Blog on the Learig

  18 September 2024 On 13 October 2023, Heba Zagout was killed along with two of her children in an Israeli strike on Gaza. She was born in Al Bureij refugee camp in 1984 and as she said, ‘I was born carrying the word refugee with me. I have never seen my hometown …’ Her family originated from the village of Isdud where her grandfather had an orange grove. The family was driven off their land in 1948 and has never been able to return. Happy memories of life there is all that remains for the family today. She was a visual artist working in acrylic. This is one of her paintings of Jerusalem. It’s called ‘Jerusalem by Night’. The charity Embrace which supports work among Palestinians in the Holy Land, has used it to produce one of many Christmas cards in their catalogue. In the accompanying information, we are told that when Heba and two of her children were killed last October all her canvases were destroyed in the bomb attack. Fo

  17 September 2024 When St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin in the fourth century, it wasn’t the first Latin translation but what became known as the Vulgate was used in the Western Church for over a thousand years! Interestingly, the word  vulgate  gives us our word  vulgar. The Vulgate was a translation into ‘common speech’, the Latin tongue. But it wasn’t until the Scottish Reformation of 1560 that the common people got the Bible in our common language, English. Of course, the Latin version  continued to be used in  the Roman Catholic Church until the last century. In May 1601, the General Assembly met in the newly built  Burntisland Church in the presence of the King and approved a new translation of the Bible into English. In 1611, the Authorised Version was published and read in Scottish Churches for three hundred and fifty years! When a boy in the Primary School at Bridge of Allan asked the school chaplain, ‘Why can’t be have a Bible that we can read easily?’ the chapl

  16 September 2024 – St. Ninian’s Day In 731 AD, the Venerable Bede completed his magnificent ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’.   He was a monk living in a monastery at Jarrow. He spent his entire life there reading, studying and teaching. In his History, he refers to Ninian. He says six important things about him. 1.        He describes Ninian as a member of the British race and as a bishop. 2.        He says that the Southern Picts accepted the true faith through his preaching. 3.        He indicates that this happened ‘long before’ Columba came from Ireland to Britain. 4.        He says that Ninian ‘had been regularly instructed in the mysteries of the Christian faith in Rome'. Apparently regularly means in a monastery. 5.        He informs us that his see was named after St. Martin and that he was buried in this stately church. 6.        The church was called ‘Candida Casa’ or the ‘White House’ because of an unusual architectural feature of the day.

  15 September 2024 The Sunday sermon should be marked by three things. Firstly, a thorough preparation – reading the Word, consulting the commentaries, reflecting on the text in the light of the contemporary situation ensures that the preacher has something to say not only about the God who was experienced two thousand years ago but also the God who is experienced here and now! Secondly, a contemporary relevance. The best way to achieve this is to accompany a preaching ministry with a pastoral ministry. The two are inter-related. Afterall, it’s only when we get to know each other that we begin to hear the questions that people are actually asking. Thirdly, an ending. This is the most important thing about any sermon. It must always come to an end. Of course, it will not end easily unless it has an arresting beginning and a clear development. But whatever else, it must always end! ‘The parson exceeds not an hour in preaching, because all ages have thought that a competency.’ wr

  14 September 2024 Wherein does the authority of the spoken and written word lie within the Kirk? Doesn’t it lie where it always has done in the Spirit of God? When all is said and done, the Word of God belongs to God. It’s his Word and it comes to us with his authority. We are free to accept or reject it. In the words recorded by Isaiah, the Lord says, ‘My word shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.’ We   may worry about what is read or said but we needn’t bother. If the word comes from God, it will accomplish what he has intended it to do! In St. Mark, Jesus says, ‘A sower went out to sow!’ In the parable, the seed is the Word of God, the sower is the minister of God’s Word. What is important is that he goes out to sow – nothing more, nothing less. The outcome of his sowing is not his concern. The harvest belongs to God. So get on with the sowing and don’t worry about the results of your endeavour

  13 September 2024 We watched ‘On the Waterfront’ recently – the 1954 black and white film starring Marlon Brando as the boxer, Terry Malloy, working on the waterfront with the longshoremen in a critical situation of union violence and corrupt leadership. Those who stand up to the corrupt leader, curiously nicknamed Johnny Friendly,   are unceremoniously slain until Edie Doyle, the murdered Joey’s sister, begins to seek justice. It is her love for her brother that shames the local priest, Father Barry into action and her love for Malloy which gives him courage to make a stand. What struck me more than the celebrated Marlon Brando,   was the presence of the priest and his remarkable speech at the most critical moment in the film. One of the workers, Kayo Dugan,   whom he persuaded to stand up for justice, has been murdered. His body lies on the dock. The workers surround him. They are not inclined to follow in his footsteps. ‘Every time the mob puts the crusher on a good man, t

