Earlier this month our dear friend Jim Simpson died at age 90. Jim was a minister in the Church of Scotland, and our families have been like one large family since my dad and Jim did a pulpit exchange for three months in the summer of 1971. We saw Jim just last summer when we were in Scotland. In January of 1996, Jim was here to preach at Covenant when the Blizzard of ’96 derailed those plans; after a week of being snowbound by 30+ inches of snow, Jim commented, “I will never again dream of a white Christmas!” For many years Jim was pastor of the Dornoch Cathedral in the far north of Scotland – a historic church that is over 750 years old! He was moderator of the Church of Scotland, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, a regular contributor to The Presbyterian Outlook and to Life and Work (the Church of Scotland’s monthly magazine), and authored several books. He was an avid golfer and offered the blessing at the dinner for the Ryder Cup teams a few years back. In his life, his sermons, and his writing, Jim was a gifted storyteller. Many of his stories related to congregational life, some from his own experience and some that he collected from others over time, often with an eye for the humor in it all. Minnie Pearl once said that “laughter is the hand of God on the shoulder of a troubled world.” With his stories, Jim offered God’s loving hand to a great many troubled shoulders on both sides of the Atlantic across the years! Stories are at the heart of our traditions and our lives. Last weekend some folks chalked pictures of favorite Bible stories onto the pavement in the front parking lot here. Many of those stories were first heard by the chalkers when they were young tots. Stories like Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, Jesus walking on water, and the empty tomb at Easter have been told again and again across generations. Are there some of those Bible stories that you treasure? What stories might you tell from your own life that further illustrate God’s hand at work in our midst? For as Jim Simpson’s legacy, the Biblical witness, and the testimony of a host of Covenant folks attests: God is still at work among us, in us, through us, and around us in surprising, creative, and sometimes amusing ways. You don’t have to write a book or preach a sermon to share such stories; you can tell them to a child or grandchild, a friend, a pewmate, or even a pastor, for in so doing we share the Good News, and live into our calling to be heralds of the Gospel which is still good news for all generations!
– John Peterson
