A Sunny Day in St. Andrews
Yesterday Rebecca and I made our way down to the coastline of St. Andrews. Having spent the majority of our time in the city, it was refreshing to see the sea–so blue and expansive. Norway is not far into the horizon (and the water temperature certainly reflects it). The ocean always has a way of turning my thoughts outward, and eventually upward. The juxtaposition of the ancient churches to the expansive horizon creates and forward/backward sensation as you walk along the cliff. In one sense, you are pulled back into the past–back to the days of Knox, Luther, and Calvin. Yet, forward and outward–continuing their reformation as we hold all things up to the canon of Scripture. Attached are some photos of the beach and other views we encounter of the course of a day. May they be a source of inspiration to you.
Rebecca and I attended an induction service at St. Salvator’s Chapel (14th century). Their were no pews as we in America have come to know them. Instead, the nave of the cathedral has two choir sections facing one another. We sang “Great is thy faithfulness” among other songs. My second supervisor, Dr. Ian Bradley (who, turns out is the head of religious broadcasting for BBC Scotland) preached a well crafted sermon on the Word becoming Flesh. It was quite moving. He had one line that still sticks with me–”The Word became Flesh, but often we return it again to the Word.” His point, as I understood it, was that we must resist the urge to sugar coat Christ by remembering that indeed the Logos became skin (and is still skin in heaven). Jesus became human for us and remained human with us. This was a profound statement coming from Dr. Bradley, an expert on Celtic illuminated manuscripts where the inky written words were actually and physically inscribed on calf skin.
Concerning the pictures, I took several panorama shots and stitched them together to give you the entirety of the perspective. Some are a bit scatter-angled. Some other pictures include our new bicycle, which Rebecca bravely acquired, the castle ruins where John Knox was imprisoned for a year, the cathedral ruins which used to be the religious capitol of Scotland in the medieval era, some pictures of the coastline, one of the many golf courses (by the way, Rebecca insisted that I take golf lessons, so I begin 10 weeks of golf lessons next week on the old course), and our beach. It’s altogether lovely here.
For you Jane Austen fans, Rebecca and I went to a theological tea the other day and it was exactly out of Sense and Sensibility–the accents, the formality, the little crumpet looking things…perfectly fantastic. 
