Blog on the Learig

  15 June 2026 Gary O’Donoghue was a recent castaway on Desert Island Discs. He is a well kent face in our household as we tend to watch the BBC News and O’Donoghue is a regular correspondent from America. He is skilled at his job. He doesn’t waste a word. His analysis is incisive. His presentation understated. Of course, it isn’t long before you realise that he is blind. When he was born, one of his eyes hadn’t formed properly. He had some sight in the other. This was damaged when he fell off his bike as a child. By the time he was eight years old, he was blind. Later on in his life, his mother told him that when his diagnosis was given, she was in despair and was tempted to kill them both. Rather than be shocked by this confession, he was touched that she had the courage to trust him with this devastating news. He had several setbacks in the BBC. On one occasion, he wasn’t allowed to report a major scoop because of his blindness. However, he persevered and has carved out ...

  14 June 2026 Before the crucifixion, Peter   denies knowing Jesus three times. After the resurrection, Jesus takes him aside and asks three times, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ Simon replies, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ In response, Jesus gives Simon Peter a commission, ‘Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep.   Feed my sheep.’ It is very striking that Jesus does not commission Peter on this occasion to go and make disciples of all nations. He commissions Peter to be a pastor, a shepherd, a Good Shepherd just like him. It has become fashionable to talk about deconstructing the Kirk as we know it and relegating the parish ministry to history in favour of a more centrally operated ministry covering large areas which once contained several different parishes. The identity of these distinct parishes will be difficult to erase. The boundaries will be well-known not only to members of the church but even people within the wider community. Whil...

  13 June 2026 The Big Bang Theory which purports to explain   the creation of the universe is a theory. This means that it is an explanation of the scientific evidence as it exists today. But it is a theory. It is an unproven explanation of how the universe came into being. It may be the best but it is theoretical. The scientists have observed much but they cannot observe nor explain what happened 13.7 billion years ago when a point of infinite denseness and heat expanded into our universe. There is an inexpliciable moment prior to this cosmic inflation. Is this where God comes into play? Science breaks down at this point because it is based on the observation of physical things and their explanation. If the universe was created out of nothing then how can the scientist observe such a phenomenon. It defies scientific observation. Our world is alive with spaces like this. Consider the Sacrament of Holy Communion. ‘This is my body.’ says Jesus as he breaks the bread. We...

  12 June 2026 ‘Church of England figures show that 9.87 million people visited England’s cathedrals in 2024, making them among the most visited heritage sites in the country.‘ wrote the editor of the Church Times recently. ‘Cathedrals are remarkable institutions – sanctuaries of stillness in an otherwise noisy world.   ‘They offer worship enhanced by an extraordinary choral tradition. They run outreach and education programmes and stage world class concerts and exhibitions. They mark the civic calendar and hold spaces for communal grief and celebration.’ It is quite a summary but it is not sufficient to protect the cathedrals form financial difficulties. This has become evident in a recent report by Theos, ‘Living Stones: English cathedrals as sacred places in changing times’. It makes several salient points. Firstly, whilst there is a lot of goodwill from the public and people who live nearby cathedrals are proud of them, the study showed that their interest was larg...

  11 June 2026 When Emily Cullen picked up her fifteen year old son from school, he had a big smile on his face. She was thankful. His English exam had gone well, she thought. Perhaps he remembered some Shakespeare quotes after all. When they met up, she discovered that the exam had gone well but not because of Shakespeare but because of her. Amazingly enough, she had written a poem about her son when he was eight years old and now that poem had appeared in her son’s English exam seven years later! She hadn’t been feeling good about her life. Her son was playing outside. She called him in for his dinner. He was writing something on the pavement with   a apiece of chalk. She looked more closely to see what he had written. ‘The world is great.’ She called her poem, ‘Envoi in Chalk’. The envoi refers to the contents of his chalked out words, ‘The world is great.’ The poet explained. ‘That message just elevated my whole day. It was just what I needed to remind me that ther...

  10 June 2026 In ‘The Guardian Weekly’, there was an interesting article entitled, ‘Visual Art’. It was written by Stuart Heritage and it was all about the art which is produced for children’s books. It celebrated the work of Quentin Blake, who famously illustrated the work of Roald Dahl and his recently opened ‘Centre for Illustration’. Like the piano accompanist playing for a singer or a cellist, the book illustrator has not been seen as an equal partner to the author of the book. Whilst this may be understandable in chapter books where the illustration is limited, it could hardly be the case in what we call picture books. Often the words of a picture book are very few but the illustrations are very fulsome. This is certainly the case with books for very young children. Often it is the illustrations which make the words come alive. In Julia Donaldson’s Gruffalo, it is Axel Scheffler’s brilliant depiction of the Gruffalo which has stuck in our heads. The article argues fo...