The Turn of the Tide                  Word on the Week               1^st April 2023.

The tide turns sooner or later, it always happens.    There is a rhythm to it which is entirely predictable.   It is governed by the moon. The full moon exercises the strongest gravitational pull on the water.   This in turn produces the highest tides of the monthly cycle.

My teenage years were spent watching the tide and the effect it had on the activities in the Aberdeenshire village of Collieston.   The harbour was tidal meaning there was no water in it at low tide.   Boats were grounded and you were not going anywhere unless you had had the forethought to moor the boat near the point of the pier where there was always water.

High tides became progressively lower until they reached their lowest point mid-way between when the moon stopped waxing (increasing) and started to wane (decrease) The build-up to the next full moon began and the cycle continued.  The times of the tides and the height of high water were published in the daily paper but we soon learned to work them out for ourselves.

The equinoxes produced the highest rise and fall in water level.   At low tide the sea withdrew revealing rocks which were normally submerged.  This was the time to go fishing for Partans (edible crab).    They were to be found in small crevices in the rocks and extracted with a wire hook and nimble fingers. Very seldom a lobster would be stranded by the exceptionally low tide but they were usually found to be ‘berried’ i.e. pregnant and had to be returned to the sea.  

The tide not only rose and fell in height, (at Collieston it varied from 8 to 13 feet rising to the highest at the equinoxes) but also the current flowed from flowing North (tide coming in) to flowing South (tide going out).   The speed of the current could reach 4 knots at the equinoxes reducing to about half that at its lowest point between them.

We always rowed against the current when going out to sea to fish so we could come back with the flow of water assisting our tired limbs!   The ‘ebbing stone’ as the name suggests submerged and emerged with the tides.   It lay near the entrance to the harbour and was just one of a number of things you had to avoid.

The anchor was dropped to secure the boat in its position on the sea.  It was important that it fastened securely to the sea floor to stop the vessel from drifting.   PJ Owens hymn visualises our anchor in the Holy place with Christ.                 

We have an anchor that keeps the soul 
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll, 
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move, 
Grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love.           (Hebrews 6 verses 19/20).

Cannot See the Wood for the Trees   Word on the Week     25th March 2023.

There has been a major emphasis on tree planting in Ireland.   It seems we have fallen behind the rest of Europe and the Government is keen that we catch up.   There is much marginal land which could do well growing trees to say nothing of the acres of used bog now growing scrub and brushwood.

The ideal is to have woodlands joined together to provide continuous cover for wildlife.   This will encourage creatures such as Pine Marten, a shy animal, to populate the woodland.   A consequence of it expanding its territory has been to put a check on the grey squirrel which was threatening to wipe out the native red squirrel.

But it is beneath the forest floor that most of the action happens.   There is a vast underground lattice work of fungal strands linking the roots of trees and plants.   It has been called the Wood Wide Web after its better known computer World Wide Web network which it resembles beneath the ground.

These fungi grow alongside the roots of the plant or tree in a mutually beneficial relationship.   In recognition of their healthy properties fungi are being produced in pellet form and planted in the soil along with new trees.

The destruction of this network arises when clear felling of trees takes place.   This partly explains why it is hard to plant the area and the tree growth is very slow.   A better method is to extract mature trees and replant immediately permitting the roots of the sapling to engage with the nutrients the fungi supply.

With Ash-dieback destroying many of our fine Ash trees the foresters task is to replace them with disease resistant local trees such as Oak, Hazel or Birch.   The network of mycelium in the soil will supply nutrients to the new roots which in turn become part of the Wood Wide Web.

We are accustomed to thinking of fungi as mushrooms and toadstools but these are only a tiny fraction of the immense underground growth of long sinuous threads of cells that supply trees and plants with nitrogen and phosphoros.

They date back to the Garden of Eden.  They were at the root of the tree of Good and Evil helping it to produce the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2 Verse 17).  And they were at the root of the tree that was hewn to make the cross which God used to expiate the sin of disobedience when Adam fell into sin which spread to the race.

