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...
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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...
17 July 2026 I was visiting an older member of the kirk. She is living in a nursing home although she is hoping to get back to her own house. This hope will never be fulfilled. Like the Lord’s servant, it remained unchallenged. I did not quench this dimly burning wick. There was so much that she did not remember. I was one, her elder daughter, another. Names and places eluded her but she was animated by my conversation about my younger daughter’s wedding and when I asked her about her own bridal gown, she remembered. By the time I was leaving, the tea trolley arrived. A young man dressed in a blue uniform offered my friend a box of plain biscuits – digestives were plentiful, wafers were fewer, custard creams, hidden. My friend chose a wafer and then something surprising happened. ‘Here’s one that you like.’ said the young man, picking out a custard cream that had been hiding behind the digestives. Neither she nor I had seen it. My friend beamed. ‘Is that your favou...
16 July 2026 At school, we discovered Cartesian co-ordinates. In two dimensional space, each point has two co-ordinates which can be mapped onto a grid with horizontal and vertical lines intersecting at the point (0,0). The system was created by Rene Descartes, hence the name. In this way, the French mathematician was able to transform geometry into algebra. Geometrical shapes became algebraic functions which could then be handled much more readily. Geometrical shapes and pictures cannot be easily manipulated. In the introduction to, ‘Sense of the Sacramental’ which was edited by David Brown and Ann Loades, the editors write about the co-ordinates of sacred space. It is faith which generates its own set of spatial and temporal co-ordinates. Are these co-ordinates like the co-ordinates in Cartesian space which mark the transformation from geometry to algebra? What is the transformation being effected here? What happens in sacred space allows us to enter the K...
15 July 2026 ‘What’s your best discovery?’ asked the mole. ‘That I’m enough as I am.’ said the boy. ‘I’ve realized why we are here.’ whispered the boy. ‘For cake?’ asked the mole. ‘To love,’ said the boy. ‘And be loved,’ said the horse. This is an extract from an extraordinary story book entitled, ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’. It was written by Charlie Mackesy. The dialogue is handwritten and the illustration is a mixture of water-colour and ink. The characters in the book are on a journey to reach home. ‘What do we do when our hearts hurt?’ asked the boy. ‘We wrap them with friendship, shared tears and time, till they wake hopeful and happy again.’ ‘Do you have any other advice?’ asked the boy. ‘Don’t measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated.’ said the horse. ‘Always remember you matter, you’re important and you are loved, and you bring to this world things no one else can.’