1 December 2025 There was concern in the cathedral. Numbers had been dropping. Income and prestige went with it. People weren’t so interested in making pilgrimages to the bones of St. Andrew. The staff at the cathedral in the ancient city of St. Andrews were puzzled! For two centuries, numbers had been phenomenal. Times had changed – but not without a fight. For the next two hundred years, the staff at the cathedral struggled to arrest this decline. They remodelled the shrine to St. Andrew. They attempted to diversify the attractions by creating chapels dedicated to some novelty saints. They petitioned the Pope for indulgences to help their cause. ‘With their patron saints no longer working miracles,’ wrote Tom Turpie in his illuminating essay, ‘the efforts of the bishops and canons were ultimately nothing more than an exercise in decline management.’ It is in the nature of institutions to die. Just like the life which was centred on the cathedral at St. Andrews died, s...
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30 November 2025 – St. Andrew’s Day On St. Andrew’s Day, we have a witness to show us how to follow Jesus. Although our Patron Saint was the first to follow him and introduced his brother to Jesus, he is always described not by his own name but as ‘Simon Peter’s brother’. He took second place – but did it graciously and hopefully. There was no sign of bitterness nor jealousy. Far from it! It’s in Andrew’s nature to play second fiddle for every time we meet him in the gospels, he is introducing someone to Jesus! His brother was first. The second was a little boy – the boy with the loaves and the fishes. And what became of that introduction? Five thousand hungry people were fed. It was a miracle of grace! And the third? Who was the third? It was a group of Greek people. They wanted to see Jesus. They came to Philip. He didn’t know what to do. He brought them to Andrew – and Andrew took these foreigners to meet Jesus. And what did Jesus say? My hour has come. Yes –...
29 November 2025 Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentinian author, wrote a short story entitled, ‘The Book of Sand’. A stranger knocked on his door in Buenos Aires. He was dressed in grey, carrying a grey suitcase. He was a foreigner, a Scotsman from the Orkney Islands. He was selling Bibles. Borges had no need of them. He had in his possession several including a Vulgate and a Wycliffe. ‘Are you religious?’ he asked the stranger. ‘I am a Presbyterian.’ he replied. He had an unusual book to show Borges. It was set out in double columns like a Bible and divided into verses. There were page numbers in the top right hand corners. He opened the book. One page was numbered 40,514 and the opposite page was 999. On one, there was an illustration of an anchor. When Borges tried to find the illustration again, he couldn’t. ‘Every time I tried, a number of pages came between the cover and my thumb. It was as if they kept growing from the book.’ He could neither find the first nor t...
28 November 2025 I have a very encouraging thing to do on Sunday. At Pittenweem Kirk, we are ordaining two new elders. Both have been participating in the Congregational Board and are experienced in the governance of the Church. One has been working for the kirk for decades. The other is in his twenties. We had a rehearsal in the church. Where to sit, where to stand, what to say and what to do. The Session Clerk was with us and helped me understand how things had been done in the past and the best way to arrange the Kirk Session. It all went very well until that moment when I got the two new elders to practice signing the Formula. I gave them the fountain pen I use for weddings. One started to sign her name. It didn’t work. There was no ink inside. It must have dried up since the wedding in July! Fortunately, I had a fine-liner and that worked its cure. But the incident reminded me of the reprimand which I got from the Registrar in East Lothian concerning the use of...
27 November 2025 I was visiting an elderly member of the church in hospital. Out of the blue, he asked me, ‘Is the Church in a state of decline?’ I confessed that membership, vocations and young people attending worship were all declining as we speak. ‘However,’ I added, ‘we are still here!’ In a congregation where two-thirds of the membership are over eighty, one would reckon that the quality of life would be seriously affected. I cannot say that this is true. Preparing lunch for the community, organising a Messy Church, caring for members in Nursing Home and hospital all happens cheerfully and efficiently. ‘Church of England mission statistics show small green shoots’ was the front page headline in a recent issue of the Church Times. The overall statistics painted a picture of decline. This ranged from average weekly attendance to the numbers of young people associated with congregations. ‘As the Statistics for Mission figures clearly demonstrate,’ said Dr. Ken Ea...