God provided a way of escape for us from our sins.   The Holy Spirit provides the network to convey it to every believing heart which names Jesus as Lord (I Corinthians 10 verses 9 to 13).   

St Patrick’s Day                 Word on the Week                       18^th March 2023.

One of the highlights of Dublin’s year is the commemoration of St Patrick’s Day on 17^th March.  Like many today Patrick knew what it was to be a victim of war and to be cut off from his homeland.   He spent his enforced exile as a shepherd in the hills of Antrim where he had an encounter with the living God that gave his life direction and purpose.

After six years Patrick escaped from his captivity and returned to his family in Bannavem.   He answered the call to proclaim his faith and like St Paul before him became a priest of the Gospel (Romans 15 verses15 to 16).

The conversion of the Irish to Christ was headed by Palladius who appears to have had some success along the Eastern side of Ireland.   By the time Patrick returned there was an established mission field.   Patrick set about baptising converts into the Triune Name using the existing wells for that purpose.

While some of the Irish Kings welcomed Patrick others were less friendly.   Matters came to a head with the lighting of the fire on the hill of Tara by the High King to proclaim the Spring feast.   No fire was permitted to be lit while the ceremony proceeded.   Patrick lit his own fire on a neighbouring hill challenging the authority of the King and druids.

The High King was told that if the hostile fire was not put out now, it would never die out in Ireland!   The druids’ warning was well founded, the fire continued to burn and Christianity to spread throughout the country.

Yesterday’s Parade sported the banner ‘We are One’.   This referred to the oneness of humankind.   Certainly many nations were involved the largest bands coming from Canada USA, and Ireland.

Patrick would have enjoyed the music.  At least he left us with his song to the One he loved.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,                               I bind unto myself the Name,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,                               The strong Name of the Trinity;

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,                                 By invocation of the same.

Christ to comfort and restore me,                                   The Three in One and One in Three.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,                              Of whom all nature hath creation;

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,                                       Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:

Christ in hearts of all that love me,                                  Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.                          Salvation is of Christ the Lord.  

To which St Paul might say –

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.   (Titus 2: verses 11 to 14).

Paradise Now?                  Word on the Week                     11^th March 2023.

This week the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he is to make Ireland “a world leader on gender equality in all its forms”.   This is a subject in which he has a personal interest and it provides him with some relief from the dreadful housing crisis in which the country languishes.

He proposes a referendum in the Autumn on Articles 41.1 & 2 of the Constitution to change its wording.   At present it recognises the Family as the fundamental unit of society.    It also states that a woman’s work in the home is a factor towards the common good.   It goes on to state that mothers shall not be required to work outside the home to earn income which may come with the neglect of their duties in the home.    Finally, he proposes to introduce ‘gender equality’.

In summary these are the three changes envisaged: – The definition of the family; The place of women in the home and introduction of ‘gender equality’.   The latter is contrary to God’s design which is gender complementary between male and female. 

The Article was written in a time (1937) when the traditional roles of husband, the breadwinner, wife, the homemaker, and the family were to be reared in a state of domestic harmony.  It acknowledges in no uncertain terms that families were the building blocks of society.

Fast forward to today.   We have the same parents and children but the circumstances are radically different.   There has been a rebellion against the traditional pattern of life.   ‘Man has become the measure of all things’ to quote Protagoras the Greek who lived 490 – 420 BC.  

The Bible introduces us to marriage in Genesis 1 verse 28.  The text goes on to anticipate a family i.e. ‘be fruitful and multiply’.   Both events pre-date the fall and are for all time.    There are numerous illustrations in the Bible using marriage as an illustration of the relationship between God and his people (Ezekiel 16 verse 8 and Ephesians 5 verse 32, Revelation 19 verse 7).

