Author: Lucy Llewellyn

Friends,

I’ve said before that I love books! I always have a pile of books beside the bed – books I have read, books I am reading and books I intend to read – mainly biography and history. A recent acquisition is a book called “Eleanor and Franklin”, a biography of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt by Eleanor’s friend Joe Lash. They were a truly remarkable couple; Franklin Delano Roosevelt – FDR as he was known – was president of the United States from 1933-45, leading his country out of the Great Depression and through the Second World War, dying at the early age of 63 in April 1945 just as the war was coming to an end.

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Friends,

With recent days characterised by military anniversary and continued  electioneering, the voice and perspective of one Normandy veteran has come to mind. Sydney Jary MC, aged 20, served as a platoon commander with the  Somerset Light Infantry, leading his soldiers from Normandy to Germany, between  1944-45. Years after the war, his book, Eighteen Platoon, recounted the ground level  experiences of a junior infantry officer.

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Friends,

Last Sunday, courtesy of one-man show, world premiere of Getting to Iona, playwright and actor Tomas Barry set us firmly on course for St Columba’s Day, which we celebrate this weekend. Tomas’ play was a homage to his grandfather who in 1963, with others, replicated Columba’s original journey from Derry to Iona in 563, in a specially constructed curragh (traditional boat). By turn, Tomas played himself, his grandfather and St Columba. It was wonderful to see the London Scottish Chapel packed and enjoying the play’s very first performance. The opening “run” has continued each evening this week. It will go next to York, then to the Edinburgh Festival.

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Friends,

It’s not fair! How often have you heard a child say these words? Children have a highly developed sense of justice and are quick to spot adult hypocrisy.

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Friends,

In preparation for this Sunday, part of a prayer from the Church of Scotland’s Book of Common Order:

God our father, mother, creator, and protector,
made in your image, we adore you.

Christ our brother, friend, servant, and saviour,
converted by your love, we adore you.

Holy Spirit, our inspirer, comforter, counsel, and defender,
blessed by your presence, we adore you.

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In our lesson from Acts 2: 1-21 this week we read how on the day of the Jewish festival of Pentecost, Jesus’ disciples experienced being filled with God’s Holy Spirit. This power and life spills out into the whole of creation. Peter says that this is the culmination of many centuries of waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promise, made known through the Hebrew prophets and he describes what happened using the words of the prophet Joel, affirming that the spirit is being poured out on “all flesh”, female and male, young and old, slave and free, people of all races. This is why Christians sometimes refer to Pentecost as “the birthday of the church”, because from that day the Christian faith spread out from Jerusalem to every part of the known world, the beginning of the world church.

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“I wandered the streets, asking anyone for a place to sleep. Those who showed me kindness would let me stay for two or three days, but it was difficult. People would insult me and treat me with contempt. They forgot I was a human being. It filled me with sorrow.”

Abused by her husband and forced out of her home, becoming separated from her children, with nowhere to live and worrying daily about her children’s safety, Aline Nibogora was pushed into the most extreme poverty. Aline’s homeland, Burundi, is one of the poorest countries in the world financially. More than 70% of the population live in poverty. Most people get their living through farming. However, farmers have been significantly affected by the climate crisis, facing droughts, floods and landslides. Many families eat just one meal a day. Philip Galgallo, Country Director of Christian Aid Burundi tells us: ‘I think the biggest worry for most Burundian mothers is how they’ll feed their children.’

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