WATCHING the evening news can be an emotional roller coaster.

THE charges levelled against eight British Muslims, who deny conspiring to murder by blowing up planes flying from London to North America, make chilling reading.

WALK down the street today, and ask 10 different people: "What is the purpose of life? How did the world come into existence? How can we know what truth is?"

IT is difficult to believe that another Easter has come and gone.

"...HOW can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?". So asks the apostle Paul of an early church.

"IT is a story that's resonated for 2000 years, but what makes BBC1's latest retelling of Christ's final days so different?"; so reads the opening paragraph in this week's Radio Times article on the four part dramatisation of the Easter story – The Passion.

"WHAT do you want me to do for you?" said Jesus to the blind man who called out to him as he passed by.

AS the camera panned in slow motion it showed "Without love we perish" tattooed along the outside of his foot, up to his ankle.

JUST recently, I was reminded by a four-year-old child, just how very exciting the emergence of spring can be. For on a grey cold day, whilst I was gardening, my young helper, with great excitement, urged me to come and see the flowers that had "woken up".

LENT, the current season in the church's year, begins and ends with the cross, that simple structure, a tool used to inflict pain and death on those who were nailed to it. A death which for some was painfully slow.

EASTER is almost as early as it can be this year, falling on March 23, so last week on February 6 we began the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday.

TODAY is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of the Church Season of Lent, and it is a custom in the Scottish Episcopal Church to have a service today when we use ashes to make the sign of the cross on the forehead of those attending the service.

LET'S begin with a walk down memory lane. In Westminster Abbey I read the names on two gravestones. David Livingstone, missionary and traveller, and Thomas Tompion, maker of clocks.

WHAT is the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat? A thermometer registers the state of the atmosphere: a thermostat regulates it.

THE Bible says, "let us run with patience the race that is set before us...

CONSIDER the motto: "Look back in thankfulness, look up in worship and look forward in confidence."

HOW ends Scripture's record of the Nativity? The Shepherds, according to Dr Luke, returned "glorifying and praising God." For they had done what many have yet to do.

MATTHEW'S Gospel presents Jesus as King of the Jews and the contrasting responses to His reign over the lives of people. I wonder what your response has been to Christ the King this Christmas?

PRAYING and hoping for a better society, even a better world, must be coupled with faith and action.

SOME two thousand years ago, the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, issued an order that the inhabitants of his empire return to the city of their family origin to be enrolled in a census and pay taxes.

WHAT is the message of Christmas?

IS IT me, or is the start of the "Christmas season" creeping forward each year? It had to be September when the earliest advertising began. I have this suspicion that most people actually dislike this and prefer to keep all the "hype" closer to the holidays. Do you?

"MANY that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends." (from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring).

"CHRISTIANITY, that is just a lot of do's and don'ts." In my experience this statement is probably the most common perception of Christianity; a set of irrelevant 'rules' that seem too over-restrictive to be worthwhile.

THIS time of year is rich with national tradition. We've just had Hallowe'en, Bonfire Night is upon us and this coming weekend is Remembrance Day.

ALMOST everyone in the world would agree that love is a positive thing - something that everyone needs. Everyone has within them the need to love and to be loved. Without love, this life can seem very bleak indeed.

IF IT'S ever happened to you, you'll know that there's nothing worse than being conned... when trust is betrayed and the quiet confidence you had at first gives way to that horrible realisation that you got it wrong - you've been tricked.

"WHAT do you think?" asks Jesus before sharing a parable with his hearers. "There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard'.

FROM the very beginning, Jesus’ followers were led to believe that the world as they knew it would one day come to an end and would be replaced by a new heaven and a new earth that would, as it were, rise like a phoenix from the ashes. They believed that this would happen when Jesus finally returned to earth in glory.

WHEN he walked the Earth, the Son of God likened the Kingdom of Heaven to one who finds treasure hidden in a field, hides it again and in his joy sells everything he has and buys that field.

LAST Friday was International Day of Peace. The word 'peace' is mainly negative, denoting absence or end of war.

IN ISAIAH there are four sets of poems called Servant Songs. The servant has a task imposed on him by God, and it embraces the Gentiles as well as Israel.

THE Battle of Britain saved us from being an occupied country, and changed the whole course of our history.

WE ARE told that history is shot through with examples of sudden, rapidly developing periods of intellectual creativity.