We live in an era where the sub-text of major discussions is to edit God’s word out of the conversation.   In our desire for ‘paradise now’ we want to introduce our design in place of the divine one.   It is somewhat like the man who turned up at the royal banquet in his own clothes.   It seems he had set aside what God had provided – similar to what we are doing today.   Jesus’ parable asked the question which is better answered in this life by committing your life to Jesus and then live to obey his word (Matthew 22 verses 1 to 14 especially 11/12).

Then it will not be paradise now we will be looking for but paradise future (John 14 verses 1 to 6).

War – First Anniversary              Word on the Week          25^th February 2023.

Nobody thought the Ukrainian War would last 12 long months. Now no one thinks it will be over soon!    It is much easier to start wars than to stop them!   Not that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, shows any signs of wanting a ceasefire.

Indeed, his belligerent speeches before the ‘faithful’ this week attributed the outbreak of hostilities to the West.    This presented the fanciful picture of little Ukraine with supporting friends challenging Russia.    In a modern version of the David and Goliath contest, the roles are reversed, and David becomes the aggressor! (1 Samuel 16 verses 41 to 50). 

The history of wars demonstrate that they are waged in order to gain territory.   They tend to come out of extreme nationalism.   In the case of Ukraine, it is a territory that Putin clearly thinks should be Russian.  It was part of the lands restored to independence following the 1991 collapse of Soviet Union.

Those born since 1991 are known as the “Born Free Generation”.   They are eager for their nation to escape Russia’s shadow and join Europe and the West.    The East of Ukraine have Russian as their first language and were less inclined to go with their Eastern people and join NATO.

This reluctance has now disappeared. The war appears to have united the country under their able President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.   This was the very thing the invaders did not want to happen!   

But there are many wars being fought in the world right now.   Where do they come from?   Hear it from the Book of James Chapter 4 Verses 1 to 2 in the ‘Message’ paraphrase: –

‘Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it. You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to.’ 

But there is something we do have access to whether we are Putin or Zelenskiy or you or me and that is the cleansing blood of Christ which applied to the sinner opens the door to forgiveness and a Christ centered way of life (1John 1 verses 7 to 9).  This is the miracle of God’s grace we call the Gospel comes through prayer in faith to Jesus Christ.

Anniversaries                   Word on the Week                     18^th February 2023.

We appear to be living longer these days.   Our neighbour passed the 100 mark a couple of years’ ago and this week celebrated reaching 102.

This led me to figure out that my mother would be 123 years old had she lived to this day which is in fact her birthday.   She lived all her life in the 20^th century; her age matching the year which made it easy to work out how old she was!

She was an energetic person and she needed to be.   Our household consisted of my father’s father, my mother’s mother, my parents and me!   Both grandpa and grandma lived on into their 90ies and so were very much part of my early years.

Not so my mother’s father who was a farmer and died at age 64.   He didn’t feature in my early years.   In my teens bits of information filtered through. It seemed that there had been a falling-out over the Gospel.   Gran remained in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland (it was the church farmers went to in those days) and grandad moved to the Christian Brethren.

There had been a revival around the middle of the 19^th century, the fires of which did not die down for a number of decades.   Kenneth Jeffrey is the author of ‘When the Lord Walked the Land’ a book which writes up the dramatic effects the revival had on the three main groups living there in the North-East of Scotland.   

First it broke out in the city of Aberdeen, then the farming community, to be followed quickly by the fisher folk.   The latter felt unable to join with the farmers (they smelt of fish) so they built Brethren Halls, many of them still standing but sadly few in their original use.

Grandpa Ross, mother’s father, must have ‘witnessed a good confession’ (1Timothy 6 Verse 12) to have moved church and joined the Christian Brethren with its practice of believer’s baptism.   Clearly this was a bridge too far for Gran!   Mother was never baptised which highlights the family difficulties around conversion.

Mother did teach me to pray.   The nightly prayer was ‘Gentle Jesus meek and mild, listen to a little child; pity my simplicity, teach me Lord to come to thee.  The last line of the prayer was answered when I was age 26 (St Matthew 11 verses 28 to 30). Praise God.

