Blog on the Learig

  26 May 2026 We watched ‘Dear England’ on the television. It was based on James Graham’s play about Gareth Southgate and his extraordinary leadership of the England men’s football team. It is an exploration of the transformation which he made to the fortunes of the team. There were two significant strategies. The first was the employment of a psychologist to work on   enabling the footballers to open up emotionally – to acknowledge fear, to work through failure and to find some joy in playing their football.. The second was to give the players a sense of history. They were part of a long line of England footballers stretching back to 1872. He worked out what number each player was in this national line-up. Harry Kane had an England   legacy number of 1207. He wrote a letter, ‘Dear England’ and concluded, ‘But the reality is that the result is just a small part. It’s about how we conduct ourselves. And how we bring people together. That lasts beyond the summer. Th...

  25 May 2026 When I was a child, morning worship in the kirk began with what we called ‘The Little Entry’. The Beadle came out of the vestry carrying a large edition of the Authorised Version of the Bible,   ceremonially climbed   the pulpit steps, opened up the Bible gravely and returned to the vestry. This was the cue for   the minister to enter the pulpit. He   opened our worship with a formal but striking, ‘Let us worship God.’ Our eyes had already been lifted up to God in ‘The Little Entry’ for it drew our attention away from mundane things to the living Word   and the transcendent God. ‘The Little Entry’ has its origins in the early Church and has been preserved in a much more elaborate form in the Orthodox Church. It was first observed by Egeria, a wealthy woman, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 381AD and recorded it in a book. The Holy Gospel Book sits on the altar behind the Royal Doors. It is carried in procession around the ...

  24 May 2026 – From My Diary 1996 We had a good fraternal. Discussion centred on the baptism of children whose parents were not married, the centrality of preaching and the importance of   releasing the gifts of the people of God.   Surprisingly, two colleagues were not favourably disposed to the latter. The one said gifts could be released in a demonic way. The other said that a friendly dictatorship was to be preferred to an unfriendly oligarchy. History has proved them wrong and the necessity of harvesting the gifts of others is even more obvious thirty years on! G called at the manse. He is living in the old caravan in the kirkyard. He asked for   a lift up to the kirk. I agreed. When I dropped him off, he burst into tears. He is going into the hospital for a major operation. Would I visit? Of course. ‘If I don’t come out,’ he said handing me a card, ‘Will you phone that number?’ Of course. I re-read, ‘Mister God, this is Anna’ and used it to prepare the...

  23 May 2026 Following the Lockerbie Bombing in which thirty-five students from Syracuse University were killed, the University commissioned a patchwork quilt containing thirty-five panels. Each one represented one of the thirty-five students killed in the bombing. In the panel commemorating Sara Philipps, there is a single silver earing recovered from the wreckage. The other was never found. Another two panels are linked together by two matching bandanas worn by Eric and Jason Coker. They were twins. A fourth panel contains material from Richard Monetti’s denim jacket. The people of Lockerbie had washed it to remove the bloodstains before sending it home. Out of the pain and grief of the bombing, something beautiful was created ‘as a celebration of who these students were’ said one of the students at the University. ‘I think people often forget that each of these students was somebody’s daughter or sister or best friend.’ It is through the love of God that the unique ...

  22 May 2026 Whereas bread and wine are the primary symbols in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the secondary symbol is the Table. In the First Book of Discipline, it’s clear that the Reformers wanted to recover the simplicity of sharing a meal together albeit a last supper. ‘Plaine it is, that at supper Christ Jesus sate with his Disciples.’ they wrote. ‘And therefore do we judge that sitting at a table is most convenient to that holy action; that bread and wine ought to be there; that thankes ought to be given; distribution of the same made.’ One of the most striking features of our celebration of the Sacrament is the invitation we extend to ‘all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ’ to come and share the feast. Whereas we see our unity stemming from the love of God in Christ and celebrated primarily in the Sacrament, others see the Sacrament as the final celebration of that unity. Today it is a symbol of disunity – but it needn’t be as Queen Victoria found out. In an essa...

  21 May 2026 Signs and symbols, pictures and banners, icons and tapestries, words and music all have the potential to communicate God’s love to his people. Just as the kiss or the box of chocolates or the act of kindness confirms the truth and deepens our understanding of the spoken word, ‘I love you!’ so God’s love is validated, celebrated and illuminated by art and music, sign, symbol and song. In particular, God’s love for us is made visible in what we call the Sacraments. For the first thousand years of the church’s history, no-one could say how many Sacraments there were. Before the Reformation, the church declared there were seven. After the Reformation, the reformers argued that there were only two. ‘There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.’ wrote the Westminster Divines in the Confession of Faith. According to them, they were specifically instituted by Christ and each one is prefaced b...