IN HIS poem "The Hound of Heaven", Francis Thompson describes his running from God, and God's pursuit of him: "I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; ... down the arches of the years; ... down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind; and in the mist of tears I hid from Him ... From those strong Feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurrying chase, and unperturbed pace, deliberate speed, majestic instancy, they beat – and a Voice beat more instant than the Feet – 'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me'."

"RESURRECTION of religion in Scottish Schools" is the gripping headline in a recent national newspaper.

A REMARK in a recent sermon set me wondering: "Why is it so difficult for the Church simply to follow the directions it has been given?" I'm referring to how the Church functions as it seeks to make the kind of impact God intends it to have in the world.

"WHAT you do speaks so loudly that I can't hear what you say!" is one of those pithy sayings that contains volumes, and challenges every professing Christian.

A CHRISTIAN acquaintance, recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, tells movingly of the spiritual lessons he is learning through his ordeal.

WINSTON Churchill exemplified integrity and respect in the face of opposition.

TO BE a believer in today’s world can be a lonely business. Here is where "community" comes into its own.

I ONCE remember ­being told the ­story of a retired sea captain who, in his retire­ment, used to spend his days ­ferrying folk over to some of the smaller Western Isles.

A FEW years ago there was a true story about a man in New York City who was kidnapped. His kidnappers called his wife and asked for $100,000 ransom. She talked them down to $30,000.

Psalm 12 v1-2: I lift up my eyes to the hills from where comes my help.

IN January, I received an invitation to visit friends in Germany, who live in a village called Tussling in Bavaria.

FIFTY days on from Easter Sunday, the Church celebrates Pentecost.

ON SUNDAY, May 27, the Christian Church celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. What was happening at Pentecost? Was it an extra dimension, on top of following Jesus and being born again?

TWO brothers were arguing about the wisdom of their parents.

REPENTANCE: The word literally means "a complete change around in the way one views things". Concerning sin, it means not only saying you are sorry, but with the help of God; changing your ways.

I HAVE no sympathy with the idea that our children have to grow up before they are converted; that is, come to faith in Jesus Christ.

"MOTHER," exploded the teenager. "I've heard all the religion business I can take. You and Daddy are always bothering me about it. I'm not interested!"

TO vote for Jesus is to be associated with the Jesus of the Gospels, the One who will forgive your sin, give you eternal life, who will make your mind become clearer, your insights and perception sharper, and then in the light of God’s love, enable you to see the fuller potentials of your life.

CAN people change? It's said that a leopard never changes its spots. Is this true? Is transformation possible for a human being?

ARE you very patient? I don't think I manage patience very well sometimes.Often, my impatience works against me. When I am approaching a road junction and pick the lane with the least cars I only find the car in front stalls!

THE last weekend of March saw the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, of which Britain was a major perpetrator.

HERE comes the Easter weekend holiday, and so it seems highly appropriate to reflect a bit upon "the way we do Easter" as a nation.

THE Passover is the greatest of all the Jewish people's festivals. It commemorates the escape of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt.

THE town of Olney in Buckinghamshire has a street not far from the church and the River Ouse where the poet William Cowper lived.

SIXTY years ago, the government announced a ban on mid-week sport to aid productivity.

"HOW wonderful this world of thine, a fragment of a fiery sun." The words of the hymn-writer.

THE question irked just a little: "What would people think?" It was asked in relation to a perceived failure on my part to face a particular situation.

"WHY should I believe in your Christ?" is a question asked by many outwith the Church and by not a few within, who have their moments of deep scepticism.

"LOVE and marriage...Go together like a horse and carriage," is how Sinatra's lyric goes.

WHEN Ruth died, her family and friends gave thanks. She had been in a nursing home for 12 years, and for the last 10 of those she had lain virtually motionless.

DO YOU have perfect recall? Or do you sometimes have to resort to the common explanation “I forgot”? What would you give to have a memory booster that could give you back all those names, places, and numbers you’ve forgotten across the years? Or maybe just the passwords and PINs you need each day?

A MAN and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.

ONE day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing rod propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the spark-ling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

'EPIPHANY' has been defined as "a sudden realisation or comprehension of the essence or meaning of something".

AS WE begin 2007, we naturally look forward. The Christmas holidays are past; 2007 has begun.

WHAT did you get for Christmas? "Well, was Santa good to you this Christmas?" That age-old question will be asked for evermore.

