10 January 2026 We visited the V and A in Dundee recently to see the exhibition, ‘Garden Futures: Designing with Nature’. It has been running since May and finishes at the end of this month. It was expedient that we went before it was too late. I enjoyed seeing the parterre gardens which featured at Versailles and the geometrical blocks which were drawn up by the designer. The garden carpets came in traditional and contemporary designs and created a magical interior garden for nurturing the inner life and communing with friends. There was an impressive photograph of a garden created by a couple in a bomb crater in London. It looked large and mesmerising. I couldn’t work out how they had the wherewithal to seek permission and to make something beautiful out of this lamentable wound in the wartorn city. But by far the most inspiring part of the exhibition for me were the Ethiopian Forest Churches. If Armenia was first to become a Christian nation, Ethiopia was...
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9 January 2026 The analysis of our Christmas cards has some drama in it. For the first time, the number of secular cards has been greater than the number of sacred cards. The difference is modest, some 6% of the total number of cards received but significant for all that. The largest category of secular cards are those which feature wildlife, two-fifths of the total. Of that number two-fifths had robins as their central character. Other animals featured included dogs, highland cows, deer, a squirrel, a partridge, a wren. The most popular aspect of the nativity has always been cards which feature the exotic figures of the kings or the magi with their magical gifts – gold frankincense and myrrh. This compares with only one card featuring the shepherds on their own. Is it the mysterious journey, the wealth of kings or the ordinariness of shepherds? Having said this, the dove of peace has given the magi a run for their money. This doesn’t surprise me in a world which h...
8 January 2026 Computers cannot problem solve. They cannot solve our broken relationships nor our child’s addiction to alcohol nor the grief which overwhelms us when someone we love dies nor the impenetrable complexities of making peace in time of war nor the best way to reconfigure a declining Kirk. Problem solving is something which human beings are very good at and this skill will never be matched by AI. It requires creativity and imagination which the computer does not possess. They will help us in two important problems. The first is the calling of a new minister. It is a privilege which has divided the Kirk in times past. It is not a straightforward task to discover the one whom God has called to minister in a particular charge. We believe that God is working in our world today but how can we pin him down? There is no human apparatus which can ensure that the infinite God can be contained in a finite way. The process of discernment requires patience ...
7 January 2026 The computer and AI have been framed by the scientists in terms of power. Certainly, computers have become more powerful in terms of calculation and analysis of data etc. But we have seen how vulnerable nations become when the computer is sabotaged! Being vulnerable is our true condition. We are like the grass of the field, here today, gone tomorrow. Our vulnerability is what God values. For this is his living Word. Right at the heart of creation is the vulnerability of a tiny baby and the vulnerability of a crucified man. The fundamental principle which holds the creation together is the one which denies self and lives for the other through love. This is not just true in our personal, family and community life but our national and our international life. Wielding power belongs to Herod. Reconciling enemies belongs to Christ. The present condition of the Church is to be celebrated for we are more like the Word which St. John talks about. ‘He came to what wa...
6 January 2026 On 6 January, I should be thinking about the travelling magi and their magical gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh but instead, I have been thinking about the gifts which those who have an eye for such things are projecting for 2026. I read about them in the ‘Style’ magazine in a recent edition of the Sunday Times. Crop Tops are being reanimated for 2026. If you liked Banoffee Pie in the 1970s, you may like its modern come-back. Instead of a Safari in East Africa, it’s all the rage to go on Safari in Britain and see longhorn cattle and Exmoor ponies! Orange painted pine is in and 2am is the new 6-30pm reservation especially for the World Cup aficionados. But, for me, the most comforting come-back is what was advertised as ‘Choose paper over pixels’. Did you know, ‘It’s time to rediscover snail mail.’ ‘Next year will be all about the pleasure and permanence of writing a letter, rather than firing off yet another forgettable e-mail ….’ Ever sin...
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...
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...