Plenary, 09 Jun 2004

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Official Report 396KB 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 Mrs Margaret Clark, Roman Catholic, Action of Churches Together in Scotland and the Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women.

Good afternoon. A favourite quotation from Robert Burns is:

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!"

I suggest that you have that gift. The decisions that you make affect the lives of people, and in the media and by letter you are told what people think of your decisions—some applauding, some ridiculing. All decisions affect someone's life, either for better or for worse.

As a Christian, I like to think that I am guided by the words of Jesus, who said that the first commandment was to love God and the second to love your neighbour as yourself. It is easy to love some neighbours, but how do we show love to those in our society who feel excluded—the homeless, single parents, asylum seekers, the unemployed, those who suffer domestic violence, the sick, pensioners and the stranger in our midst?

I like to think that we are a welcoming people and that we care for our neighbours. We want decisions and laws that take care to ensure that, as we are all created equal in the eyes of God, we all have an equal opportunity to live life to the full. We care for the vulnerable in our society and for the sanctity of life.

It is a responsible role that you hold as the people whom we have chosen to represent us in building a Scotland that we can all be proud of—one that cares for every man, woman and child. So I often wonder what goes through your hearts and minds as you debate issues and changes to legislation. I like to think that it is about building a kingdom, like the kingdom of God, where all can live at peace with their neighbour. And while building a new Scotland, we must not forget the rest of the world: the hunger caused by third-world debt; our war-torn world; and divided countries. We have our part to play in changing world conditions and in loving the neighbour whom we see only on television.

When a group of young people from Belarus visited our Parliament, they were amazed at the access that we had to our politicians. It was quite a coincidence that, while they sat in the visitors' gallery, you debated nuclear power—something that had touched their lives quite drastically.

So I pray that we in Scotland show love to all our neighbours.