5 January 2026 There is a fear abroad that computers will become smarter than human beings. Do you think they will? They are certainly very fast, performing trillions of calculations per second. But they are operating under human instruction, processing information which humans have programmed into them. There has been concern about the power of AI. It is a very powerful and useful tool but, as you would expect from something which humans have invented, it has the potential to make mistakes. Some people have got into deep trouble as a result of their reliance on AI. There are limits. It is not creative. Human beings, not scientific computers, were made in the image of God. There is something sacred within everyone and this, more than anything else, has championed those who have been historically demeaned by society – children, women, black people, people who are gay … And in being endowed with the image of God, we have been given the gift of creation. Like God, we can cre...
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4 January 2026 Scientists can only explain what happens in the beginning after a fraction of a second has past. It is the tiniest of fractions. It is so small that in everyday life it would make no difference. But this tiny fraction of time makes a big difference now. Scientists do not know what happens in the beginning! It is a mystery to them but not to us. For at the beginning of St. John's Gospel, we read, ‘In the beginning was the Word …’ In that fraction of a second, so small that it would make no difference to our everyday lives, there was the Word. What does this mean? Two things. Firstly, as the writer of Genesis has written, ‘And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.’ The Word is what was spoken by God to create the heavens and the earth. His Word has power. When God speaks, something happens. Secondly, the Word also describes what lies at the heart of the universe. It is what gives purpose and meaning to all things and wisdom and understandi...
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3 January 2026 The changing natural environment was noted by Jeremy Clarkson on his farm ‘Diddy Squat’. He has been trying to encourage birds to enjoy the hospitality of his farmland by extending the uncultivated borders to his fields, leaving his hedges uncut, plantings wildflowers and digging ponds. It is his contention that when a rare bird like an osprey, which most of us haven’t seen or don’t see very often, is threatened, there’s a wild hullabaloo. However, when the smaller birds like sparrows and blue-tits are under threat with numbers falling by sixty per cent in the last fifty years, there’s much less drama. As a result of his environmental initiatives, the birds came back to his farm. He sought an expert and invited them to determine how many species of bird were living and feeding off his farm. Astonishingly, within seven years, there were 45 different species – goldfinches, skylarks, buntings, whitethroats etc. We often see the sparrows and...
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2 January 2026 We walked along the Lade Braes on Hogmanay and saw the snowdrops. Many have penetrated the earth and the detritus of autumn leaves and a few have flowered not as early as in the manse garden at Traprain. They always appeared on Christmas Eve. In his poem about the snowdrop, Alfred Lord Tennyson welcomes the sight of the snowdrop with these words, ‘Many, many welcomes/ February fair-maid’ . This must surely be an indicator of global warming if this was his usual first sighting. They used to be called Candlemas Bells. Candlemas is celebrated on 2 February! I planted three dozen assorted hyacinth bulbs towards the end of October and put them under cover in the loft. I have inspected them a few times and watered them gently. They have all flourished in that chilled environment and are ready to come down. Some people like to add them into the mix of Christmas decorations but I don’t. I much prefer to keep their splendour and scent for the early days...
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1 January 2026 – New Year On Saturday 29 November, Pope Leo XIV and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Patriarch Bartholomew signed a Joint Declaration. They had met together to celebrate the 1700 th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. The meeting took place amidst the archaeological remains of the Council’s site. ‘The Council of Nicaea held in 325AD was a providential event of unity.’ they said in their Declaration. Acknowledging their differences, they went on to say that, ‘We must also recognize that what binds us together is the faith expressed in the creed of Nicaea.’ Having moved away from declaring that the Westminster Confession of Faith is our subordinate standard, the Kirk has embraced a ‘Book of Confessions’ which not only includes the Confession of Faith but the Nicene Creed bringing us in line with these historic churches. The two leaders are convinced that the commemoration of the Creed and its pivotal role in bringing the two denominations toge...
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31 December 2025 – Hogmanay We live in a Universe which is exceedingly complex. So much of what happens on a daily basis is still a mystery not only to us but to the scientists too. ‘Things Scientists don’t Know Yet’ is a book for children with the subtitle, ‘The Unsolved Mysteries of Science’. It is written by Peter Gallivan. There are no less than thirty-three things which scientists don’t know yet covered in the book. Some of them are very surprising. Scientists don’t know how sunflowers follow the sun or the size of the universe or why humans age or how bicycles stay upright? Or why do we laugh? Babies laugh when they are very young. We tend to laugh when other people are there. It is a social activity. Perhaps it strengthens the bonds between people. ‘It could be that we laugh simply because it is good for our health.’ says Gallivan. As it says in the Bible, ‘A cheerful heart is good medicine.’ (Proverbs 17;22) Or could time travel become a reality? It is poss...
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30 December 2025 The astronomers third way of thinking is lateral. After presenting their magical gifts, the wise men return home. But Matthew says, ‘Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.’ They are not fools. They know that they don’t have to follow the same path. There are many ways to get home, many ways to shape a future, many ways to live the life of Christ. They were able to think out of the box and do something surprising. It is a way of thinking which was championed by King Solomon charged to decide the mother of a disputed child. He changed focus from a live child to a dead child. And when faced with the woman taken in adultery, Jesus refocused the argument away from the sin of the woman to the sins which are found in every human heart. And, of course, the whole Christian Gospel is built upon a foundation of lateral thinking – the last shall be first, it is the child who will lead us into God’s Kin...