The scene is a very busy bookshop. A bepigtailed elderwoman protagonist approaches the information desk. She pauses for a moment and then asks…
“Excuse me, Religion is…?”
Her bearded interlocutor pauses for a moment and then replies….
“Religion is in the gold room, just up the stairs.”
He pauses once again, and then asks, “Or were you looking for a more esoteric answer?”
So sorry to hear of Ruth’s death. She was a character you only meet once in a lifetime. RIP. 🙏
Thanks for this lovely tribute to Ruth. Ruth also served at St Mark’s Portobello (until 2010 – in between the Falkirk and Linlithgow stints I think) and is fondly remembered there by her little flock.
My apologies for missing that out in the first draft. I’ll add it in.
Thanks Kelvin.
Ruth had, also, a huge ability to sus out the gifts of others and to use them in a way that brought them fulfilment. It never put her off that others (often) regarded that person as a bit too marginal to use. Ruth made me feel useful- a gift both precious and rare. She also had the rare gift of good, solid fury. Gore Vidal had a set of essays ‘on our own now’ , his reaction to Eleanor Roosevelt’s death. Ruth is gone. We are on our own now.
Thank you, Kelvin, for this lovely tribute to Mother Ruth. She came to visit me in Philadelphia and was an instant hit among my friends. As you’ve said, she combined the kindness and compassion of a pastor with a glorious, bubbling sense of humour. Heaven will suit her!
Kelvin you have captured the Ruth I knew and loved, so thank you. I am missing being able to chat with her but I’ll keep chatting to her in my prayers. Tomorrow will be a celebration of the life a special lady. May she rest in peace and she will rise in glory.
Kelvin thank you so much for writing. Ruth was a very special person and even in her increasingly poor health continued to support and encourage me in coping with my own illness. May she rest in peace and rise in purple.
She was an amazing person, priest and friend. She rescued me at my first Clergy Conference which had not been a good experience for me up
to the point when she said “sit here Bob” A person I admired, respected and was always a wee bit scared of as she would always put me right when I needed it.
God Bless you Ruth 😍
Thanks Kelvin, this is Ruth, and more. One of those people once met never forgotten. A loyal and loving friend who I am going to miss very much.
💜 The world has felt somewhat less colourful and bright this week. May she rest in peace and rise in purple, indeed. 💜
The horror in Iraq grows ever deeper. The photographs of Americans torturing Iraqis have sickened me to the core. That they were doing this in one of Saddam Hussain's old torture palaces has managed to lower the moral status of the continued conflict even further.Not only that, but each horror like this makes it harder…
I was asked today whether I was a nun, by someone on a skateboard.I'm not, of course.
Once upon a time, you never saw people who were both pregnant and presenting the weather forecast on BBC TV at the same time. Now you do. The world does change.
Can Tony Blair survive attacks such as the letter from former diplomats which he received today? It is hard to imagine anyone governing Britain without even the grudging support of the Establishment.
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