Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Official Report 833KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. Our first item of business is time for reflection, and I am delighted to say that our time for reflection leader today is the Right Rev Dr Russell Barr, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

As moderator, I have the privilege of bringing you the greetings, the prayers and the good wishes of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. I am glad to do so—and not because it is the polite or the expected thing for the moderator to do. Rather, I want to assure this Parliament of the Church of Scotland’s very genuine interest, concern and support.

With so many important judgments to be made, and with so many difficult decisions to be taken, we are very aware of the responsibility that rests in this place. Week by week in congregations across Scotland, we pray for you. We pray that, blessed with God’s gifts of insight and wisdom, the judgments that you make and the decisions that you take will be characterised by compassion, hospitality and generosity, a concern for people who are struggling and a desire to promote the common good.

Through the Scottish churches parliamentary office, we have been engaged in the meet your MSP project. So far, more than 65 meetings have been arranged. The idea behind the project is a simple one—to create change in our communities, it is important for church people to get to know and to build relationships with the change makers. From lunch clubs to dementia care groups, children’s activities, food banks, environmental projects and mental health, our congregations are actively involved in all the things that you care about, speak about and make decisions about.

Earlier in February, the Parliament hosted an event to celebrate the project, to encourage congregations and their local MSPs to continue to build good relationships with one another, and to seek the health and the wellbeing of the communities we all serve.

As moderator, I will continue to highlight the scandal of homelessness in Scotland—the fact that, despite our many efforts, the numbers of people who are applying and being registered as homeless are not much better than they were 20-plus years ago. As of September 2016, they included 5,751 children, which represented a 17 per cent increase on the previous year. It is my judgment that, at best, we are managing the situation and have long lost the ambition to resolve it. For the sake of those 5,751 children, we need to renew that ambition.

Let me finish where I began: with an assurance of the Church of Scotland’s support and prayers. May God grant you the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can change and the wisdom to know the difference.