Agnew Parkrun: a pastor's reflections!

A couple of weeks ago, I completed my first ever Parkrun. With friends elsewhere having Parkrun as a regular part of their Saturday morning routine, I was delighted to see it come to Stranraer’s Agnew Park in December. If you’re not familiar with it, the basic principle of Parkrun is a weekly, free, timed, 5k race that anyone can take part in – serious runners, children, pram-pushing parents, walkers and everyone in between. It doesn’t matter how fast you are, it doesn’t matter what you wear, all that matters is taking part. A tail walker stays at the back of the field and ensures no-one else will finish last. And for those who would rather not walk or run, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer.

Having started with 13 runners in 2004, Parkrun is now a worldwide phenomenon with over 3 million Parkrunners across 20 countries. Average finish times are increasing as time goes on, which actually delights the organisers as it shows that Parkrun is achieving its aim of including people of all abilities. The Agnew Parkrun is growing almost every week, and participation recently hit three figures for the first time.

Aside from the obvious benefits – good for your health, getting people out of the house, building relationships in the community – Parkrun also boosts host towns in less obvious ways. For example, Parkrun ‘tourists’ try to complete as many different Parkruns as possible, and I know from talking to a local B&B owner that we’ve already had people coming to stay a night in Stranraer specifically to take part in it. Many Parkrunners also choose to get a coffee together afterwards, which further boosts the local economy.

As a pastor, I find Parkrun to be a good illustration of what the church should be like (though at times fails to be). For a start, it’s not just for those who look the part. Just as Parkrun isn’t just for those who look like runners, church isn’t just for those who have their lives together. Some of those who have begun worshipping with us recently are asked ‘What are you doing going to church?!’ And yet Jesus said ‘Those who are well have no need of a doctor, but those who are sick’. He came not for those who think they’re righteous, but those who know that they aren’t.

Similarly, just as Parkrun aims to cater for those of all shapes and sizes and backgrounds, so the Apostle Paul hailed Christianity as breaking down the barriers we tend to erect, and was able to remind some early Christians: ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave no free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’.

In fact, excited as I am to be involved in Parkrun, I’m far more excited to be part of the church of Jesus Christ. Parkrun is ‘an international family of over 3 million Parkrunners’ – the church is an international family of 2.3 billion. In fact, contrary to what we might expect, the explosive growth of Christianity is forecast to increase to include 32 percent of the world’s population by 2060, while atheists, agnostics and those of no religion will have decreased from 16 percent to 13 percent. As for the opportunity to get involved in serving others, I would have to respectfully disagree with Parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt’s suggestion that it is ‘probably the largest provider of volunteer opportunities on the planet’. I can think of a much larger one, which has spread to far more than 20 countries! And while Parkrun’s ability to help build community spirit is commendable, only the church can truly ‘break down the dividing wall of hostility’ and turn people who are naturally at odds with each other into brothers and sisters in Christ.

Parkrun has rightly been lauded for its health benefits and is even prescribed by GPs. Public sports bodies pump millions of pounds a year into grassroots sport, but haven’t come close to a success story as huge as Parkrun, despite the fact it has a small budget and only a couple of dozen staff.

I think the Apostle Paul would also have approved of Parkrun. He often used running illustrations to describe the Christian faith and said that ‘physical training is of some value’. Yet he went on to say that ‘godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come’. There’s no time like the present to start running.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 30th January 2020

The Moon is Always Round

Stephen recently wrote the following for Gentle Reformation, a blog (mostly) written by American and Irish RP ministers:

How would you go about explaining to a 3-year-old that the baby sister he’s been excitedly looking forward to meeting isn’t going to be coming home? That at 39 weeks she’s died in her mother’s womb?

It’s a heart-breaking question to even consider. But it’s one that Westminster Seminary Professor Jonathan Gibson had to face when his daughter Leila was stillborn in March 2016.

When his son Ben asked ‘Why, Daddy?’, Gibson replied ‘I don’t know why. But the moon is always round’. He was referring back to a simple little catechism he had devised for his son a few months before:

Q. Ben, what shape is the moon tonight?
A. The moon is a crescent moon, or a half-moon, or a gibbous moon, or a full moon.

Q. What shape is the moon always?
A. The moon is always round.

Q. What does that mean?
A. God is always good.

Little did his father know how important that catechism would soon become in his son’s young life. It became their way of discussing what had happened to Leila. Today Ben has a picture of the moon above his bed. Five simple words curve below it: ‘The moon is always round’.

That phrase is also the title of a newly-released, beautifully illustrated children’s book, written by Gibson. It tells the story of Leila’s death and what followed from Ben’s perspective, and is simple enough for a two-year old to understand – but profound enough to move an adult to tears.

If you’ve ever wondered if there was a book you could give a family in a similar situation (believers or unbelievers), I can’t think of anything better.

I’m sure it’s a book Gibson never wanted to have to write. But in God’s providence it’s a beautiful, tear-stained gift to the church.

The moon is always round – even when you can’t see all of it. And God is always good – even on days when you can’t see it.

“For the LORD is good;

his steadfast love endures forever,

and his faithfulness to all generations” – Psalm 100:5

Introducing James and Katie!

