Blog on the Learig

  1 June 2026 The Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s Gospel needs to be tempered by the other two commissions which Jesus made. Interestingly, they are both recorded in St. John’s Gospel. The first is the great prayer which Jesus makes at the Last Supper.   It is the prayer which defines our relationship with the world. We are in the world but not of the world. The world’s definitions of success and failure are not ours! Jesus prays that ‘they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’   We find our true home in the Holy Trinity. Through the Spirit, we are drawn to Christ and into his relationship with the Father. This is the place where we are truly at home and at one with each other. It’s through our unity that the world will believe. The second is the commission which Jesus gives the disciples in the Upper Room. He appears to them after the resurrection and say...

  31 May 2026 Walking from the East Sands up to the clifftop above the water, I met a man with his dog. I noticed the dog first. It was a golden labrador and it had something hanging from its mouth. At first, I thought it was a woolly toy but, no, it turned out to be   a young rabbit. I passed and walked to the top of the cliff. I looked back down the hill and noted that the labrador had dropped his prey on the ground – and it had tried to make its escape. He was unsuccessful. The labrador cornered him and began to make sport. He swung the rabbit from side to side, hitting the helpless creature on the ground. All the while, the dog’s owner walked on without any concern for the welfare of the rabbit. They   exited the path onto the sandy beach. I followed behind. At this point, the dog dropped the beast on the sand and his owner called him away. This was his first and last intervention. I was first on the scene and could see that all life had been knocked out of th...

30 May 2026 In her poem, ‘Tyndale in Darkness’, UA Fanthorpe tells the story of William Tyndale in beautiful blank verse. In particular, she exposes the humanity of the disciples whom Jesus calls. She imagines them aboard the boat in the storm: Why did he ask them to stay awake When He knew they couldn’t? Because He always does. He picks the amateurs who follow Him For love, not devout professionals With a safe pair of hands. Look at Peter, A man permanently in hot water, chosen, Perhaps, for that very thing. God sets his mark On us all. And then her Tyndale reflects on his own predicament and the unique calling which was his, to use his ability as a scholar to bring the living Word, as he called it, to ordinary people: You start and it’s easy: I heard the ploughboy whistling under Coombe Hill, And I thought, I could do that. Give him God’s Word, I mean, in his own workaday words. And I did, But it got difficult: exile, hardship, shipwreck, Spies everywh...

  29 May 2026 Being able to understand God’s deeds of power was very important to the Reformers. The old Latin Vulgate was superseded with versions of the Bible written in the vernacular. John Wycliffe translated the Latin Vulgate into Middle English at the end of the fourteenth century. William Tyndale translated the New Testament and much of the Old from the original languages into English. This was the precursor to the Authorised Version. It is estimated that 90% of the Authorised Version   has come from Tyndale’s translation and about a   third of the text is word for word. He introduced new words into our language like ‘Passover’ and ‘atonement’ and ‘scapegoat’. Phrases like ‘Let there be light.’ and ‘the powers that be’   and ‘the signs of the times’ and filthy lucre’ all came from Tyndale’s quill. The Authorised Version, which was read in Scottish kirks for four   hundred years, has been superseded by a plethora of modern translations. Tyndale w...

  28 May 2026 This year marks the five hundredth anniversary of the publication of a New Testament by the English scholar, William Tyndale. He came from a village near Gloucester and studied at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. A hundred and fifty years before, John Wycliffe translated the Bible into Middle English from the Latin Vulgate. Tyndale translated the New Testament and much of the Old from the original Greek and Hebrew texts into English. Tyndale was appalled at the ignorance of the clergy and became convinced that ‘it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth, except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue’. The Bishop of London didn’t agree. He outlawed Tyndale who made his home on the continent   eventually in Antwerp.   When his New Testament was smuggled into London, the Bishop bought them up and burnt them. His New Testament was written in Black Letter font and divided into chapters. It retained some il...

  27 May 2026 Peter Brook, celebrated theatre and film director, wrote ‘The Empty Space’ in 1968. It’s all about the theatre. Among the different types of theatre explored is ‘The Holy Theatre’, the theatre of the invisible made visible. The book made me think about the church and encouraged connections. Whilst giving a talk to university students, he asked for a volunteer. He gave the volunteer a sheet of paper on which was typed an extract from a play about the Holocaust. Whilst the volunteer read the script, the rest of the students began chattering to each other. Because the volunteer was so struck by what he was reading, Brook writes, ‘Something of his seriousness and concentration reached the audience and it fell silent.’ Brook invited the volunteer to read the script aloud. The content was ghastly.   The audience became one with him. ‘Not only did the reader continue to speak in a shocked attentive silence, but his reading, technically speaking, was perfect – it...

