Plenary, 17 Sep 2003

Meeting date: Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Official Report 372KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business today is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader is Morag Mylne, who is the vice-convener of the church and nation committee of the Church of Scotland.

I would like to speak about love—about the love of justice, love for the world and the love of God.

Here, in this Parliament, there is public service and politics. Both are essential, and public service is a noble thing. Politics, at its finest, is for the good of the people. But why give and serve? For its own sake? For the benefit of others?

At the heart of real public service is love—love of people and a passion for the good. Love is a binding, motivating and nourishing force. It takes different forms—care, concern and compassion, and anger and impatience in the face of injustice.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal … If I do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned, if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever."

And so it is today. Doing good is not enough unless it is done for good reasons. And there are plenty of bad reasons for doing good, such as self-interest or status.

Doing politics is the same. Politics is about making a difference and improving lives, but if that is done without love, it is a dry and sterile thing, vulnerable to the pressures of those whose reasons are the wrong ones. Done with love, politics becomes something strong and dynamic, informed by what is right and just. It is still about making a difference but, even more, it is about upholding the value of each person.

In the church and nation committee, we value political passion. We see politics as a noble calling, because it is bound up with seeking justice and the good. Doing politics, then, is an expression of love. For the Christian, it is an expression of the love of God for the world and its people. We believe in what you as politicians do, and we uphold you and your work in prayer. That does not mean soft politics or the end of disagreement. If we are to be true to what love demands of us, we have to be rigorous in our thinking and determined and clear. Nothing less than our best will do.

Acting in love is no less than what God requires of us. From the prophet Micah:

"what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"

Love and public service are bound together, and when service is draining and demoralising, and politics is fraught and nasty, love gives hope.