· stillpoint ·

It seems we are drawing towards a new stage in our national lesson in patience.    Collectively we have had to learn to wait for and forgo much of what used to be easily accessible and even part of our routines.     One of our regular events was a long walk or climb somewhere in the countryside within an hour or two from our home.   This year though spring has come and gone, the wild flowers and blooms of the higher hills, the spring lambs jumping in the fields, the wonderful mountain sunsets have all gone unobserved.    Invisible to us, limited to our cities and towns.   The recent news of relaxing the travel limits has set us planning apace where we are going to go and what we hope to see. Of course, beauty in nature is just as beautiful whether we are there to notice it or not.   Perhaps nature has enjoyed her greater privacy this year, the quietness and calm settling over the landscape as the patient seasons run their course....

Love on a bicycle The Greek word for Love most often used in the New Testament is the word Agape.   This means a selfless love that is passionately committed to the well-being of others and is modelled on the example Christ set us.     It is the highest kind of love and is sometimes called charity in our older versions of the bible.    Agape has something very important to say to modern times, something that addresses the fragility of what all of us, believer and unbeliever alike, most value in these times, overstepping the limits of mutuality and fairness. (Charles Taylor)   In this season of lockdown we are discovering again the importance of this generous love that looks to help the fragile and needy, no questions asked. There have been other times when such self-sacrificing love is needed and people give themselves for others in times of crisis or injustice.    I’d like to talk about my friend Shelton as a great example. ...

St. Barnabas and Samwise Gamgee We all know the value of friends who encourage us when times are hard or when we are feeling down.   They can help us laugh again, find a little more strength to keep going, see a healthier perspective, spot where God is in the situation, and most of all help us to find hope.    We all need at least one or two folk like that in our lives, and especially in this season of prolonged waiting and uncertainty.   Perhaps we can be that person sometime for others too. There are two great examples of this. One was even nicknamed ‘Son of Encouragement’ by his pals.   " Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37  sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet" (Acts 4:36.)   Yesterday was the feast day of St Barnabas, this remarkable man who was of the Jewish priestly caste, but who was so won over by Jesus that ...

Fields of Hope From ages 8-12 I lived in a small mining village in Fife and enjoyed exploring the fields and woods which surrounded us. One route to a friend’s house went by some turnip fields and it always amazed me that they could seem so empty for a long time and then gradually the crop would appear bit by bit, even though most of it was under the ground.    I have a memory of even stealing one with my pal…nothing like a freshly caught ‘tumchee’ (as they call them in Fife).    What got me thinking along these lines was a conversation I had today with one of my fellow minsters at our weekly prayer time.    He was telling the story of last week seeing a 2ft. fish in the canal here in Bishopbriggs and then warning an angler that it was heading his way.    The angler replied that the canal is full of 2ft. fish now because there are no barges or other boats disturbing the water.    Whether it is quiet fields that gradually...