Category Archives: justice

The shaky ego

Posted on October 21, 2012 by

So the Prime Minister is rattling the sabre again.  After a week of embarrassment and bad news, he is to announce a tough new approach to crime and imprisonment, in which ‘retribution will not be a dirty word’.  And the £46 routinely given … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, justice, prisons, Scotland, women | Leave a comment

The successful heretic

Posted on October 4, 2012 by

I remember so distinctly all those years ago as a student hearing one of my tutors claiming that St Francis was a successful heretic.  It seemed so deliciously iconoclastic in those days, and it makes a lot of sense.  The saint, … Continue reading →

Posted in Church, films, history, justice, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Jubilee and the Clearances

Posted on May 28, 2012 by

We held the second of our ‘Sandwich Sessions’ after church yesterday – people getting together for lunch and discussion.  So we tackled ‘Jubilee’ – which, curiously, stimulated very very few memories.  I was not living in Scotland for the Queen’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, history, justice, Scotland | Leave a comment

Garlic and subversion

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Surfacing now from a wonderful diocesan clergy retreat on Cumbrae led by Bishop Gordon Mursell, who was exploring the ‘farewell discourses’ of Jesus in John’s gospel.  On arrival I was nearly overwhelmed by the scent of wild garlic on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, justice, ministry | Leave a comment

Symbolic arithmetic

Posted on November 1, 2011 by

Sometimes you take agin a book of the Bible just as you might do with a person.  For years, I turned away from Revelation, until I decided to get to grips with it by doing a Quiet Day on the book … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, justice, mission | 4 Comments

Human Rights

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

One of the arguments swirling round the Dale Farm issue is that the travellers threatened with eviction from their site are having their human rights undermined – the human right to live as they wish; to travel if they want … Continue reading →

Posted in Government, justice | 5 Comments

Dr Angelus

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

We went to see James Bridie’s play, Dr Angelus, at Pitlochry last night.  Bridie was one of the founders of the Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow, and was a doctor turned playwright.  He wrote Dr Angelus in 1947 – the tale of … Continue reading →

Posted in history, justice, Plays, War | 3 Comments

9/11

Posted on September 2, 2011 by

I’m thinking how to approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11 at Holy Trinity.  My friends in USA seem ambivalent about it all.  It’s not that they are casual in any way, but finding the right things to say, the right … Continue reading →

Posted in compassion, history, justice, War | Leave a comment

Censor the Census

Posted on March 20, 2011 by

The Scottish Census 2011 is to be taken next Sunday, March 27th.  It is being run by CACI UK, an information systems firm, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of CACI International Inc.  The latter firm was involved in the … Continue reading →

Posted in justice, War | 2 Comments

The one and the many

Posted on December 20, 2010 by

One of the good things about reading the nativity story mainly from Matthew, as we do this year, is that you get quite a bit about Joseph.  I find 1:19 strangely chilling – “Mary’s husband, Joseph, being a righteous man … Continue reading →

Posted in compassion, justice | Leave a comment