Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Official Report 662KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. As always, the first item of business is time for reflection. I am delighted that our time for reflection leader today is the Right Rev John Christie, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Good afternoon, everyone. I thank the Presiding Officer and his colleagues for the invitation to speak at time for reflection.

In a trailer for a television documentary on Lachlan Macquarie—Australia’s first governor-general—that is to be broadcast this evening, Professor Tom Devine says:

“England ruled the Empire—the Scots ran it”.

Pithily, he describes the worldwide influence of the Scot. There are all kinds of reasons for such influence, for example the Scottish reformation, the Scottish enlightenment and the emigrations of the late 18th and 19th centuries.

In my year as moderator, one of my commitments is to be an advocate for the joint initiative of the Church of Scotland Guild and of the ministries council, which is called a place for hope. It seeks to develop methods of conflict transformation in which confrontation is not the first option. Through mediation, people can strive to find better ways of resolving conflict so that relationships are repaired and opportunities are created for new constructive ways of working for the future.

Hope not only springs eternal in the human breast but features in early literature. The apostle Paul reminds us that, with faith and love, hope is one of the things that last forever. In a recent correspondence column of The Guardian Weekly, a writer who reflected on Pandora’s box and the hope that was left in it said:

“The activation of Hope in Pandora’s box for the survival of our species will depend on two improbabilities. First ... the curbing of our testosterone-driven tendencies to homicidal mania, promoted by ideological bigotry and the power of the military-industrial complex.

Second should be a reduction of hubris and implementation of our responsibilities to the biosphere.”

The place for hope initiative marks a new way of doing things. It is about offering methods that do not involve the adversarial and about working with people to resolve difficulties. It means being a non-anxious presence to assist in relationship building. One of Scotland’s leading mediators, John Sturrock, firmly believes that Scotland can build on its historical reputation as a place to debate new ideas and solve challenging problems to become what William Ury—one of the global authorities on mediation—calls a third-side nation.

May I draw to a close with a suggestion? I suggest that we seize the moment to contribute to a new Scottish enlightenment that will enable Scots if not to run the world, at least to change it. How about looking at each other in a new way? We should remind ourselves of one of the greatest ethical statements of all time. In one form or another, it is found in most faiths and none but, as I am sure that members would expect, I will quote Jesus:

“Do to others as you would that they to you would do.”

How that ethic, firmly grasped, would enlighten us all.