I too moved from the Presbyterian Church to an Evangelical Church and was baptised at age 30.   Strange as it may seem I did not know that my path mirrored that of Grandpa Ross until some years later!   As we saw in last week’s blog sometimes prayers take a long time before they are fully answered (1 Corinthians 3 verse 6).

Merkinch                          Word on the Week                     11^th February 2023.

What has a down-town district in a remote town in the Scottish Highlands got to do with ‘Word on the Week’?   How could such a place ever be newsworthy?               

Merkinch was usually referred to as ‘The Ferry’.   The place where the car ferry left Inverness and travelled across the Beauly Firth to North Kessock on the Black Isle.  

It was a deprived area in my time there and deteriorated further when the bridge was built spanning the Firth and rendering the ferry redundant.   There were no churches in the area so we prayed and started an outreach from the Baptist Church in the town.

We hired accommodation in the local school and distributed leaflets in the area welcoming young people to a weekly event in the school.   In the 1970ies there were far less restrictions surrounding the hire of the schoolroom.   The continuing occupation depended on the room being left tidy and the good will of the Janitor!

The highlight of each meeting was the ‘Witness Box’.   This was a popular form of evangelism in its day.   A local Christian would be invited into the Witness Box and cross-examined, usually by me, to see if he really was a Christian!    The young people, who would have had some Gospel teaching, would be invited to add their questions.

The person being examined then told the story of how he became a Christian from the time he first placed his faith in Jesus (Acts 26 verses 12 to 29).   An understanding of being saved by God’s grace and not by our efforts would become plain (Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9).

The questions were answered, sometimes involving the witness in a thorough grilling, and a verdict was taken by a show of hands.    I remember marvelling that never once did they find the witness’s testimony lacking!

What brought all this to recall was my turning on ‘YouTube’ on Tuesday evening and being amazed to read the ‘Notice’ of a new Church in Merkinch!   Fifty years in the making!   I wonder how many from the original meetings were there to recount their experiences?   All praise to God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3 verse 5 to 9).

Brigit’s Day                      Word on the Week                     4^th February 2023.     

We have a new Public Holiday.   February 1^st has been decreed.   This brings us into line with the bulk of the EU with the same number of public holidays.

Historically this was St Brigit’s Day. The name Brigit means different things to different people!   She is claimed both by Christian and pagan sources.   Her trademark cross, woven with reeds, adorns many homes.  Her witches profile is becoming more prominent.   So symbolically, is she to be known by her cross or cauldron?   

In Wales she was known by fire.   It was a Welshman, the historian Gerald of Wales (1146-1243) to whom we owe a valuable account of “the fire of St Brigit”, believed to have burned continuously in Kildare for centuries.   

Today this seems to have morphed into the 1^st February pagan Festival of Light replete with fire-dancers, music and storytellers.   A portrait of Brigit has been painted on the ‘Wonderful Barn’ Leixlip showing her in a green cloak representing her Irish origins.

Brigit was born around the year 450 in Faughart near the border with Northern Ireland.   Her name is incorporated in a variety of places.   There is the Bridewell which was a prison in Dublin and is now a Garda station.   St Bride’s in London, also started as a prison, has now become a church with a Holy Well.

The girls name Brigit lost its popularity when it was abbreviated to Biddy. This occurred largely through the hugely popular RTE ‘soap’ Glenroe (1983 – 2000) where the leading character’s wife was nicknamed Biddy.  This concerned Archbishop Tomás Ó Fiaich who lamented the loss of patronage to St Brigit and encouraged women to name their daughters after the Saint!

It is now widely doubted that St Brigid was a Christian Saint at all (the Catholic Church delisted her in 1969) but rather a Pagan goddess appropriated by Irish neo-pagans. Her cult was a powerful one, and remains so in 2023, having just inspired Ireland’s newest holiday.

Legend has it she made her first cross from rushes she found on the ground beside a dying man in order to convert him to Christianity.   I wonder if she used Jesus’ words “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son (on the cross), that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (St John Chapter 3 verse 16).

