· stillpoint ·

  I had been to see the sun setting on Monday night and once it had gone behind the horizon I came home and got ready for bed when I caught a glimpse of red through a gap in the curtains.   The sky was afire with afterglow and this was something I couldn’t miss.   I took Ina’s camera with her lenses to get a shot from our front door then realised I needed to go out into the street, then a bit further down until I ended up in the park.   The sky was spectacular here but it was only once I was standing on top of the slide that I had enough elevation to frame the sky with Dumgoyne and the Campsies.   Still wearing pyjamas and slippers. Appreciating creation and its wonders is a form of thanksgiving as we recognise the beauty of this world that God has made and make the effort sometimes to get out there and participate in moments like this that come by, often unexpectedly.   I’m not sure whether Bishopbriggs is ready for a rash of St James parishioners in p...

  “Paul and Silas were watching a match” sounds like the beginning of a New Testament joke.   However Silas is a post graduate student from Zimbabwe who I have met through the Buddy scheme of Friends International and we watched Scotland play Croatia together last night.   Given the amount of mutual jumping, yelling and groaning as the match progressed there is no doubt as to the loyalty of this recently arrived visitor!   Although Scotland lost the team played well, have some good younger players and the future looks promising.   You could be forgiven for thinking the Scots had won by the sound of cheering and support for the team at the end of the game by the Tartan Army.    Appearances can deceive.     We had been for a walk earlier in the evening and Silas was telling me of trees in Zimbabwe that during the dry winter season look almost dead.   Their bark is dry and brown and seeming lifeless.   Within a few days of the sp...

  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a well-known saying that captures something of the way in which there is a unique response by each of us to what we see as beautiful.   It has been wonderful to see the reaction of the congregation and many others to the Four Evangelists Mug.     An ordinary everyday item can also be something beautiful.    Churches over the centuries have tried to be places of beauty which celebrate God’s creation and the gospel story, and the history of western art particularly is incomprehensible without that. And of course there is natural beauty that takes your breath away whether it is the minute detail of a flower or the wildscape of a mountain range.     Being a minister and a people person what moves me often is the beauty of human relations and the courage and commitments that go into shaping our lives.    Here are some examples from recently: ·        ...

  Last Sunday Harriet reminded us in the very telling phrase that when we pray we do not pray as the alone praying to the alone.    This sentence has stuck with me since then and I have noticed in my prayers that I do sense myself as part of something much bigger.    And I am more aware also that prayers are going to God even when I have ceased my own.    This reminded me of a hymn I would often sing to myself in Sri Lanka in the evenings as I watched the sun going down in the direction where so many of my family and friends were.   Here are the well known words which I encourage you to read slowly and notice which lines stand out for you.    You could also listen to it here by clicking here:   (13) The Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended : The Choir of the Abbey School, Tewkesbury - YouTube The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended; The darkness falls at Thy behest; To Thee our morning hymns ascended, Thy praise shall sanctify our rest....