June 2021

A reflection for Sunday 27th June 2021 by the Rev'd William Mounsey

A WOMAN WITH ISSUES    Mark 5.21-43

The King James Version of the Bible describes, rather delicately, the woman in Mark chapter 5 as having an issue of blood.  However, this woman had not one but a whole number of ‘issues’ which were draining her of life and which drove her, out of sheer desperation, to touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak as he passed by.

Firstly, she had issues with society, a society ordered and structured so as marginalise and ostracise her.

In its preoccupation with anything that was considered unclean, the diseased were considered a social and...

A reflection for Sunday 20th June 2021 by the Rev'd Russell Duncan

Peace, Be still.

Many years ago I used to be invited to go sailing with friends who kept their boat at Tayvallich, a small village on the shores of Loch Sween. You may know it. The family were experienced sailors with their father being a marine engineer.  I was more than happy to join them as I trusted them and their nautical skills. I remember being told that we had to be particularly careful when sailing through the Gulf of Corryvreckan, the narrow strait between the islands of Jura and Scarba.  If we didn’t get our timings right when crossing...

Reflection for Sunday 13th June 2021 Trinity II by the Rev'd David Warnes

Jesus also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;”

As a small child I found the parable of the mustard seed baffling. The mustard and cress that we used to sow on damp pieces of flannel, which we placed on the kitchen windowsill so that we could watch them germinate and grow, fitted the Gospel in the sense that the seeds were tiny. The results, however, did not...

A reflection for Sunday 6th June 2021 Trinity I by Canon Dean Fostekew

From the novel; ‘The whole day through’ by Patrick Gale (Laura’s elderly mother has fallen in the garden in the early hours of the morning):

“Mummy didn’t see her coming and was still calling up at her bedroom window as she emerged, keeping her voice low in an effort not to draw attention from further afield. She was sitting, heavily, inside a rather pretty pink-flowered leptospermum, naked, naturally, and clutching her secateurs in one hand and a Fabian Society mug in the other. She had managed to lose her balance without spilling all the tea and took an absent minded...