26 November 2025 Lord, today we long for the contentment which is to be found in seeking Your kingdom above all else. Yesterday we had the experience of being enfolded in Your love and strengthened to face all our difficulties. Tomorrow we have the opportunity to make others happy by giving generously and living graciously. In time, be the Lord of our lives. Out of time, let us live in Your love. Today, tomorrow and for aye, let joy fill our hearts and peace our Universe, through Jesus Christ, our risen Saviour and Lord - Amen
25 November 2025 We watched the ‘Big School Assembly Singalong’ on the ‘Songs of Praise’ programme last Sunday. It took place in the Victoria Hall, Bolton and was hosted by Aled Jones. A school choir led the praise accompanied by upright piano and a collection of instruments often heard in school like the glockenspiel and recorder! The BBC had organised a poll of favourite assembly songs. People were invited to pick their favourite five songs from a list of fifty. They included the traditional, ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’, the seasonal, ‘Autumn Days’ and the contemporary, ‘Cauliflowers fluffy’ by the Christmas impresario, John Rutter. Sydney Carter had two hymns in the top ten. At number 6, it was ‘One more step along the world I go’ and at number 3, it was ‘The Lord of the Dance’. Both are now in our Church Hymnary (2005) but appeared in the perennial favourite, ‘Come and Praise’ produced by the BBC for schools in 1978! In fact, thirteen of the top ten came from this book a...
24 November 2025 When Pilate dismisses Jesus with his famous jibe, ‘What is truth?’ he fails to wait for the revelation that the truth to which Jesus testifies is not only the eternal sovereignty of God but to himself as the truth. Earlier on in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus says to Thomas, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.’ The truth cannot be ultimately found in words for it resides in the person of Jesus. Words cut and divide. People are quick to argue and defend and create their own truth. This can readily be done with words. Why, we do it ourselves splicing our own experiences, reframing encounters to aggrandise ourselves. When the truth resides in a person, it cannot be manipulated nor abused in this way. Discerning the truth in Jesus is more than aligning certain words and acquiescing to them. It comes from engaging with a person who through the resurrection is alive in our world today. St. Paul not only says that ‘i...
23 November 2025 – Christ, the King In St. John’s Gospel, he is pitted against Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, a feeble man with no backbone save the Imperial authority of Tiberius and all its barbarism and cruelty. Their dialogue about kingship is significant. ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ he asks pitting Jesus against his own people. ‘Are you a king?’ he asks when Jesus talks about his kingdom? Jesus doesn’t answer directly but says, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.’ It’s not clear whether Jesus is admitting to being a king or not. But it is clear what his kingly vocation has been – to testify to the truth. He says, ‘If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.’ His kingdom does not belong to the cut and thrust of political manoeuvres enfolded in violence, warfare, terrorism. His kingship is laid bare by St. Paul in his l...
22 November 2025 A friend made a confession. ‘It must be an age thing but I am now forever making lists of the things needing done…’ In my response, I confessed that I have been making lists at least since adolescence. So I am disinclined to think that list-making is age-related. My present list which is sitting beside me as I write has only one thing on it. This is remarkable. It simply says, ‘Wedding Cars’. I need to think about hiring cars for our younger daughter’s wedding next autumn. I have been advised to do this timeously. But back to list-making…. There are three good reasons to make a list. Firstly, it nurtures self-discipline. It encourages us to reflect on what we need to do and enables us to make a plan to execute the tasks. Secondly, it helps us to remove the tasks from our mind. This is refreshing. It declutters the brain, minimises anxiety and brings a measure of peace. Thirdly, making a list detaches us from the tasks which need to be done and encourage...
21 November 2025 ‘A sower went out to sow ..’ It is a wonderful text. As preachers we need no other for that is all we are called to do – go out and sow. We know the results. Much of it is fruitless for a variety of reasons. Some of it successful but we know not how! When Dr. Pringle was asked to preach in London, John Galt tells us that Pringle exerted himself very much in his preparation. That was all to the good but … when he entered the pulpit his hopes withered and his expectations were frustrated. ‘What an inattentive congregation was yonder!’ he writes to his Ayrshire Session Clerk. ‘Many slumbered and slept and I sowed the words of truth and holiness in vain upon their barren and stoney hearts… I saw them whispering and smiling like the scorners and altogether heedless unto the precious things of my discourse…’ I have seen a fellow worshipper yawn. Another read her I-phone. A third fall asleep but I have yet to endure the whispering and smiling of the scorn...
