Plenary, 03 Nov 2004
Meeting date: Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Official Report
437KB pdf
Time for Reflection
As usual on a Wednesday, the first item of business is time for reflection.
The Rev Dr Iain D Campbell (Free Church, Back, Isle of Lewis):
I thank the Presiding Officer for inviting me to address the Parliament today.
This is not my first visit to this august and venerable chamber. It was my privilege to lead a group of singers from our native island to participate in the official opening of the building. I know that that was a busy day, but members may recall that we sang a Gaelic psalm on that occasion.
To have had the opportunity to do so was an honour in itself. However, it was only one of several opportunities that we have had over the past year to take our style of Gaelic psalm singing outside of the Hebrides. Visits to Paris, to Liverpool and to Alabama in the United States of America have allowed groups from Lewis to represent their country, their culture and their religion in a wide variety of settings. My church in Lewis also hosted some 500 people in October 2003, when we made a definitive recording of the genre on CD.
Much as we appreciate such opportunities, the strength of our Gaelic psalm singing lies in the expression that it gives to a living and dynamic faith that joins together the timeless word of God and the culture-bound religious life of a people in the worship of God. The church is the natural context for the singing of the psalms and has been since the days of the New Testament. Every time a precentor stands in public worship to lead the singing of the psalms in that way, he is immortalising a moment of sacred praise that binds him and his congregation to the faith of generations.
Our own national bard admirably captured the essence of this religious music. In "The Cotter's Saturday Night", Robert Burns describes a family at worship, chanting "their artless notes", tuning their hearts and taking up a psalm. The bard continues:
"From Scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs,
That makes her lov'd at home, revered abroad".
What shall we say about new Scotia? Will we have the wisdom and the boldness in modern Scotland to recover the bard's vision? Will we realise that it is our highest honour and our greatest wisdom to let the word of God dwell in us richly, so that we will embrace its message and live by its counsel? Will we have the humility, the courage and the faith to pray the ancient prayer of the psalmist?
"Dhia, d'fhirinn is do sholas glan
Leig thugam iad a-mach
Ga m' sheòladh chum do thulaich naoimh
's mo thabhairt chum do theach."
"Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!"
May that be our prayer personally, corporately and nationally. Thank you.