1 June 2025 In the eighties and early nineties, the central offices of the Church prepared a series of resources for adult Christian education. They went under the name ‘Frontline’. I used a few of these notably in the training of elders and, in particular, preparation for ordination. In looking at the qualities which need to be nurtured in the eldership, one stood out. It was loyalty – loyalty towards the minister and fellow elders in Kirk Session. This is vitally important when collective leadership is involved. No matter how we voted in any situation, we need to support the Kirk Session’s decision. In the materials, it said, ‘Remember that your silence can be used as fuel by the discontented. ‘I just told my elder what I thought. He didn’t disagree with me.’’! A very subtle point was being made here about the truth. What was true? What was not true? Because the elder had remained silent, the member construed his silence as tacit agreement with her point o...
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31 May 2025 I was leading a discussion about the Psalms recently in anticipation of a corporate act of worship to celebrate the Psalms in the worship of the Church. As a warm-up, I asked the group what the Psalms meant to them. These are some of the replies. Several people remembered singing the Psalms. One looked back to his Primary School days when they sang Psalms in the classroom. Another had a more negative experience of singing Crimond in church at a very slow pace. It put him off for life! A couple of people commented on how accessible the Psalms were. ‘They show you the way.’ said one. ‘They are very accessible!’ said another referring to the different emotions expressed so directly in the Psalms like anger. ‘The Psalms don’t necessarily give you answers but shared experience.’ An older member of the group talked affectionately about the metrical psalms. We are celebrating the 375 th anniversary of the Second Scottish Psalter this year. ‘The tradition of the metr...
30 May 2025 It is always a delight for a retired minister to hear that initiatives begun during his ministry have become thoroughly embedded in the ongoing life of the congregation. The other day, I received an e-mail from the person who is running Daybreak at New Kilpatrick Parish Church. I was minister there from 1999-2010. In 2004, we set up a group for people with dementia. We took a whole year to work out how best to set it up with Mary-Catherine providing much needed advice and, of course, training for the first volunteers. The key to its character was in our initial decision not to make any distinction between those who had dementia and those who did not. Everyone was an equal member of the group. The group is still running and is celebrating its twenty-first birthday shortly. We were asked to send a special memory for people to read on the big birthday. One of my most vivid memories was from a Daybreak summer trip to Ross Priory o...
29 May 2025 St. Paul reveals our true condition when he concludes his great essay on love with these famous words, ‘For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.’ Jesus helps us to discover the face of God. In the Beatitudes, he gives us a clue. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ Whilst this is something to which we aspire and fail day by day, there are other avenues in which we may catch a glimpse of the face of God. God continues to walk the earth in the most unusual guises. In providing hospitality for strangers like Cleopas and his friend at the village of Emmaus, we are assured by the writer to the Hebrews that in showing hospitality to strangers we ‘have entertained angels unawares.’ In welcoming a child into our community of faith, Jesus says, ‘Whoever welcomes a child like this in my name, welcomes me.’ This is especially true in the...
28 May 2025 In St. John’s vision of heaven as a city, there is no temple. The city itself has become the temple because it is filled with the presence of God. The division between secular and sacred has vanished. This is not only Scriptural but also ingrained into the very DNA of the Church of Scotland. At the Reformation, our forebears abolished the altar, the font and the chancel, re-orientated the kirk to accommodate the pulpit, attached a basin to it for baptisms and introduced the long table for the Sacrament. There was no priest but a priesthood of believers. We were all Jock Tamsan’s bairns, all one in the Body of Christ. Prior to the Reformation, a number of Scotland’s churches were in a poor state of repair. In such circumstances, the Reformers had to take a very pragmatic approach to church buildings. They had very little money. So they had to discern what was essential. In assessing the needs of the worshippers, they were very practical. If...
27 May 2024 In his vision of heaven, St. John, the Divine, sees it as a city. The picture of heaven as a city is anathema to us not because we don’t have some beautiful cities but because our cities are also places where there is much ugliness in its darkest corners. Increasing drug addiction among all ages, women and children being trafficked for prostitution, ordinary people labouring for poor wages, council leaders and business people sacrificing integrity for material gain. In Palestine and Ukraine cities have been razed to the ground through indiscriminate war machines. ’14,000 babies in Gaza could starve if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade.’ says one appeal. There is no end to the physical destruction nor the brutality meted out against vulnerable children. Over 900,000 Russian soldiers have been killed as a consequence of Vladimir Putin’s illegal war. How many mothers, fathers, wives and children have been bereaved. And how many have been kille...
