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Ray's Blog
Books Blaze A Trail
'A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit' wrote John Milton.
I've been invited to join a 'Serious Book Club'. It meets at Haddington, south of Edinburgh. It consists of a Jesuit and Presbyterian ministers who have made life-long use of their left brain. Last month we studied...
Endless Adventure
The Norwegian sailor and pastor Tom Martin Berntsen this week recounted how God had led him as we met in the Celtic Studies Library at Lindisfarne. Some years ago, he undertook a solo pilgrimage from Ustein Klosters to Iona in his own boat – he was looking for adventures in...
New Year Message For 2018
New Year is a time to seek new direction. It is also a time to put measures in place that avert bad things.
Bad things that threaten our world are
displacement of work by robots and...
Christmas Day In A Place Of Angels
Accompanied by my sister Sally, and before our Christmas dinner with Carol, Judith and Skeena at Carol's new home, I celebrate Holy Communion and preach at Saint Aidan's Church, Bamburgh. This is my sermon.
I wish you a Happy Christmas, though I realize...
I Cannot Thank You Enough
At the Society of Authors Christmas Lunch in Edinburgh authors were invited to bring a Christmas-wrapped gift book. As people left they could take home one of these secret book gifts. I Christmas-wrapped my book Before We Say Goodbye published by HarperCollins. A few days later I received...
Santa Claus
On December 6 the Netherlands and churches around the world celebrated Santa Claus, or, to give him his correct name, Saint Nicholas, the 4th c. Bishop of Myra, in today's Turkey. This is what my book 'Saints of the Isles: a year of feasts' (volume two of The Celtic Prayer...
Advent And Archeologial Discoveries
Sales of my Advent Book 'Bethlehem's Road' ran out locally. So I thought I should read it myself! These words leapt out at me: 'Most people did not see Jesus' birth in a smelly stable because they were too snooty to look for it in such a place. They were in...
Last Rites
My ancient computer signalled it must receive its last rites after the screen was smashed on an airflight and skype sessions to Australia were blacked out. I purchased a new computer, and a new large screen, and a tutorial from Curry's shop, only to realise that they only import everything...
One Damn Thing Or One Divine Thing After Another?
Is life one damn thing after another or one divine thing after another? This week's hand-out from our local church brought this question into focus. It contained edited extracts from 'Why I left: Why I stayed' by celebrity evangelist Tony Campolo and his atheist but humanitarian son Bart. Tony notes...Miracle In The Mess
The doctor told me to take pholcodine for my month-long cough. It knocked me sideways and kept me at home, though I did first get to watch Berwick Rangers with Kevin of The Open Gate, for the first time in my life. They lost. Worse, the technical... Page 2 of 61
