Plenary, 29 Nov 2000
Meeting date: Wednesday, November 29, 2000
Official Report
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Time for Reflection
Our leader of time for reflection today is the Rev Alan McDonald, minister of the parish churches of St Leonard's and Cameron in St Andrews and convener of the church and nation committee of the Church of Scotland.
Rev Alan McDonald (Minister of the Parish Churches of St Leonard's and Cameron in St Andrews and Convener of the Church and Nation Committee):
As a parish minister from St Andrews, it is a great honour for me to be here on the eve of St Andrew's day. I am sure that members will understand that St Andrew means a great deal to those of us who live in and around the north-east corner of the kingdom of Fife.
I offer two brief glimpses of Andrew from the gospels. The first is from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, which says:
"As Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people'. Immediately, they left their nets and followed him."
In the context of the work of the Parliament, there is surely great encouragement for everybody here in knowing that our patron saint was one who responded so readily to that invitation to fish for people. Andrew caught people. He caught their imagination with a vision of a comforting and yet disturbing person who will always be found among the least, the last and the lost in this or any society—the hungry, the naked, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner.
A second glimpse of Andrew is from the gospel of John at chapter 6, as part of the story of the feeding of the 5000. It says:
"One of the disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Jesus, ‘there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish'."
Again, in the context of the Parliament, surely all of us in the chamber and in the public gallery can take great heart from knowing that St Andrew was the one with the wit and the imagination to spot the wee boy with humble gifts and to see how those gifts might be used so that everyone would be included in the feast and food left over as well.
Andrew means a great deal not only to those of us who live in Fife or Scotland but to people in other lands, far to the east of here. For example, Andrew has been regarded as the patron saint of both Greece and Russia. In keeping with Scotland's best traditions, which have always encouraged us to look beyond ourselves and our own shores to see how we fit into the larger picture, here is a short prayer from the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Let us pray.
Blessed are you, O Christ our God,
You revealed your wisdom to simple fishermen,
Sending down on them your Holy Spirit,
And thus catching the universe in a net.
Glory to you, for you love humankind. Amen.