We've made it through the Olympics.
I don't know about you, but I've been a bit bleary-eyed in the mornings because the only time I can catch up is right at the end of play, and once you start watching, it gets a wee bit addictive! The Opening Ceremony was particularly spectacular - it struck the perfect note, being just eccentric enough to be thoroughly British; yet open, and embracing the core purpose of the Games: the coming together of Nations.
I found myself wishing we could hang on a little harder to that core principle. I must admit to getting weary listening to commentators going on and on about the "medals' race" - and I wonder what would happen if we put everybody in a "Global" kit and let them compete, not for the pride of one country but simply and completely for the joy of a world-wide community. What a celebration!
Monday, 13 August 2012
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
A Healthy Relationship
July in Dunblane means a lot of weddings in the Cathedral and I must admit I'm a sucker for romance! I'm always a bit humbled by the commitment it takes to walk down that aisle and make those promises.
Maybe that' s why the comments regarding relationship in the media over the last wee while resonated with me particularly. And while I don’t want to take a shot over anyone’s bow, I do want to unpack some thoughts I've been having about the power of relationship.
To my mind, there is nothing healthier for a human being than a committed, loving, stable and nurturing relationship with another person. To have another to hold you, support you, gently warn you when your ego might take you one step too far, or push you when you hit neutral and want to park in a comfort zone you might get stuck in, is one of the greatest kindnesses God ever gave us.
I have seen committed, loving, stable relationships be the glue that has helped to hold folk together when their world was teetering in uncertainty. I personally know that my marriage has been the foundation that has kept my feet on the ground and let my dreams take flight. In every story told of Jesus, he was breaking down barriers and building bridges so that we could find each other and forge relationship.
We must be careful, very careful indeed, to uphold the foundation that all human beings build best from - committed, stable, loving, nurturing relationships. They are our common ground, our best starting point and the healthiest way to be.
Maybe that' s why the comments regarding relationship in the media over the last wee while resonated with me particularly. And while I don’t want to take a shot over anyone’s bow, I do want to unpack some thoughts I've been having about the power of relationship.
To my mind, there is nothing healthier for a human being than a committed, loving, stable and nurturing relationship with another person. To have another to hold you, support you, gently warn you when your ego might take you one step too far, or push you when you hit neutral and want to park in a comfort zone you might get stuck in, is one of the greatest kindnesses God ever gave us.
I have seen committed, loving, stable relationships be the glue that has helped to hold folk together when their world was teetering in uncertainty. I personally know that my marriage has been the foundation that has kept my feet on the ground and let my dreams take flight. In every story told of Jesus, he was breaking down barriers and building bridges so that we could find each other and forge relationship.
We must be careful, very careful indeed, to uphold the foundation that all human beings build best from - committed, stable, loving, nurturing relationships. They are our common ground, our best starting point and the healthiest way to be.
Monday, 6 August 2012
Cuts for wind farm funding, tax breaks for gas
It is with some disquiet I have read reports of Treasury attempts to weaken the UK government’s commitment to its climate change targets.
The Church of Scotland values the commitments made by both the UK and Scottish Governments and strongly supports the leading international role both governments have taken. The climate change legislation of both governments should be a source of pride.
This may appear to be a quick cheap fix but is one that will almost certainly make our climate change targets more difficult if not impossible to reach; and will prolong our dependence on carbon fuel sources.
Do we have to use all the gas in the North Sea before we make renewables the main source of our energy? I fear this may be the case and that the UK Treasury considers climate change with all its long term consequences less important than cutting the cost of gas. What kind of message this sends out to business, to people across the UK and to the world is not comforting
Friday, 3 August 2012
How we measure greatness
Like many folk I have been caught up in the excitement of the Olympics. So much raw talent and humbling dedication goes onto the making of these athletes, the chance for victory and the risk of failure are so closely knitted that the courage of competing is itself simply breathtaking. As a nation, I hope we keep the focus on the human achievement that simply being in the Olympics represents and we don't succumb to the temptation of measuring success in medals and broken records.
In the global arena, my hope is similar: that we measure greatness not in glory, strength, medal tallies or power, but by looking at giving, selflessness and acts of love.