  26 May 2026 We watched ‘Dear England’ on the television. It was based on James Graham’s play about Gareth Southgate and his extraordinary leadership of the England men’s football team. It is an exploration of the transformation which he made to the fortunes of the team. There were two significant strategies. The first was the employment of a psychologist to work on   enabling the footballers to open up emotionally – to acknowledge fear, to work through failure and to find some joy in playing their football.. The second was to give the players a sense of history. They were part of a long line of England footballers stretching back to 1872. He worked out what number each player was in this national line-up. Harry Kane had an England   legacy number of 1207. He wrote a letter, ‘Dear England’ and concluded, ‘But the reality is that the result is just a small part. It’s about how we conduct ourselves. And how we bring people together. That lasts beyond the summer. Th...

  25 May 2026 When I was a child, morning worship in the kirk began with what we called ‘The Little Entry’. The Beadle came out of the vestry carrying a large edition of the Authorised Version of the Bible,   ceremonially climbed   the pulpit steps, opened up the Bible gravely and returned to the vestry. This was the cue for   the minister to enter the pulpit. He   opened our worship with a formal but striking, ‘Let us worship God.’ Our eyes had already been lifted up to God in ‘The Little Entry’ for it drew our attention away from mundane things to the living Word   and the transcendent God. ‘The Little Entry’ has its origins in the early Church and has been preserved in a much more elaborate form in the Orthodox Church. It was first observed by Egeria, a wealthy woman, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 381AD and recorded it in a book. The Holy Gospel Book sits on the altar behind the Royal Doors. It is carried in procession around the ...

  24 May 2026 – From My Diary 1996 We had a good fraternal. Discussion centred on the baptism of children whose parents were not married, the centrality of preaching and the importance of   releasing the gifts of the people of God.   Surprisingly, two colleagues were not favourably disposed to the latter. The one said gifts could be released in a demonic way. The other said that a friendly dictatorship was to be preferred to an unfriendly oligarchy. History has proved them wrong and the necessity of harvesting the gifts of others is even more obvious thirty years on! G called at the manse. He is living in the old caravan in the kirkyard. He asked for   a lift up to the kirk. I agreed. When I dropped him off, he burst into tears. He is going into the hospital for a major operation. Would I visit? Of course. ‘If I don’t come out,’ he said handing me a card, ‘Will you phone that number?’ Of course. I re-read, ‘Mister God, this is Anna’ and used it to prepare the...

  23 May 2026 Following the Lockerbie Bombing in which thirty-five students from Syracuse University were killed, the University commissioned a patchwork quilt containing thirty-five panels. Each one represented one of the thirty-five students killed in the bombing. In the panel commemorating Sara Philipps, there is a single silver earing recovered from the wreckage. The other was never found. Another two panels are linked together by two matching bandanas worn by Eric and Jason Coker. They were twins. A fourth panel contains material from Richard Monetti’s denim jacket. The people of Lockerbie had washed it to remove the bloodstains before sending it home. Out of the pain and grief of the bombing, something beautiful was created ‘as a celebration of who these students were’ said one of the students at the University. ‘I think people often forget that each of these students was somebody’s daughter or sister or best friend.’ It is through the love of God that the unique ...

  22 May 2026 Whereas bread and wine are the primary symbols in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, the secondary symbol is the Table. In the First Book of Discipline, it’s clear that the Reformers wanted to recover the simplicity of sharing a meal together albeit a last supper. ‘Plaine it is, that at supper Christ Jesus sate with his Disciples.’ they wrote. ‘And therefore do we judge that sitting at a table is most convenient to that holy action; that bread and wine ought to be there; that thankes ought to be given; distribution of the same made.’ One of the most striking features of our celebration of the Sacrament is the invitation we extend to ‘all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ’ to come and share the feast. Whereas we see our unity stemming from the love of God in Christ and celebrated primarily in the Sacrament, others see the Sacrament as the final celebration of that unity. Today it is a symbol of disunity – but it needn’t be as Queen Victoria found out. In an essa...

