6 September 2026 Helen Lawrenson sent me a postcard from her holiday cottage. On it, she had written a poem. It was called, ‘Washing Day’. It came on the back of a postcard of miners’ lamps taken from the ‘Lamp Cabin’ at the Beamish Museum. This is her poem: It was a good drying day and in my arms I held the basket (a blue shirt cuff hanging down over the field) when I met the deep eyes of the hind a few feet away. We stood making no sound a long moment or two – she in her coat of foxy brown, I in my red and grey. Then as if processing surprise she turned her head to bound over the fence, while I watching the long grasses sway hung the shirts up to dry. The poet captures the moment beautifully. It is an experience of awe. You don’t have to be in a holy building to experience awe. It’s a gift which is given to all those who look attentively at the natural world and savour the moment. It all happened on an ordinary day when washing was being hung...
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5 September 2026 In the tale of the little taxman, who is reaching out to whom? Clearly Zacchaeus is reaching out to Jesus in his loneliness and isolation. Why else would a chief tax-collector endure the indignity of climbing up a sycamore tree? But Jesus is also reaching out to Zacchaeus. Doesn’t he invite himself to stay at the little man’s house? And why not? ‘The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ he says to a would-be follower. And he defines his ministry of hospitality as seeking out and saving the lost. In this ministry, something remarkable happens. A change is effected in Zacchaeus. More than that, everyone around him discovers the little man’s hidden gift. He has a generous heart! He spontaneously decides to give half of his possessions to the poor and to pay back four times as much to those whom he has defrauded. This was going far beyond the letter of the law – and it was a generous continuation of Christ’s ministry of hospitality. Zacchaeus was making r...
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4 September 2026 When JM Barrie, the Scottish playwright, became rector at St. Andrews University, he was invited to address the students. His theme was courage and the rectorial address runs to forty-five pages. It was delivered on 3 May 1922, barely three years after the Armistice was signed. By this time, Barrie was sixty-two. It is a remarkable piece of writing characterised by the courage of which he speaks. Early on, there is a confession. ‘For fifty years or so we heeded not the rumblings of the distant drum.’ he says of those whom he describes as the students’ betters! ‘And when war did come we told youth, who had to get us out of it, tall tales of what it really is and of the clover beds to which it leads. We were not meaning to deceive, most of us were as honourable and as ignorant as the youth themselves; but that does not acquit us …’ He goes on to challenge the students to do two things. Firstly, to work in partnership with their betters to make the world mor...
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3 September 2026 Paul is writing to the church at Philippi. He is concerned. Two of the women are not getting on. We even know their names – Euodias and Syntyche. Imagine being remembered in Holy Scripture for being unable to get on with another member of the church! Paul appeals to the others in the congregation to help sort out this problem. Unity is a key feature of the gospel and it features in the ordination vows both for ministers and elders. ‘Do you promise to seek the unity and peace of this Church?’ He wants the two women to ‘be of the same mind’. He gives three pieces of advice. Firstly, rejoice in the Lord. Whatever happens to us in life, we can find our joy in Christ. Our relationship with Christ transcends everything else even divisive behaviour. If we all find our joy in Christ, we will surely find joy in each other and be united. Secondly, let your requests be made known to God. In prayer, we are able to share our worries with God. In this action, we b...
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2 September 2026 Autumn is making its presence felt. The chestnut leaves are on the turn. Other trees too. The students have begun to arrive in St. Andrews after their long summer break. Our apples, pears and plums are ripening for a rich harvest. The fruit has been exceptional this year. In the summer, we had a lot of strawberries. These plants were taken as runners from the ones we bought four years ago. We must have about two dozen plants but I had another 175 runners from that initial set. We are now harvesting the plums. We got none last year and felt pessimistic about this year’s crop. The tree is purposely small and the leaves were crinkling in the summer heat but we got over hundred Victoria plums. There’s nothing more refreshing than picking a plum in the early morning sun and savouring it. One of the James Grieve apples fell to the ground. I turned the others but they were steadfastly attached to the tree. I baked the apple for breakfast filling it...
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1 September 2026 In order to save money, some professions have been broken up into various different tasks and others have been trained to fulfil these particular tasks. By their very nature a profession is much more than the sum of its parts. It is much more holistic than that. I thought about this the other day when I read about Rajendra Dadabi, the Principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in north-central Nepal. At 9-20am on Wednesday 26 August, there were 900 students in the school. They were half way through the early shift. Another 700 were on their way by foot and bus. Rajendra got a phone call from a friend who lived five miles upstream. As Chris Haslam reported, he told the Principal that his village had gone, taken by the river. ‘Run!’ he said. Rajendra thought for a moment and assessed the situation. The three storey school was built of concrete and 60m above the river. A parent interrupted him. ‘The River is rising!’ Now he knew what to d...
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31 August 2026 The beauty of the gospel and, in particular, the person of Jesus is that he doesn’t favour stereotypical behaviour. We see that in his priorities. ‘The last shall be first, the first last!’ We see it in his reaction to others. ‘Why does he eat and drink with publicans and sinners?’ In particular, we see it in the open-hearted way he invites people to join his circle. John the Baptist recognises Jesus and acknowledges him as ‘The Lamb of God’. Two others hear him and are intrigued. They follow Jesus. He turns around and sees them. ‘What are you looking for?’ he asks. ‘Where do you live, Rabbi?’ they ask acknowledging his status as teacher. ‘Come and see!’ says Jesus rather enigmatically. And they do. It’s such a gentle and generous response. He accepts them and makes room for them. They become disciples. Andrew tells his brother, Peter. And the circle begins to grow. This is how it works. It’s essentially a ministry imbued with gentleness, characterised by acc...