Which is why I was so impressed by the Scottish Government's announcement that every school in Scotland will be sent a copy of the film 'Chariots of Fire'. This oscar-award winning movie charts the life of one of Scotland's greatest Olympians - Eric Liddell. He won gold in the 400m at the 1924 Games but is remembered because be refused to run his favoured event because it was on a Sunday. I must admit that I had trouble getting my head around that decision, but after reading more about his life, I realised that his decision about that race was based on a life-long commitment to a certain way of living - not through the routine following of religiosity but by living his faith in a way which still inspires us today. Perhaps the greatest act of this courageous man was his final decision to give up his chance to leave an horrendous prisoner of war camp, instead giving up his place to a pregnant woman.
C. S. Lewis once wrote: "People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says, 'If you keep a lot of rules I'll reward you, and if you don't I'll do the other thing.' I do not think that is the best way of looking at it. I would much rather say that every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature."
The message of the Olympic Games is that the most important thing is not to win, but to take part with all your being. If we all play our part in the world like that, then we show each other what it means to be great.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Why is milk cheaper than water?
I recently popped into the wee convenience bit of a petrol station to grab one of those caffeine-laden fizzy drinks (I’m omitting the name lest I be accused of advertising) and I noticed that the bottled Scottish spring water was retailing for over a pound, but the pint of milk was a little over 50 pence (never you mind how much my caffeine cost – that’s another blog!). This seems crazy to me and setting aside the question of whether we should ever drink bottled water when Scottish Water pipes it to the tap in most houses across Scotland, is there not something fundamentally wrong when a bottle of water costs more than a pint of Scottish milk? Are we not running into yet another case of market-driven rather than ethically-driven goods?
A dairy farmer has to feed and care for a herd 365 days a year; has to ensure that the cows are milked; and the dairy has to collect a highly perishable product, pasteurise and package it and deliver it to the shop in the shortest possible time.
Farmers in the dairy industry have long complained that the price they receive for each litre of milk does not cover the cost of production. The news that the price of milk paid to dairy farmers has been cut again has caused further frustration, genuine anger and understandable upset.
I accept that this is a difficult and complex subject. According to news reports some supermarket chains will try not cut the price they pay to farmers but the Robert Wiseman dairy, which is owned by the giant food business Muller, has cut the price, citing international overproduction as a reason.
Food is not just another commodity to be bought and sold on the global free market; it is a gift from God which we must treat with more respect. We also have to treat the people who make the gift accessible with respect – we have a duty to be just in our purchasing. If we continue to treat milk as something that can be sold at a rock bottom price - cheaper than water! - then I doubt whether this can be truly sustainable, fair to the farmer, or good for creation.
The Church of Scotland launched a report ‘Give us Our daily Bread’ at the Royal Highland Show 2012. You can find out more here.
A dairy farmer has to feed and care for a herd 365 days a year; has to ensure that the cows are milked; and the dairy has to collect a highly perishable product, pasteurise and package it and deliver it to the shop in the shortest possible time.
Farmers in the dairy industry have long complained that the price they receive for each litre of milk does not cover the cost of production. The news that the price of milk paid to dairy farmers has been cut again has caused further frustration, genuine anger and understandable upset.
I accept that this is a difficult and complex subject. According to news reports some supermarket chains will try not cut the price they pay to farmers but the Robert Wiseman dairy, which is owned by the giant food business Muller, has cut the price, citing international overproduction as a reason.
Food is not just another commodity to be bought and sold on the global free market; it is a gift from God which we must treat with more respect. We also have to treat the people who make the gift accessible with respect – we have a duty to be just in our purchasing. If we continue to treat milk as something that can be sold at a rock bottom price - cheaper than water! - then I doubt whether this can be truly sustainable, fair to the farmer, or good for creation.
The Church of Scotland launched a report ‘Give us Our daily Bread’ at the Royal Highland Show 2012. You can find out more here.
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
‘God Particle’ won’t show us what it is to be human
The discovery of the so-called ‘God Particle’ – the ‘Higgs Boson’ might be able to tell us more about our biological existence but it does not explain the human condition.
The capacity of the human mind to be curious never ceases to amaze me and anything that helps us better understand the deep complexity of our biological existence has to be a good thing.