The cross was where Jesus carried our sins and dealt with them once and for all.   Was Brigid’s cross used as a visual aid to get the dying man to put his faith in what Jesus did when he died for him? 

There is probably no better use for her cross today than to show that Jesus died for others and now lives for them. 

Snowdrops                  Word on the Week               28^th January 2023.

They have reappeared, on cue, these harbingers of spring to delight the eye and reassure the heart of warmer days ahead.   God’s promise again fulfilled.   “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis chapter 8 verse 22).

My own interest in snowdrops started around the age of 7 when our school teacher required us to take our crayons and draw a snowdrop.   She brought a plant in full bloom into the classroom and supplied the paper.   Our task was to represent it in two dimensions.  I recall my effort was pinned on the classroom wall – an unrepeated success!

We have a hollow in a field where cattle once had dust baths in summer.   It was fenced, planted with trees and in due course ground ivy covered the woodland floor.   We have a galanthophile (snowdrop collector) in the house who planted clumps of snowdrops under the trees.  Each year they break through the carpet of ivy and brighten up the woodland giving us great pleasure.  

The plant grows out of a bulb to a height of 7 to 10 cm.   It is pure white on a green stem and has three thin green leaves.   It blooms in cold weather and has its own anti-freeze to survive the frost.   It continues to bloom into Spring when insects begin to appear. Remarkably, snowdrops have a built in insecticide to ward off the bugs! 

There are a large number of varieties as a result of enthusiasts breeding.   Whilst the common varieties can be obtained at little or no cost (they multiply naturally and require to be divided producing more bulbs annually) the rare varieties are much sought after and can fetch four figure sums.

Although not mentioned specifically in the Bible the flower presents a penitential picture, with its pure white head permanently bowed down, reminisicent perhaps of our Saviour when He completed the work of salvation, ‘Jesus bowed his head and gave up his Spirit’ (St John Chapter 19 verse 30).

May the humble snowdrop remind us of Him.

Talking to Bots                 Word on the Week          21^st January 2023.

Have you ever wondered, when making a business phone call these days, if the person at the other end of the line is a person at all?  Welcome to the world of ‘bots’.

Which brings us to “what on earth is a bot?”   It’s an abbreviation for the word robot!   We need to get used to the language as bots are cropping up everywhere.   In fact, that square printed next to where you sign a document and has printed, rather plaintively, “I am not a bot” required you to put your X in the box to prove you are not a bot!

Bots are made with computer programmes designed to copy some human activities.    These tasks can include conversing with a human — which attempts to mimic human behaviours — or gathering content from other websites.   

The programming dictates what intelligence is gathered and how it is put to use.   The skills are improving all the time.   It will soon be possible for the bot to replace repetitive jobs.   It has transformed the old ‘enquiries desk’ in modern companies having been equipped with the answers to every likely question.

Organizations or individuals have to train their bots to recognise ‘bad bots’ or scammers!   These are known as malware which attacks the workings of the bot or as ransomware.    The latter can sabotage a network of bots and demand a ransom to correct the damage.   

There appears to be a well-educated bot called ChatGPT.    It can produce a script around the items you speak into it.   This bot, having the appropriate program, would work wonders for kids struggling with essay writing!

With all this AI (artificial intelligence) around, word of it is bound to reach the churches.   Those with repetitive liturgies are easily catered for with seasonal variations to match the liturgical year cycle.    For Reformed churches the bible would need to be loaded and the congregation decide on whether or not to have a three-point sermon this Sunday!

Perish the thought!   Let’s keep the bots out of the Church!    Don’t even have them on the door!    The intelligence should not be artificial but God-given (2 Chronicles Chapter 1 verse 10).

The preacher is charged to ‘preach the Word’ when he feels like it and when he doesn’t feel like it, correct, rebuke and encourage and, with God’s help, may it be so till the Lord’s return.  (2 Timothy Chapter 4 verse 2).