Next weekend will mark the 30th anniversary of my start in Christian ministry. A large part of these years has been spent visiting homes. First of all students from all around the world in their residences in Glasgow, then folk all over the south side…
In various conversations recently I’ve heard people’s stories of what they have been ‘sorting out’ and ‘getting rid of’. Perhaps the long lockdown has forced us into taking spring cleaning more seriously. As we move towards the summer we want to be less encumbered with …stuff!…
‘We are in the Business of Hope’. These words jumped out at me when I opened a recent email from the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI). A few years ago I collected donations for the RNLI. Still in contact with this charity,…
We have a new pup at home and recently she has discovered a new favourite sleeping place, below the armchair. In a few weeks Bella will be too big to fit under there, but along with her bed which has high walls around and…
Having been asked to contribute to the St James thought for the day this week, my thoughts on solidarity have sadly been dominated by the distressing news about the murder of Sarah Everard in London and the campaigns to make the streets and other…
Albert Einstein once said that we have two choices about how to live in this world. As if there are no miracles or as if everything is a miracle. Although Einstein was not a conventional religious person, he had seen too much of the…
At St James Church our theme this Lent is Sorrow, Solidarity and Hope. This week we are beginning to look at what solidarity means for us. I first came across the word associated with Solidarność, the Polish trade union led by Lech Wałęsa. When…
“Once upon a time…” those words have invited children (and adults who know what’s good for them) on journeys of imagination and excitement, suspense and hope, even courage and danger. There is nothing like a well told story to capture our attention, expand our vision…
“The world has become a village” was the phrase a friend used just a couple of days ago in a book she had contributed to. She was referring to the impact of Covid 19 and how our lives (and deaths) are linked in a…
Yesterday evening I heard a great quote : ‘we are living in times when the cloth is being woven.’ I found these words very evocative and have been wondering why! You know how certain lines just suddenly hit you at an instinctive level, bypassing…