25 January 2026 – Burns’ Day

For a’ that, an a’ that,

It’s comin yet for a’ that,

That man to man the world o’er

Shall brithers be for a’ that.

‘Is There For Honest Poverty’ is one of Robert Burns’ most famous poems and songs, famously sung at the opening of the Scottish Parliament. It embraces the equality of every human being born out of the first page of Genesis where the author tells us that we were all made in the image and likeness of God.

The sacredness of every human being is what inspires more secular laws about equality but the Biblical reference is to God not man. And one of the ways in which we can embrace this sacredness is to be compassionate, to stand in the shoes of another and see them as God sees them!

For Jenny had her problems decorating her head with a fancy hat and thinking of herself more highly than she should. The louse which the poet saw crawling on her hat during the minister’s sermon was the inspiration for another of his famous verses, ‘O wad some Power the giftie gie us/ To see oursels as ithers see us!’

For Burns, there is a unity which transcends the brotherly peace celebrated by the Psalmist, ‘How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.’ For working with the horse and the plough, he turns up a mouse in her nest,  ‘I’m truly sorry man’s dominion/ Has broken Nature’s social union’.

Burns has read his St. Paul. ‘In Christ all things hold together.’ His ministry of reconciliation unites the human world, the animal kingdom, all living things in peace. And the mouse teaches the poet how to proceed. ‘Still thou art blest, compared wi’ me!/ The present only toucheth thee’.

The past and its regret, the future and its fear do not bring peace but living now in the present moment leads us back to Jesus considering the lilies of the field and the birds of the air and his concluding word of wisdom, ‘Today’s trouble is enough for today.’


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  4 November 2025 Two months before his death, Archbishop Oscar Romero   wrote in a Mexican newspaper, ‘ As a shepherd I am obliged by Divine Law to give my life for those I love, for the entire Salvadoran people, including those who threaten to assassinate me. If they should go as far as to carry out their threats, I want you to know that I now offer my blood to God for justice and the resurrection of El Salvador.’   A   death squad was ready. On 24 March 1980, the Archbishop was celebrating mass in a hospital chapel. He had just finished preaching his sermon.   He had come to the Liturgy of   the Sacrament. He picked up the bread, ‘ This is the body of Christ which is broken for you!’ he said. Suddenly, a   man with a pistol aimed his gun at Romero. A shot rang out.   The Archbishop fell down at the altar with the broken bread in his hands. The gunman ran off to a waiting car. People rushed to the Archbishop’s assistance but he was dead!...
Read more
  17 October 2025 I was making a purchase on the internet. The item was no longer in the shop. The shop-keeper had failed to remove it from the   internet but was able to source   another. I discovered it was coming by ship from New Zealand. I wondered whether to continue with the purchase? It turned out that the shop was in   Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Somehow that made a difference. It had become part of our corporate history. I confirmed my willingness to   wait and said how we remembered the courage of the people at Enniskillen. She thanked   me for my encouraging words. I remember the town well. The bombing immediately came to mind. It was at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday 1987. An IRA bomb exploded killing 11 civilians and a policeman. 68 were injured. The IRA made a mistake. Their target was a parade of   soldiers marching to the war memorial. Among the dead was a young nurse Marie Wilson. She and her dad, Gordon, a local dra...
Read more
  23 October 2025 Sunday is going to be a day of reckoning. There are   seven crucial votes taking place in two corners of the Presbytery. The first   two are in the North Fife Cluster where I have been working as Facilitator. Balmerino and Wormit and Creich, Flisk and Kilmany are voting to unite. Balmerino and Wormit have already united. Once this union takes place, there is a third to negotiate with Newport.   Newport has a minister in post and so any union will be dependent on more than the agreement of the two Kirk Sessions. The second five votes are taking place in three congregations – Crail, Pittenweem and St. Ayle (Cellardyke and Anstruther). St. Ayle is already a union and it is voting to unite with neighbouring Pittenweem where I am Interim-moderator . If the union goes ahead, they will each be voting to link with Crail. The linked charge will be an appealing   prospect for a minister. It is a hugely attractive parish – four villages   se...
Read more