Plenary, 22 Sep 2004
Meeting date: Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Official Report
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Time for Reflection
Good afternoon. Our first item of business today is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader is the Rev Dr Alison Jack, Church of Scotland minister from Dunblane.
The Rev Dr Alison Jack (Church of Scotland Minister, Dunblane):
When I was on a commuter train from Dunblane to Edinburgh recently, I was astonished to see a woman apply her full make-up on the moving train without looking once in a mirror. Here was someone who knew her face like the back of her hand—which she could see.
I am sure that you are still finding your way around this amazing new building and I am sure that it is still a little unfamiliar to you, but I am also sure that you know the places and people that you represent with a familiarity that is true and strong. That is how it should be. Only when we know someone—really know their strengths and weaknesses and hopes and fears—are we able to help them and to represent them with integrity and passion.
We can all be familiar with the contours of our land and the faces of the people we have met and come to know. It is harder sometimes to know ourselves, to recognize our strengths and weaknesses, our motivations and our deepest fears. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of ourselves in the experiences of others. They become mirrors of our own souls. Sometimes we simply need to take a long, hard look at ourselves as it were in a mirror, to understand the ways in which we have changed and grown over time.
May we always be aware of the words of St Paul:
"Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."
May these words keep us humble and open to the ideas of others, for now we each see only dimly, only in part. May these words also give us hope and comfort, for we each are fully known and understood by one who loves us unconditionally.
Let us pray.
Loving God, you know our hearts and minds, what makes us tick, what makes us mad, what makes us passionate to bring about change. You know our highest thoughts and lowest moments.
Use us, just as we are, to bring justice to this land and this people, to open doors for all to health, education and a fair use of resources and to bring about a strong community in which all have a part to play and a place to turn to in need.
Amen.