  21 May 2026 Signs and symbols, pictures and banners, icons and tapestries, words and music all have the potential to communicate God’s love to his people. Just as the kiss or the box of chocolates or the act of kindness confirms the truth and deepens our understanding of the spoken word, ‘I love you!’ so God’s love is validated, celebrated and illuminated by art and music, sign, symbol and song. In particular, God’s love for us is made visible in what we call the Sacraments. For the first thousand years of the church’s history, no-one could say how many Sacraments there were. Before the Reformation, the church declared there were seven. After the Reformation, the reformers argued that there were only two. ‘There be only two sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.’ wrote the Westminster Divines in the Confession of Faith. According to them, they were specifically instituted by Christ and each one is prefaced b...

  20 May 2026 One day, we had a special service in the church for children, parents and grandparents in the Playgroup and Mother and Toddler Groups. During the service, I showed the children five, big, differently-coloured stars. Someone was shining on each one – Bob, the builder was the favourite but Jesus was the best of all! Some children were invited to hold up the stars. After the address, I collected them up. One toddler strayed onto the chancel and appealed to me with his eyes for the chance to hold one of the stars. I gave him the blue one. For the rest of the service, he walked around the chancel holding the big, blue star and waving it backwards and forwards with rare delight. At one point, he stuffed a corner of the star into his mouth. It was obvious to me that the shining star had spoken to him more clearly than anything I could ever have said. So much so that he was loving the star to death. It was very moving to see our symbol of Christ’s light enjoyed so muc...

  19 May 2026 Words are never enough to sustain a relationship. What happens when words fail as they inevitably do when grief is too deep for words or age destroys the capacity to speak? Our actions have a power of their own to deepen our relationship by speaking not only to the mind but to the heart! And so it is that words and actions both have an important place in the worship of God. Walking to church on a Sunday has much more significance than   getting from A to B. It is a public declaration of our faith in God. It’s only through public worship that the church is made visible to the community! The physical building is in itself a silent witness to the undying love of God and the eternal realities. Standing up for the Little Entry confirms our respect for the Word of God and its authority over our lives. Clasping hands and closing eyes atunes mind and heart to listen to the Spirit of God in prayer. Over the past decades, it has become clear that worshippers need t...

  18 May 2026 After my mother died, I realised we didn’t have a photograph of her on display in the manse. Despite all the photographs which I had collected, my camera-shy mother avoided being caught by the camera. In the end, I found one, only one but it was the right one. It was a photograph of my mum and dad taken at a wedding a few years before her death. I got it enlarged and framed. I put the original inside the Bible which I use for funerals. The framed photograph was duly displayed on a little table in the hall. At first it stood there on its own. Then one day, I noticed that a tiny vase of freshly cut flowers had been placed beside it. The flowers looked beautiful. Mary-Catherine had been at work. My mother loved flowers. We knew she would have appreciated the gift. They were a silent but eloquent witness to our love for her. Nothing more needed to be said. In a way, words were inadequate. We would never have found the right ones. The gift of flowers did a much b...

  17 May 2026 – From My Diary 1996 I took eight members of the Bible Class to the Youth Night at the General Assembly Hall. The Youth Adviser organised buses and fares were paid by the Presbytery.   There were a thousand young people packed into the Hall. The speaker was Bart Campolo, son of Tony, who   was   certainly engaging. The last time I had been at a Youth Night, his father was the speaker. ‘It doesn’t matter whether you believe the right things,’ he said, ‘Have you given yourself to Christ and his suffering world?’ You could hear a pin drop. ‘The Word is certainly not dead.’ I wrote. The Moderator spoke to the young people in buckles and tights. How he managed to do it with dignity, I don’t know. But the young people afforded him the greatest respect. Looking back, could we command such a spectacle? The Moderator would be less formally dressed and now Bart Campolo is an atheist! At our Pentecost worship for all ages, the Session Clerk read ...

  16 May 2026 One of the marvellous things about the letter to Titus is that the author begins and ends the letter with a greeting. These greetings enfold the letter in grace. ‘Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.’ is the opening greeting. ‘Grace be with all of you.’ is the concluding greeting. This grace has been manifested in the incarnation of Christ. In the centre of the letter to Titus, there is a wonderful celebration of this when the author says, ‘When the kindness and generosity of God our Saviour dawned upon the world … The birth of Jesus and the unexpected consequences of his birth, is described as the dawning of God’s kindness. It’s such a simple expression. God seems so much more accessible, approachable, just like one of us. We know all about kindness. We are kind to our family. People are kind to us. And we are kind in return. But how kind are we to those who aren’t kind to us or to those who don’t return our kindnesses to them? Is...

