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It's 25 January, the birthday (in 1759) of the Scottish poet Robert Burns . All over the world, people of Scottish descent and others who get drawn in to Burns Night celebrations, will this evening be eating haggis. Ours will be a low key celebration for just 2 people, but we have haggis. What else could we eat on Burns Night? It will be a traditional Scottish haggis and comes from a manufacturer based in an area of Scotland where some of my forbearers were farmers of sheep and growers of oats, 'neeps' and 'tatties'. The basic haggis recipe is the minced heart, lungs and liver of a sheep, seasoned and mixed with oatmeal, stuffed into a sheep's stomach lining and boiled. It is traditionally served with mashed root vegetables like potatoes and swedes/turnips. Haggis is one of those foods that tastes much better than it looks. However elaborately it is sometimes presented, a stuffed sheep's stomach just looks revolting to my mind. It does seem strange t...

Powerful and violent persecutors of Christians have been around since before early followers of Jesus were called Christians. Saul of Tarsus aka Paul is perhaps the most famous early example. He positively breathed "threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord". The church remembers his dramatic change of heart and life on 25 January. This painting of the Conversion of Paul is by the Neapolitan 17th century painter Luca Giordano (1632 - 1705) . It is striking for many reasons. Paul, his companions and their horses are all shown as immensely powerful - just look at their muscles. The story from Acts 9: 1 - 20 tells how Paul was travelling from Jerusalem to Damascus on special commission with authority to arrest followers of the Jesus' Way and bring them bound to Jerusalem to be dealt with. As his group approached Damascus a light from heaven flashed around Paul and he fell to the ground. The painter has conveyed the drama of this sudden event with a stor...

It's Burns night and in an hour I expect friends to arrive for a celebration of the birthday of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. This is the day when my Scottish genes start asserting themselves.  We will of course be eating haggis. Haggis actually tastes much better than it looks. Earlier today I went out on a successful haggis hunt and the beast is prepared and getting hot, knife is sharpened, 'neeps' prepared to boil and mash, whisky and Burns poetry lined up ready. We may just manage the 1st stanza of Burns' 'Address to a Haggis'. Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,  Great chieftain o' the pudding race!  Aboon them a' yet tak your place,  Painch, tripe or thairm:  Weel are ye' wordy o'a grace  As lang's my arm. Just for fun and if you want to know more about haggis take a look at this post (with a pinch of salt). 10 things your never knew about haggis If you are celebrating the Conversion of St Paul today, her...

This evening I’m looking forward to a meal out with friends, knowing the chief item on the menu will be Haggis. Tonight is Burns Night, which is celebrated even outside Scotland by some of us, in honour of the poet Robert Burns. If you want to learn 10 things you never knew about haggis click here. The Church of England festival today is ‘The Conversion of Paul’ when we remember his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus and what resulted from that. In the spirit of the worst preaching techniques of making clumsy connections between what’s making news and the Good News of the Gospel here are 3 contrived connections between Haggis/Burns Night and Conversion/St Paul: Burns called the haggis the chief of puddings. St Paul called himself the chief of sinners. Some people get drunk on whisky on Burns Night. St Paul advised “be filled with the Spirit”. Burns Night helps unite people with Scottish identity. St Paul called for “unity of mind and purpose” for those ...