20 November 2025 Sunday not only marked the feast day of St. Margaret of Scotland but the four hundredth anniversary of Sofonisba Anguissola’s death in 1625. She was born in 1532 in Cremona, the eldest of seven children, all girls except one! Their father was a minor nobleman who provided an all-round education for his family. Sofonisba proved to be very artistic. She is famed for her family portraits not least the celebration of her sisters playing a game of chess and her self-portraits, the final one being accomplished when she was 88 years old. She died aged 93. She travelled to Rome and was introduced to Michelangelo. She showed him a painting she had done of a girl laughing. He challenged her to paint another of a boy weeping. She painted her brother being bitten by a clayfish! The artist was impressed. When the King of Spain was looking to employ a tutor for his wife who was an amateur artist, he employed Sofonisba as her lady-in-waiting prior to becoming court pain...
19 November 2025 In a recent issue of ‘The Tablet’, Clifford Longley wrote about saving democracy. The title of his article was, ‘Could the Pope save Democracy?’ My immediate response was, ‘No, he can’t not least because the Roman Catholic Church is not a democracy but an authoritarian hierarchy!’ The summary of the article reads, ‘The historical relationship of Catholicisim with democracy has been ambivalent. With authoritarian forms of government on the rise, the moment calls for the Church to offer both a vigorous critique and a vigorous defence of democracy.’ How can an institution which does not reflect democratic principles safeguard our national democracies? And how could it be that one person would have it in his power to save democracy when he carries within his office extraordinary powers over what happens in the Church? In the latter part of his ministry, Pope Francis devoted time to embedding the process of synodality within the Church. It was ...
18 November 2025 In his beautiful, ‘Steeple Chasing’, Peter Ross meets a hospital chaplain in London who began his chaplaincy work during Covid. He had a ministry of friendship towards those who didn’t have Covid but were in hospital for serious illness. They suffered huge levels of isolation and loneliness. He also had a ministry to those who had Covid offering prayers and last rites with all his protective clothing, rubber gloves and mask. ‘The beds were a guddle of wires and machines.’ said the Revd. Jonathan Livingstone, ‘You couldn’t really see any flesh, any person. You could barely see their eyes.’ Ross asks the chaplain about the presence of God in these situations where ordinary contact was challenging. The chaplain argued that God’s presence was ‘apparent in the love, care and compassion shown by staff to patients and to one another’. The chaplain’s most revealing insight was born out of the Covid crisis. Something new was revealed to him. As he said, ‘Human lif...
17 November 2025 In my last charge, we made a number of films about different aspects of parish and Presbytery life. In these films, people were interviewed. In order not to manipulate what people said, I instructed the interviewer and photographer to ask everyone exactly the same questions. This meant that when the inevitable splicing took place and bits of interviews were joined together, the various comments used were consistent with the questions asked. I discovered that it was very easy to cut and divide and create misinformation. The splicing of Donald Trump’s speech prior to the riots on Capitol Hill which were made by the BBC Panorama crew has caused much controversy. Clearly, the lack of context has created the impression that Trump was inciting the crowd to attack the Capitol. The BBC has acknowledged its error and made its apology. Who knows whether or not this will be sufficient to avert a court case in which Trump carries out his threat to sue t...
16 November 2025 ‘More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold …’ sings the Psalmist. When we visited Dublin a decade or more ago, we queued up to see the Book of Kells. There were so many others interested in treasuring this illuminated manuscript that a person was paid to regulate the crowds. By contrast, when we went to the Irish Academy to see the Cathac, we couldn’t find it. There were people in the Academy studying and others cataloguing books. Everyone was quietly going about their business. There was nothing to tell us where St. Columba’s hand-written copy of the Psalms was to be found. Eventually, I asked a member of staff. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘it’s over there in that glass case. Just pull off the dust cover and have a look!’ As easy and as insignificant as that. Pulling back the cover, we saw the saint’s own beautiful if not ministerial handwriting. ‘More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold.’ Here the Word was being tre...
