Blog on the Learig

  1 March 2026 I was speaking to a granny. She told me about two of her grandchildren. One was in the police. The other was in social work. Neither of them were working for the money. They both loved their jobs and, as a result, had a deep sense of fulfilment. I would say their response was vocational. Everyone has at least one vocation – the vocation to be, to be a human being which is given to us in birth. We are all made in the image of God and carry something sacred within us. This shapes our life and our relationships with others. Some   have a second vocation – the vocation to be a Christian which is established not in birth but in baptism. This develops in some but not others. You can tell whether someone is a Christian if they bear the fruits of the Spirit in their lives – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The one in the middle is very important – kindness. It doesn’t cost us anything to be kind – to sp...

  28 February 2026 – From My Diary 1996 On 28 February 1996, I started writing a daily diary. I didn’t know whether or not I would succeed in keeping it up. As it happens, I have been making an entry every day for the past thirty years. It has now extended to forty-two volumes, mostly ‘Black n’Red’, A4 ruled notebooks. When I went to Logie Kirk in 1990, we established an afternoon Sunday service in Hanover Court. It was a sheltered housing complex of flats for older people within the community. In those days, it had a very caring warden who would let me know about illness etc. Thirty years ago, she told me about the two George’s. One was a member of the Kirk, the other was a Roman Catholic. They were both in Stirling Royal. There was nothing else for it but to visit them both. One of the George’s was in Intensive Care. When I arrived, his wife and son were there. His wife asked me to take his hand. I prayed. His son said anxiously, ‘You’ll be back in a day or two.’ When I r...

  27 February 2026 Pope Leo took his name in honour of Pope Leo XIII. He famously wrote the encyclical ‘Rerum Novarum’, which is the foundation of contemporary Catholic social teaching,   addressing the relationship between management and worker, government and citizen etc. Consequently, the Pope has been interested not in the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution but the technological revolution and,   in particular, AI or Artificial Intelligence. On Ash Wednesday, he addressed priests from the Diocese of Rome about the temptation to prepare homilies using AI. He raised four   important issues. Firstly, we should be exercising our own brain.   ‘Like all the muscles in the body, if we do not use them, if we do not move them, they die.’ he said. ‘The brain needs to be used, so our intelligence must also be exercised a little so as not to lose this capacity.’ Secondly, the preacher is called to share faith. This is behind every sermon – a strengthen...

  26 February 2026 It is deeply concerning to hear about formerly strong congregations diminishing in size and, more significantly, vitality as time passes. One I know well used to have large numbers of children and young people but now   counts few   amongst their membership. The nearby Baptist Church still attracts families etc. Why is this? There are five things which could be considered. Firstly, conservative evangelical denominations seem to attract more young people. Surveys confirm that young men are turning to Christianity in larger numbers. Perhaps the espousal of more traditional male/female roles and more theological certainty is attracting them? Secondly, it is obvious (but not so obvious that congregations act on it) that making provision for specialist ministries to work with children, young people and their families will highlight their importance and nurture growth. Children don’t come alone. This ministry reaches adults too but it all needs to be fi...

  25 February 2026 In his brilliant ‘ Markings’, Dag Hammarskjold, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, killed in an aeroplane crash in 1961, reveals the contours of his own spiritual journey. He memorably says, ‘ The longest journey is the journey inward.’ The journey begins by unmasking our humanity, peeling back the layers which conceal our poverty of spirit, our lack of generosity, our bitterness, jealousy, greed. Through this painful process, need is exposed and pity aroused within us. As the journey continues to get longer, even more is demanded of the traveller. There is the emptying of self. ‘ Not I, God in me.’ is a favourite quotation. Life, as in him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, can only be discovered by those who empty themselves in order to be filled with the Spirit of God.   The courage is to embrace humility rather than fulfilling personal desires. It is a life’s work. ‘ You will know life,’ he writes, ‘ and be acknowledged by...

  24 February 2026 The list of temptations which Jesus struggled with has two important things to say to the Church today. Firstly, our leadership should be shaped by the character of Jesus which shines through his failure to succumb to these temptations. Some argue that Matthew was writing at the time when the Zealots were making a stand against the Roman Empire. They were using weapons of violence to overcome an unjustified tyranny. This was not the way of Jesus who came into the world to reconcile it to God through the love which suffers and dies. Secondly, the Church is not called to be successful – turning stones into bread, testing God, accruing power and influence, silver and gold. Of course, there have been periods of time when the Church was conceived to be successful – medieval wealth, power and influence, Presbyterian control of civic Scotland. One of our temptations is to be successful again by fulfilling the ‘Five Marks of Mission’ and showing the world what we...