26 May 2025 We were at a musical version of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ recently. It was a spell-binding event with song, dance, some magic, a life-sized puppet of Aslan, the lion and a faithful rendering of the novel by CS Lewis. The novel empowers children in unexpected ways. It involves animals and engages the natural world. It celebrates the defeat of evil. Above all, it has the Gospel at its heart in a wintry landscape which is transformed by love. My copy of the novel was bought for 3/6d and has beautiful line drawings by Pauline Baynes. The front cover features Aslan dancing with Susan and Lucy. As children it inspired my brother and I to use our imaginations and create our own escape into Narnia. We couldn’t get there through a wardrobe but through a window in our granny’s bedroom which led out into a field and down to a burn. The window had a very large sill. When it was not leading us into Narnia, the window sill became for us a stage in...
25 May 2025 Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. Longfellow’s poem has long been remembered but I never made the connection between his description of the chestnut-tree and reality. One day, a member of the congregation at Stenton made an observation at the kirk door about the beautiful chestnut at the kirk gate which was spreading over the pavement. The penny dropped! I had observed its conkers but not its spread! How little we observe in the natural world but the person who showed me the photograph he had taken of the blossom on the horse-chestnut tree drew my attention not only to its distinctive shape and beauty but to the way the sunlight had illumin...
24 May 2025 On my early morning walk, I pass the same people on a regular basis. Some are out walking their dogs. Others are walking themselves. Conversation is brief but it comes with a growing sense of familiarity. Names are not exchanged but greetings, the weather and sometimes an extraneous thought. The other day, one of my acquaintances was walking his dog in the woodland near the East Sands. This time, he stopped me by a horse-chestnut tree which was in blossom. It has extraordinary conical flowers which can grow quite large. ‘Look at this.’ he said as he opened the photograph album on his mobile phone. ‘I took this yesterday just as a stream of sunlight was pouring through the opening in the trees. It shone on this horse-chestnut blossom.’ It was a beautiful photograph. The light had caught the conical flower and sharpened its white and reddish blossom. It was a magical moment which inspired my fellow walker to stop and look and then take the trouble to phot...
23 May 2025 My mother was full of her own sayings. When a task needed to be accomplished immediately and without fuss, she would say, ‘Onwards and upwards!’ When she had experienced a good day in the company of family and friends or in some extraordinary location by loch or on hill, she would say, ‘It was a day stolen!’ By this she meant, it was a day stolen from heaven. On a perfect summer’s day, walking in the heat of the sun with the gentle breezes of a West coast wind, she would stand for a moment, enjoying the pleasure of it all and say, ‘You can hear the grass grow.’ This was a blissful experience, a peace which passes all understanding. Of course, you cannot hear the grass grow but you know it is growing. Sharpened sensitivity to the outdoor environment makes it appear possible. Summer has invited us in to share its secrets and the natural world is alive with gifts to be savoured by all the senses – the campion growing wild by the roadside, the smell of the honey...
22 May 2025 As a child I went to the circus in Glasgow and as an adult, we took our children to the circus on a few occasions. It is always and exciting time. Of all the artistes, the flying trapeze are the ones whom I admire most, stretching out their arms to catch and be caught by their partner. Their skill illustrates the importance of trust. The one who flies has to trust his partner above all else that he will catch him. This requires faith to let go and be caught. Our daily prayer is all about renewing our faith in God and trusting that he will be there to catch us. Lord, grant us faith to stretch out our hands like the trapeze artist knowing that in the darkness of an uncertain future, You will be there to catch us and bring us to safety for You are our dwelling place and underneath are the everlasting arms of Him whose arms were outstretched on a cross even Jesus Christ, our risen Saviour and Lord.
