Blog on the Learig

  30 August 2025 Recently, the Lutheran Church in Sweden removed the church at Kiruna and relocated it three miles away from its original site. As it happens, this was part of the relocation of the whole community due to the expansion of the Kiruna mine. The church weighed 672 tons and it took two days for it to be transported to its new location. It was featured in Sweden as ‘slow television’. It was consecrated in 1912 and in 2001 it was voted by the Swedish population as the most popular pre-1950 building in the country. Interestingly, the design resembles Sami huts. They belonged to the Sami people who live in the northern regions of Scandinavia. This used to be referred to as ‘Lapland’ but not any more. The Sami people traditionally herded reindeer and were semi-nomadic. For their church to move doesn’t seem so strange! The Lutheran Church   in Sweden like the Church of England and the Church of Scotland has suffer...

  29 August 2025 In my book of Orthodox saints, a large number seem to have lived in the fourth century. Not only that, they are not plaster cast saints. Certainly, several were martyred for their faith and as such lived remarkably courageous lives. But there are also very human characteristics evident in them. For example, I was introduced to   ‘Our Holy Father Moses the Black’. I had never heard of him before. He was large in stature and had been a robber before his conversion to Christianity. Conversion did not lead him into a tranquil life for I was told yesterday that ‘he was greatly troubled by lust’. It’s a sin which besets humanity but it is not often openly recorded in a book of saints. One night, in his despair, he goes to see the monk, Isidore. He shows him the sun rising at dawn. ‘See, as the light comes, the darkness flies away, not all at once but gradually. So it is with your soul.’ Moses was encouraged by his words. I imagine we are all in need of such ...

  28 August 2025 Some soundbites from my recent Safeguarding training session:   If it’s not safe, it’s not  church. Forgiveness doesn’t negate justice nor risk. Some relationships can be restored but you need to let others go. It is a truism that, ‘The field of Safeguarding   is ever changing. It’s a dynamic not a static environment.’ There has been so much change in the last thirty years that’s why continual training is essential for everyone even retired ministers! The most immediate change for me was the introduction of a concept which I didn’t know about – Safeguarding Culture. This term is used to describe a more holistic approach to safeguarding. Instead of looking at it negatively as regulations to be fulfilled, a more integrated  approach is encouraged. In this culture, Safeguarding is reframed more positively. It grows naturally out of the environment of the Church which is pursuing shalom, the well-being of everyone within the community, t...

  27 August 2025 In her ‘Little History of Mathematics’, Snezana Lawrence introduced me to a French mathematician by the name of  Gaspard Monge (1746-1818). I had never heard of him before but he is greatly celebrated in France with ‘a street, a square, a metro station, even shops, pharmacies and restaurants’ name d after him. One of his most widely respected discoveries was a way of teaching geometry by encouraging students   to imagine ‘a movement of elements and the traces they leave behind’ in space. He called his way of understanding geometry ‘descriptive geometry’. It became very popular in France and in all its French speaking colonies in the nineteenth century. However, it never became popular in Great Britain. In fact, it never saw the light of day in our part of the world. Why was that? Gaspard Monge was a friend of Napoleon Bonaparte.   He was also a mathematician with at least one theorem to his name. For most of their friendship, France was at w...

  26 August 2025 Helen sent me a postcard. It featured a cottage at the Beamish Museum. That was interesting enough but on the back of the card, she hadn’t sent a message but a poem which she had written. It was simply called ‘Postcard’. And this is what she wrote: Having a great few days in Capernaum. I could amaze you with stories of a Man we’ve met. We’ve seen glories you would not believe! He heals the sick and you receive forgiveness for your sins. If you follow Him new life begins! The skies are blue and clear over Galilee. Wish you were here! (Helen Lawrenson)

  25 August 2025 In my first charge, I used to take our Youth Circle to discos organised by another youth club leader in a neighbouring church. She began to talk to me about having a sense of vocation to the ministry. Although she worked in the local hospital and was in her forties, I thought it a great idea. Morag went to University and eventually became a minister. She was called to a Highland parish and ministered there for four years. She died suddenly from a heart attack. People were grief-stricken. Eight hundred people attended her funeral. Flags were flown at half-mast and shops were shut. Her husband wanted it to be a celebration of her life. ‘Morag loved tartan.’ he said. And everyone wore some tartan to the funeral. There was no doubt about it, Morag’s relatively brief ministry had made an impact on   the community. Just before she was licensed to preach, Morag sent me a letter in which she shared her excitement about her future ministry. ‘No re-sits, I hope!...