Rev. Joe's 'Stuff'
February 22nd 2026
Wisdom Stuff 1: Faith and Trout
Hello,
In preparation for my Extended Study Leave this autumn I have been reading about the spirituality of the Outer Hebrides (otherwise known as the Western Isles or Innse Gall). This includes both its history and its people. One of the characters I have come across is Aonghas nam Beann, or Angus of the Hills, born in 1810.Angus struggled with reading (he could only manage the letters A and B) and often became distracted from the task in hand (keeping the cows out of the cornfield, for example) but at some point he became a Christian. A lot of people regarded him as what was then termed an 'idiot' but Angus seemed to have a sense of faith that belied any such insulting labelling. In his book 'Banner in the West', John Macloed recounts one such story:
'Once, as a Christian friend walked with him besides a dried-up river, he asked the simpleton, "How would you, Angus, describe the way faith acts towards the promises of the Word?" He replied, "Faith is often comparable to a trout that would be endeavouring to come up river, and the water so low that its back has become dry, so that it concludes that it will never be able to reach the loch from which the river comes; but bye and bye it sees a pool a little in front of it, and it makes a plunge into it. So does faith when it is almost on the point of giving up for want of the water of life; when it sees the promise, it plunges into it"'And there we have it. Contextual wisdom from rural Innse Gall. Next week's Stuff will have wisdom from another source - Pope Leo XIV.Peace and prayers, Joe
Joke of the DayA man walks into a seafood shop carrying a trout under his arm.
"Do you make fish cakes?""Yes we do" replies the fishmonger...
"Great" says the man, ït's his birthday"
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March 5th 2026
Wisdom Stuff 2: Praises and Curses
Hello,
Last time, I shared the wisdom of Angus of the Hills, from the Isle of Lewis in the 1800s. Today I’d like to share this bit of wisdom from Pope Leo’s XIV Lenten address 2026, which I was sent a couple of weeks ago. Having seen Donald Trump speaking about Kier Starmer on the news last night, it seems even more pertinent.
“I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbour. Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves. Instead, let us strive to measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. In this way, words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.”
In a political environment which outwardly which seems more focussed on being unpleasant about people from other parties, rather than engaging in constructive policy debate, perhaps I need to think about the plank in my own eye (Matthew 7:3-5) when I comment on world leaders. I was certainly less than endearing about Mr Trump and Mr Netanyahu when I heard that they had started to bomb Iran. As James said,
“My dear friends, with our tongues we speak both praises and curses. We praise our Lord and Father, and we curse people who were created to be like God, and this isn't right. Can clean water and dirty water both flow from the same spring? Can a fig tree produce olives or a grapevine produce figs? Does fresh water come from a well full of salt water?”
(James 3:9-12, Contemporary English Version)
JOKE OF THE DAY
An angel appears in a puff of smoke to a man and says to him, "Because you have lived a good and virtuous life, I can offer you a gift: you can be the most handsome man in the world, or you can have infinite wisdom, or you can have limitless wealth." Reflecting, the man says, "I'll take the wisdom"
"Wisdom is yours," says the angel, disappearing in another puff.
The smoke is barely clear before the man thinks, "I should have taken the money."