Day 6 - Lectures and a Surprise

We began the day with morning prayer at St. Mary the Less chapel on the Durham University Campus.  Our very own Kyle Idleman led the devotional.  Here's the chapel:

The rest of the day consisted of lectures from Colleagues of David Wilkinson, most of who were professors at St. John's College.

There was quite a bit content about the current nature of Christianity in England and how to reach people within this new context.

Here's what the main lecture room looked like with the incredible Dr. Liz Kent sharing about the state and structure of British Methodism:

During one of the breaks in between lectures I walked around Durham Cathedral and was surprised by an amazing location called the Cloister.  I Geeked out a bit when I entered this area:

For those of you who don't know, this was the setting for the outside hallways and courtyard of Hogwarts in several Harry Potter movies.

I also found myself tearing up as I walked around the inside of the Cathedral itself, it was absolutely breathtaking.  Pictures would not do it justice.

We ended the night taking out one of our colleagues, Lowell Mcnaney, out for his birthday.  We ate at bar and restaurant called The Shakespeare.  

One of the consistent themes of the lectures was how to reach people in the current culture.  I think the strategy in England applies to our culture here in the U.S. as well.  People tend to come to faith through their experience of Christians and attitudes towards faith and the church more than through teaching, preaching and/or Apologetics.  

Not to say preaching and teaching and apologetics aren't important or don't have their place, they do and they are.  They still reach certain people.

But the majority of people these days will come to faith through relationships and experiences of Christians, church and faith.   

Jesus said very clearly and plainly in John 13:35 "By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you love one another."  He also gave us great examples over and over again of reaching out in relationship to all people, but most controversially to people who society had labelled unworthy, unfit, outcast and unclean.

May we love people the way we are called to love people so that we give God a reputation that makes Him irresistible to the people we come across in our lives.

Day 5 - Jesmond United Methodist Church

We were up the next morning early enough to attend Allison Wilkinson's (David's Wife) Church in New Castle called Jesmond United Methodist. 

On the way we say this famous sculpture, it's called the angel of the North:

The service at Jesmond was beautiful. Contemporary worship, biblical preaching, a welcoming Spirit and a genuineness that can't be copied. They had a homeless man come in off the street who had never been there before and interrupted the service a couple of times. The leaders handled it perfectly and reminded him a couple of different times that he was welcome there and that it was a safe place for him to be.

During the service they had a time called "Family Sharing" that was open for anyone to share a prayer request, praise or something they are passionate about happening in their lives.  It really made the church feel like a family who could be real and open with one another.  The love and support was so thick that it just couldn't be missed.

Allison preached from Luke 13:1  0-21.  She did a great job of sharing a personal story that tied in well to how we can get distracted by what matters most, just like the religious leaders did.  They had a high view of the Sabbath just as we all should, however, they held it above caring for someone in need.

Jesus reminds us that our value is not in what we do, can do, can't do, look like, health we have or don't have...but in our relationship with God.

She ended by reminding us: "Don't ever think an unnamed woman being healed doesn't send ripples throughout the kingdom of God."

After the service, Allison hosted us for a lunch provided by the cafe (Nineteen 01) they share a building with.

Then we sat through David, Allison and their son Adam each taking a turn to share with us the state of Christianity in England and the ways Jesmond is trying to reach people for Jesus.  They grounded their lectures in Acts 17:16-34.

Then they treated us to a traditional English dinner provided once again by Nineteen 01.

I didn't take a picture of the food, but it was roast beef, yorkshire pudding (which is like baked pancake batter), potatoes, cauliflower with cheese and dessert.  I didn't get a picture of the meal, I wish I would've, it was phenomenal.  I did get a picture of the dessert, which I enjoyed with a spot of tea!

We ended the night experiencing worship in the way the college students do at the service designed for them.    We sat in a circle being led in worship by a single guitar and the lyrics to the songs printed out for us.  We had a time of singing, a time of praying, and a time of discussing scripture with just a couple other people...t was a beautiful and powerful.

Another phenomenal day, capped off by this shot when we arrived back to Durham that evening: 

 

Day 4 - Lindisfarne

We left the hotel for Lindisfarne at 9am.  Lindisfarne is an island off the Northeastern coast of England.  It's known by the locals as Holy Island.

There's one way on and off the island via a causeway and its only accessible by car during low tide.  Otherwise it's surrounded by water.

The island has a recorded history since the 6th century.  It became the center of Celtic Christianity under Saint Aidan, Cuthbert and others.  It was a hub for Monks and Priests to be trained and then  travel south throughout England bringing the gospel to the villages.    

It's known as the birthplace of Christianity for England.  From 715-720 monks and artists worked on what is now known as the Lindisfarne gospels.  They are known for the beauty of the artwork in its pages.

