12 May 2026 – From My Diary 2026

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, he overheard his wife 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. There was no context for me in kirk or parish. ‘I am sure my ministry wasn’t very effective.’ I wrote in my diary. ‘Hopefully God’s ministry was. Who knows?’ This is the true context for ministry. We rarely know how effective we have been. It’s essentially an act of faith.

There was some compensatory good news in the parish. The elder who initiated the Tuesday coffee morning has gained immediate support. Fourteen people signed up to provide baking for the weekly coffee mornings and ten signed up to serve! Excellent!

Our younger son wanted to go out to play with his friend Mark. His mum said, ‘No! It’s late and wet!’ He was  upset. ‘Why don’t you bake something?’ said Mary-Catherine. He did – delicious brownies. Half way through, he said to his mum, ‘If Mark comes to the door, tell him I can’t come out to play because I’ve got my baking!’

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