THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

for the good of all concerned.

Now many of those who received that grant aid are in the retirement bracket but are still living in the homes that they built in their younger days. Many of these people still do B&B but to a lesser degree which still enables them to remain in their homes. These people are not making a fortune, more often than not much less than the tax free allowance given by the government.

The hassle involved in applying for their licence has already seen many of this generation give up and the implications are not good.

I was recently told while attending the opening of the Wester Ross salmon fishing season, some of those giving up B&B were considering selling and looking for smaller properties. This would release some of their capital, but also enable them to outbid youngsters for any smaller properties. Without affordable starter housing our younger generation will leave causing a demographic nightmare in the future.

As for their own property, as we have seen only too often here in Ardnamurchan, that will be purchased as a second home by wealthy buyers from down south who contribute little to either the local community or local economy. In fact they often do the complete opposite, causing both ill feeling and divisiveness within small communities.

These second home owners and their families, when they do visit, arrive with their Chelsea tractor loaded to the gunnels with all the supplies needed for the duration of their stay. The small local shop is lucky to sell other than an odd pint of milk to these visitors.

On the other hand an elderly local couple are likely to buy necessities from the local shop, including what they serve up as breakfast to their B&B guests.

We have seen many small local shops close over the years and this folly could exacerbate the problem of rural depopulation. The fragile rural economy and its infrastructure, from available tradespersons to transport, can only be damaged by this licensing proposal, which also smacks somewhat of 1984 Big Brother SNP.

Surely if a B&B has been operating for years without a licence it doesn’t need one now? Is it beyond the mental capacity of our politicians to leave a working mechanism alone? Have they never heard of the saying ‘ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’? area victims from The Great War. The youth and family circumstances of the men catches the eye. It’s also interesting to see the connections to the Boys’ Brigade or the Faith Mission.

The First World War is estimated to have damaged British and West European religion way more than the discovery of the theory of evolution. I had always assumed the latter to be more of a factor. My convinced mid-life atheism, centred on how science might explain almost everything, wilted after working for a time as a relief GP in Argyll and Western Isles. One former GP colleague, Dr Antony Latham has written extensively on the inadequacies of evolution as an explanation for the miracles and mysteries of science.

These are important arguments, and his work is well worthy of study for seriously motivated science students, but religious belief is a mixture of the factual and our inner or emotional response to it.

Tragedy can take us one of two directions spiritually. It can sometimes, for a period of time, leave us with great questions. But it can also spark a spiritual search and draw people to commit their lives to the great Easter truth: The Resurrection.

Stop-look-listen was the catchphrase of a 1970s road safety campaign for children. Lent is a great time to slow down and to enjoy the glories of a spring evening, but also to reflect on the legacy of sites like the amazing stone cross at Kildalton on Islay. It has borne witness to a truth of the greatest importance to humanity for well over 1,000 years.

Happy Easter!

James Hardy, by email.

A friend of mine remembers being in church one particularly hot Sunday and the sermon was making everyone drowsy, when the preacher suddenly banged on the pulpit and quoted a verse from the passage of the day – Ephesians 5:14 – very loudly, saying,

‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. No-one was asleep after that! I daresay many of us have been in that position at one time or another, and from a preacher’s point of view, a dozing congregation is not one we want to see. Perhaps there is a temptation to do what that preacher did? However, while we don’t want to see a sleeping congregation, a “congregation of dreams” is another story altogether.

With the prospect of more and more churches closing down and being decommissioned in the months and perhaps even years to come, might we pray for each of us to be part of a “congregation of dreams”? As a national church, with uncertainty and change around us, should we not be a congregation of dreams? As we struggle to make sense of what is happening in our parishes in these unprecedented times, is it not essential for our country to be a congregation of dreams?

Close your eyes if you must. Stay awake as you should, but listen too! God is working. He is doing a new thing!

It might be uncomfortable and it might hurt, but it is the church of Jesus Christ, and so we must pay attention, seek His will and then, join in! In our congregations of family, church, community and nation, let’s give ourselves completely to “the glory and freshness” of our hopes and dreams through God’s leading.

A prayer: “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” (Joel 2:28) Can we have more of this, please? Amen.

Reverend Morag Muirhead, Fort William Kilmallie Church of Scotland l/w Kilmonivaig Church of Scotland