Plenary, 07 Dec 2005

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 7, 2005

Official Report 391KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. Our first item of business, as is usual on Wednesdays, is time for reflection. Our leader today is Mr Donald Matheson, elder of the Free Church of Scotland and session clerk of the Falkirk congregation.

Presiding Officer, ministers and honourable members, I consider it an honour and a privilege to address you today, and I thank you for the invitation.

We have it on the very highest authority that

"A prophet is not without honour except in his own country and in his own house".

If that is the case with prophets, we should not be surprised if, as politicians, you are not always honoured and perhaps suffer disrespect and even criticism at times. But today, I want to give you a message of appreciation, encouragement and recognition. That is why I was so pleased to hear last month of the Presiding Officer's tribute to you all and to the staff who administer you. Coming from a man who has been named Scots politician of the year twice, that is a worthwhile tribute, and one that I warmly applaud.

My appreciation is expressed not because you have introduced and passed legislation with which I agree. On the contrary, you have from time to time produced legislation on several issues that was very different from what I and the Free Church preferred and, in some cases, recommended to you. That is your prerogative. No, my appreciation is for your service to Scotland—for your often selfless efforts to restore to our great country prestige and a position that it has not held since 1707. That service is a resumption of a great parliamentary tradition that saw Christian democracy and education established in Scotland well ahead of most countries in Europe. Your service has often been provided at the expense of what in media jargon is called "a good life/work balance", and I thank you for that sacrifice.

I want to encourage you first of all by telling you that all Free Church congregations pray for you regularly. They pray that you may be upheld by God and given wisdom to make sound decisions for the good of all. "Well," you might say, "big deal. So the Free Church is praying for us." Yes, and note that those prayers are offered for you, whatever your party, your faith, your religion or your gender, by more than 12,000 men and women who are bearing you up before God. That is not support that you should readily despise or disparage, even outwith election times.

I also want to encourage you because I believe that you are where you are by God's authority. In the book of Romans, chapter 13, verse 1, we are told:

"The authorities that exist have been established by God".

So you are where you are by God's grace. You are God's servants, set in authority over our beloved country. I appreciate that some of you might not accept that yours is a divine appointment, but there is one divine directive with which I trust few, if any, of you will disagree. That directive is found in the book of Micah, chapter 6, verse 8:

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God".

That is my thought for you today—to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.