GodBlog

Years ago we used to visit Seil, Luing and Easdale on sailing holidays. I never expected to be living and working here. This week I have been on holiday and for once have not gone away. Makes me realise all over again how beautiful it is. In the nearly seven years since we have been here, there has been a noticeable increase in tourism. It is good to know that people still appreciate the benefits of sea and countryside.

Happy holidays everyone!

Thanks to the readers who have enquired where I am. The explanation for my absence is that I have been off sick for a few weeks. However, I am now back in blogging land and able to enjoy being out amongst the newly awakening countryside. The early lambs are here and the garden is filled with birds squabbling over the nuts and berries. Dunlins, coal-tits, goldfinches, yellow-hammers and the usual collection of chaffinches, blue-tits and robins......

I have watched more TV than usual lately, including a fair dose of news. No wonder people get depressed: there is drama everywhere, in reality TV, soaps, documentaries and news commentaries. One of the comments waiting for me online was from someone deconstructing God. Well - the best response to that I saw on the box was in the film, "A Beautiful Mind" There, the beloved shows John Nash (schizophrenic genius) that it is impossible to give a mathematical proof that the universe is infinite, but that mathematics tends to depend on this assumption anyway. Similarly, she shows that human love has to be believed rather than proven. In my view of the infinite, there is God who loves and loves and keeps on loving. As to the rest....the suffering and the dreadful state we human beings make of things...well, I don't know all the answers, but I do know we are unique because we can make choices. Every Easter, I am alive because I know the expression of God's love.

But then, that is my job, my vocation and my life.

I am writing from Colonsay again - here on one of my four times a year visits. The weather is stunningly beautiful, hard to believe that it is only February. I have been off sick with a throat/chest infection and am only just beginning to recover enough to forgive God for Her creation of cold viruses. Just as well really as I am due to visit the school tomorrow to talk with the children about creation. I want to talk about how we can experience God as we enter into the joy of creation.

I note from comments on my last entry that there are people "out there" who are reading my islandblog. Can I just take the opportunity to remind folks of my daily blog at www.freda.org.uk It gives more of a flavour of my spirituality (ups as well as downs).

Since I was last online, some readers have asked for answers to questions of life and doctrine, so here goes. To Kevin from Battersea Dogs Home, I would simply say, "Do you want a God whose prime concern is why you are clumsy?"
To Simon from Dundee, I would say that the important question is not so much whether I doubt that God exists, as to whether I am envisaging the way God really is. With regard to the former, I suppose I am very fortunate - I cannot believe that God does not exist - the cosmos is too complicated. And as to the latter, I suspect that many of us will get a big surprise when we are faced with the reality of what we call Eternity.

Shona Macdonald of Tiree was asking how many shops there are on Seil. There are two post offices, one general store, a gift shop attached to the petrol pump....and that is it I think. But someone else might know differently.

Here I am, back from a January holiday and with the unexpected gift of extra time today as a couple of appointments were cancelled. This is a difficult time of year with weather and travel restrictions, but until today there has not been much disruption to my own schedule. Saturday will involve a whole day trip to Bunessan on Mull for the induction of a new minister - thus I am hoping that the predicted warmer front will reach us in time. Clergy get used to wearing thermals at this time of year. I call them my secret weapon.

Aha! So moderating blog entries ceases over the festive period. Feels strange for that to happen when I am in a profession that works even longer hours over Christmas. Still, the BBCi staff deserve their holiday. I am getting one next month.

I am used to updating my personal blog on a daily basis, so am having to remember to keep a copy of this one so that I know where I am in sharing island life. We are in a kind of hiatus at the moment as people recover from the religious part of the holidays and await the end of the year. Of course the Christian festival of Christmas was instituted by taking over the pagan winter solstice celebrations. It seems that people have long enjoyed a mid-winter jolly. But it would be very sad were we to go back to that alone and lose the magic and mystery of the birth, the star, the angels, the shepherds and the Wise Men.

I wonder if that is a common feeling today though?

It is quite difficult learning how to use this blogging system as it is so different from my own online weblog, however, I shall persevere. I guess we are all finding our way.

The Cuan Sound was at its most dramatic at lunchtime today. A few of us had to cross at 1-00pm being treated to a gale, a squall and a sleet storm all at the same time. Not pleasant in a small open boat. Thank goodness for competent captains. It almost brought about a refusal on my part, but I wanted to get home for hot soup and other commitments. When will the council start listening to the people of Luing? There have been complaints about the inadequacy of the passenger ferry for a long time. So far I have felt relatively safe, if uncomfortable at times, but there are people who simply refuse to use it.

Sometimes I wonder why I like my work.

It won't take much guessing to work out who I am or what I do. But then that is OK because the whole point of this forum is to share thoughts on what it is like being part of island communities. I often tell people that living on the Isle of Seil is a bit of a cheat. We have a bridge to the mainland, after all. Nonetheless there is a definite island feel to life. We are never far from the sea, though I live in one of the few houses without a sea view. This weekend I am on Colonsay, and the sea views are stunning. Pity it gets dark so early. Today there has been a Book Fayre, I was not able to contribute any books, but bought a total of nine. I have been a blogger for a while now - my personal site is at www.freda.org.uk in case you fancy a look.