Plenary, 04 Jun 2003

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Official Report 407KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Fergus Macdonald from the National Prayer Breakfast for Scotland.

For many centuries now the psalms of David have had a special place in the affections of the Scottish people.

We are told that, at one time, prisoners condemned to die on the gallows in the Grassmarket had the right to request a psalm to be read immediately before their execution. The story goes that one victim, who had lodged a last-minute appeal for clemency to the King, asked for Psalm 119, which, with 176 verses, is by far the longest of all the psalms. Fortunately for him, before the reading of the psalm ended, a messenger arrived with a royal pardon. I suppose that that might be described as being saved by a king and a prayer.

The 150 psalms that have come down to us are still being used as prayers some 3,000 years later. They are prayers that are spoken, chanted or sung by every confession of the Christian church; prayers that are used by Jews and Muslims, as well as by Christians; prayers whose universal appeal has prompted their being described as "the voice of our common humanity".

The psalms provide one of the principal motivations for the National Prayer Breakfast for Scotland. A number of you were present at the 2003 prayer breakfast, which was held this morning in the Corn Exchange. The breakfast provides a forum for more than 300 Christians—of all denominations and none—to gather from all over Scotland to pray for our nation, and especially for the members of the Scottish Parliament. They believe that, in doing so, they are fulfilling an important responsibility of citizenship.

Today, an increasing number of people are rediscovering prayer. Social research indicates that a growing number of ordinary people acknowledge that they pray. That recovery of prayer reflects a new interest in spirituality, and may even foreshadow a key role for the psalms of David in the pop culture of the future. Let us learn from the past and, at the same time, look forward to the future by reflecting on some words from Psalm 100, which were sung with enthusiasm at the opening day of the Parliament in July 1999:

"O enter then his gates with praise,
Approach with joy his courts unto:
Praise, laud, and bless his name always,
For it is seemly so to do.
For why? The Lord our God is good,
His mercy is for ever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure."