Book Review – The emerging Christian Way – Part 3
Chapter 2 – Experience: The Heart of Transformation – by Tim Scorer
Growing up, our small evangelical church did not have a youth pastor, so I often found myself driving over 90 km to a neighbouring youth group at a Pentecostal church. As you can imagine, it wasn’t long before the differences with the charismatic tradition stood in clear contrast to what I had been used to. While there were many elements that I could mention, one that stood out to me was the experiential dynamics. Some dismissed it as “emotionalism” (which, arguably, was a problem on occasion), but I could not deny the power and importance of experience in a faith that had, until that point, largely propositional and “belief-oriented”.
So it was with great interest that I began reading this chapter. While I understand and affirm the wisdom that experience cannot be our primary source of wisdom and authority, we face an equal, perhaps greater danger of minimalizing the created intentions of God. Therefore I was pleased with the unique and refreshing approach that Scorer offer. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Not being familiar with Tim Scorer, I went online to get some background. Shockingly I could find no trace of him at all, not even as a contributor to this book. [It was pointed out to me that I had been searching for Tom Scorer, not Tim Scorer, as his name had been misspelled in the books bio section. Google then produced several links] Thankfully, the book included a brief bio, which I reprint here:
Tom Scorer is just completing a three-year appointment on the Ministry Leadership Team at Penticton United Church, Penticton, British Columbia, where he has had responsibility for a small group ministry and faith formation. Prior to that he was for 24 years a member of the management team at Naramata Centre, Naramata, British Columbia, a retreat and education center of the United Church of Canada, where he worked in the areas of program planning and development, human interaction, leadership development, and spiritual formation. He has just begun to work with Wood Lake Books in support of their initiative to provide resources related to emerging visions of Christianity.
I was immediately struck by the unique voice of this chapter. Rather than a well-rounded presentation of ideas, it was desgined and written to bring readers on a journey into the very topic- the transformation of the heart through experience. Not to be entered into lightly, Scorer invites the reader through a highly personal spiritual exercise. Armed with pen and paper and an open heart, I decided to give it a try.
As you may or may not know, I have been recently going through some of the more difficult few weeks I have faced in years. To be honest, I didn’t much feel like doing an excercise of any kind. But, in the interest of a fair review, I decided to go ahead with it. Through a series of questions, personal reflections and creative reading of Scripture, I found myself being deeply touched by the simple profundity. In fact, it laid the foundation for what I believe is a breakthrough in some of the more challenging aspects of my recent problems.
I do not want to go into detail about the method here, largely because abbreviating it would significantly reduce the impact. Perhaps others will not find it as powerful. Perhaps my desperation predisposed me to being so positive in my evaluation. I’ll let you be the judge. What I will say is this: This chapter offers an excellent example of a new kind of writing, one that engages the whole self, both heart and mind, in pursuit of integrated life transformation. In excellent addition to this book.
