Plenary, 30 Sep 2009

Meeting date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Official Report 391KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The time for reflection leader today is Catherine Brown, the founder of Gatekeepers Global Ministries.

As a modern missionary, it is my privilege to travel to many parts of the world as an ambassador of Scotland and of my saviour, Jesus Christ. I have discovered that people have a warm affection in their hearts for the Scots, and a love of our nation that often surprises me and challenges me to look with a fresh perspective on this bonnie land that we call home.

We have been described as a land of poet warriors and brave hearts, and perhaps to the onlooker that would seem an incongruous analogy. However, to a Scot, it is one that potentially and succinctly embraces our national psyche. What, then, is our national identity?

We might be called a passionate people—passionate about patriotism, football and maybe even our pies. We are a complex combination of many individuals and tribes around whom, from ancient times up to the present day, streams have flowed from different sources to connect, cross over and create new cornucopias and caveats in culture, politics and religion.

We are a complex people with an ancient history that we cherish, and traditions that are rich in Celtic heritage. We are a creative people who are now, and always have been, entrepreneurial, innovative and inspirational. The testimony of history shows our propensity to philanthropy. However, at times, we have been a downtrodden people who think less of ourselves than perhaps we ought to. A dour people? A deep people? A land of missionaries and mavericks? We are a people of courage, indomitable in spirit and indestructible in hope.

Scotland, this is our time. I believe passionately that God has a plan for every person and people group. His plan is always to prosper us, not to harm us and to give us hope and a future, as we read in Jeremiah 29, verse 11. We stand on the threshold of divine opportunity and, potentially, national transformation. God is looking for a people who will love him with all their hearts. The Scots have always been willing to give their lives for a cause in which they passionately believe and today we have an opportunity to bow our knees and turn our hearts in repentance back to God. Father, forgive us.

If we will pledge allegiance to the king of kings, Jesus Christ, and invite him to be the sovereign king of Scotland, he will usher in blessing and abundance upon our nation. Scotland, we have a destiny—Christ our holy passion. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen