Recently  South Africa has been on my mind. primarily because  our latest member of staff  arrived from Johannnesburg this week with his wife and family.  Coenraad will be with us for te next year. Then in 2015 he will be available  to receive a call from a congregation to be their minister. Coenraaad is already an experienced minister but his time with us here in Bo'ness is to allow him to familiarise himself with the ways of the Church of Scotland. On the day of...
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I heard the news this evening that Nelson Mandela had died. I prayed that his influence and memory would live on to fulfil the great sacrifice he and so many made in the struggle for justice and equality not only in South Africa but in the world beyond.   In October 2010 I visited Robben Island to look around at  the prison in which Mandela was incarcerated for eighteen of the the twenty seven years. Here is a picture of the actual cell in which he lived while obj...
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Here's something that made me smile today. Steve Taylor is an American singer songwriter who has been challneging the Christians about the way we often inteact to the changing attitudes of society to moral and social issues. I last heard him perform years agao I think it was a Greenbelt. Anyway it appears that he's looking to put a band on the road again and do a tour. He's using this video as a method of  raising cash to make the tour happen....
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This month I’ve chosen the theme  'Journeys ' to hang all my Christmas sermons and thoughts. I’ve been particularly captivated by the idea that “ The Gift is the Journey” I think that is what the wise men discovered and also the shepherds and even Mary and Joseph and dare I say it perhaps even Jesus himself. I think the journey itself is our engagement with faith and becomes our gift to use and celebrate. Don't get me wrong. Its not the only gift. Jesus Christ  himself...
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After a number of years in the planning we have reached the stage that 'Jubilee Hope' is ready to set sail for Lake Victoria. This is a fantastic achievement.  So many people have worked at so many levels to make this a reality. I need to pay tribute to Willie McPherson our CEO at Vine Trust. It is because of his vision and tenacity that we have reached this point. One day the book about the Trust will be written and Willie’s influence will be seen to have been the...
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After the tradgic events of this weekend I wonder if St Andrew’s Day might take on a new meaning for many in Glasgow ? Certainly, "Black Friday"  will have a completely different significance. Traditionally in America, where the term originated,  it refers to  the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.  The reason being, it has become the busiest day in the year, especially for traders. When the 29th November comes the red balances in the books of many traders turns to black,...
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