Plenary, 30 Jan 2002

Meeting date: Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Official Report 374KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

To lead our time for reflection this week, we welcome the Rev Tilly Wilson, who is a Church of Scotland minister in Dysart, working with travelling people.

In Ephesians 2, we read:

"And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord."

Today we recall the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews, 3 million Gypsies and many others died. For many people in Scotland, it brings feelings of sadness, sympathy for suffering victims, and a certain degree of revulsion that such a thing could happen. Yet those feelings are somewhat blunted by the passing of time and the knowledge that it all happened in another country, to people unrelated to them.

For me, as a Gypsy Traveller, the remembering is more personal and painful, although I was not even born at the time. That is because I belong to a people whose corporate sense of belonging crosses boundaries of time and place and whose memories are passed down from one generation to another and so become part of everyone's collective experience.

For many years before I became a Christian, I carried around the baggage of the centuries of persecution and discrimination suffered by my people. It was part of my consciousness. Combined with other things, it led to a certain amount of distrust—even fear—and a sense of alienation from those not belonging to the travelling community. Fortunately, I no longer feel that way. So why the change of heart? It is simply that I now believe, as the reading from Ephesians indicated, that no matter who we are or what our background, we are made one in Christ Jesus. On this day, when we remember the hurt and pain associated with the Holocaust, we also remember those who, in the years following—sometimes at great risk to themselves—worked to ease suffering and bring peace and reconciliation to those whose lives were torn apart by hate and war. I look forward to that time when no one feels that they are an outcast or a stranger and everyone feels that they belong together as part of the one family of mankind under God.

Let us pray.

Lord God, we pray for your peace in our world and in our lives. Bless all gathered here today and grant the gifts needed for the tasks in hand: wisdom, patience, dedication, integrity, vision and humility, so that each may fulfil their calling faithfully, mindful of all and mindful of you, through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.