6/5/12- Learning from Scotland

⁶ This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look;ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.  But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Thoughts: Several have asked me what was most meaningful about the trip to Scotland.  Perhaps it is seeing the ancient paths there and the clear need to reform the church.
   In Iona we visited the ancient monastery of St. Columba who boldly brought Christianity to Scotland and could be credited with renewing a faltering Christianity on the continent of Europe in the late 500s.

    Throughout Scotland, there are monuments to John Knox who boldly brought Christianity back to Scotland- where it had shrunk into an immoral nominalism.  For example, Knox's early opponent, Cardinal Beaton, had 30 illegitimate children, his own army, and the church was a top-down shell of what it was. Knox's reformation is one reason the Scottish speak English instead of French today, that the church is Protestant instead of Catholic, and that the literacy rate went up to 97% of the people (Knox established parish schools so that they could read the Bible).

    Then there is the Church of Scotland today.  There is a church in every neighborhood- and while people nominally believe, their morals and devotion have decayed to a shadow of its former self.  We saw many churches that had been torn down, turned into museums, restaurants, and civic centers.  There is no  doubt in my mind that America's churches are headed down the same road if we do not turn back to the ancient paths. 

   Columba and Knox were bold in their beliefs, bold in their sharing.  They were not afraid of their opponents- though they were sometimes discouraged.  They did not re-imagine God, but they went back to the ancient paths of the scriptures- believing them with intellectual integrity and earnest obedience.  That is our call today as well.  

Prayer: Lord, show me your ancient paths- give me grace, strength, and mercy to walk in them.  

(Knox left; 

Columba right)