Plenary, 07 Mar 2001

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 7, 2001

Official Report 387KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

We welcome to lead time for reflection Mrs Ann Allen, the convener of the Church of Scotland's board of social responsibility.

I have just returned from a visit to Chennai, formerly Madras, in south India, which I made at the invitation of the International Christian Federation for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Addiction. It was my first exposure to the culture of Asia and to a developing nation. Those of you who have shared that mind-blowing experience will know just the kind of impact that it makes on one's mind, senses and presuppositions.

In the area of social care, I found that the people of India share many of the issues that confront us here. They, too, are struggling to meet the needs of an increasingly elderly population. They wrestle with the problems of drug and alcohol misuse and the abuse of children. There, too, they are seeking to implement the vision of an inclusive society.

However, in India, the caste system militates against such inclusiveness. Born a Dalit—an untouchable—you die a Dalit, and nothing you achieve can alter your caste. In Scotland, fortunately, we do not have such an ingrained cultural feature to overcome as we seek to eradicate social exclusion. In so doing, we will mirror the society that the Bible teaches God intended for his people. The creator God has stamped his image on every person, declaring in their humanity his vested interest in them and love for them.

Many people may never want to read a Bible or enter a church, but they surely want to know that they have significance and that they matter to someone. The good news of the gospel declares that they matter to God. In Jesus' life, death and resurrection, God has given the guarantee of such individual worth. In his culture, children were of least value, but Jesus said, in Matthew 18:

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones".

In telling the now-famous parable of the 99 sheep safe in the fold and the one that was lost, Jesus emphasised:

"Your Father in heaven is not willing that one of those little ones be lost."

God's love is offered to all, without exception. Those who respond to that love and follow Christ are called to live out that love to all, their neighbour being everyone whom they meet. That pattern of social inclusion is a blueprint for a healthy, wholesome society and is the basis for the social care that is offered by the board that I represent.

Let us pray.

O God, creator, father and friend, we thank you for the dignity and value of every created person and pray that, more and more, our society will be one in which each individual has great significance and worth. When that is accomplished, O Lord, you will be glorified.

Amen.