WELL, it's almost Christmas and as we rush about making the last-minute arrangements, snapping up those bargains in the shops of foodstuffs that we probably will not eat and buying those last-minute presents, I want to say to you STOP! And think about these questions.

HAVE you ever taken part in a Nativity play? If you have, I wonder what your memories are.

IN MATTHEW'S Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 18, verse 21, Peter said to Jesus "Lord if another person sins against me how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to Peter "Not seven times, but I tell you seventy times seven."

AS A TEENAGER I was taught many things about a cross.

ONE day I was in Manchester, quite close to Albert Square, I listened to a preacher man, with people gathered there.

ONE of the most dreaded diseases in the world today is what we call "heart trouble". Every day we read of some person being cut down by a heart attack. This disease strikes the rich and the poor. It is no respecter of persons.

DURING the world wars of this century, and other wars, many men have made the ultimate sacrifice. They did so that we might live in peace and freedom. We remember them with gratitude. Many of you will also remember them with tears, as you knew personally some of those who died.

AT LAST, a drug for shopping! According to 'Ecologist’ magazine (Dec/Jan 07), Stanford University trials on an anti-depressant drug, Citalopram, have concluded that the drug was a 'safe and effective treatment for Compulsive Shopping Disorder’.

PEOPLE matter. Now there is a statement that many would whole-heartedly agree with.

ACCORDING to the UK HSE (Health and Safety executive) stress statistics in 2004/2005, 12.8 million working days are lost due to stress related illnesses.

CONSIDER these two statements made by Christ: “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” and “…he who is the least is the greatest.”

HAVE you noticed how the word solution has crept into more popular usage these days?

THERE is perhaps no better loved picture of Jesus than the picture of him as the Good Shepherd.

THE story is told of the message on someone’s telephone answering service.

IT IS now 66 years since the Battle of Britain was fought by the Royal Air Force.

WE ARE coming to the end of another season. The signs of autumn are in our midst with the longer nights, the colder days and the change in colour of the leaves.

THE present terrorism threat and utter chaos following the security measures to deal with it underscore a situation which almost beggars belief.

I DON’T know Mel Gibson. The chances are you don’t either. I watched his film, “The Passion of the Christ.” And while far from being convinced that such a sacred subject was an appropriate theme for a commercial film, I found it, in some respects, unforgettable.

ALICE in Wonderland ... you will remember the story, particularly the part when Alice comes to a fork in the road and doesn’t know which way to go.

WE ARE right in the season of weddings. The Church, historically, has always held to a high view of marriage.

HAVE you got a ticket? Wimbledon and the World Cup are over, and for the majority of us we will not have had a ticket for Wimbledon or the World Cup, so we will have stayed at home and watched the tennis and the football on television.

CAN you remember if it rained last Saturday, July 15? Chances are that if it did it will still be raining! St Swithun is apparently the saint to blame for rainy summers. It is said that if it rains on his special day, July 15, it will then rain for 40 days after that.

LAST week, I wrote about the possibility of schism in the World Wide Anglican Communion.

YOU may have noticed a headline in the Gazette of June 21, "Gator load of Cliff’s saintly golfing win" (I did not write it) that I recently enjoyed playing in a golfing competition in America.

ON FRIDAY, June 30, 1972, the Rev David Leslie Scott, Minister of Forres Castlehill Church, retired. The church was closed and the charge united with Forres High Church under the name of Forres St Leonard’s.

SUNDAY, June 18, the third Sunday in June, was Father’s Day. This is not a Christian festival or celebration, and unlike Mothering Sunday, has no foundation in the liturgy of the Church.

TRINITY Sunday, on June 11, is the Sunday when the Christian Church thinks about its mission to God's world.

THE Day of Pentecost - Sunday, June 4 - is traditionally celebrated throughout the Christian world as the birthday of the Church.

THERE’S something quite miraculous about the arrival of Spring after the long grey months of winter . . . something quite magical about the sight of trees dressed in new apparel . . . the newness of it all, with everything seeming to come out of nothing.

WE'RE all going to die! No two ways about it. That's how we'll all end up; dead as dead can be. Everything we've ever had, we'll lose.

IMAGINE what it would be like if a well-known public figure were to die, and then, after an interval of two or three days, reports began to emerge that the mortuary where their body had been laid was now empty and they had been seen alive by many who had formerly known them.

WHO can you believe? Who can you trust to tell you the truth about life... and death?