We had a few hours (before the tide came back in) to explore the island and have some intentional time of quiet spiritual retreat.  I found a gate with a quote on it that I sat by a few minutes to pray and meditate.  I walked around the island, toured the castle and just had time to pray and enjoy God's creation.

On the gate was this quote: "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant." (RLS)  I didn't know who RLS was until I got home, it's a quote by the author Robert Louis Stevenson.

I sat by the gate and confessed that for most of my ministry I've wanted to see the harvest.  It's easy to judge myself as a pastor when there isn't much of a harvest and often failed in my work.  The quote reminded me to be obedient to God and leave the results up to him.  If I am faithful to Him, the desired results aren't the win, and the undesired results aren't necessarily a failure, obedience to Him is the win and that should be all that matters.    

As James writes: "Whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it - not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it - they will be blessed in what they do."  We aren't promised success and God doesn't expect success from us 100% of the time.  When we obey the Lord we are blessed in what we do, not necessarily the results of what we do.  The blessing is in the obedience.

It was a powerful moment for me to be reminded that God is in charge.

We left the island at like 1pm and a few of us toured Bamburgh castle.  

We arrived at Durham University where we ate dinner and got settled in to the dorms of St. James College for the next five nights.  

We met David Wilkinson, the principal of the College and our contact and host.  David is an ordained British Methodist pastor and has a Ph.D. in Astrophysics.  He was humble, approachable and easy to talk to.

Oh and by the way, the walls of the cafeteria and several other areas of St. John's college are lined with original Salvador Dali paintings:

I went out that night walking around Durham with a few other guys and had a great time of fellowship.  What a phenomenal day!

Leaving Edinburgh - Day 3

We boarded the bus early on Friday, August 30th to head South towards England.  On the way our first stop was a small church built in 1450 called Rosslyn Chapel.  It has been restored over the years and continues to be a place of worship.  It's a beautiful chapel inside and out and was a nice departure from the huge Cathedral's we saw on the trip.  

 As pretty as the church was, the best part of the stop was what was happening outside.  

There was a man just outside the chapel dressed up with old weapons and armor for people to try.  He also loved history and had no problem sharing his thoughts on William Wallace.  He said Wallace wasn't as tall as people think he was.  According to him, the sword they claim was his was lengthened for Wallace's statue and he was probably barely 6 ft. tall not 6'7".

He also told us about a man just as significant in the Scottish war of independence: Andrew De Moray.  While Wallace wreaked havoc in the South of Scotland, Moray did the same in the North.  They combined forces at the famous battle of Stirling Bridge where Moray suffered a wound that would later cause his death.  I wonder if Moray had survived he would be alongside Wallace in Braveheart?

Our next stop was a cool town on river Tweed called Berwick Upon Tweed.  We ate Fish 'n Chips at a local diner and had fantastic tea.  It is the Northernmost town of England and was a neat place to spend a couple of hours.  

Before heading to our hotel near Lindisfarne, we stopped at another neat town on the ocean called Seahouses.  I mostly spent time hanging out by the water, walking on rocks and just enjoying the beauty of God's creation. 

I'll tell you about Lindisfarne in the next post!

Scotland - Day 1 and 2

For the last two weeks I’ve been in Scotland, England and Amsterdam.  The trip happened through the Reynolds Lead academy with 19 other pastors from the Western North Carolina Conference.

I thought I would blog the hi-lights of the trip over the next week or so.

We flew out on Tuesday, August 27th and arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland the next morning. We hopped right on the bus for a full day of touring.

Day One

The first stop was Hollyrood Palace which is a palace the queen still uses for events and hosting other dignitaries.

Next we toured St. Giles Cathedral and Edinburgh castle.

William Wallace and Robert the Bruce guard the entrance to the castle:

In a parking lot behind St. Giles cathedral lies the grave of the Scottish pastor, scholar, reformer and founder of the Presbyterian church in Scotland John Knox.  Someone literally parks on his grave today.  Knox believed everyone should be able to read the Bible in their own language which was radical at the time.  Seeing his grave in a parking lot was a great reminder of the truth that greatness in life isn’t about us, it’s about the Kingdom.

Day Two 

Our second day in Scotland was a free day.  Seven of us decided to rent a van and drive into the Northern highlands of Scotland.  We stopped a couple of places along the way for pics and eventually got to a need little town called Oban. We ate at local pub/restaurant and had fish and chips and tried haggis for the first time.  The fish n chips were good, I wasn’t a fan of haggis.

We spent about an hour just walking around and enjoying our time.  We headed back a different route so we could experience Glen Coe.  It was a beautiful area.  We stopped several times for pics and found an amazing Sunset over a lake with a castle in the background.  It was beautiful.  The pictures don’t do it justice.