Laivin Aiberdein Habour

Christie Williamson helps run Tell it Slant Books in Glasgow. His two collections are published   by Luath Press  - ‘Oo an Feddirs’ 2015 and ‘Doors tae Newye’ 2020. He comes fae Yell. 

Syne laivin Aiberdein Harbour

ivvir cost me tears

dey widna keep me

in Fairy Liqueed

an here agien mi taes

is spun sweet 

bi da grip

o aniddir year dancin.

Fu mony times

‘ll du gjit tae lairn

at life

is a habit formin activity

an da best eens

geeng tae da best eens?

Comin doon da steps

tae da back door

dis happy return

sees da compass squared

an wi his 91st circuit underwye

wi fire in his sails

an blyde in his een

da maestir o da hoose

shaas da wye.

I am hom.

He is risen.

Let us rejoice! 

Christie Williamson

laivin - leaving; syne - if; ivvir - ever; dey widna - they wouldn’t; agien - again; taes - toes; Fu mony - how many; ‘ll du gjit – will you get; eens - ones; geeng - go; shaas da wye - shows the way; hom – home

GCH Update - Easter 2026

We recently had one of our fortnightly Bible studies on the subject of 1 Corinthians 13, in which St Paul describes Christian love, in all its power and generosity. Both of the guests who were there reflected on their culture shock when they first came to Britain, which immediately seemed a less loving country than the East African countries where they had grown up. They recalled how drivers would offer lifts to anyone they saw walking by the road, or how, if you saw someone picking mangoes from a tree outside your house, rather than warning them about trespass, you’d offer them a ladder so they could get to the higher ones! I am very grateful for our little outpost of community in a grey and unfriendly city, and pray that it spreads. After all, as Dorothy Day wrote, ‘God meant for things to be much easier than we have made them.’

We are happy to have been able to re-open our night shelter, now as a joint project with our friend Conor from Martha House, to operate through the winter. In preparation for the re-opening, Conor and Harry worked miracles in the hall through January, installing new curtains, a dividing wall, and heat and sound insulation, which will make this winter shelter—and any future hospitality in the hall—much warmer, and much cheaper to keep warm. The shelter is already filling up, and a small army of volunteers have returned to cook and do shifts in it.

We had to say goodbye to James in November, who has returned to Australia to pursue his degree in social work; we are beyond grateful for all his work and his unfailingly warm, joyful presence here. Just before Christmas, we were joined by Eva, who will be a volunteer here until the summer. She has settled in well and, to our great relief, is undertaking much-needed work in the garden. One of the guests in the house, who had been detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation, is back with us. We are very happy that he is back here, but his imprisonment was pointless and cruel, and in a decent country would never have happened in the first place.

Moya spent January at Maria Skobtsova House in Calais. While there she was able to see the new Sojourner Truth House, a house of hospitality in Calais inspired by the Catholic Worker which she has set up with four other Quakers, which hopes to start welcoming guests in the Spring. We’re looking forward to maintaining close links.

Finally, we want to express our immense gratitude to Brian Arthur, who, having passed away last year, left us a very substantial legacy. We were glad to have been able to meet and get to know him in the last part of his life, and hope we will be able to use his legacy in a way befitting of his trust and generosity. Please keep him in your prayers.

Let your Love Come to Me and I Shall Live

Harry Wills reflects on lasting riches.

Great Resurrection, Wassily Kandinsky, 1913

Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, what you should eat or drink, nor about your body, what you should wear. Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing? Behold the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them… Now, who among you by being anxious can add a single hour to his lifespan? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not labour nor do they spin. I say to you, however, that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. (Matt. 6:25-29)

Easter is here and the LCW is not only rejoicing in the resurrection of Christ but also of a night shelter, which you can read about in the House Update. Grief has brought life and resurrection to my mind too, but so has the arrival of Spring and the seasonal resurrection of life, the perfect season to be beholding the birds and considering the lilies and to be reminded of the consolation of God:

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. (Ps. 23:1-4)

So, considering the birds and the lilies, if life does not consist in an abundance of possessions, (Lk. 12:15) what does it consist in? Paul’s answer is to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way we will lay up treasure for ourselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that we may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Tim. 6:17-19, cf. Prov. 3:9-10) In other words, to use worldly wealth to gain friends for ourselves, so that when it is gone, we will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. (Lk. 16:9)

Instead of worrying over food that spoils, (Jn. 6:27) garments that wear out, (Heb. 1:11) wealth that vermin destroy and thieves steal, (Matt. 6:19) we are told to seek the true bread from heaven, that endures to eternal life, (Jn. 6:27, 32) garments of salvation and cloaks of His righteousness, (Isa. 61:10) the true wealth. (Matt. 6:20; 19:21; Lk. 16:11) That is, the true life. (1 Tim. 6:19)

Where do we begin the search for this true life? The Johannine literature reveals that eternal life is this, that they know you, the only true God (Jn. 17:3) and whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 Jn. 4:7-8) Eternal life, then, lies in love, and to abide in love is to abide in God. (1 Jn. 4:16) We are also told that man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). These ‘words’ culminate in this command: that you love one another, as I have loved you (Jn. 13:34; Matt. 7:12; 22:40) and we must remember that His command leads to eternal life (Jn. 12:50).

He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor—His righteousness endures forever. (Ps. 112:9)

Let’s return to the birds and lilies. Saint Basil of Caesarea said that the more you abound in wealth the more you lack in love, because the measure of our superfluity is a measure of our inequity and, therefore, a sign of our neglect of neighbour and God. Divine love is self-giving, self-sacrificial (Jn. 15:13) but if we are anxious about our earthly means, we will be reluctant to participate in it. Maybe the true wealth that cannot be stolen is the wealth we give away, the cloak of His righteousness is the cloak with which we cover the naked and shield the vulnerable, the bread that endures to eternal life is the food that we share with the hungry. Since we have received freely, so should we give freely, (Matt. 10:8; 18:21) having faith that the love we measure out will be measured back many times over. (Prov. 11:18-19; Matt. 25:14-30; Mk. 10:29-31)

Go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in the heavens. And come, follow Me. (Matt. 19:21)

Giving up our attachment to what is earthly is the challenge of love, but also the consolation! He comforted us, saying: As I live, you also live. (Jn. 14:19) Who can deny that Jesus is resurrected in the present, not just as the body of the church, but in our deeds when we live and love in self-giving ways inspired by Him? Also, our relatives, friends, martyrs, and saints, who have passed away, who gave of themselves for us, share in all that life and joy when we love others as they did us. Love endures forever. (1 Co. 13:7) Even in this life we gain much: A friend loves always, and for adversity a brother is born. (Prov. 17:17) Those who love receive life (Lk. 10:27-28; Hab. 2:4) and some, who love as Christ loved, may not taste death  before they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom (Matt. 16:28).

How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! For there the Lord  bestows His blessing, even life forevermore. (Ps. 133:1, 3)

There’s no profit in possessing the world if we forfeit life, (Matt. 16:26) and we mustn’t remain slaves to mammon, as we cannot serve two masters. (Matt. 6:21-24) We will not be free from this slavery, however, unless we start giving, not only from what we can afford, but also from what we can’t. (Mk. 12:41-44) How can we bear anything less when faced with Jesus’ total sacrifice on the cross? We must do this not only because we are rewarded according to what we have done, (Matt. 16:27; 25: 14-30) but also: through our own sacrificial love and self-giving, the resurrected Lord abides, alongside the spirit-life of all who have loved us.

Let Your love be ready to console me, according to Your promise to Your servant. Let Your love come to me and I shall live. (Ps. 119:76-7)

Harry Wills