8 September 2026

On Sunday, I celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism at Crail. There were a lot of children in the kirk. I talked to them about boats and the connections which Jesus had with boats and his four friends who were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.

With a square piece of paper, I was able to demonstrate how you could make a paper boat. It requires very few moves but the trick is to ensure that the creases are folded tightly. It is difficult to do this when you are standing up and not sitting at a table! But it worked well enough.

In his beautiful book of childhood poetry, ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’, the poet, Robert Louis Stevenson,  wrote a poem entitled, ‘Where go the Boats?’ It is about a child offering his boats up to the river to see where they will go.

On goes the river

And out past the mill,

Away down the valley,

Away down the hill.

Away down the river,

A hundred miles or more,

Other little children

Shall bring my boats ashore.

The child has three gifts to share. Firstly, his faith in his boat’s ability to sail down the river safely. Secondly, his vision in seeing that his boat could become the gift of another and a connection between two worlds made. Thirdly, his joy in letting go to secure another’s joy in a life of unkown adventure!