Blog on the Learig

  13 February 2026 Entering the silence of God and listening to his Word has a very important consequence. It helps us to listen to others and to speak words which have come from his heart. Both Eli and Samuel were men of prayer and the words which they spoke had their home in the silence of God. They each illustrate a different dimension of this. When Eli heard Samuel’s prophecy about the destruction of   his own family. He simply said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’ He made no attempt to justify himself nor his family.   No amount of words could change the truth of this situation. His relationship with God gave him the self-control not to say any more than needed to be said. When Samuel grew up, he spoke to the people and the writer says, ‘All Israel listened.’ The words which he spoke were powerful precisely because they came from God. In order to speak, Samuel had to listen and in listening to God, he discovered the right words to speak on ...

  12 February 2026 A month ago, I mentioned briefly a conversation I had with the dentist’s receptionist. I was trying to make an appointment. She began the conversation in a patronising way. ‘What are we wanting today?’ she said. To which I replied, ‘There’s just one of me today!’ I am sorry to say that his way of speaking is not uncommon and it isn’t just dental receptionists who are guilty of speaking like this. It has been widely observed in the medical world. It’s called elderspeak and doctors are some of the worst culprits. In an article entitled, ‘Spin Doctors’, Philip Hensher tells his own story. He was suffering from an infected ulcer which had gone into the bone. The consultant summarised his treatment. ‘We’re just going to take a kind of little nibble at the toe.’ he said. Hensher replied. ‘Could you explain the distinction in surgical terms between ‘a kind of little nibble’ and partial amputation?’ The consultant was disconcerted. But why was he talking to a wel...

  11 February 2026 Last Sunday, I was conducting morning worship at Crail and St. Adrian’s. The latter is a union between St. Ayle, which is a union between Anstruther and Cellardyke, and Pittenweem. There are three church buildings in the union and the services in St. Adrian’s rotate around the three buildings. This week, the service was in the Pittenweem Church and I was astonished to see how many people were there. Before the union, there would have been around twenty worshippers at Pittenweem. Now there were around a hundred. This must have been an encouragement to the former congregation. In fact, to everyone. The singing was energetic with a strong lead from the organist. And because there are a number of men in the congregation, the singing of the tune ‘Desert’ was outstanding. The former St. Ayle have been used to alternating between their two church buildings for some time now. It is remarkable how faithful members of the former two congregations have been in atten...

  10 February 2026 There is a playfulness in the parables featuring salt and light. Does it surprise you that there is no agreement amongst Biblical scholars about the meaning of these two very simple parables, featuring these two very ordinary images – salt and light. One of the problems is that they are recorded differently in different Gospels. In Matthew, the Church is the lamp which will shine in the world. In Mark and Luke, it is the parables themselves that shed light in dark corners for they appear in the context of unravelling their meaning. In this way, the teaching of Jesus is not contradictory as much as playful. He uses the image of the lamp in different ways in different contexts. But it all adds up to an even richer mosaic of understanding. It requires humility before the text and the discernment which   comes from the Spirit of God. ‘No one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.’ says St. Paul. And so we must wrestle with the Holy Spi...

  9 February 2026 Jesus describes the Church as both the salt of the earth and the light of the world.   There is a tension between the two images. The work of salt is hidden from view. We benefit from its diffusion but we cannot see what it is doing. Once it has done its work, we cannot reverse it, separate it from bread, bacon or soil! This is in contrast to the image of light which is clearly seen. Whilst both describe the Church, we are on safer ground embracing the image of salt and work which is hidden from view. This is evident in the corporate activity of the Church. The outcome belongs to everyone and it’s   often not possible to unravel who was responsible for which outcome. Like salt, we cannot trace it. With light, we are on more dangerous territory. The limelight is attractive to the leader, the celebrity, the politician, the musician. What about the Christian? The work of the Church is to be seen in the sense of illuminating the life of Christ within u...

  8 February 2026 In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus   describes the Church as the salt of the earth. The context is important. He has just told the disciples that they will face persecution like the prophets before them. ‘Rejoice and be glad!’ God will reward them. Being the salt of the earth is something which the Church is, not least when things are difficult – persecution maybe   but also the rejection of the life of Jesus and the good news.   It is this saltiness which we are called to preserve in difficult times. Salt adds flavour. It cleanses, preserves, enriches the earth. Its effect is hidden. In St. Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says, ‘Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’ Whatever this saltiness is, it has something to do with reconciliation. This takes us to the heart of the Gospel and the ministry of Jesus who suffered and died to reconcile the world. This saltiness ...