One of my monthly pleasures is listening to the Small Voice podcast produced by GRF Christian radio.  They tell me I'm not their traget audience but secretly I reckon they are glad of the regular plugs I give them, here and on social media. :-)

I loved this poem, which they shared this month, in what I found an especially resonant edition of the podcast...  I always enjoy listening but this edition had a certain 'je ne sais quoi', for me anyway.

On a soggy Saturday morning, with two kitties for company it was thoughtful and thought provoking listening.

You can find it here - well worth a listen.

It struck me today that it is near as makes no odds 30 years since I completed my first degree!  It only took me 29 years to throw out the notes, and I still have the text books (some of which are still used, I believe!).  I have no idea where all those years went, but went they did!

I fished out my certificates from their assorted envelopes at the back of my wardrobe and reminded myself how unspectacular they are!  Clearly these universities have no desire to produce statements in Latin or to affix grandiose seals, just a glorified sheet of A4 (or in one case foolscap) paper.

I suppose after thirty years I really ought to get the first one framed... or maybe not.  There's something suitably grounded about keeping it in an envelope along with my 'O' and 'A' level certificates and other assorted commendations from my youth.

One heck of a lot of work went into each of the three degrees, so I'm glad to have these reminders of what I once achieved.

Just as well I only had two degrees at the time of my BUGB handshake though...

June means the West End of Glasgow enters festival mood... which means that everyone is busy planning and delivering events.

This year we have two top speakers lined up for our very popular "Philosophy Cafe" events..

Sunday 7th June we have Alastair McIntosh, author of Soil and Soul, which should be fascinating and challenging

Sunday 14th June we Professor John Curtice - who you may recall was one of the commentators in the recent General Election and whose exit poll proved remarkably accurate.

Events start at 1 p.m. (free refreshments from 12:30) and if you are around well worth dropping by.

Find out more here.

Been having some fun this morning beginning to work on the framework for this year's summer services, which are (very) loosely based on the new SU Holiday Club "Polar Explorers" and will have the working title "Never Too..."

Just the small matter of gathering in the various bits 'n' bobs I need now, both for the children's crafts and for some of the more interactive elements... candles, newspapers, fabric, salt dough ingredients, tiles, grout... I really hope that people feel able to engage with the ideas and in so doing discover more about themselves and about God.

The big challenge is fulfilling my aim to keep services down to 50 mins for the holiday season!!

It seems that this week the press and web are full of people discussing whether or not is is OK to refer to God using feminine language. 

Firstly, this is hardly new.  Such debates have gone on for as long as people have worshipped God.

Secondly, any half decent reading of Scripture will reveal metaphors for God that are "animal, vegetable and mineral" including feminine ones.

Thirdly, last Sunday I happened to use two feminine metaphors - Midwife and Mother - drawn from the OT as part of my reflections.  So please keep up, press and web, this is old news for us!!