Contents
- Time for Reflection
- Topical Question Time
- Fair Start Scotland
- City Region Deals
- Decision Time
- Cancer Awareness for Young People
Time for Reflection
Our first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Shuna Dicks, minister at Cults parish church of Scotland in Aberdeen.
Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today.
It is holy week—the most important week in the Christian calendar. It is a week when many Christians follow the story of Jesus’s route to the cross. For me, this week always has the feel of a pilgrimage. As I follow Jesus’s footsteps to his crucifixion, I am reminded of the fear, pain and uncertainty of those days for Jesus and those closest to him. Jesus knew the cross he had to bear, and he knew that what was to unfold was his destiny. That did not stop it being agonizingly difficult, yet he bore it with dignity.
My husband and I were recently in Geneva on holiday and we visited the United Nations building there. Outside the compound, there is a statue dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, and on it is the inscription,
“My life is my message”.
Many people today in our country and in our world live their lives carrying their own crosses. They live in pain, fear and uncertainty. It is a huge challenge to bear those crosses with any sense of dignity in a world that, at times, seems to care little. Some crosses are easy to spot, but many remain hidden, so how do we know whether our words and actions make those crosses heavier and harder to carry? What message do your words and actions portray? How much heavier are they making the crosses that others carry? What is the message of your life?
Jesus said that we were to love one another. When we love one another, we lighten the load, we share the heavy weights that others carry and we offer the chance of fullness of life. We offer restoration—resurrection, even—in the here and now.
I will continue my holy week pilgrimage over the next few days and, after the pain of Good Friday, I look forward to rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus on Sunday morning. It is truly a joyful time of celebration. May you, too, have that sense of joy in your lives that Easter brings me. Have a happy Easter, when it comes.