Looking back over my journey through this pandemic with its imposed lockdowns, I recognise the various phases of culture shock I experienced when I moved to live in Turkey 40 years ago. It was a new country and a new way of life. Then I had similar experiences in reverse on returning home to Scotland … Continue reading Culture Shock →

Who are you seeking? What are you talking about? Do you love me?

I love Jesus riding on that baby donkey to Jerusalem - quite deliberately fulfilling prophecy, an acted parable disclosing himself as the Messiah - the anointed King. Fear not, daughter of Zion!Behold, your king is coming,Sitting on a donkey’s colt! (Zechariah 9:9, John 12:15). How humble and how kind is our King, allowing this young … Continue reading I Love Palm Sunday →

I don’t want to go back to life as it was before the pandemic. Life has been slower, simpler, and my priorities have been chastened. I’ve been inspired by the twin passions I find in the Lord’s Prayer.

Yesterday was Mothering Sunday. I couldn’t help remembering the Mother’s Day I spent in Dunblane twenty five years ago. The shooting on March 13th 1996 was deeply shocking – sixteen little children and their teacher shot dead in a primary school classroom. Scotland grieved. The world grieved. All week I struggled to hold back my … Continue reading Mothering Sunday →

God knows I hate turbulence. Now, with all the travel restrictions, the concerns over virus variants and hotel quarantines, I’m wondering if I’ll ever have to fly again. Many are desperate for sunny foreign climes this summer, but I’ll be quite content to have a staycation. For 12 years our ministry roles turned me into … Continue reading Turbulent Times →

I’m weary with these lockdown restrictions that keep us isolated from one another, and I’m weary with Zoom. I long to gather as church again. Catching the eye of a fellow worshipper adoring our Saviour and linking hearts with friends as we sing is to me like a health tonic for my whole person. Sensing … Continue reading Isolation →

My heart leapt this morning when I saw these snowdrops rising from the hard frosty ground. They seem to have come early this year; perhaps because we need encouragement. We are grieving 100,000 deaths to COVID-19 in the UK. It was as if their little drooping heads with tear drop petals were reflecting our own … Continue reading Snowdrops →

There’s a certain power in poetry - the beauty of words, allusions, associations that can so resonate with us, sometimes subconsciously, and move us deeply, awakening the soul. Memorising chunks of poetry has played an important role in the lives of President Joe Biden and the youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman, helping them overcome a … Continue reading When Hope and History Rhyme →

No matter our political leanings, the events last week at Capitol Hill shocked us all. It made me think again what ‘greatness’ really is. Leaders who can deny personal ambition for the common good, and whose egos can include critics in their inner circle of advisers, are rare indeed. It’s natural and not wrong to … Continue reading What is Greatness? →