Dear All There are many people who are suffering genuine financial hardship during this epidemical crisis. Individuals, communities and businesses, large and small, are facing unprecedented challenges which will sadly mean for some, bankruptcy and closure. As with the huge numbers of deaths worldwide so too the numbers who have lost their jobs are more than statistics, they are individuals, people with feelings. It is less personal, much easier and palatable though, to think of a statistic than an individual. We do at times think and speak of statistics. Each person has......

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Dear All Animals, in just about every culture we can think of are often depicted with certain characteristics, traits and qualities, eg the wise owl, the brave lion, the sly fox and the stupid ass. We find many examples of these anthropomorphisms in our children’s stories and folklore, all of which are memorable, entertaining and sometimes have a valuable lesson to teach us too, such as Aesop’s fables. In our common speech we often use similes to the same effect do we not? We can often be heard to use expressions such......

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Dear All It won’t be too much longer I expect, before places of worship will open again for restricted use, ie, private prayer and medication, I mean meditation. As you are aware, no announcements have been made to that effect here in Scotland but in England, church doors will open again in about eight days time. One positive outcome of several, during this time of lockdown, is the increased, awareness and importance of keeping in touch with one another. Separated families and friends throughout the world have come to realise afresh, just......

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Dear All Everyone likes good news. We all like to hear something that is potentially trouble-free, something that we can look forward to without worry and anxiety. We all need to hear comforting words of hope, especially if we are going through a difficult time or are fearful of an uncertain future. Sometimes the future looks really bleak and we can, and often do, experience times of loneliness, even though surrounded by family and friends. It is not always easy to speak about and share our feelings, so we stoically endure ‘hoping......

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Dear All To the great relief of many, some sports have been given the ‘green light’ to resume, albeit under the tiresome phrase ‘social distancing’. It is a necessary requirement of course, and for some sports, it might not make that much difference to the participants. For spectators, though it’s quite a different matter but in time things will, I believe, get back to something resembling normal. On the sporting theme, most boys of my age were used to watching wrestling on TV on a Saturday afternoon and we all had our......

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Dear All Whenever we are able to, it will be nice to plan a holiday abroad once again and look forward to it in anticipation. We can of course, look forward, but we can’t, as yet, make any definite plans. I mention ‘abroad’ today not because holidays overseas are always better than holidaying here at home but because it’s the different languages I want to talk about, those we hear abroad. Some of you might know already, but for those of you who don’t, I am learning German. (Ich lerne Deutsch). I......

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Dear All A couple of centuries ago on a country highway if a masked man appeared in front of your coach holding a musket and shouted threateningly: ”stand and deliver” you’d have been scared out of your purse. Nowadays things are so different. We phone in and order a takeaway and what happens? A guy with a mask appears, he stands and delivers and we pay up. No threat, no problem. Can you believe it? People nowadays are even frightened of cash. Should any of you need assistance to get rid of......

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Dear All There are many things that people dread and one of them is standing up and having to speak in front of others. It can be so much harder, especially if friends and family are present, they can easily ‘put you off’ and often do, just by being there. You can see good examples of this ‘fear’ at weddings or other occasions when someone is appointed to ‘say a few words’, and they want to ‘get it over with’ as soon as possible Even a few words can seem like ages......

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Dear All With the benefit of so many TV channels these days, we can watch just about anything we wish and at any time. With widescreen, surround sound, and high definition ‘boxes’ it makes our experience so amazing, It’s so good! I once went to see a film in a big high tech cinema with every device imaginable making the experience as realistic as possible. It was very ‘real’, so real that I forgot where I was for a while. Anyhow, I slipped out of my luxurious seat and crept up the......

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Dear All Today the church celebrates ‘Pentecost’ which has its origins in the Jewish harvest festival called the Shavuot, ‘Feast of Weeks’. The word ‘Pentecost’ is a Greek word derived from the term ‘fiftieth’ ie, Seven times seven equals 49 plus1 equals 50. Fifty days after Easter. Remembering that the early followers of Jesus were Jews we should consider the events at that time in context. I stress this point over and over again as I fear there is always the danger of misunderstanding and distortion. What happened on Pentecost has been......

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