21 May 2025 There is no doubt in my mind that there is no other job in the world which demands the worker to be so creative not just for a week or a month or even a year but throughout a forty year career than the humble parish minister. Everything the minister does requires creativity even if it’s just a word of thanks. In one of my charges, I had three sermons every week, a children’s address for the Sunday service, a programme for the Youth Fellowship, sometimes a secondary school assembly and every week a visit to the Primary for class or assembly. Whilst the Anglican rector or the Roman Catholic priest has some of these things, they do not have to write fresh prayers and because the worship is centred on the Sacrament, there is not the same pressure to produce a sermon of quality and originality. Reading, studying and reflecting on life in the parish and the world are essential sources of ideas. But how can you guarantee that you will have an idea when ...
20 May 2025 Joel Budd introduced readers of ‘The Tablet’ to his book, ‘The Truth About Britain’s White Working Class’. He discovered that the highest rates of childbirth outside marriage in England and Wales are to be found in and around Teeside in north-east England. Surprisingly, he also discovered that despite the statistics, people have not stopped believing in marriage as an ideal. ‘They are not at all blasé about the difficulties and the disadvantages of raising children outside strong, committed partnerships.’ he writes. The trouble is that white working class women have fewer options to secure a marriageable husband. They often describe their partners as unhelpful. But they don’t want to forego family life so they have a child but do not get married to the father whom they consider unmarriageable. The trouble with this limited set of circumstances is that marriages are much more lasting than partnerships. 8% of babies born to a married couple are being raised by a...
19 May 2025 Prior to the Reformation, a number of Scotland’s churches were in a poor state of repair. This is clear from the ‘First Book of Discipline’ (1560) in which there is a chapter entitled, ‘For Reparation of the Kirkes’. The Reformers make clear what needs to be done: ‘Least that the word of God and ministration of the Sacraments by unseemlinesse of the place come in contempt, of necessity it is that the Kirk and place where the people ought publickly to convene be with expedition repaired with dores, windowes, thack, and with such preparation within as appertaineth as well to the Magestie of God, as unto the ease and commodity of the people.’ In such circumstances, the Reformers had to take a very pragmatic approach to church buildings. Without money, they had to discern what was essential. In their assessment of the needs of the worshippers, their strategy included these three principles. Firstly, if there was adequate room in the parish church, the cathe...
18 May 2025 I had read some good reviews of a play starring Brian Cox, the Dundee born actor. He was playing the composer, choir director and organist, Johann Sebastian Bach. The play was called, ‘The Score’. Because I couldn’t go to London to see the play, I bought the script and read it. The play was written by Oliver Cotton and takes place during the last year of Bach’s life. He visits Frederick, King of Prussia. The amateur musician sets Bach a test. The King composes a small sequence of notes and with the court musicians’ help, makes it a complicated theme. The test is to read the theme and compose a fugue in three parts. Despite the court musicians’ confidence that it is impossible, Bach does it. The King’s desire for a six part fugue is something that would require paper and pen. The underlying theme is the contrast between the peace-loving Bach and the war-mongering Frederick. Bach challenges him but to no avail. He returns home and despite his failing eyes...
17 May 2025 I have been looking at the saints celebrated in the Orthodox Church. Some of them are completely unknown to me not least because they belong to the Eastern Church of which I am ignorant. Some of them are known but not celebrated in the calendar of the Western Church. There are two delightful features in the Orthodox Calendar. Firstly, as well as recognisable saints, they also celebrate characters from the Old Testament like the prophets Elisha, Isaiah and Jeremiah and mythical characters like Job and Jonah. Secondly, some specific events in the history of the Church are celebrated too like the ‘Discovery of the Head of St. John the Baptiser’ which eventually ended up in Constantinople, the ‘Appearance of the Sign of the Cross over Jerusalem’ and the ‘Deposition of the Robe of the Theotokos’, one of Mary’s robes. Last Sunday, they celebrated two saints, Cyril and Methodius, who are described as ‘Equals-to-the-Apostles’. They were brothers. The one...
16 May 2025 After eighty years, one would think that all the war stories worth telling and hearing had been told and heard but not so. I was moved to hear the tale of a German soldier who had been making his way home through Italy when he was obliged to join another portion of the disintegrating German forces in the last days of the war. At one point, they encountered a priest as they entered Giazza. Father Domenico Mercante had come out to meet the German soldiers to persuade them not to cause bloodshed. The Germans paid no attention to his appeal. Instead, they seized him and used him as a human shield in the face of Italian partisans. In the chaos of the retreat, it was decided to shoot the priest. A firing squad was chosen. Among them was the soldier who had been making his way home. He was a devout Roman Catholic who was wearing a crucifix and had in his possession a rosary. He refused to participate. As a consequence, he witnessed the priest being shot and then he w...
