This discussion about drawing was sent in by Alison. https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2021/january/21/tania-kovats-why-i-draw/
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Drawing is like breathing
Category: Thought of the Day
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Jesus Vs Racism
If most racists, homophobes, and general bigots are nice people – how do you know you are not one? Privilege blinds us. The good news of Jesus is good news for the downtrodden, despised, and excluded. It is usually bad news for those of us privileged to have done well at school, have good jobs […]
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Quiet Fire
Alison has sent in this reflection from a quiet morning at Elsieshields. Rabbi Yehoshua was once asked “Why did God appear to Moses in such a lowly bush?”The Rabbi answered “Why in a thorn bush? I’ll tell you: To teach there is no place where the Divine Presence is not found, even in a lowly […]
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Light
“Light” is used frequently in the Gospels, especially in the good news as told by John. I chose this theme for my final assembly with the Dumfries High School year group I have been chaplain to since they started secondary school during lockdown. As they gather I usually run a video which introduces the theme […]
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Ascension
Today is a big holiday in Norway. It can be (very) roughly translated as Christ speeding heavenward on a rocket. I have been thinking about how when we visit saints caves, or wilderness places, we think of anchorites experiencing remoteness. What if, while Ninian sat by the sea, he was looking at the best way […]
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Sea Change
Things can change for the better, and Jesus reveals that change. This post is about prophesy, the gift given for building up the Church. Prophets reveal things, and in the stories when people respond things get better – or at least the calamity that approaches is averted. When the religious authorities (whose role it was […]
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Neighbours
Would it upset you to know that there are people living peacefully in Dumfries, having come here to find sanctuary, who are in fear of being detained by representitives of the UK government and deported to Africa? Does this sound like the sort of country you want to live in, or a good way to […]
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Birdsong
This was sent in on our glimmers group. There have been a few posts recently of people simply enjoying their gardens, listening to the birds. This simplicity of living, enjoying the moment, is a gift the worth of which does not depend on words. However, as we have words here are some that are helpful […]
“What are the sermons that the woods—those places of betweenness, repositories of ancient stories—might impart from their fretwork of branches and twigs, their columnar trunks and the boughs that hold up the sky?” Words are powerful communicators of meaning. Study, training, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit help us interpret, learn, and apply, what we find […]
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Greenthinking
Rethinking how we think… Jesus talks about being “born again” – but what does that mean, Particularly for those who have grown up in a culturally Christian culture. Have some sympathy for the teachers of the law when he walked the earth, because they most often really couldn’t see what Jesus was on about. There […]