  12 September 2024 I thought the Princess of Wales was bold and creative in the way she chose to mark the end of her chemotherapy and to inform the nation of her predicament. She invited us into the intimacy of her own   family circle to share the life she and her family enjoy together. It was startling and moving. She made three important points about life and living. Firstly, gratitude. We benefit from the support of other people. She has drawn great strength from others and , as she said, she has found ‘everyone’s kindness, empathy and compassion … truly humbling’. Secondly, simplicity. Facing our own vulnerability makes us look at life in a different way. The Princess has become ‘grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted. Of simply loving and being loved.’ Thirdly, hope. As one who suffers from cancer, she is well placed to be a companion to others who suffer as well. ‘I remain with you, side by side, hand in hand.’ sh

  11 September 2024 Recently, I had a wedding in an old chapel which is roofless. I was told by a member of the family that it probably never had a roof. This was improbable to me but I was intrigued. Why would a kirk be built without a roof. Three reasons. Firstly, to see the stars! When you are in love, you see stars. Isn’t that right? Abraham was asked to count the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the shore. Which is the greater? There are multiple stars for every grain of sand.   Seeing stars leads us to wonder and opens us up to the natural world. Adam and Eve met in a garden where God walked in the cool of the day. Bride and groom in ’Song of Songs’ celebrate their love for one another in the natural world - the lily of the valley, the apple tree, the turtle dove, pomegranates, dates, figs, wheat,   wine and honey! Secondly, to respect transience. There is something impermanent about a roofless kirk. It is open t

    10 September 2024 The poems of Emily Dickinson have two peculiar characteristics. Firstly, they are untitled. Most poems have titles – The Daffodils, Journey of the Magi, Anthem for Doomed Youth. But Emily Dickinson’s poems have none. They are now known by numbers. The poem stands on its own – and is itself its own interpreter. To add a title may limit the verse, focus attention on one particular aspect of its meaning, blind us to what else is hidden there. Secondly, they are punctuated throughout with dashes and capital letters. Unlike conventional poets, she uses very little punctuation. The capital letters draw our attention to particular aspects of the poem. The dashes – make us pause and think. I like the dashes  most of all. Sometimes they seem to serve as a comma or a colon. Often they conclude the verse. Instead of a full stop which implies a conclusion, she has a dash which implies a question, maybe, or more particularly, something which cannot be answered, resolve

  9 September 2024 In his potted biography of Emily Dickinson, Michael Schmidt suggests that she saw how the women of her generation were ‘snared in the strict geometries of the social web and decided that for her the freedom of an elected solitude – not of a spinster only but of a recluse – was possible, even necessary.’ Two things can be said with certainty. Firstly, she did withdraw from the world – gradually at first and then completely. Secondly, she did undergo a personal disturbance which she graphically described as ‘a terror’. ‘I had a terror since September,’ she wrote in a letter to the publisher, Thomas Higginson. ‘I could tell no-one and so I sang as a boy does by burying ground because I am afraid.’ The consequences were extraordinary. Within a year, she had written three hundred poems and within that six year period, one thousand! We need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted – One need not be a House – The Brain has corridors – surpassing Material Place! (670)

  8 September 2024 Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it, staying at Home – With a Bobolink for a Chorister – And an Orchard, for a Dome – Some keep the Sabbath in Surplice – I just wear my Wings – And instead of tolling the Bell for Church, Our little Sexton – sings. God preaches, a noted Clergyman – And the sermon is never long. So instead of getting to Heaven, at last – I’m going, all along. (324) The poet, Emily Dickinson, was the only member of her family who didn’t attend church. In adulthood, she lived a reclusive life wearing a white dress in the family home. She wrote poetry but published little. When she died, her sister, Vinnie,   found 1,775 poems. Many of them had been sewn into little books tied together with twine and ribbon and hidden in a box. When she counted them, there were sixty volumes!

  7 September 2024 As with St. Peter, so with St. Paul. He preached a very eloquent sermon in Athens. Whilst he is there, he preaches in the synagogue with the Jews and in the market-place ‘with those who happened to be there’. He debates with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and is taken to the Areopagus, a high court on top of a hill, where he preaches his most famous sermon. He begins with the perfect opening illustration. Having been distressed by all the idols in the city, he praises the Athenians for being ‘extremely religious’ and focuses their attention on the altar with the inscription, ‘To An Unknown God’. Turning this upon its head, he eloquently declares, ‘What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is God of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands …’ He not only illustrates his sermon with references to the city but als

  6 September 2024 In an age when preaching has been downgraded, alternatives have been sought to fill ‘the sermon slot’ and ministers are no longer more highly educated than the general population and less well educated than some, it is refreshing to see that in the early church, preaching was   an effective vehicle for the work of God. It was also a dangerous occupation for his ministers! Perhaps the minister needs to recover this frisson of danger in her preaching in order that the sermon may become a more powerful instrument of God’s grace? Certainly the preaching of Peter and Paul in Acts has the power to arrest attention, change hearts and build up the Church. Consider an example – the first sermon which Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost. It’s the first of many powerful sermons preached in the Church throughout the past two thousand years.   He begins with an opening illustration and a text. The illustration is of immediate significance to his listeners. Are the disc

  5 September 2024 In the   book, ‘Galileo Goes to Jail’, John Hedley Brooke informs us of a survey which was conducted by the psychologist, James Leuba, just before the First World War. A thousand American scientists were asked whether they believed in a personal God. 41.8% believed. When the results of a similar survey were reported in ‘Nature’ in 1998, the percentage of scientists who believed in a personal God was very similar – 39.3%. Over the century, the percentage of scientists who believed in a personal God hadn’t changed despite the huge advances in science during this time. This is encouraging for two reasons. Firstly, it celebrates the fact that so many scientists are able to harmonise their faith with their work as scientists and their progress in scientific knowledge has no negative impact on their religious belief. In fact it may enrich it. Secondly, it challenges the view that science necessarily contributes to the secularisation of our society. This is manifest

  4 September 2024 To be honest, I don’t think Keir Starmer and the Labour Government have made a hopeful beginning. What concerns me most of all is the two dimensional approach to the problems which have emerged. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of deep thinking. Think about the riots. People were rightly appalled and concerned. Law and order was under threat. Quick and decisive action was required. Remarkably, this was achieved very quickly but at what cost? A lot of people were sent to prison overburdening a system which we had just been told was reaching its limit. One woman   foolishly made an inflammatory comment on   social media   and was sent to prison. She is the sole carer for her husband.   What is going to happen to him? Was there not an alternative to prison for her? Those who try to destroy our community could surely be directed to build it up again? None of this necessary action has resulted in any changes taking place in the communities which were seriously distu

  3 September 2024 1. Medieval Bible Illustration – Fourteenth Century In the Old Testament, the ‘Song of Songs’ has proved fertile ground for both musicians and artists. In this medieval Bible illustration from the National Gallery in the Netherlands, the bride wears a crown. The groom has a halo. This is Christ and his bride, the Church. The allegory protected readers from the sensuous love poetry in the book where God is never mentioned. 2. King Solomon composing the Song of Songs in ecstasy In this depiction, the lover is half naked. She carries a horn full of fire. King Solomon is in ecstasy. That’s the title of this seventeenth century engraving   for a Bible illustration published in Paris. The Latin on the book reads, ‘Word of God’. The illustration is unusually explicit for a post-Reformation Bible. How many of our Bibles would have such bold illustration? 3. ‘The Silent Song’ by Ephraim Moses Lilien Of course, ‘Song of Songs’ belongs to the cannon of Judaism. Ephr

  2 September 2024 It has been widely reported that failures in Scottish Education are having a deleterious effect on children and young people in Scotland. One in four Primary school children are not achieving appropriate standards in literacy. One in five are not achieving appropriate standards in mathematics. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has reported on Scottish performance in maths, science and reading for students aged 15 years. Scotland hasn’t excelled. For example, in mathematics attainment fell by some 16 months. Not only that, the bottom ten per cent are performing much worse than their English peers and the top 10% are not attaining as good results as their English peers. As a result, inequality in Scotland is much more marked  than in England. It is a complex situation. But I noted that two interesting things have contributed to this. Firstly, the downplaying of knowledge in our schools. It is common sense that unless we know something we