Plenary, 06 Dec 2000
Meeting date: Wednesday, December 6, 2000
Official Report
335KB pdf
Time for Reflection
The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Reverend Alison Fuller, rector of St Columba's by the Castle Episcopal Church, Edinburgh.
Rev Alison Fuller (Rector, St Columba's by the Castle Episcopal Church):
"And Jesus withdrew from the crowds and went away to a quiet place to pray."
With only two weeks to go before the Parliament breaks up for Christmas, I thought it would be timely to reflect with you about the ancient and wise association of holidays and holy days.
When I was in New York recently, I went to hear the well-known black Baptist minister, the Rev Dr James Forbes, preaching at the Riverside Church. Like me, he had just taken some sabbatical time and he was reflecting on the need within our busy modern lives to stop, withdraw and reflect a while. It seems to me that sabbatical or Sabbath time should come round more frequently than every seven years, as prescribed in the law of Moses. Perhaps the pace of our modern lives requires an annual Sabbath.
In the Christian Church, Advent, like Lent, is a season of preparation, a making ready of the soul and body for the great feast of Christmas. Christians traditionally engage in acts of discipline or self-denial. Some of my congregation are considering how we could make space to be attentive to the presence of God in the midst of the business of writing Christmas cards, buying presents and planning Christmas dinner. We met last Sunday evening and spent some time silently reflecting on psalm 62, which reads:
"for you O God my soul in silence waits."
December 6th is the feast of Saint Nicholas—Santa Claus's other name—and traditionally in some parts of Europe today is still a day for giving and receiving presents. Perhaps the greatest gift we can give ourselves this Advent is to follow the example of Jesus. Let us make time to step back from the pressure of deadlines and the pressing crowds or the press gallery and reflect a little on the meaning of the feast of Christmas, whether or not we hold to an orthodox understanding of God's gift to us in Jesus Christ. The gift of the holiday or holy day, of the Sabbath or the sabbatical is an opportunity to take a break from our routine, to catch up with our family and friends, and to take stock of the things that really matter in our lives.
"And Jesus withdrew from the crowds and went away to a quiet place to pray."