Monthly Archives: March 2011

Resurrection Puffs

Posted on March 29, 2011 by alisonpeden

Glies Fraser bravely tackled immortality in the Church Times ten days ago, and I’ve been musing on what he said.  His argument is that Christian faith and Biblical witness is about resurrection, not immortality.  We die, and it is only … Continue reading →

Posted in children, Easter | Leave a comment

Despised and different

Posted on March 24, 2011 by alisonpeden

A thread emerges running between the two Lent groups here.  At the lunchtime sessions where we read long chapters from the King James Version charting the story of faith, we came to the Passion.  And after the Prayer Book collect, we … Continue reading →

Posted in Church, compassion, Lent, Passion | Leave a comment

Censor the Census

Posted on March 20, 2011 by alisonpeden

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

Unselfish acts?

Posted on March 17, 2011 by alisonpeden

We had a fascinating opening conversation about Karen Armstrong’s Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life at the Lent Group tonight.  We were talking about whether compassion is innate or a learned behaviour.  It will have important consequences today, we felt, … Continue reading →

Posted in Church, compassion, films, Lent | 3 Comments

Wastelands

Posted on March 13, 2011 by alisonpeden

So much wasteland today, the first Sunday in Lent.  The desert of the testing in Matthew 4; the flattened cities of Japan that suggest hauntingly the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki;  the threat of nuclear fall-out, and the 15th anniversary … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, desert, sermons | 2 Comments

Poetry school

Posted on March 10, 2011 by alisonpeden

I may have to lose my identity as a non-poetry person.  This Lent, we are having a series of long readings from the King James Version of the Bible (in honour of the 400th anniversary), with Prayer Book Collects and … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Poetry | 4 Comments

Hothouse atmosphere

Posted on March 7, 2011 by alisonpeden

This looks a bit like an ‘identify the picture’ game.  It is, of course, our week-old tadpoles that are just beginning to wriggle in their tub on the windowsill.  We have a pond that the newts love, because they can feast … Continue reading →

Posted in growth | Leave a comment

The Compassionate Life

Posted on March 4, 2011 by alisonpeden

Just finished a study guide to Karen Armstrong’s new book, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, which we are going to look at in Lent at Holy Trinity, Stirling. (I’ve uploaded it on to our website here if you’re interested.)  … Continue reading →

Posted in compassion, Lent, toleration | 3 Comments