Official Report 680KB pdf
Good afternoon. Our first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Alasdair Macleod, the Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland.
In a recently published book entitled “What Has Christianity Ever Done for Scotland?”, the author reminds modern, secular Scotland that our education, legal systems, healthcare, human rights and arts were shaped by those who had a living connection to Jesus Christ. For instance, James Young Simpson, the pioneer of anaesthesia, was asked by a reporter,
“what was your greatest discovery?”,
likely expecting an answer along the lines of his life’s work. He replied:
“That there is a Saviour.”
What is it about Jesus Christ that draws the deepest devotion? There is no questioning his unique impact. Today, more than 2 billion people, from remote rural tribal groups to the most sophisticated nations on earth, claim a live connection to him. That connection runs from today’s world of elite sport to historical figures such as Napoleon, who contrasted the empires of Alexander the Great, Caesar and Charlemagne:
“On what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon sheer force. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men will die for Him.”
Jesus’s unique impact is matched by Jesus’s unique insight. Much to the frustration of both traditionalists and radicals of his day, Jesus made it clear that humanity’s problem was not out there but inside us; not external but internal; not merely nurture, but nature. Jesus said:
“For from within, out of our hearts”
spews everything that spoils. Therefore, a focus solely on externals, such as economics, education and environmental issues, all of which have their place, but ignoring the internal and the eternal will not prosper. As the prophet reminded the people of his day,
“you have planted much but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You earn wages, they don’t last.”
No wonder those words were bookended by,
“Give careful thought to your ways”.
I love my country, with all its quirks. What made Scotland a beacon of democracy, human dignity, invention and artistic genius can again make us thrive, with kindness and hope, when we hear the words of Jesus and, like the wise man who built his house on a rock, put them into practice.
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