15 May 2025 The Bible Society commissioned the ‘Patmos World Bible Attitudes Survey’. It was based on face to face interviews with no less than 90,000 people across the world and undertaken by Gallup. It was summarised by Madeleine Davies in the Church Times. The report divides the eighty-five countries and areas into seven clusters. Cluster Five is made up of twenty-four economically developed historically Christian countries in Europe, North America and Australasia. In this cluster, four in ten said that religion was an important part of their daily lives. Unsurprisingly, this was less than half the global average. In Cluster One which includes the Sahel, it was almost 100% even among Muslims who were rated as ‘inactive’. On the positive side, there were some results worth celebrating in the Western world. Three things. Firstly, forty-seven per cent of the people in Western countries said that the Bible had something meaningful to say about life tod...
14 May 2025 It is inevitable that when someone becomes famous, people are interested to know his identity, where he grew up, what family he has etc. So it was with Robert Prevost when he became Pope Leo XIV last week. People made pilgrimage to Chicago. Steve Budzik was already there. He had bought the house where the Pope had grown up with his brothers, his French father and Italian mother. The Polish entrepreneur buys run down properties and does them up for profit. He bought the Pope’s old house for $60,000. ‘Do you think I could make a million now?’ he asked. Not far away is the church which the Pope attended in his childhood. It held its last mass in 2012 and now lies derelict. The tiled floor is sprinkled with broken glass from the windows. Sunlight shines through a large hole in the roof. The East wall is covered in graffiti. People have been smoking crack in the confessionals. ‘Usually when a cardinal becomes Pope. their home congregation goes nuts,’ said a neighbo...
13 May 2025 There was a report in the Scotsman recently about the Kirk’s finances. Three points were made in the headline. Firstly, the Kirk was facing a deficit of some £6 million. Secondly, the Kirk was going to cut staff in the Church Offices. Thirdly, the Kirk was at what was described as ‘a tipping point’. The financial position of the Church of Scotland has been deteriorating over the years despite a smaller membership giving more than has been expected. However, it stands to reason that with a falling membership, the financial position will become more precipitous. The seriousness of this situation is unacknowledged in two ways. Firstly, the constant need for Kirk Sessions to undertake an annual review of giving or some sort of stewardship initiative. This requires time to plan and people willing to organise. It is not a luxury item even in more encouraging times. Secondly, the time taken to make necessary readjustments across several parishes has been painstakingl...
12 May 2025 At the end of the Second World War, the British churches set up an organisation called, ‘Christian Reconstruction in Europe’. It raised £1 million to help refugees and to restore life in a bruised and battered Europe. Since then, it has grown enormously both in terms of income and influence. As Christian Aid it has become instrumental in encouraging local congregations to become more compassionate and less materialistic. In recent years, it has challenged our lifestyle and encouraged us to become more politically alert! As Christian Aid celebrates its eightieth anniversary, we must never forget that this organisation is supremely the Kirk’s offspring. It had its birth in the compassionate heart of a Church of Scotland minister, the Revd. Douglas Lister, Army Chaplain stationed in Germany. In the aftermath of the war, he was approached by an officer in the Luftwaffe, to help some 80,000 German refugees consigned to barns and bombed out houses nearby. Lis...
11 May 2025 John Cassian was born in the Roman Empire in the fourth century. He became a monk and his first monastery was in Bethlehem. He and his friend, Germanus, set out to learn as much as they could from older practitioners like Abba Isaac of Scetis in the Nile Delta. He recorded Abba Isaac's robust wisdom: ‘In order to be able to utter a prayer with the intense heat and clarity that you should, here are the tasks you need to take care of. First of all, you need to mow down all your concerns for physical matters. Then you need to prune away your preoccupations about business matters and odd jobs, as well as gabbing, chitchatting, telling dirty jokes, and other similar things that shouldn’t get lodged in your memory. Above all, you need to dig deep to excavate the destabilizing forces of anger and sadness, and root out the toxic fire starter of impulsivity and greed. Once these and other weaknesses that people are prone to exhibit are cleared out and ...