I've moved my "blog"

I've moved somewhere else. Hopefully it will result in more posts, shorter, snappier.

See you there, one person who reads this:

Touch Not 2.0

bad day to rent a mustang

A photo essay of this epic adventure here.

ha ha!! i called it a 'photo essay'!

End of semester number one

It's over. My first semester is done.

It's been eye-opening, it's been joy and life giving and it's been tough.

I probably don't need to explain the first couple, but I'll try to explain the tough.

When you are realising that a lot of what you learnt has been the result of some major presuppositions (not necessarily bad) and you want to learn how you came to those conclusions and if you are still going to hold them, then a certain amount of 'undoing' occurs. You sometimes realise that what you thought you knew, is actually something not really possible to know. Small is a good word, you feel small. Tiny. Vulnerable.

We are leaving Vancouver tomorrow morning. I'll miss the place, especially as we leave it looking particularly wintry, but am really excited about seeing family, friends and the dug. That's my dog, not my dad. He would be "Big Dug".

New blog post

It seems I gave up on this updating. 

In some ways there is little to say.

In some ways there is a lot to say.

So I'll say this...

Today I had Cinnamon and Spice Hot Oats for Breakfast. I am addicted to Canada Dry. I don't like smelling like coffee-shop.

There.

We are back in the UK for a fortnight from the 20th December to 4th January, time split pretty much 50/50 Glasgow and Aberdeen. In that order.

Baptism, Communion, Bible

Wow... has it seriously been that long since I was last here? Well, no, it's not. You were all denied the privilege if a highly informative post at the beginning of reading week (roughly 9th October) giving a run-down of all the vital stats, pages of books read, volume of notes written etc. With hindsight I am glad it did not work...

Currently I am in the throws of hurling myself from one mid-term to the next with attempts at research for a couple of papers due. One is a comparison of leadership structures in the Celtic church and Roman church in the 7th century, and the other is on soteriology in the early medieval church, zooming in on the role baptism played in that. Interesting...

I feel that the way in which I interact with fellow Christians has been challenged and changed when discussing issues that have tension. My stance usually was attack/defensive. But not so now, in large part because I took that up once early on in the term and feel incredibly embarrassed looking back on it. The other part is that there is a real richness in listening graciously and attempting to interact with other ideas. For example, Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper or whatever you will call it. I am unsure where I sit on this right now...but have met several people who firmly believe in the physical presence of Christ in the elements. I would have got up on my haunches previously, but this time I heard what they were saying and was really challenged as to how I view Communion. It may sounds very simple, in my description of the interaction, but to me it was very profound and one day I may even disclose further where I am with this!

One last thought. If you have never just picked up the Old Testament and read it as a narrative (using a good book to help you out with the context, "How to Read the Bible For All its Worth" by Fee & Stuart) you should DEFINITELY think about forcing yourself to do it, as big a chunk as you can manage at a time. Don't worry about the detail, don't worry about trying to find something in every verse that 'speaks' to you. Read the story and get to grips with the flow of it, God's choosing and loving and redeeming. I trust that if you do this God will speak in fresh ways. Don't hear this from a bible-college guy (I don't want to be that guy), but Iain who struggles to pick up the Bible and is more skeptical than he ever lets on.

12 credits is a full academic load

...and I'm not an academic! Ever wondered what the outside of the Tabernacle was made of, all those descriptions in Exodus and Leviticus? Well it is one of these... A sea-cow or dugong. The things you learn when you take it to the next level.

I'm just back from a lecture and subsequent debate on "The Cappadocian's and Trinitarian Theology." The stuff is good, but it requires a serious effort and expenditure of energy on my part to stay focused and follow the lecture and questions. 

My appetite to learn more has been whet by hints being dropped here and there at Regent on some of the Professors' understanding of what the Bible teaches about the relationship between creation, heaven and the Christian life. I'll not say anything other than it's stuff that seems to make a lot of sense and I feel a worshipful pleasure at being made in God's Image!

Last weekend was the Regent retreat. So unique, how often would your entire uni get up and go away together for the weekend!? This weekend I am tackling an academic writing course, oh my...

Currently reading for pleasure/not study:

The Shack - William P. Young

We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families - Philip Gourevitch

Listening to:

Earth - Thrice

The Atonement - Shai Linne

Week one down

So week one has been and gone, it went by in a flash!

The whole week has been pretty intense, starting classes, trying to find a routine, steep learning curves, still getting to know people, still sorting out aspects of life in Vancouver and coming to terms with the vast volume of reading required. It's intense, but I still remind myself of the amazing opportunity I have to come here, to learn and to grow. 

Challenge of the week: Jargon. Not having a decent background in theology has left me feeling like I'm standing still on a motorway. Or as one wise 2nd year said to me, it's like standing under a waterfall, trying to drink it all in with a teaspoon. So much to grasp in such a short space of time. Not to mention the crash course in film studies last Wednesday night, which I really loved! We get to watch a movie every Wednesday night for a course called Christian Thought and Culture, and pull the theology from it. Exegesis. Jargon.

Joy of the week: New friends. Suzanne and I have had a really great couple of evenings with new friends. It's been so much fun getting to know people, to hear their stories and to read all the different personalities. We are throwing off the shyness. Learning names. New friends.