Blog on the Learig

  10 March 2026 During the last week of his captivity, the prison Chaplain invited Jonathan Aitken, the former cabinet minister,   to preach in the chapel. He took as his text Psalm 130. The publicity given to this occasion greatly   increased chapel attendance. As the prisoners filed into their seats, Aitken got increasingly nervous. ‘ I think the idea was to give me some teasing … it was crammed like rush hour. ‘ he said. And just before the service began, the raucous rabble was silenced not by Aitken but by Big Face. He had been a gang boss in London. As he enters the chapel, with a couple of burly minders, people make way for him as he takes up his position right at the front of the chapel. Aitken’s nerves almost get the better of him. He’s just six feet away! Something remarkable happens during the service. Far from making trouble, Big Face is visibly moved. There’s some moisture around his eyes. When Aitken finishes, Big Face comes up to him and gives him a ...

  9 March 2026 The woman at the well is touched deeply by Christ’s intimate knowledge of her and the   acceptance he demonstrates through his engaging conversation at Jacob’s well. As a result,   she goes off to the city to tell other people about Jesus. And ‘ Many Samaritans from that city believed because of the woman’s testimony.’ Some may call this missionary endeavour. But that gives it a formal and fearful aspect. The truth is that she couldn’t do anything else. Something remarkable had happened at the well. She couldn’t keep it to herself. She simply had to share it! And this is our testimony too, isn’t it? We have met the risen   Christ by well or in kirk, in illness or in grief, childhood or old age, in shame or guilt and we have been touched by his grace, his forgiveness, his mercy. And things have never been the same again! When she goes off to the city,   she leaves behind her water-jug! I think this is the most charming detail of the whole ...

  8 March 2026 It took thirteen years for God to fulfil his promise of a son for Abraham. In the meantime, we see how faint-hearted, suspicious, jealous and cruel Abraham, Sarah and Hagar become. Forcing God’s hand has disastrous consequences. They lose their peace of mind. God’s purpose was fulfilled despite Abraham’s intervention. It makes you think about the life of faith and the things which God promises to fulfil in us. Sometimes we wait a long time for things to work out – and for some things we are still waiting.   What does God require of us? Isn’t it a steadfast spirit – a willingness not to be put off by a lack of success, immediate results, the fulfilment of his purpose, a willingness not to be so faint-hearted as to force God’s hand or even run away from our appointed time and place. Wherever Abraham went, he built an altar and worshipped God. This is the endurance of the kirk in the twenty-first century. Every Sunday, in every charge   throughout the ...

  7 March 2026 Abraham was obedient but he also exercised tremendous endurance. The writer to the Hebrews captures this beautifully when he describes Abraham and his descendants as ‘ strangers and foreigners on the earth’. Abraham remained forever unsettled, uprooted, vulnerable. He was a stranger. He didn’t belong. He was a foreigner. He lived by different rules. But he didn’t give up. His endurance was sustained not only by the promise but by God’s continual confirmation that his promise would be fulfilled. Abraham lived for a quarter of a century in this uncertain and uncomfortable place. God had made a promise. ‘I will make you a great nation.’ But when was he ever going to fulfil it? Sarah is barren. Abraham is old. They have no children. And even when a son is born, this hardly constitutes a great nation nor fulfils the promise of the starry sky and the sandy seashore! In his obedience, there was much uncertainty. In his endurance, there was much loneliness. Abrah...

  6 March 2026 You have got to admire Abraham’s obedience.   God says, ‘Go!’ And Abraham goes and the writer to the Hebrews adds   that Abraham went ‘ not knowing where he was going’. (Hebrews 11;8) And if he was going to a place of plenty, a life of ease, a paradise garden, a land flowing with milk and honey we could see the point of his obedience. But there is no such consolation for Abraham. Read on in Genesis 12 – and what do you see? There is famine in the land. What an inhospitable welcome! There is fighting in the camp! What next? I’ll tell you! There’s warfare and Abraham gets caught up in it! Famine, family conflict, warfare! Who would journey on into that kind of world? But it’s the real world as we can see all too clearly today. It is the most authentic context for God’s call to be heard and obeyed. Living with uncertainty   is our human lot. But how we resist it! Because God calls, it doesn’t mean to say we will not experience famine, warfare, f...

  5 March 2026 – From My Diary 1996 I had a baptismal visit. The baby was as good as gold. The older child was a toddler and felt threatened by my presence. He clung to his mother. ‘He must get out!’ the child insisted. ‘Come on,’ said his dad, ‘It’s the minister.’ That made no difference. ‘I no speak. He must go in big car!’ When I left the house, I said, ‘Goodbye!’ to the child and mentioned him by name. He replied, ‘No, I no want you!’   There was a restlessness in the house. The father of the child had several jobs. ‘He doesn’t rest.’ said his wife mournfully. ‘And he doesn’t let us rest either.’ The baptism passed without incident. I had greater success in the Secondary School. At Wallace High, I was working my way around all the Second Year classes. I was usually allocated the science class because they had less students in them. I did some work on logos and Christian symbols and we made paper crosses. At the end of my Chaplain’s slot, I was leaving the classroom...