Plenary, 11 Feb 2004

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Official Report 454KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. Our time for reflection leader this afternoon is the Reverend Dr Michael Purcell, who is parish priest of St Mary of the Angels in Camelon.

I teach in the school of divinity just through the wall, so it is a pleasure to be here in the flesh to see what this place is like.

I was speaking with a friend from Lebanon last week. I asked him what he would speak about if he were offering a reflection in the Scottish Parliament. Straight away, he replied that he would speak about diversity as the life of a community. I took his words to heart. I began to think about diversity, and the very diverse society in which we live—a diversity of communities, cultures and peoples.

His words caused me to reflect on language and how we use it. What is diversity? It is variety and difference. It is related to diversions, a changing of direction, a being taken out of ourselves and our own concerns. Diversity and diversions involve turnings and changes.

But then I reflected that this turning is also linked to conversion, a turning towards someone. That also involves change, but it perhaps involves a change in us. Going further, this conversion is linked to conversation.

Today, I would simply like to associate these words—diversity, diversion, conversion and conversation—as things that should guide the life of a Parliament that speaks and, perhaps, speaks in an exemplary way. We all share in the gift of language and the responsibilities that it brings.

The French writer Maurice Blanchot wrote that, when faced with another person, the only alternative is to speak or to kill. What Blanchot meant is that the words we use are powerful. Words can be creative and affirming. They build bridges. They cross frontiers. They enable communication and they build up the life of community. They bring a sense of worth and value to others. They establish peace. However, words can also be destructive and divisive, hurtful and harmful, harshly vocal and violent.

Strangely, it is because we are diverse and different that we are able to speak at all. If we were all the same, we would have nothing to say to one another, and the life of a community would wither.

This is one of the prayers that we often use in my own Christian tradition:

In the midst of conflict and division,
we know it is you
who turn our minds to thoughts of peace.
Your Spirit changes our hearts:
enemies begin to speak to one another,
those who were estranged join hands in friendship,
and nations seek the way of peace together.

Your Spirit is at work
when understanding puts an end to strife,
when hatred is quenched by mercy,
and vengeance gives way to forgiveness.

May this place of speaking—this Parliament—be a place where words are used well and wisely, creatively and constructively, so that diversity truly is the life of a community.