Recent Post On the Swires Blog

I recently wrote a post on our family blog. Check it out at Goin to Carolina In My Mind. Tabitha and I will be sharing our ongoing story of how the Lord is leading us in our new adventure in South Carolina!

Finally Unwrapped: A Theology Toward Presents

I write what I write now at the risk of sounding morbid, but I don't feel morbid in writing it, so I will continue to write. I was recently challenged by a little known writer named Arthur D. Yunker in his life changing work, "Toward A Theology of Pipe Smoking". He uses very imaginative metaphor and it has stirred me toward a theology of imagination. As of late I've found myself trapped, almost, by intellectual pursuit, forgetting that we often find meaning in the absurd, rather than falling in step with a modernist or post-modernist view that removes the magical aspects of life. There is a joy found in getting over the seriousness of the everyday and find a happier place with God. To flee with God, while in the process of unpleasantries, can make any task pleasant. J.R.R. Tolkien describes it like this in "On Fairy Stories".

"Why Should a man be scorned if when finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or, if when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and what is more, they are confusing the escape of the prisoner with the flight of the deserter."

And where did I need to use such drastic measures of escape? What action did I seek God-almighty's assistance in my desperate flee? Why, wrapping presents of course. Having lost my tape dispenser, I have great difficulty finding the end of the tape. After I do, I struggle to keep my find, while cutting a piece of tape that will inevitably be too long or too short. And I must cut multiple ones, and find some peace of furniture to attach them, so that I don't have to go through the dramatic ordeal of find the end of the tape again. And that's just the tape! Forget about cutting the correct size and shape of paper, and then snugly wrapping that paper around an object that is not a consistent shape! It is very stressful.

So, as I wrapped presents with Selah Elise, I cried out to God to make meaning and value of my pain. I wanted a deeper meaning for what I was involved in. And He showed up. Suddenly I was aware that I was like the present. I asked God," How so?" and He said," Because you are a gift in temporary wrapping." I never thought about it. Wrapping paper's beauty is barely in existence long enough to enjoy it, until it is violently (If it's my present it is violent indeed.) ripped off into pieces, so as to expose the thing inside. The thing that I've been waiting to see for so long! My present.

Suddenly, Christmas gained more meaning. I thought only the tree and candy cane had meaning. But no; I am a gift in temporary wrapping. A gift that God is so excited to unwrap. Paul shares with the Corinthians," For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." I finally understood this verse a little deeper. I don't want to be unclothed. I don't want my wrapping to be torn apart. That sounds painful. But at the same time, I don't want this wrapping anymore. It keeps me away from what I was made for. My present state keeps me apart from my future state. If the gift stays wrapped, then it cannot be used as it was created to be used. The unwrapping that I speak of is obviously an expression of death, but only a small part. I realized that it is less about the death I will experience and more about the resurrection I will enjoy. That's the beauty of it all. I get unwrapped, not so that I will be discarded, but that my wrapping will be discarded. I, me the gift inside, will finally be able to be used as I was designed.

I like how Job says," for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow..." A shadow of what? Paul explains in Colossians that," These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." It would be so easy to stop there, but we forget that Jesus described Himself as the Way. He is the door to let us in. Into where? What is this "reality" that is found only in Christ. The Author of Hebrews gives us a bit more by saying," They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” In Heaven! We were designed to be enjoyed by God in His realm of existence! All my days on Earth, everything I do, is to get there to that place. I could say so much more about this, but the Bishop of Durham himself has said it far better than I could in "Surprised by Hope".

So, with a new theology toward wrapping, I became very excited and praised God for new understanding of what my life will be like. Not just the life I live here, but there in the future, when God's realm is fully manifested. "For the life I live I no longer live for myself, but for Him who loved me, and gave Himself for me." I now wait with greater anticipation to open my gifts from Tabitha and Selah. An anticipation that I only know in part and my God knows far more than me. An anticipation to release them into the joy set before them, the joy of being used as they were created to be.

My understanding comes with a challenge that is best said by C.S. Lewis. I must now live in the realization that there are others on this same journey.

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses and to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you may talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship or else a horror and corruption such as you now meet if at all only in a nightmare. All day long we are in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal." (Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis)

Unwrap your presents with great zeal. Take in what God has done and what He is doing. And then apply that lesson to others. Maybe that concept is what William Booth so strongly understood as he came near his own unwrapping and that's why his last word to those under him was," Others." They are in desperate need to understand there is more to life than discarded wrappings and it comes through Jesus.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Sincerely,

A Fellow Present in Christ

Milk vs. Meat

I'd like to think that I am no longer young in my faith. I want to be a grown up. I would love to someday be a Father, and even go so far as to say that I would like to be an Elder, in the Body of Christ. I have often gone through my checklist to meet the criteria: reading my Bible, develop radical prayer life, be married to no more than one woman (not hard in America), maintain a healthy home, dig into the mysteries of the Kingdom (aka: move from milk to meat).

Milk to Meat? Is that Kosher? A common complaint I have heard about dissatisfied church goers is that their teaching team doesn't provide the "Meat" of the word. I recently had the pleasure of spending 2 weeks with a close friend who is a Rabbi. Things often became interesting at meal times. Not only did he have to watch what he was eating, but with who, and what had been previously on the plate. We ate meals off paper plates and drank from plastic cups. Seriously, how the plate had been used mattered. I go to Applebees and hope they washed it properly. A Kosher Jew can't go to Applebees, because they don't know if a non-Kosher meal was served on that plate. An open roast beef sandwich, with gravy and swiss cheese, would defile the plate and make it unusable. Some Jews believe it necessary to wait up to 6hrs before they can have dairy after beef. But milk before beef is a lot different.

My Rabbi friend instructed me, because that's what Rabbi's do, that Milk symbolizes grace and Beef symbolizes judgment. He said that Rabbis teach to eat beef and then drink milk would be like making a foundation of Judgment and then adding grace to it. Grace would strengthen the Judgment. This would make Judgment strong and harsh. But to first drink milk/grace would soften the impact of judgment/beef. Whoa.

Whoa. Have I been using the graces/gifts of God to empower a sense of Judgment to those I encounter on a daily basis? Do I respond more out of Judgment than I do Grace? I have to say, I need a daily practice that reminds me to temper Judgment with a strong foundation of Grace. I often forget that it's God's kindness that will win the war. No, has won the war. "Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?"(Romans 2:4)

We must now ask ourselves why we seem so eager to focus on what is scarcely talked about in scripture versus the things that are emphasized. There must be a reason that the Apostles focused on writing about the basics of faith, hope, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness, and goodness. Just notice how many of those things are linked to just being nice to people. Maybe these aren't the basics. Are the great teachings we're hungry for?

I say we start a Holy Revolution. Not 24/7 prayer, which is awesome. Or intense discipleship, which is needed. But let's first take what we have been given so freely and use it to radically change the world. Let's be nice. Let's be nice when people verbally abuse us. Let's be nice when they cut us off in line at the store. Let's be nice when they sign us up for junk email. Let's be nice when they insult us. Let's be nice when they criticize our parenting. So that we can be nice when one day our liberties are stripped, governments close our churches, harm our children we've desperately cared for, so that we can still be God's Kindness on the Earth, and there can be a great Harvest during dark days.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Let's put Grace at the forefront again and watch the World radically change around us.

Welcome to Scott's Blog

It's been a while since I've written a blog of any sort. I began writing on Myspace and had some subscribers, faithful and true. Then I began to write notes on Facebook, but it didn't have the same feel. I slowed down after I felt that I had nothing to say.

I now find myself writing again, not because I have something to say, but with the hopes to develop something worth saying. God has been moving so much in my life that I have to share it. When one encounters the living God, they MUST talk about. And God has proven Himself to be the very living God.

I hope that you get something out of reading these words. I don't know how often they will come or if they'll be anything, but an omen to stay away from I tread. I can say that I appreciate you reading them.

Thank you.