It is almost the winter solstice as I write this last letter of 2019 and the first of 2020. The sun is beginning to set having carved a pale arc through the sky. Of course we know that the Earth is almost at its full tilt with the northern hemisphere away from the sun and …
Last month, I wrote about harvest and plastic consumption and how the harvest ended up on our breakfast tables. I received a query as to how and why Christians should be concerned about this and why I would write about that in a parish magazine. Inherent in our worship of the Christ are our Christian …
This month, like many others, I find myself juggling a hundred and one things as I prepare and organise the myriad of different services to and within the community here in Caithness. By the time this magazine goes to press I will have conducted four funerals in as many weeks. While not wishing to sound …
“We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the ground…” Words that most of us are acquainted with and a good harvest hymn. With the traditional tattie holidays just around the corner, we find that we have come to a point of year where the harvest is being brought in. On Sunday, just …
“Say, Pooh, why aren’t you busy?” I said. “Because it’s a nice day,” said Pooh. “Yes, but----” “Why ruin it?” he said. “But you could be doing something Important,” I said. “I am,” said Pooh. “Oh? Doing What?” “Listening,” he said. “Listening to what?” ‘To the birds. And that squirrel over there.” “What are they …
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 On Sunday we explored these three sentences. What it means to love one another …
Happy Easter to you all. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! As I write this, the sun is shining and birds are singing. There is wall to wall blue sky and children are outside playing in the warmth of this April morning. We are so fortunate to have land that we can access …
Last month I asked where our priorities lay. I asked if we choose to be outward focussed? Who could choose, whatever the cost, to reach out to others? Who would choose to help others in poverty, despair or addictions so that they may come to know the love and peace of Christ? This month I …
I wonder where our priorities lie? This was my opening gambit of Sunday’s sermon. Three texts of the Beatitudes from the Bible, of which two were from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. Jeremiah 17:5-10 illustrates a curse as a shrub that is parched that will never see relief and then immediately …
