Blog on the Learig

  29 April 2026 We have a privet hedge round our front garden. Across the road, a neighbour has a wall constructed with breeze blocks. The other day, one of the children in the house took some large coloured chalks and began colouring in the breeze block bricks in a colourful pattern. The dull grey of the breeze block was instantly transformed with red and yellow, green and blue. It made a startling impact upon us and cheered up the neighbourhood. As well as the coloured bricks, there were some words, an instruction to us all, ‘Be Happy!’ What made the child create such splendid pageantry? Was she happy because it was her birthday? Or perhaps the family was going away on the May weekend? Or perhaps something had gone wrong at home? Was it an instruction to those who lived inside? It may have been a shout which we would all like to make to a world which is badly scarred with warfare, violence and civil unrest? ‘Be happy!’ If only we could take it on board   through the ...

  28 April 2026 When a third of the   ministers and elders left the Church of Scotland in what became known as the Disruption in 1843, little did we realise that the duplication of church building would create so much trouble for future generations of kirk folk. The enthusiasm with which the Free Church built their kirks and manses was phenomenal. In East Linton, a prime spot was secured at the top of the High Street and became the dominant feature on the landscape. It was built within the year. The striking spire was added later. A lot of these duplicated buildings have been rationalised and many have been sold. Because of reduced resources of ministers, money and members, some of our ancient and historical buildings are under threat too. Such is the need for rationalisation. Perhaps this is the problem. What are   the criteria by which a building is ‘sold, let or otherwise disposed of’ as the Presbytery Plan instructs? Underlying this rationalisation are ‘The Fi...

  27 April 2026 Dr. James Robertson was one of my predecessors at Whittingehame Kirk. Towards the end of the nineteenth century,   he   was invited to give a series of lectures on Pastoral Theology at the four Scottish Universities. He entitled them, ‘The Christian Minister His Aims and Methods’. They were published in 1899. ‘Remember that in no charge, however humble, will any of you be less than a minister of Christ; it is only in money and worldly prominence that you need ever be inferior; not in labour, not in service, not in joy.’ he wrote, setting the ministry in its proper context of humble servant. ‘What will be your thought and manner in visiting a family, say, for the first time? I answer, You will cross the threshold with reverence, were it for this reason only, that you can little foresee what may be the issues of your acquaintance with this household, or on what solemn errands you may come to their door.’ Humility is the primary characteristic of thos...

  26 April 2026 – From My Diary 1996 Mary-Catherine and I visited an exhibition at the Smith entitled, ‘Meadow, Mountain, Moss and Moor’. It featured works by the artist, Joseph Denovan Adam. He lived in the parish of Logie at Craigmill from 1887-1895. He was an elder in the kirk, led the choir and was a great friend of the minister, Menzies Fergusson. He specialised in painting Highland cattle. The large canvasses were impressive. ‘Don’t be afraid of the cattle and you are alright.’ he would say to the students who studied at Craigmill. One of them was Edith Holden who wrote and illustrated ‘The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady’ throughout 1906. There was a wedding. The English groom revelled in   singing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’   to ‘Jerusalem’. A critic at the kirk door said,   ‘Imagine singing a hymn to the tune ‘Kelvingrove’’.   A light bulb fell from the ceiling, smashed into smithereens in the sugar bowl at the afternoon service in ...

  25 April 2026 There is a crisis in the Kirk. We are working together on a radical action plan – and that’s one thing. There is a lack of young people and   families   – and that’s another. But there is a third – and that’s the pastoral care of the people and the parish. The pastoral care of the parish belongs to the minister and the Kirk Session. There is a pastoral dimension to the eldership. Traditionally, the parish is broken up into districts with an elder responsible for the pastoral care. The calling is evident in Peter’s remarks about the eldership. ‘I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it – not for sordid gain but eagerly.’ Inevitably some elders are brilliant at this. They have evident gifts of compassion, understanding and wisdom. But others do not and some districts are cared for poorly. As the age profile of the elder incre...

  24 April 2026 We have been watching the series ‘Unchosen’ which is streaming on Netflix. It was all about a sect in the south of England where those who were members were styled ‘the chosen’ and those who did not belong where called ‘the unchosen’. Being chosen is not like being a member. It carries the weight of entitlement. Who makes the choice? Is this God or the leader of the sect or the members. What is the route by which you can become chosen? And in being chosen, you can become unchosen too.   The uncertainty of   this judgement may be   stressful. Although the drama had actors of the calibre of Siobhan Finneran and Christopher Ecclestone, some of the cast   were thinly drawn and the acting of some younger characters was not always convincing. Worryingly, we were told that the drama had been built on the testimonies of people who had belonged to sects. I must say that after six episodes, I was glad to get out of it! The conservative evangelical ...