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Moderator's Speech on Jan 1st 2001 |
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'We are no longer fighting one another as Christian denominations, as in the past history of Scotland, but an enemy of a different kind - the climate of opinion that says "There is no God and religion is irrelevant and foolish". The breakdown of society and morality, a world that is much more deeply wounded than ever before in human history - is the field of engagement. The task we have in hand is like nothing that has gone before. We must remember all the time that we are on the winning side because the Lord has risen from the dead and won the victory - AND WE ARE ON HIS SIDE. Our times are asking you and me to be in touch with the God we touch, because at that moment we are Christ. In the words of St Augustine " Embracing the person of Christ renders the fruits of calmness, confidence and courage within the human body. " If we, as churches, join together, in this battle, join together in expectant prayer, the Holy Spirit will have us in a place where he can break down barriers. Together we can scale any walls. (and from the Moderator's Speech on Jan 1st 2001) One thing will not change in 2001. I shall be saying what I said in 2000: that I long for a passionate church in a gentle Scotland. I hope for a Church that cares desperately for sorrow and injustice; a church that fights against greed and selfishness, a church that never tires of telling of the goodness of God. And I long for a Scotland that is a real community: in which the weakest are cherished and protected: in which we are judged by who we are and not what we are. |