Plenary, 16 Apr 2008
Meeting date: Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Official Report
440KB pdf
Time for Reflection
Good afternoon and welcome back. I hope that everybody had a good recess. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our leader for time for reflection today is the Rev Muriel Pearson from Cranhill parish church in Glasgow.
The Rev Muriel Pearson (Cranhill Parish Church, Glasgow):
Sometimes, some of the older members of my congregation in Cranhill, in the east end of Glasgow, like to reminisce about the glory days when church was full, the Boys Brigade marched the length of Bellrock Street to the stirring skirl of the pipe band and hats were worn on a Sunday. A wistfulness creeps into their tone. The congregational roll has plummeted from 300 to 30 in the past 20 years; so many friends have died or moved away; and there are so few young ones in the church. The grief and regret are very real, but they are not the end of the Cranhill parish church story. Out of the death of the past way of being a church, new shoots of life are coming, reminding us that we are Easter people.
Cranhill is only one example of a congregation in an area of urban poverty that has boldly offered hospitality to asylum seekers and refugees and to folk seeking access to learning, and which has, through a daily community cafe, created a space where folk of all ages can meet and eat. The Cranhill community project, which was set up as a partnership between the church, the local Roman Catholic congregation, the credit union and other key community folk, currently employs three full-time and four part-time workers and has a pool of more than 40 committed volunteers. They host community events and bring diverse people together.
Faithfully, week by week, worship continues and prayer is offered, and the wee community of faith deepens friendships, welcomes strangers and treats each individual as sacred, made in the image of God. It is in these poorest places, with the fewest resources, that some of the signs of life and hope are most clearly seen in the church. Here, commitment to the radical gospel of God's concern for the poor has led to some creative and life-enhancing partnerships with others in the community who dream of possibility and look for life.
We know that there is so much to do—so many who do not know their worth, who have believed themselves useless or a nuisance, or who have accepted the antisocial delinquent tag that has been placed on them by a society that sees them as a problem rather than a rich resource, helping to forge the nation shaped by the wisdom, justice, compassion and integrity that were embodied in the original vision for this Scottish Parliament and which are emblazoned on its mace.
I am glad to bring you today the greetings and good wishes of the folk of Cranhill parish church, who hold together their grief for the past with their hope for the future and who, in this Easter season, offer a living witness to the good news of life after death. May grace, peace, love and hope be yours as you work together on behalf of all Scotland's people.