Pastor’s Corner October 2010

I’ll bet not many of you know what makes this year so special?

2010 marks the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation, the Scots Confession of 1560, and the publication of the Geneva Bible!

Exciting stuff, right? I think so. Hear me out:
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland’s formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the dramatic events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland’s case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines. The Scottish Reformation had a direct impact on the formation of Presbyterianism and our denomination, the PCA, in particular.

The Scots Confession of 1560 is a Confession of Faith written by six leaders of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. The Confession was the first subordinate standard for the Protestant church in Scotland and was very helpful in the constructing of our doctrinal standard- The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.

The Geneva Bible is one of the most historically significant translations of the Bible into the English language, preceding the King James translation by 51 years. It was the primary Bible of the 16th century Protestant Reformation movement and was the Bible used by William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, John Knox, John Donne, and John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress. It was one of the Bibles taken to America on the Mayflower, it was used by many English Dissenters, and it was still respected by Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers at the time of the English Civil War.

Now do you agree the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation, the Scots Confession of 1560, and the publication of the Geneva Bible is exciting stuff?

One way we’ll remember this anniversary is by having our friend and father in the faith, Dr. David Calhoun, emeritus professor of Church History at Covenant Seminary, preach and teach on Reformation Sunday at Redeemer (October 31). He will preach a sermon entitled “Preaching for Reformation” from Haggai 1 in both worship services and deliver a lecture in the sanctuary on the Scots Confession of 1560. I hope no one will miss!

In the Lamb,

Pastor Tony Felich