23 June 2025

When I was minister at Logie Kirk, I inherited a parish which was favoured by travelling people. They came there for funerals and other religious ordinances and always took a collection for the kirk when they were there.

Among their number, I got to know the Bastable family who owned the dodgems. They had an only child, Valerie. Unbeknown to her parents, Valerie got her HGV licence so that she could take over the driving from her dad.

But this was never to be.  She died suddenly in her early thirties. As you can imagine, her parents were devastated. A long time after, they came back to ask if they could put a stained glass window into the kirk in memory of Valerie.

We chose the ‘Parable of the Good Samaritan’. It resonated with travelling people and embraced the eternal truth about the power of human kindness to heal the wounds of division.

Valerie loved the snow. She died in February and I remember it snowed at her burial in the kirkyard. So John Blyth put some snow and a red robin into the design of the window as a personal memorial.

The window stands still,  enfolded in silence. It is an eloquent reminder of the Gospel and the work God gives us to do. ‘Who was neighbour to the man who fell among thieves?’ asks Jesus. ‘Go and do likewise!’  for this is our true vocation as Christian people!

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