Plenary, 16 Feb 2000
Meeting date: Wednesday, February 16, 2000
Official Report
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Time for Reflection
To lead our time for reflection today, I welcome Judith O'Neill, who is a lay member of the Catholic Church.
I quote:
"Ask and it will be given to you,
Seek and you shall find,
Knock and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened."
Friends, we begin our time for reflection today with two brief parables that Jesus told his disciples. I read from chapter 15 of St Luke's gospel:
"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulder, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost'.
Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost'."
Each of those little stories has the same very satisfying pattern. It begins with a loss—the loss of a farmer's valuable sheep and a woman's precious coin; perhaps it was a piece of her jewellery. Then the story moves on to the search: the farmer trudging over the fields and calling for his lost sheep, and the woman lighting a lamp and sweeping the floor for her lost coin. Then come the finding and the rejoicing, and the calling in of friends for a celebration, because that which was lost has been found again.
As we reflect on those two stories of losing, searching and finding, let us bring our prayers to God.
We pray first for all who suffer loss, especially those who come to us for help. They may come over loss of work, loss of house or land, loss of family and friends by bitter quarrels or by death or, worst of all, the loss of memory. Help us to enter into their sorrow, to bring them comfort, to join in their search, and to rejoice with them if what has been lost can be found again. For all those, dear God, we ask you to hear our prayers.
We pray, too, for all the men and women in Scotland who are ready to help those who suffer loss: for the members of this Parliament; for our ministers and priests; for our teachers and lawyers; for our doctors and nurses; for our social workers and housing officers; for the police and the mountain rescue service; for those who man our lifeboats; for those, such as the Samaritans, who answer our helplines; for loving families; and for faithful friends and good neighbours. For all those, dear God, we ask you to hear our prayers.
We end our reflection today by asking for God's blessing on ourselves and on all the work that is done in this house:
May the Lord bless us and keep us, May the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us, May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us peace.
Amen.