  15 May 2026 In 2 Timothy, the writer gives a devastating critique of the world. ‘People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers … He goes on, ‘profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward forms of goodliness but denying its power.’ What a catalogue! What a world! Our world? By contrast, the Christian has not been given ‘a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.’ He is not distracted by unimportant things. He lives by God’s law. He waits with patience for God to fulfil his purposes. He is single-minded and unashamed of the gospel. He has strength to endure whatever comes his way and to endure it with dignity. The gospel is described as a treasure – something rare and valuable and worth a great deal. The re...

  14 May 2026 1 Timothy is full of practical advice. Some of our best known quotations are to be found here. ‘Do not neglect the gift that is in you.’ the writer says to a youthful Timothy. ‘No longer drink only water,’ he says, ‘but take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.’ With this explicit commendation, one wonders why the kirk had such a negative attitude towards alcohol. And most famously of all, ‘The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.’ And don’t we know it. Wealth has always been a threat to Christianity. This has been confirmed by history. However, money is amoral. The love of money is not. ‘No-one can serve two masters,’ says Jesus, ‘you cannot serve God and money.’ Right at the start of 1 Timothy, the author makes clear the purpose of his advice. ‘The aim of such instruction is love,’ he says,   ‘love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith.’ If that is the outcome of reading this let...

  13 May 2026 We had family staying with us on Saturday. In the evening, we walked down to the East Sands via the Kinnessburn. At the bridge at the foot of the steep brae leading up to St. Andrews Episcopal Church, we stopped to look at a duck with her ducklings. She had six altogether. She was sitting on a stone beside the running water. Five of her offspring   were sitting underneath her   wings. The six was busy swimming in the burn, darting here, darting there, snatching lots of insects flying above the water. Underneath a nearby blossom tree sat the heron. She was awaiting her chance to gobble up the tiny duckling playing so innocently and cheerfully in the nearby waters. The mother kept quacking, trying to alert her sixth   to come and enjoy the fulfilment of the Psalmist’s prayer, ‘Hide me under the shadow of your wings.’ But to no avail. Gradually a small crowd gathered on the bridge mesmerised by this tense triangulation of fear. It was better entert...

  12 May 2026 – From My Diary 1996 A father of the bride phoned. He was trying to write his father of the bride speech. ‘Have you any good jokes?’ he asked. Thank goodness for Jim Simpson’s book of jokes. I quoted two. The father of the bride was very happy. ‘That will do me nicely. ‘ he said. ‘You can have the rest of the night off!’ A young woman asked to speak to me about her faith. She was afraid that there would be nothing after life.   She found some comfort in the realisation that before we were born or when we are asleep, we have no awareness of life and living, meaning and purpose. A neighbouring minister was indisposed. I was asked to take a funeral. The widower reported that the night before his wife died, he overheard her talking to a relative on the phone about him. ‘He really gets on my nerves.’ Because our last words have more power than any other, we should consider all our words to be our last. When I conducted the funeral service, I felt out of place....

  11 May 2026 Those who participate in an act of public worship in the Kirk are expected to play a significant part in the preaching of the Word. The task itself is generally entrusted to the parish minister but this is only the beginning. There is work for the congregation to do. They must remain ALERT! A is for   anticipation. On the way to the kirk, we anticipate the work of the Holy Spirit in the reading of the Word and in the preaching of the Word of God. Whilst the words of the preacher are not necessarily the word of God, the Holy Spirit is working through them to enlighten the worshipping community. L is for listening. This is a skill which doesn’t come easily to us. It requires us to divest ourselves of self and to focus on the other. It requires us to consider the other of more worth than self at least for   this moment in time. Listening to God requires the discipline of attentiveness and the humility to lead us there. E is for exploration. Our openness...

  10 May 2026 Sam Jackson is the Controller of BBC Radio 3. He was interviewed recently by Gerry Lynch. The result appeared in an article in the Church Times. The forty-five year old comes from Godalming. He was the first in his family to go to university and he became a Christian during his first term at the University of York. Interestingly, he is very much involved in his parish church. ‘I’ve always done a lot of volunteer youth and children’s work.’ he said. ‘Even though I love the day job, it’s a wonderful antidote.’ On Sunday morning, he works with a group of 4-7 year olds leading worship, telling Bible stories, playing games, doing craft work. Jackson was challenged by a fellow broadcaster to be more public about his faith. His response to the suggestion, ‘I’m always happy to talk about this part of my life.’ On his social media profile, he has quoted Philippians 4;13, ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me.’ He is clearly passionate about music and its ...