15 November 2025 We are not so persuaded that there is a fundamental division between science and religion. The two can live comfortably together. This is seen not least in the way Darwin’s Theory of Evolution fails to disturb mainline Christians and their understanding of the creation of human beings. The timescale of Biblical science was challenged in the eighteenth century by James Hutton and his geological discoveries which demonstrated how the earth has evolved over long periods of time. The Earth could no longer be considered to be 6,000 years old. This year, people in America marked the centenary of one of the most famous trials of the twentieth century – the State of Tennessee versus John Thomas Scopes (10-21 July 1925). It became known as the Scopes Trial or the Scopes Monkey Trial. It involved a young schoolmaster accused of teaching the theory of evolution. In the Butler Act, the State of Tennessee had recently outlawed the teaching of human evolution in...
14 November 2025 If you have been walking in woodland, you will have noticed a lot of acorns lying on the ground. There are so many of them that they form a cobbled path! This is evidence of what is called a mast year for oaks and beech trees. These mast years only happen once every five to ten years. Because the oak tree requires a lot of energy to produce acorns, which are high in nutrients, it does not produce as many most of the time. These acorns are mostly eaten by wildlife leaving fewer seeds for future growth. Because the oak conserves energy for the mast years, the oak produces so many acorns in the mast year that there are more acorns than the wildlife needs and so it ensures that new oak life will be generated. How this happens is a mystery. One of the consequences of the mast year is that the sightings of the red squirrel have increased. They eat hazelnuts which also generate more seeds in these mast years. The red squirrel has been able to have two breeding s...
13 November 2025 Among the minorities persecuted by the Nazis were the Jehovah Witnesses. They spectacularly refused to pledge allegiance to Hitler, serve in the military and join Nazi organisations. It is estimated that between 2,500 and 5,000 Jehovah Witnesses were killed in the concentration camps. They were identified by purple triangles. Paradoxically, the Nazis admired the strength of their faith which enabled them to resist declaring allegiance to Hitler. ‘SS Men must have the same fanatical and unshakeable faith in the National Socialist ideal and in Adolf Hitler that the Witnesses had in Jehovah.’ said Himmler and Eicke. In ‘The Nazi Mind’, Laurence Rees quotes words which were spoken by Hitler in 1927, ‘Be assured, we too put faith in the first place and not cognition. One has to believe in a cause. Only faith creates a state. What motivates people to go and do battle for religious ideas? Not cognition but blind faith.’ The Jehovah Witnesses illustrated what Hit...
12 November 2025 In his magisterial book about the Nazis, ‘The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History’, Laurence Rees writes about the corruption of the medical profession in Nazi Germany. Six months after Hitler became Chancellor, the Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseased Offspring was passed. The law not only applied to Germans suffering from mental illnesses but also those suffering from hereditary blindness or deafness or any severe hereditary deformity. ‘Doctors now had to balance the care of the individual alongside the perceived welfare of the state.’ writes Rees. Amazingly, there was little protest from the medical profession. How could this be? Rees explains. Around fifty per cent of doctors in Germany became members of the Nazi Party before Hitler came to power. This was a far greater proportion than any other profession. Rees gives several reasons. Firstly, Nazism was a pseudo-science which appealed to medical people. Secondly, 25,000 doctors had fough...
11 November 2025 Remembering is not enough. There has to be some understanding too if history is not to repeat itself. After all, it was the interrogator at the Nuremburg War Trials who said that Rudolf Hoss was just like a grocery clerk. But this grocery clerk had been the commandant at Auschwitz since 1940 and had overseen the murder of one million people. The trouble is that this observation was true. Hoss lived a pretty normal life. He was a husband and father. In fact, he and his family lived in the commandant’s house which was yards away from the crematorium in the main camp. According to Laurence Rees, he was to all intents and purposes a solid middle-class citizen doing his work, purposely following his career path through the ranks of the SS until successfully reaching a final promotion as Commandant of Auschwitz. Rees’ chilling analysis reveals two things. Firstly, there is no record of Hoss ever hitting, abusing or even killing anyone in the camp. He was...