Blog on the Learig

  9 August 2026 Isaiah, the prophet,     sets   out God’s vision for a new heaven and a new earth in which his people are described as a delight and harmony will reign   across the earth and   within the animal kingdom! He sets out four primary characteristics, summarized in Raymond Fung’s   book,     ‘The Isaiah Vision’, subtitled, ‘A Strategy for Congregational Evangelism’. It specifies: ·          that children do not die ·          that old people live in dignity ·          that those who build houses live in them ·          that those who plant vineyards eat the fruit The strategy is simple. And most people would agree with it. It’s easy to translate into action and everyone can play their part.   But it’s not an exclusively Christian agenda. It’s one which co...

  8 August 2026 When we were children, my brother and I each had one of Beatrix Potter’s famous tales. I had the ‘Tale of Peter Rabbit’ and he had ‘The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck’. They were beautifully illustrated by the author and very easy to read. Even as children, we noticed the darkness in the tales. Peter Rabbit’s father had been chased by Mr. MacGregor – caught, skinned and baked into a pie for dinner. Jemima Puddle-Duck is lured into a shed by ‘a gentleman with a bushy tale’. She is rescued by a friendly dog but her puppies eat her eggs! As a child, I didn’t like this development. I wanted to deny this reality. Every time we turned the page, I wanted it to be different. But Beatrix Potter’s skill at story-telling is illustrated here. She writes simply but directly. She doesn’t deny reality and that gives her tale depth. When our children were born, my mother gave them Beatrix Potter books over a period of time. Eventually, they collected all twenty-three of her tal...

  7 August 2026 I have an old magic lantern slide which I bought in the museum in Dumfries. It was set into a block of wood which enabled the light to pass through. It is a picture of Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers. They sold him into slavery but now he has risen to become ‘the Lord of Egypt’. Joseph was Rachel’s firstborn and Rachel was Jacob’s favourite wife. You remember his Uncle Laban’s deception in giving him Rachel’s older sister, Leah in her place! As a result, Joseph becomes Jacob’s favourite son making the other eleven intensely jealous! Surprisingly, Joseph doesn’t bear any animus towards his brothers. At every stage in his exile, he sees the hand of God at work in his life. He says of his suffering, ‘God has sent me before you to preserve life.’ In the famine, Egypt has food to share. Later on he says, ‘So it was not you who sent me here, but God?’ They are cleared of all responsibility. Reconciliation is only possible when we make a shift like this i...

  6 August 2026 There is a beautiful text in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus says, ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ (18;20) It is reassuring for two reasons. Firstly, small is beautiful and our diminishing congregations are no less beautiful if they are gathered together in the name of Jesus. Secondly, the significance of these gatherings is the presence of Christ. It is his presence with the two or three which makes the church holy. It is not the building. It has no holiness of its own. Holiness is a quality belonging to God and Christ manifests it when two or three gather together in his name. This has something very important to say about churches and worship spaces. It is not the physical buildings which are significant but the people who gather in these places in the name of Christ. The Scottish Reformers knew this very well. They reordered the medieval worship spaces with their designated sanctuary and nave. They abolished the distincti...

  5 August 2026 Peter Conradi wrote an article in the Sunday Times entitled, ‘Shooting Party’. It raised an alarming question, ‘During the Siege of Sarajevo, hundreds of residents were killed by snipers hiding in the hills above the city. Did foreign tourists pay to join the gunmen on human safaris and murder civilians for fun?’ It is a barbaric proposition which has been exposed by an Italian thriller writer, Ezio Gavazzeni. He investigated the claim that Italian, German and British citizens were involved. As a result, he submitted a report to Italian prosecutors who have taken it seriously. The Siege of Sarajevo began on 5 April 1992 and lasted 1,425. The residents of the city lived with the fear of being shot and got into the habit of zig-zagging their way around the city. Of the 5,434 civilians who were killed in the Siege, 1,601 were children. 534 of these were killed by snipers. In the heart of the city, there is a small museum dedicated to these children. Each child ...

  4 August 2026 There has been a recent YouGov Poll about meting out punishments for various offences. Two things surprised me. Firstly, the survey contained questions about flogging and putting people in the stocks which   was most recently seen at funfairs with people throwing sponges at local celebrities. Secondly, the survey also asked people about their attitudes to capital punishment. Although there has been no-one hanged for murder in the UK since 1964, 42% of the public thought that   the death penalty was the most appropriate form of punishment for murder. It isn’t sufficient to bring it back. However, 82% of Reform voters and 67% of Conservative voters support the reinstatement of the death penalty. 35% of Labour voters, 30% Lib Dems and 26% Greens also supported it! Beware of where your voting preferences   might lead you! In the same week, three Anglican bishops wrote to Mohammed bin Salman, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, urging him to call a halt to ...