Plenary, 26 Feb 2003
Meeting date: Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Official Report
712KB pdf
Time for Reflection
Good morning. Major Alan Dixon, assistant to the Scotland Secretary of the Salvation Army, will lead our time for reflection.
Major Alan Dixon (Assistant to the Scotland Secretary of the Salvation Army):
It hardly seems conceivable that I have been back in Scotland less than a month since my appointment to work here began at the end of January. Since coming to Edinburgh, life has been busy, which is the usual understatement from a person moving from one job to another. We have all been there; we all know what it is like.
Returning to Scotland—returning to anything—causes us to look back and think of the changes that have happened since we were last there. I have found myself thinking about some of those changes, and about the changes still to come in my life. There have been changes in how the Salvation Army in Scotland is administered. There have been changes in our social centres; we have had to become more professional in pursuing our aims.
There have also been changes in this Parliament. When I left Scotland in 1997, a Scottish Parliament was still a dream. People hoped for it, some even prayed for it, but now it is a reality. The ways of working here have changed in the short time that the Parliament has existed, and no doubt they will change further in future.
Change is part and parcel of life. As someone observed, constant change is here to stay. Although some people welcome change, it places us in flux, and for others it is a time of uncertainty.
While I was in Brussels with other Christian and faith leaders last week—we were paying a visit to the European Parliament—I was given a book with the intriguing title "Values, Challenges and Hopes". That could be a summary of what we are about. We all have values that motivate us, challenges that form us, and hopes—and, some would add, dreams—that keep us going. That early-day Christian visionary and leader, St Paul, reminded one of his congregations that was facing change and uncertainty:
"Don't be weary in well doing, for in due season you will reap what you sow".
That was not a pious remark but a challenge to undertake to do and become the best possible, for
"What I am is God's gift to me; what I become is my gift to God".
May our prayer be that everything that we do today is for the good of all.