In amongst that joy however, is a feeling of bemusement; the constant reference to the Higgs Bosun being the ‘God’ particle. The irony is that this is used to suggest that God has been disproved by this discovery when the truth is, the idea of God and the theory or Higgs Bosun have very little in common.
When the scientists tell us in detail what they have found, will they tell us how we fall in love, how we chose to forgive when forgiveness seems impossible, how human beings deal with suffering and feel celebration for strangers as much as for those they know, what brings us to moral decisions that are the antithesis of the survival of the fittest theory.
I could go on but you get my point. Higgs Bosun will tell us much more about our biological existence but it will tell us very little about the parts of the human condition that way are real way beyond the biology – maybe even way beyond our human understanding – and yet are as real for our human living as the Higgs Bosun particle has perhaps now become.
The capacity of the human mind to be curious never ceases to amaze me and anything that helps us better understand the deep complexity of our biological existence has to be a good thing.
In amongst that joy however, is a feeling of bemusement; the constant reference to the Higgs Bosun being the ‘God’ particle. The irony is that this is used to suggest that God has been disproved by this discovery when the truth is, the idea of God and the theory or Higgs Bosun have very little in common.
When the scientists tell us in detail what they have found, will they tell us how we fall in love, how we chose to forgive when forgiveness seems impossible, how human beings deal with suffering and feel celebration for strangers as much as for those they know, what brings us to moral decisions that are the antithesis of the survival of the fittest theory.
I could go on but you get my point. Higgs Bosun will tell us much more about our biological existence but it will tell us very little about the parts of the human condition that way are real way beyond the biology – maybe even way beyond our human understanding – and yet are as real for our human living as the Higgs Bosun particle has perhaps now become.
Let one who is without sin cast the first stone
Criticising bankers seems once again to be the in thing, with politicians and newspaper editors leading the way.
Sadly neither of those groups are the most respected or well-regarded either.
When Jesus was confronted with the question of what do to with a woman who had been condemned for adultery, he confounded onlookers by not calling for her death by stoning but with a question of his own: let one who is without sin cast the first stone.
I do not get any comfort when my politicians blame others or call for heads to roll. Where wrong doing has happened, justice should take its course without needing the interventions of a passing bandwagon.
How can any of us know how we might have fared if we were subject to the same pressures, culture and systemic forces pushing and pulling on us?
I heard a commentator say that the problem of having banks too big to fail was that people had no fear or concept of risk. If the Government will always bail you out then the system will never be fixed. So, is the response is to reintroduce fear in the system? To make capitalism more capitalist?
Well that's not my take on fixing a system. Relying on the negative forces of greed and fear is no way to go about creating an environment where real and lasting positive change can take place.
The Church of Scotland's Special Commission on the purposes of Economic Activity makes the case for the alternative way of fixing the problem; to change a culture so that capitalism's goals take account of means as well as ends. Wealth creation can be ethical, so long as economic activity includes the principles that reduce inequality, promote mutuality, eliminate poverty and are environmentally sustainable. So let's stop sitting in our glass houses casting stones and start planting some seeds of change.
Sadly neither of those groups are the most respected or well-regarded either.
When Jesus was confronted with the question of what do to with a woman who had been condemned for adultery, he confounded onlookers by not calling for her death by stoning but with a question of his own: let one who is without sin cast the first stone.
I do not get any comfort when my politicians blame others or call for heads to roll. Where wrong doing has happened, justice should take its course without needing the interventions of a passing bandwagon.
How can any of us know how we might have fared if we were subject to the same pressures, culture and systemic forces pushing and pulling on us?
I heard a commentator say that the problem of having banks too big to fail was that people had no fear or concept of risk. If the Government will always bail you out then the system will never be fixed. So, is the response is to reintroduce fear in the system? To make capitalism more capitalist?
Well that's not my take on fixing a system. Relying on the negative forces of greed and fear is no way to go about creating an environment where real and lasting positive change can take place.
The Church of Scotland's Special Commission on the purposes of Economic Activity makes the case for the alternative way of fixing the problem; to change a culture so that capitalism's goals take account of means as well as ends. Wealth creation can be ethical, so long as economic activity includes the principles that reduce inequality, promote mutuality, eliminate poverty and are environmentally sustainable. So let's stop sitting in our glass houses casting stones and start planting some seeds of change.
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