24 July 2026 When Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, God also told him how to design, furnish and adorn the Tabernacle. It was to be full of representational art and it had to extend to the liturgical garments worn by the priests. In particular, Aaron’s liturgical robes were to be decorated in a very colourful and surprising way. There were to be golden bells attached to the lower hem. Can you imagine them ringing from a Kirk minister’s Geneva gown? In addition, there w ere to be homemade ‘pomegranates of blue, purple and crimson yarns’. The liturgical artists were to have a field day for these robes were not only colourful but imaginative! Where have you ever seen blue pomegranates? Purple and crimson – yes! But blue – no! In this instruction, God was saying that the artists should be free to use their imagination and make blue pomegranates. They would create a frisson of excitement and cause a stir. Questions would be asked, imaginations ...
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23 July 2026 At the moment, I am doing some pastoral work for another congregation. On one of my visits, I was conversing with an older woman who asked, ‘Who is it who does funerals now?’ In a former day, the answer would have been, ‘The Parish Minister’ but not today. She was searching for ‘The Celebrant’. When I was a child growing up in Ardrishaig, all the funerals were held in the church. It didn’t matter whether you were a member or not, everyone had their funeral in the church. That never happened in any of my four parishes. Even as a child, I knew that his was very hospitable. In the village of Forth, funerals were generally held in the home of the deceased. Often crowds of men had to stand outside in the garden and in the rain if the house was too small. A church funeral was reserved for an elder or active member. The funeral service used to be followed by a burial or a cremation. This was the normal pattern. Nowadays, some people prefer to have the ...
22 July 2026 God is good! God is truth! God is beauty! Praise him! These are the last three lines in the refrain of Percy Dearmer’s famous hymn, ‘God is love: his the care’. Jesus came to show him. We find him in others. He saves us by the truth. His love is our pattern, showing God in beauty. In 1919, Percy Dearmer reflected on the fact that fewer people came to church after the First World War than attended its services before. Although we do not have the trauma and barbarity of a First World War to excuse us, attendances now are much smaller than they were ten years ago. Dearmer’s remedy is worth pursuing. ‘Yet our course is clear and simple. It is to serve God for his own sake: to serve him in spirit and in truth, to worship him in the beauty of holiness, and in the holiness of beauty: to give up all that is unreal and insincere, ugly or depressing, tedious, artificial, or mawkish, unsocial, narrow, quarrelsome …’ he wrote. Where is t...
21 July 2026 When I began my ordained ministry in 1981, there was a two-year lectionary available. It had been produced by a Church of England Liturgical Commission. It appeared in the Church of Scotland ‘Book of Common Order’ in 1979 and in the Church of England ‘Alternative Service Book’ in 1980. A three-year lectionary appeared in ‘Common Order’ published in 1994. This was the ‘Revised Common Lectionary’ which had its origins in work done in the Roman Catholic Church following Vatican II and in the churches of North America consequent on the publication of the Roman Catholic lectionary. In the introduction to ‘Common Order’, Charles Robertson, Honorary Secretary of the Panel on Worship, confesses, ‘A few adjustments have been made to it, such as the provision of Old Testament Lessons alongside readings from the Apocrypha.’ It’s interesting to note that there is no provision in the ‘Book of Common Order’ for the ‘Feast of Christ the King’. However, it appe...
20 July 2026 We watched the England-France game in the Fifa World Cup on Saturday night – and enjoyed the game. England won with an impressive 6-4. They made an extraordinary first half winning it 4-0. The French fought back with agility and energy to score 4 goals in the second half. As you can imagine, there has been a lot of discussion about England’s performance at the World Cup and comparisons made with other national teams. Tom Allnutt made his comparison between England and Spain under the title, ‘It’s not technique, it’s reading the game – Spain’s midfield factory.’ He argued that both England and Spain produce footballers who are technically brilliant. The difference between these skilful players is in the attention paid in the Spanish team to understanding the game. This has implications for coach and player. Firstly, the Spanish players are trained to think for themselves. They are given the freedom to make their own decisions – to interpret situa...
19 July 2026 This is one of several similar windows in Ardrishaig Parish Church. It is a leaded window which has been ‘fringed with Edwardian, Art Nouveau patterned stained glass’ as Professor Hume has written. This particular window was located immediately behind our family pew. I started Sunday School when I was two years old and attended worship every Sunday. My brother and I sat between my mother and father. The sun shone through our window. The colours danced on the wooden pews. Sometimes we sang my favourite childhood hymn as the light enveloped us: Looking upward every day, Sunshine on our faces; Pressing onward every day Towards the heavenly places. Like the ancient Celtic crosses standing in the Scottish landscape and the ruined abbeys and rebuilt cathedrals, this simple Victorian Parish Church was a holy place, a place apart where the beadle carried the Bible into the pulpit and the atmosphere was awesome. It had a powerful impact on my chi...
18 July 2026 Our younger son went to the Music School at Douglas Academy. Looking back, he considers it one of the best things which happened to him. His musical education was built on a firm theoretical foundation which has stood him in good stead. When he was at the Music School, our daughters were at Bearsden Academy. As a parent and as a chaplain I was invited to the school concerts. Some of the students there were as good as those at the Music School. We witnessed many beautiful and accomplished performances. However, there was one aspect of this music-making which was different. At the Music School, the students were taught how to bow and to carry themselves on and off the performance space. Each contribution was finished perfectly. At the Academy it was different. The students found it difficult to accept the applause and were diffident about bowing in acknowledgement. This created an awkward atmosphere for student and audience. Performers need to be confident in h...