Open Door

Throughout my ministr(ies), I have had a Sunday "open door" policy -- perhaps rather, "open minister". I have turned up for Church two hours early, and spent one hour in preparation for the service. The next hour -- and an hour after the service -- has been "open minister" time. I have greeted people in the pews, at the gate, in the garden, in the kitchen ... and if they wanted a word in my vestry and told me that the sky was falling, that was OK -- I was ready for the service. OBSERVATION: Apart from being friendly, there was some very useful time with congregants. I found the photo this morning. 

POSTSCRIPT: I see this photo is time stamped: 8:30 am. I was in action early here.

‘White Skin’

I received a message from Taniera Neaibiri in the Kiribati Republic this morning: 

"I was interested with your surname Scarborough. I remember the name, when I was very young, on my home island Beru, in the southern Gilbert islands. ...  I still remember his [Rev. Scarborough's] young boy. I don't know his name until now. We used to play with him, but not so long, as the mother called him to come back as usual. We are so fond of him as we call him Imatang or white skin."

OBSERVATION: That boy was me. I was the only white boy.

Overheads of Civilisation

The "overheads" of our civilisation are just too great. They may be an onerous burden. Just one example in my own, present experience: to activate a dormant account, I needed to submit 21 pages of material, which took me 6 hours, and cost the equivalent of 50 McDonald's burgers. And the process is not over yet. OBSERVATION: Do people understand the burden they are placing on the populace? And that is just one example among many. It is worse for some -- particularly the poor.

‘If I had Known ...’

There is only one other person currently, besides myself, who has attempted an original metaphysics or panoramic philosophy: Dirk Hartmann of the University of Duisburg-Essen. He said (translated from German), "If I had known ... that it would become so much ... I would probably not have done it. I would possibly have despaired." I can identify with that! My own metaphysics is here: Everything, Briefly.

Greeting In The Pews

Many Churches have debated "greeting in the pews", which was virtually unknown a generation ago. When one of my Churches introduced it, by decision of the members -- after our first hymn -- there was such warmth and enthusiasm for it, it took me by surprise. OBSERVATION: At first, I as minister stayed in the pulpit. After a while, I came down from the pulpit to join in greeting in the pews.

Seasons Refreshing

One of our Church’s small groups asked to see me once for input -- three of their members were involved with the Church Youth. Could they, they gingerly asked, close the Youth Group for just one night? They were growing weary. I said: “Close the Youth for a whole month if you need to. The priority is that you should be spiritually refreshed. You daren’t get worn down. This is a priority throughout the Church.” OBSERVATION: Their leading the (thriving) Youth was very challenging -- it might have been described as low-level warfare. I have at some time or other taken this same approach with various members of staff and office-bearers.

The Robin and the Sparrow

A lovely poem comes to mind. I don't know the source: 

OVERHEARD IN AN ORCHARD

Said the robin to the sparrow,

I should really like to know

Why these anxious human beings

Rush about and worry so.

Said the sparrow to the robin,

I think that it must be

They have no Heavenly Father

Such as cares for you and me! 

OBSERVATION: It explains more than rush and worry. With the absence of God, the anxious human beings try to work their own (perverse) solutions.

POSTSCRIPT: Thanks to a reader in Europe, the author is Elizabeth Cheney. Penned in 1859.

Official Photo

My sister A located a photograph of our family in the SOAS University of London archives, and obtained a copy. This was the official London Missionary Society photograph on our departure for the Central Pacific. OBSERVATION: That turned all of our lives upside down forever.

The Pouncing Cat

An urban minister fairly regularly needs to deal with situations which are or may be unethical, criminal, corrupt, and so on. I said to someone today that my approach changed through the years. I used to be the cat chasing pigeons in the town square. Now I am the cat that lies in the grass and watches. OBSERVATION: In such situations, much may be at stake. They may therefore be risky situations, even dangerous. It is better to pounce when the time is right. 

British Passport

Well, here's some good news: 

HM Passport Office

Dear Thomas Scarborough,

Application reference: PEX PEX PEX PEXX

Your passport application has been approved.

What happens next

Your new passport is being printed. 

We’ll let you know when it’s ready to dispatch.

It was a stressful -- and very expensive -- process to obtain a new British passport. A British passport costs six times as much as a South African passport. OBSERVATION: I am a dual British–South African citizen. I originally did not have a choice in becoming a South African citizen -- it was for the purpose of making me eligible for military service in a time of war.

Tragic Mystery Solved

My wife died tragically of cancer. She told me at the end that she knew she had cancer from the time our son was born -- 25 years before she died. She said no more. I never understood that. It made no sense to me. Today I discovered a letter in which I wrote that she had had a blood test, about the time of our son's birth (shown). The results were in keeping with what killed her, but she did not tell me it was cancer at the time.

Faking Faith

A young wife and mother came to see me. She was deeply troubled over her husband's spiritual apathy. I said -- I have a fairly direct method in counselling -- "This is basic. Why didn't you consider this before you got married?" She said: "I did, but he faked a religious life to win me." OBSERVATION: How could her husband fake that? Perhaps, like someone who buys a fake Rolex watch, she was incapable of spotting the fake. This kind of situation is not uncommon in ministry.

Days Off

I took every Monday off, in ministry. One Monday, someone called me, and said: "I know it's your day off, Reverend, but I knew you'd have more time to talk." OBSERVATION: This is brilliant logic, but something about it strikes me as being a little amiss! This happened every now and then. I doubt that people would do this -- genuine crises excepted -- if they understood the intense pressure that ministers are under on other days. I developed the habit of being hard to reach on my days off. For instance, on one occasion someone needed to send a motorbike to find me.

Creating a Buzz

Every year, my city Church had an anuual fête. Along came a year when we decided to introduce a confetti of new fête stalls. What was interesting was that most of these stalls made little money -- yet the overall result of the fête was greatly boosted. The additional stalls brought colour and joy, attracted children, attracted locals, and created a buzz. That's what we wanted. This was a Face Painting stall. You may click on the photo to enlarge to VGA.

No Age Limit

Something we proved in city ministry -- without intending to prove it -- was that one does not need youth to lead youth. In fact, in general in the Church, I do not consider age to be a decisive factor. Our youth leaders were (I think) well into their 50's, and some youth helpers into their 70's, and the youth was thriving. OBSERVATION: God called Moses at 80, and it seems there’s no age limit on whom God can use -- even with youth! The same applies in reverse. Young people can lead old people in the Church.