unrelated to my pre-existing conditions. Mildly irritating really… but perhaps a sign of the obvious; I am getting older.

This was brought home to me over my recent holiday. Jane and I were camping in Cornwall. We love camping and cannot understand why so many of our friends and contemporaries disparage it! Of course, we also enjoy those holidays spent in relative luxury in a hotel or on a cruise ship… (ah yes, cruise ships… more later!). But – for us – you cannot beat camping. The proximity to nature, the joy (yes, really!) of simple living, the absence of TV, and waking up to the dawn chorus… all wonderful!

But my poor ageing body is not coping as well as once it did. On getting up my muscles seemed to ache, my joints were stiff and my bones felt like they were creaking! But we are not giving up… instead we are thinking of investing in still more camping gear to facilitate future tent holidays.

But I am not as young as once I was.

That is where cruise ships come in…

…until ten years ago I considered a cruise the worst possible holiday I could imagine. Apart from anything else, it was for old people. Over recent years we have been on three (thankfully in small ships and not on these huge, grotesque, environmentally toxic behemoths). But I have become a bit of a convert. Could it be that is because I am reaching that age??

Back to our recent Cornwall holiday. As well as enjoying the camping and the periods of good weather, we went to a couple of places where you pay to get in. It was terribly unnerving to find that I qualified for a ‘Senior Citizen’ ticket. What! Me?

It was still more disconcerting that when I asked for such, no-one asked me for evidence of my age or questioned my eligibility! I mean, do I look 60?

Well, I know the answer. Every morning when I look in the mirror it is plain to see.

But I still find it mightily unsettling.

Musing upon all this with Jane, she commented

‘I always knew that one day I would be this old; I just didn't think it'd happen this soon!’

Very true!

I turned to Psalm 71 which is a real Psalm of old age.

‘Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent… even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all generations to come..’ (vs 9 & 18)

Yes, I think  I am coming to terms with it… but slowly.

Dumbing Down

Welcome to the first post on my new blog. I felt that ‘Cuthbert in Edinburgh’ was no longer appropriate or accurate (although you can still access my previous posts on that blogpage.)

And so, picking up from my final post on the ‘Cuthbert’ page I have called this blog ‘Suitcase Sojourner’ (as that is what I feel I am at the moment!)

As for ‘dumbing down’... it has been a frustration of mine for some time that the vast majority of practising Christians and regular church goers are so remarkably poorly educated in matters theological.

I cannot understand it!

It was not always thus.

It would be tempting to blame it on the desire for control and power on the part of the medieval Roman Catholic hierarchy (always a favourite scapegoat for Protestants!). And there may be a part truth in that. Yet, the apparent awareness of the Christian ‘laity’ in Scotland around the time of the Reformation, Covenanters, Disruption (to name but three) may rather undermine that assertion.

But what really brought all this to the forefront of my mind goes back to much earlier turbulent times in the history of the Christian Church.

I was recently reading about some of the issues surrounding the great 4^th Century controversy over the nature of the Trinity; a controversy that led directly to the formulation of the Creed we now call the Nicene Creed.

What struck me as I read was that the controversy was not confined to bishops, clergy or theologians. The followers of Arius (whose views were to be rejected as heresy) were the ordinary Christian people of Alexandria who marched through the streets to the great church and the bishop’s house with placards chanting ‘There was when the Son was not’.

Such theological sophistication (even if it was judged heresy!) would be hard to find amongst ordinary Christians today. Why is that?

The book I have been reading quotes sources which speak of how the ancient Christians used to discuss matters of significant theological depth when they were shopping!

Hmm... things have changed.

Now most church goers talk about.. well... church going! Meanwhile, dutiful evangelicals look for opportunities to ‘witness’ to personal faith. And theological discourse? That is (at best) left to those suitably trained or (at worst) disparaged.

What has happened?

I am not sure I know, but this ‘dumbing down’ has not done us any good and it is well past time we all worked hard at the theological education of the people of God.

And by that I mean real theological education.

What a shame that the avenues for that which once existed seem to be no more.