MY attention was recently drawn to the Report (May 2020) of the Assembly Trustees of the Church of Scotland. This update was obviously drawn up in the context of the dire consequences for the Church and its finances of the pandemic and consequent lockdown.
However I read to my shock that this august body decided that two of the five ecumenically agreed “Marks of Mission” have been subordinated to the other three. The first of these two being the dismantling of the “unjust structures of society”, the challenging of “violence of every kind” and the pursuit of “peace and reconciliation”. The second being a striving to “safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and to renew the life of the earth”.
The irony is that the first of the other three is “to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom”. Of course the Trustees will be only too well aware that at the core of the message of Jesus is peace, justice and reconciliation. Jesus, being a man of his time, would not have been acquainted with the crisis of global warming two millennia ahead of his time but He undoubtedly would have been mindful of the Old Testament message relating to humanity’s duty to care for God’s creation.
I ask the Trustees how they align proclamation of the Kingdom with the subordination of that which actualises that proclamation in the life of the world?
John Milne, Uddingston.
Currie’s mentors
I WAS somewhat taken aback by the late Conrad Wilson's assertion, in his otherwise excellent obituary of John Currie (The Herald, May 29) that Arthur Oldham was his "mentor". I always thought that they were friendly rivals, with Currie producing the warmer sound from his forces while Oldham dazzled with laser-sharp accuracy from his.
Currie's main influences were perhaps to be found in his training at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music (Wilfrid Senior and Henry Havergal) and at Glasgow University (Robin Orr).
Robert Inglis, Biggar.
Green for oh, no
R RUSSELL Smith's description (Letters, May 30) of flora, shrubs and trees on golf courses being of help to golfers in terms of bladder relief ignores one factor. I give you an example: an Ayrshire golfer taking advantage of these shelters was not bothered by the presence of a nearby greenkeeper.
Closer inspection revealed, however, that said greenkeeper was a female of the species.
David Miller, Milngavie.
R RUSSELL Smith (Letters, May 30) says it is would be unwise for golfers to claim superior bladder control over bowlers and warns against eating brambles. The skiing fraternity enduring cold temperatures can suffer the sudden need for relief in what is quite often open terrain. As every skier knows, thirsty or otherwise and although seemingly self-evident, never eat yellow snow.
Alan M Morris, Blanefield.
Forced conversation
I ENJOYED George McKenzie’s story (Letters, May 30) from the 1970s, about the suitably refreshed chief executive of IBM Germany revealing that, in earlier times, he’d had a bonny view of the Clyde through the periscope of a U-boat. It reminded me of an encounter I had, also in the 1970s, when I worked one summer as a deerstalking ghillie at Mar Lodge, at that time a private estate.
On a stalk one day, I got talking to the guest, a nice old Austrian chap. He didn’t speak much English, so we conversed in French. After a while, I commented that his French was very good. “Yes,” he replied, “I had a lot of Frenchmen working in my factories during the war.”
A bit of a conversation killer, really.
Doug Maughan, Dunblane.
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