QuartzKate is off to Holiday club this morning. Volunteers from St. John’s congregation will be spending a week working with young people. They will be led and supported by Janice, and hopefully your prayers too! It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. Towards the end of the summer holidays […]
Each one of us scratches their mark as a passage through time. Sometimes grasping to hold on, sometimes filled with the joy of living. What if time itself is the womb of God. When our creation reaches it’s term will we be able to step back and find peace after the trauma of birth?
Do you need to know the name of beauty to recognise it?
It’s the summer, but just in case you are unable to take time out to stand on a bridge and watch the water, here is some light to bathe in. There is something important about the way in which just experiencing somethings builds us up. Or simply brings a smile to our faces and a […]
While I’m working on a report about all the activity over midsummer, here is a wee glimpse of some of the other art I have been working on. This is a set of nine illuminations described as fruit of the Spirit. Drawing them has helped me think about the presence of God. Perhaps a little […]
Some thoughts on bells Whilst researching making an early medieval bell (to use at Caerlaverock on Saturday) I stumbled on the Latin for ‘bell’ used in Irish/Scottish texts, which is Clocca. The similarity with “clock” struck me, and I went back to working metal. I then started wondering about ways of telling the time, as […]
Becoming a patron of the arts used to be the privilege of the rich. Perhaps it would be seen as a duty, perhaps an expression of power and social ambition. Sometimes simply a tax dodge, but on other occasions passionate patrons could bankrupt themselves leaving contributions they believed contributed to the good of society at […]
Here is a curiosity to reflect on today. This is a league table ranking countries by what they contribute globally relative to their size. You can read the definition of good which is used, how the rankings are calculated and view a breakdown into categories of contribution. https://www.goodcountry.org/index/about-the-index/ Can you imagine a world where our […]
Gill Swales handed in some resources about this organisation. The map in the picture charts where it is most dangerous to practice Christianity openly. “Our very mission is called ‘Open Doors’ because we believe that any door is open, anytime and anywhere. I literally believe that. Every door is open to go in and proclaim […]
This is a report by the evangelical alliance. It follows on from one in 2015 which you can download here. The questions have been updated slightly for their 2022 report and you can read all about it here: (best viewed on a desktop – click on it to go full screen, press escape to exit […]