· stillpoint ·

  Podcasts were one of my discoveries during this last year of lockdowns etc.   Not being able to visit people or follow a lot of my usual work patterns or socialising I really enjoyed listening to a wide variety of interesting and educative programs.   It was usually time well spent and opened up to me a whole new world of information and commentary, theories and discussions that I still find fascinating.   I love a good conversation that gets into the substantive issues of the day or a well delivered presentation that really enhances my understanding of important topics.    Or even an insight into a quirky part of history or our amazingly diverse cultures that I knew absolutely nothing about. We do live in an amazing world with so much to find out and learn and that includes the world of the Spirit and how God works in our lives.   There were many interesting podcasts I listened to covering a lot of theological and spiritual issues, and I would oft...

  Next weekend will mark the 30 th 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 of Glasgow, then in Kandy, Sri Lanka, followed by Aberdeen and now Bishopbriggs.    Thirty years of conversations in many varied contexts and through the whole gamut of human emotions and life cycles.   It doesn’t take much for memories to surface and I can recall hundreds of faces and innumerable homes.    It is a rare privilege to be welcome in homes in this way as a Christian minister and my life has been deeply enriched by it.   Ina and I have also shared our own home for everything from student supper parties to bible studies, vestry meetings to pot luck meals, pastoral conversations to teddy bear picnics in the garden. One of my guiding bible verses for this ministry has been 1 T...

The coverage of the life of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, has revealed much about him younger generations (well anyone below 50) simply did not know.    For the last two decades or so his public persona has been as an increasingly elderly man slowly fading from the national scene.    It’s been quite a revelation to many, including myself, all that he had done in his earlier years and midlife and the profile he had.   This included helping to modernise the monarchy, encourage a more innovative and science friendly Britain, as well of course his role in the D of E scheme and the World Wildlife Fund. When a new minister comes to a church and meet our older church members it can be easy to forget that they were young once and in the full vigour of life.   The church too may have been younger and more energetic too, since churches, like people, have their own lifecycles.     And of course as we pass older folk in the street or the superm...

  “A  workaround is  a bypass of a recognized problem or limitation in a system or policy. A  workaround is  typically a temporary fix that implies that a genuine solution to the problem  is  needed.” For example at St James a combination of I-phones, lap tops and tablets in various locations and combinations patch together a decent enough online service.   However, workarounds are never a long term answer and the time is coming to invest in some proper technology and training that will allow us to have a far more straightforward solution that will also deliver the best possible quality of service. We can try to find work arounds in our ethical and moral lives too. We try to earn God’s forgiveness so our Christian faith becomes a religion of sin management. Or we try to run our lives or our church with our agenda and resources, unwilling to give up control.   Or we find workarounds in difficult relationships when a direct honest conversat...