Minister’s Message – May 24, 2026

Bible reading: Acts 2:1-11.

I fear, as I begin today’s message, that I shall get into trouble with my wife! For I’m going to ask: what things symbolise Scotland?

Of course there are many. For example, in (as they say) no particular order, there’s Edinburgh Castle and the Scott Memorial, the Loch Ness monster, Scotch whisky, bagpipes, haggis, the Highland Fling (and other related dances), porridge, Highland cattle, Glenfinnan viaduct (made famous by Harry Potter), Irn Bru, caber tossing and the Saltire flag. (I could add mountains, rain and sheep but something tells me that they’re not quite unique to that part of the world!) There’s one thing, though, that I’ve left out of my list, although you’ve probably guessed what it is from what I’ve already said today: Scottish clothing, more specifically kilts, made of course out of tartan fabric. Apparently you need about 8 yards of “single-width” (about 26 to 30 inches) material to make an adult kilt, although it’s more common today to use half the length of “double-width” (about 54 to 60 inches) fabric.

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Minister’s Message – May 17, 2026

Bible reading: Matthew 25:35-40.

Message.

I doubt very much if any of us have ever been ticked off by angels! But, if we take the Ascension story at face value, that was precisely the experience of the eleven disciples. For there they were at Bethany, feeling bereft, disappointed, awestruck, puzzled (feel free to add your own appropriate adjectives) at Jesus’s departure. Then, we are told, two men in Persil-white robes appeared from nowhere and said, “Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky?”. To me they sound like a teacher upbraiding a child who is gazing out of the window when it should be getting on with its work. (At least angels couldn’t throw a board rubber or chalk to get the disciples’ attention; nor can – or should – teachers these days!).

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Minister’s Message – May 10, 2026

Bible reading: John 14:15-21.

Message.

There are times – many times in fact – when Moira and I are sitting at home, watching television or reading, and she says, “Can I ask you a favour?” As we’ve been married for a long time, I have a pretty good idea of what’s coming next. Either she’ll say, “Can you rub my back?”, which means that I must get up from my chair and gently massage her shoulders and spine (she may also ask me to rub in some sticky ointment); or she may say, “Can you rub my feet?”, which involves me sitting on the floor and massaging not just the main part of her foot but her toes and ankles as well. (Then comes the challenge of getting back up again!). When I ask Moira why I do these actions, which ease her discomfort but which I don’t much enjoy doing, she’ll say, “You do them because you love me”. Well, perhaps she’s right – or perhaps, like all husbands, I’m terrified of the consequences were I to refuse!

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Minister’s Message – May 3, 2026

Message.

Next Thursday is an important day in the life of our country, as we’ll vote in Senedd elections for the first time in five years. One of the parties standing (I won’t say which one!) has said that these are the most important elections in 27 years and that Wales “stands at a crossroads”. Although the opinion polls have been predicting a neck-and-neck race between Plaid Cymru and Reform, no-one (except God) actually knows what will happen as an increase in the size of the Senedd, the new super-constituencies, a different way of counting votes, and the probability of so-called “tactical voting” all make the result impossible to foretell – we’ll have to wait till Friday to find out.

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Spring Fair- May 9th

Join us on Saturday, May 9^th at our Spring Fair from 11am to 1pm.  Selection of stalls and games including cakes, books, pocket money toys, crafts and gifts and lots more. Join us for a cuppa and refreshments. 

Minister’s Message – April 12, 2026

Bible reading: 2 Peter 1:16-21.

Message.

The White Queen remarked: “I’m just one hundred and one, five months and a day.”
“I can’t believe that!”, said Alice.
“Can’t you?”, the Queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes”.
Alice laughed. “It’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things”.
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast”.
Did you recognise that? It’s from “Alice Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll.

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Minister’s Message – Easter Day 2026

Bible reading: Luke 24:1-12.

Message.

“Do not allow the testimony of women to be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their gender … as it is probable that they may not tell the truth, either out of hope of gain or fear of punishment”.

Those aren’t (you’ll be pleased to hear) my words; they were written by the first century Jewish historian, whose aim was to justify Judaism to cultured Romans. Along the way he provided the earliest independent reference to Jesus and also wrote about “the brother of Jesus, called Christ, whose name was James”. Josephus is clearly a useful person for us to know about, but he did seem to have a problem with women – probably because he wanted to make his Jewish culture palatable to the macho-minded Romans.

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Minister’s Message – Good Friday 2026

Message.

I wonder how many of us shut our eyes while we’re watching the news on television? I do, and it’s not necessarily because I’m nodding off. No; it’s because I cannot bear to see many of the horrific scenes that are shown. Quite apart from the tragic consequences of earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters, we have seen so many scenes of warfare: apartment blocks – peoples’ homes – toppled in a single blast, hospitals amazingly still treating the maimed and blinded in the most appalling conditions, the pathetic queues of people in cars, lorries and donkey-carts laden with possessions seeking to find a place which might just be a little safer … you’ve all seen them, you don’t need me to spell out the details. What I find most chilling of all are the aircraft cockpit videos: we might see a lorry trundling along a road or a small boat chugging across the ocean when – wham! – it is obliterated. One has to remind oneself that it’s not just equipment or hardware that’s been destroyed; we are seeing human lives being wiped out. It is, of course, good to know what’s going on in our world: but should we be watching this as we munch our dinner, or is that slightly obscene?

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Minister’s Message – Palm Sunday 2026

Bible reading: Matthew 21:1-11.

Message.

Demonstrations, marches and protests seem to be a common feature of life today – but perhaps that’s nothing new. Here in Wales we had the Newport Chartist Rising of 1839, which sadly led to the death of up to two dozen demonstrators and the arrest and transportation of the movement’s leaders to Tasmania. Nearly a century later, in 1936, about 200 men or, as they called themselves, “Crusaders”, marched from Jarrow in the north-east of England to London, taking a petition to the British government which sought the re-establishment of industry in the town following the closure of its main shipyard.

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Minister’s Message – March 22, 2026

Bible reading: John 11:1-45.

Message.

People sometimes come out with the most inappropriate comments when we are suffering, grieving or in pain. For instance, you can be telling them about an incident that has really upset you and they’ll say, “Worse things happen at sea” – I have no idea where that remark originated! You can be describing a struggle which has made you feel utterly dejected and they’ll respond with, “Well, you can always look on the bright side”. Or you can feel trapped in agony and despair and they’ll say, “Pull yourself together, you’re bound to feel better in the morning”. I’m sure we’ve all received comments like these; they feel like a slap on the face and make us feel worse rather than better.

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