Blog on the Learig

  22 August 2026 Our public libraries have been under threat for some time. As a result, library staff have had to work quite hard to recruit new readers to safeguard the service. They have been working with young children and their parents and have transformed the library. Consider these two initiatives. The one is called 'Rhyme Time'. It’s a session for under five year olds and their parents. The children sing and dance, learn new rhymes and meet other families in the process. This is a social occasion as well as an introduction to books. The other is called the ‘Summer Reading Challenge’. This is for older children. It involves them in determining how many books they are going to read in the summer holidays. Their progress is mapped out with stickers and certificates. But they are competing against themselves. It’s not just young people who have been made welcome in the library. There are groups for older people too. And as well as computers, you can borrow equipment...

  21 August 2026 The most dramatic liturgical changes have taken place within the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II. Not only was the orientation of the priest and the language of the liturgy changed but the importance of the Word and its relationship to the Sacrament was celebrated. ‘In the services a richer, more varied and more appropriate reading of Holy Scripture should be introduced.’ said the Sacrosanctum Concilium. In addition, ’The ministry of preaching is to be performed properly and with greatfidelity.’ This new emphasis led to the production of a three year lectionary replacing an annual cycle which didn’t include the Old Testament. The American Presbyterians incorporated a version of this lectionary into their ‘Worship Book’ (1970). By contrast our ‘Book of Common Order’ (1979) contained a two year lectionary created by the Joint Liturgical Group. By the time Common Order (1994) was produced, we had embraced the three year cycle too. The ‘International Com...

  20 August 2026 ‘Awe seems to resist precise definition and measurement, the bedrock of science.’ writes Dacher Kelmer in ‘Awe – The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder.’ He goes on to give his definition, ‘Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.’ He lists no less than eight wonders of life which lead to awesome experiences – moral beauty, collective effervescence, nature, music, visual design, spiritual and religious, life and death and epiphanies. For me, the natural world is a constant source of awesome emotions. He says several things about awe. Feelings of awe are intrinsically good. Our experiences do not depend on wealth. Awe promotes the reverential treatment of nature. The point of visual art is to evoke awe. The spiritual life grows out of awe. Experiencing awe in the world of nature is especially good for your physical and mental health. People experience greater happiness and goo...

  19 August 2026 In the seventeenth century ‘Directory for the Publick Worship of God’ which accompanied the ‘Westminster Confession of Faith’ there is an appendix entitled, ‘Touching Days and Places for Publick Worship’. The days are straightforward – the Sabbath is the only day ‘to be kept holy under the gospel’. As for places for public worship, the authors begin, ‘As no place is capable of any holiness, under pretence of whatsoever dedication or consecration …’ They are making it quite clear that buildings have no holiness in themselves even if they have been subject to a prayer of dedication. The seventeenth century reformers were making this claim as part of their argument for reusing buildings which had formerly been consecrated for Roman Catholic worship. They went on to argue that since buildings had no holiness in themselves any act of dedication could not confer holiness upon them. As a result, they were not ‘polluted’ and therefore they concluded that ‘we hold i...

  18 August 2026 In 1961, the Church of Scotland was gifted Carberry Tower. It was  redesigned  as a youth leadership training and conference centre. In 1965, a chapel was built in the parkland. It was  designed by the architect David Hermand Reid of Ian Lindsay and Partners. It had several remarkable features. Two-thirds of the building was outside in the parkland for the chapel was fronted on the east wall  entirely by glass. Whilst you were in the chapel, you could see the grass, the trees and the whole natural environment. It was drawn into the worship space. In addition, the design was a mixture of the old and new. The stone was similar to that used to build the estate cottages and outbuildings. Inside there was a wooden baluster screen which ran across the full width of the chapel underneath the gallery. It was a reference to the baluster screen at Falkland Palace. My first visit to the Carberry Chapel made a big impact. Colin Day was the Warden. H...

  17 August 2026 Bourton-on-the-Water is a beautiful village in the rural Cotswolds. But it has been having problems. Too many visitors are coming to admire its beauty and embrace its charm. Busloads of them. And the small town of some 4,000 people have got fed up. They have been protesting. It hasn’t been an aggressive protest like the Spanish with their water pistols firing at unsuspecting holiday-makers. No! They decided to have a picnic on the banks of the River Windrush, a shallow, clear water river running through the town. It is straddled by low-lying stone bridges. In this protest the townsfolk were simply trying to reclaim their green and river from the tourists. From 10am until 4pm, the town is far too busy for the townsfolk to enjoy their own amenity. So they made what the Sunday Times described as ‘Britain’s first (awfully polite) overtourism protest’. We visited Bourton-on-the-Water in 2024. Fortunately, no-one was protesting our arrival. We had spent the morni...