Sydney Scothon

“A British professor of theology once described to me the world to which believers will go as “an unknown country with a well-known inhabitant.” When Jesus Christ the courier has already become well known to us through the Gospels and Pastoral Letters of the New Testament, the prospect of transitioning with him into a world in which we shall see him as he is and be constantly in his company will be something we find alluring rather than alarming.”
― J.I. Packer, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging

“Wrong Way” is a blunt verbal instrument, waking us up to the fact that we are ignoring something—missing it, as we would say. And that is just what I affirm with regard to our culture’s agenda for aging. I think it is one of the huge follies of our time, about which some frank speaking is in order and indeed overdue. I ask you to bear with me now as I share what I see with regard to the advice that I crystallized in the preceding paragraphs. I see this agenda, well meant as it is, as wrongheaded in the extreme.”
― J.I. Packer, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging

“God seems always to have intended that the life of humans in this world should be probationary and temporary, and should lead in due course to some form of transformation and transition for a richer life elsewhere”
― J.I. Packer, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging

“William Faulkner was once asked how he went about writing a book. His answer: “It’s like building a chicken coop in a high wind. You grab any board or shingle flying by or loose on the ground and nail it down fast.” Like becoming a pastor.”
― Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir