7 January 2026

The computer and AI have been framed by the scientists in terms of power. Certainly, computers have become more powerful in terms of calculation and analysis of data etc. But we have seen how vulnerable nations become when the computer is sabotaged!

Being vulnerable is our true condition. We are like the grass of the field, here today, gone tomorrow. Our vulnerability is what God values. For this is his living Word. Right at the heart of creation is the vulnerability of a tiny baby and the vulnerability of a crucified man.

The fundamental principle which holds the creation together is the one which denies self and lives for the other through love. This is not just true in our personal, family and community life but our national and our international life. Wielding power belongs to Herod. Reconciling enemies belongs to Christ.

The present condition of the Church is to be celebrated for we are more like the Word which St. John talks about. ‘He came to what was his own and his own people did not accept him.’ This is what the Church of Scotland is like today. Our own people do not accept us as they once did.

This is where God wants us to be or, at the very least, in this place where some people would rather not be, God is able to illuminate the life and the light of the Word which lies at the heart of all things. We have the inspiration to re-imagine ourselves as instruments of his grace and truth.

For we have this gospel in earthen vessels to make it quite clear that ‘this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us’.  We are back  to the tiny baby, the cross, the earthen vessel, the bread and the wine and the remembrance of him who suffered and died for us.