The Frasers are planning to move to Stranraer at the end of the month, so we asked them to introduce themselves. Please pray for them as they prepare to move!

“I'm James Fraser and I'm married to Katie: we have 2 sons, Thomas (2) and Luke (5 months). I am originally from Inverness and Katie is from Glasgow. We currently live in Stepps, just outside Glasgow, and we are members of the RP church there. We are planning on moving to Stranraer at the end of January and hope to attend the RP church. Two of the Christian GPs in Stranraer wrote an open letter last year, outlining the GP crisis in Stranraer and urging prayer over the matter. This letter arrived partway through my GP training, which is coming to an end. After visiting and after prayerful consideration, it became more and more apparent that a move to Stranraer would be the right thing to do, both to help the GP staffing issue and to hopefully be of use to the congregation. I have accepted a job at the Lochnaw practice and I am due to start in February. We are very much looking forward to the move and to joining the church when we arrive!”

The Big Picture for Small-Town Churches

On Sunday evening, Rev. Kyle Borg of Winchester RP Church in Kansas spoke at a special event entitled ‘The Big Picture for Small-Town Churches’. We were glad to be joined by a good number from other churches in the area. Rev. Stephen Steele (Stranraer RPC) led the meeting, with Pastor Daniel Sturgeon (Stranraer Baptist Church) doing the Bible reading before handing over to our guest speaker. You can listen to the talk below:

The Big Picture for Small Town Churches

Kyle Borg

Download

In the morning, Kyle preached on 1 Corinthians 2v5 under the theme ‘The Resting Place of Faith’. You can listen to it here.

Update: Here’s a write up of Sunday evening’s event in the local paper:

Banner Book Reviews 2019

In 2019 Stephen had two book reviews published in the Banner of Truth magazine. They were both reviews of books dealing with the teaching of the Westminster Confession of Faith - one on the Holy Spirit and the other on the law of God. You can read them below:

Divine Rule Maintained: Anthony Burgess, covenant theology and the place of the law in Protestant Scholasticism
Stephen J. Caselli (Reformation Heritage, 2016)
Review published: November 2019

According to Luther, 'the person who can rightly divide law and gospel...is a true theologian'. This book traces the Westminster Confession's attempt to rightly divide law and gospel in the 17th Century by setting the teaching of the Confession in its historical context, drawing on a wealth of contemporary exegesis, and focussing particularly on one of the men behind this part of the Confession - Anthony Burgess. In particular, Burgess's exposition of the law in his 1646 work Vindiciae Legis is used to give us a unique window into the biblical-theological reflection that lies behind the text of the Confession.

This book is not just helpful for understanding the past however. Burgess dealt with three main controversies about the law, and Caselli points out that all three mirror contemporary debates: natural law and two kingdoms, republication and antinomianism. In fact, two of the modern writers who Caselli identifies as taking classic antinomian positions have recently had articles published on popular Reformed websites. Furthermore, the book's exegetical defence of the threefold division of the law should at least give pause to modern commentators who lazily write it off as an artificial imposition upon Scripture.

One of the threads that runs through the book is that the theology of the divines was not merely academic. Burgess was trained at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where fellowships had a limited tenure in order to 'force men into the service of the church'. He wrote against the errors of the day primarily as a pastor. Caselli's book will equip modern-day pastors in the face of the 'ignorance of the nature and design of the law' which Newton said is 'at the bottom of most religious mistakes'.

The only blemishes in this attractively produced volume are Hebrew written left to right, and the Greek of a classic book title transliterated wrongly (p. 128).

The Spirit of the Age: the nineteenth-century debate over the Holy Spirit and the Westminster Confession
J. V. Fesko (Reformation Heritage, 2017)
Review published: January 2019

While there are some who will immediately be enthused by the subtitle, others will wonder why they would want to read a book about a nineteenth century debate over Confessional revision. This might especially be the case when one realises that the changes made to the Confession as a result are no longer held by the two main Reformed denominations which emerged from the Presbyterian Church in the United States (the OPC and PCA).

However in this short book, J. V. Fesko does an excellent job of showing why the underlying issues that led to the 1903 addition of two chapters (on the Holy Spirit and the Love of God and Missions) are still relevant, and why reformed churchmen should study this debate.

In particular Fesko highlights the evolutionary view of history held by those advocating revision, the debate between biblical and systematic theology, and the influence of Hegelianism on Charles Briggs, John Williamson Nevin (popular in Reformed circles today for his view of the sacraments) and Philip Schaff (and his Creeds of Christendom). We would do well to pay heed to his warning that ‘moderns do not realise how the enlightenment has shaped contemporary opinions about what constitutes good theology’ (p. 7).  By examining the philosophical commitments of the progressives, Fesko shows that there was more underlying the changes that those who initially opposed the idea of revision (such as B. B. Warfield) realised at the time.

As well as setting the debate in its nineteenth century context, Fesko also builds on the principles set out in his Theology of the Westminster Standards (Crossway, 2014) to show the historical context and solid exegesis behind the Confession’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks to research like this, it’s an exciting time to study the Westminster Standards in their historical context.