Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection, and our time for reflection leader is Squadron Leader the Rev Dr Andrew Hill, who is executive director of the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association.
Presiding Officer, members of the Scottish Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, I expect that, if we asked the public what members of Parliament do, we would get a range of answers—some, perhaps, kinder than others. The Review Body on Senior Salaries reported that members of Parliament
“Provide appropriate assistance to individual constituents … to progress and where possible help resolve their problems.”
In this and many other responsibilities, you have been elected to serve the best interests of your constituents.
I am aware that that service to others is seldom easy. Some people have unrealistically high expectations of what you can achieve; others demand results for themselves, but are careless about the needs of others; and you experience painful public criticism and rejection and, in extreme cases, threats and even acts of violence.
The charity that I serve—the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association—has delivered a Christian mission to our military for 177 years. During that long period, military personnel have served our nation with selfless devotion and sacrifice—but they, too, know how fickle the public can be. Rudyard Kipling wrote:
“In times of war and not before,
God and the soldier we adore.
But in times of peace and all things righted,
God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.”
Spurned service and unappreciated labours are, sadly, nothing new.
We find our hope and inspiration in Jesus Christ, who said of himself:
“the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus’ life was filled with generous and loving service for others, but his experience was of abuse, torture and death. Yet, as we celebrate each Easter, the Father declared Jesus’ service to be perfect and complete by raising him from the dead. Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we can know forgiveness from God and have our broken relationship with the Father restored.
Jesus’ immensely costly service—the giving of his own life in the place of others’ lives—brings believers amazing riches. Jesus calls his servants to find their true purpose in life—not in pleasing ourselves but in serving him and seeking the spiritual good of others. Jesus’ exhortation to us all to serve well is this:
“whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”
Thank you.