Plenary, 12 Jan 2000
Meeting date: Wednesday, January 12, 2000
Official Report
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Time for Reflection
We welcome to lead our time for reflection today Bishop Idris Jones, the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway.
The Right Reverend the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway (Bishop Idris Jones):
At the moment, we are living in the middle of some building work on our house in Glasgow. Perhaps members can identify with the experience—clouds of plaster dust and the constant sound of merry hammering. At one point in recent weeks, I was moved to wonder and delight—by the new staircase.
To see it now, boxed in and finished, it is just another stair. When it first arrived, however, we were able to see the intricacy and skill of its construction by looking up at it from underneath. What a fantastic piece of joinery it is with its kite pieces, wedges and doweling pins. Now, of course, we just take all that for granted as we tread on it and go up and down, trusting the skill of those who made it. Part of me wishes that the staircase could have been left open, so that I could renew my admiration of the joiners' skill every time I used it.
Thinking about the stair leads me to reflect on the people around me whom I often take for granted and on whose good will I rely in my private life and as part of the community in which I live— the backroom folk. As I am sure members are aware, while the work goes on in this chamber, support is in place from all the people who help to make it possible. In the wider community, too, many women, men and children contribute in some way to make the whole thing work. As I reflect on all that support, I am thankful.
Sadly, there is sometimes a cost to be borne. Today particularly, we are aware of the human cost in the fishing industry, and we hold in prayer the community in Kirkcudbright at this time.
On our new stair, each piece is part of the whole and necessary for its function as a stair—even the little doweling pins. What a great gift we possess when we feel included in a family, a community, a nation. How great it is to feel that we have a part to play. What a marvellous gift it is to give—to work so that those who feel that they have no part are given one. What a great gift it is that we can work to offer purpose and meaning to those who today sit in darkness and despair. That is indeed to share in God's work and to do God's will.