Plenary, 17 Apr 2002

Meeting date: Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Official Report 417KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

To lead our time for reflection this afternoon we welcome the Rev Margaret Forrester, the minister of St Michael's parish church here in Edinburgh.

In the 1960s I lived in India for six years. In February this year I returned there after more than 30 years to renew friendships and to enjoy a fortnight's holiday. We spent the first night with a former student and his family. They were Hindus and, that first morning, the devotion was for the Lord Krishna, appearing as God who waits, while the humans whom he visits are too busy to meet him. I liked that picture of God. It is one that resonates with my own Christian faith.

At this time of year, Christians celebrate Easter, enjoying once again the teasing, tantalising, mysterious—and in some ways maddening—appearances and disappearances of the risen Christ.

When Cleopas and his wife walk the seven miles from Jerusalem to their home they are consumed with what they view as their own troubles, and so they fail to recognise the beloved stranger who approaches. After they stop and listen and invite him to stay with them, he blesses the bread at the evening meal, and their eyes are opened. The stranger to whom they gave hospitality was the one who could heal their pain, for he was their saviour and God.

All of us here seek to serve the people of Scotland. This we can do most positively and effectively when we take time to stop our own busyness to listen to them. Only when Cleopas and his companion stopped being absorbed in their own troubles could they recognise the God who walked with them.

God still walks the streets of Scotland wherever there is injustice or inequity, hopelessness or shame. Listen to a modern Scottish hymn:

Jesus Christ is waiting,
waiting in the streets;
no one is his neighbour,
all alone he eats.
Listen Lord Jesus,
I am lonely too.
Make me, friend or stranger,
fit to wait on you.

Jesus Christ is healing
healing in the streets;
curing those who suffer,
touching those he greets.
Listen Lord Jesus,
I have pity too.
Let my care be active,
healing just like you.

Because all of us here are committed to justice, compassion and integrity, we must have the wisdom to listen to those who are out there. In the stopping and listening and meeting, we too shall find the beloved stranger: the God who rises from the dead.

Before we begin this afternoon's meeting, I invite the chamber to give a warm welcome to the Presiding Officer and the Clerk of the Northern Ireland Assembly, who are with us in the gallery today. I welcome Lord Alderdice and his colleagues [Applause.]

In the Northern Ireland Act 1998 the words "Presiding Officer" appear, but the standing orders of the Northern Ireland Assembly state:

"A Presiding Officer of the Assembly ... may be called ‘Mr Speaker'".

The Scottish Parliament may want to think about that in future.