I have delayed reflecting on this issue for a few days so as not to get caught up in the media coverage. We are very fortunate in this country that such occurrences are very seldom and when they do happen remind us of the capabilities of humanity to self-destruction and also to supporting one another. I cannot image the trauma the families of the victims of the shooting and the families of the killer must be going through. All the unanswered questions as to why. I am concerned that the first thing that happens is a knee jerk reaction to demand tougher laws or the question the role of the police as if someone always has to be responsible – there has to be someone to blame. But there are times and circumstances where there is no-one at fault, no one to blame for the circumstances around an event. Tougher gun laws are already in place and this happened, the police were completely in the dark as to what was evolving on that day and were reacting as best they could. Perhaps the deeper question is not how this happened but how we respond to what happened. There will always be times when people react in unpredictable and devastating ways with no warning and seemingly little provocation. But how we as a people and as individual communities react to these events says something about us. Already the media spotlight is moving on to new events and this “story” is being shifted further and further back in the pages of the press. But the people involved have to live with this from now on – it is now a part of their life and existence, part of their story. Events like these create intense media scrutiny but over a year far more people are killed in ones and twos by knives and guns all over the country and it become a 10 minute news item on the day, not even gaining its 15 minutes of fame, but again the people involved have to live with that everyday. How should we respond, not only to the big events like this, but also to the individual cases for how we respond every day says something about the people we are and the communities we will become.

Obviously being a minister within the Church of Scotland the internal workings of the “machine” has some relevance and importance to me. However, I acknowledge that for the casual bystander the “noise” of the Church is of little importance. But there is one issue which will greatly affect many if not all communities in Scotland. Over the next 3 years the Church has instigated a plan to reduce the number of paid full-time staff to 1000. I see this having the effect of spreading ministers more thinly over the country and there may well be occasions whether this is no minister to take funerals or conduct weddings. The danger is that the already diminishing profile of the church in the community will be further eroded and simply other people or celebrants will step into the gap with no control over the quality of the work they do or the values which they embody. Moreover there is a danger that people may take some form of fuzzy hotchpotch of ill conceived ideas and assume they are Christianity. The Church needs people from within its faith communities to step up to the mark and become equipped to provide some of these forms of public ministry to ensure that it is the Gospel of Jesus that is proclaimed and not the good news according to Jean or Jim. It is a very sad day when the driving force of the church is the balance sheet, but that seems to be the age we are now in and every Christian in the nations has a responsibility to change this, to reform the church and renew its life and witness across our land. This has to start now and not wait until things are so bad that there is no return. But one of the other key factors is the ministers in posts at the moment, we need to learn to devolve and allow the ministries of the people of God to evolve in a supported and encouraging way. So the future of the church is not up to me, or you it has to be us.

You may have picked up from the news recently that the Church of Scotland is facing something of a funding crisis. Like any family or business if you spend more than you earn then you’re in trouble. It is now getting to the hard bit, so far they have been using up some of the Church’s reserves held to pay for ministers but they will soon run out and so we need, like the country to balance our budget before we are declared bankrupt. Across the country there are something like 1,300 posts but we can only afford 1,000. Some of the posts that exist on paper do not at the moment have a minister in place, but we still have over 150 too many. What will this mean? It will mean that Presbyteries will need to look at their plans and see where the plan can be changed and the numbers reduced over the next three years. I think it will mean that ministers will have to cover larger areas and as a consequence be involved in may other things in the life of the larger parish that simply the life of the congregation, things like funerals, weddings, school chaplaincy and many of the other things that people in the congregations are sometimes not aware of. Some may think that this sounds the death knell for the church. I don’t share that view! What I do think it will mean is that more people in the church will get a chance to be involved in the ministry of the church week by week. In many places everything is left to the minister to arrange and organise and many ministers are quite happy with being “in charge”, now we are being challenged to let go of the reigns and trust the people and let then share in the ministry of the church. It is in many ways another reformation moment a time of real change, finding a new direction. This doesn’t mean that it will be easy or painless it won’t even in Falkirk we will have to face the possibility of cutting back on the number of paid ministry staff in the area, the greatest challenge is to see this as an opportunity to do something “old” (something we have always done) in a new way and trusting in God’s Spirit to lead us into a new kind of church.

At last! At last! It is done the final payment of the mortgage is made and you are free from the debt the house is yours. I know people who have experienced this and the sense of relief and accomplishment is getting to the end. It had taken years and sacrifice and now it was done. But a house is just a house and we put so much into it. What about our lives? Over the years we accumulate debt to God the old fashioned word is sin the lies, the minor thefts from the people we work for – even if it is just a pen, it was not ours to take, the lust for other things or people all of these things and there are so much more that displace God from our lives and conscience and that has to be paid for. We can’t pay that off with being good or giving to charity you can’t pay for oranges with lemons – they’re different. In the bible we read through the pages of the Old Testament the account of the sacrifices demanded by God to forgive the people – but also that God does not delight in these sacrifices but in the offering of a broken and contrite heart a humble spirit and someone who walks with him. But how can we get to that place if we can’t get rid of the old sins? Easter – into the grave with Jesus went your and my sins and when he burst out our sins were left behind and we can be given the breath of his new life in us. The trade off is faith; faith in who Jesus is, the son of God; faith in what he accomplished on the cross, died in our place as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin; faith in His resurrection, the rising into a new life that he gives to those who put their faith in him. Why not do it now and start a new life today.

Referring the day Christians commemorate the death of Jesus as “Good” seems something of a misnomer. What could possibly be good about the execution of an innocent man? From the perspective from beneath the cross there can be nothing “good” only horror, agony, pain and death. As I see it the goodness is not in the events of the day but in the willingness in the goodness of God to give everything for us and to us. In spite of the magnitude of our sin and the distance that had grown between humanity and God, He reached out across the gap – reached out to hold once again the offer of relationship to us. The offer was not servitude and slavery to the rule bound traditions concocted by men, but a call into sonship and daughterhood – adoption. Parents are expected and have often forgiven their children the most serious breaches of trust and in spite of whatever they do they simply say “but, he/she is my child” and that defence is enough we can understand the passion and love and we hope that someone loves us to the same extent. There is! For God the Father loves us with an even stronger passion that nothing can separate us from, not even the execution of part of Himself. So call such a God good seems such a feeble attempt to express the size of His heart. For surely that kind of love is too big for us to comprehend. So how do you respond to the cross the love as red as the blood, the passion stronger than the hatred, or do you just unwrap another chocolate egg?

Once again we hear of politicians who have seemingly sought to use their positions to promote themselves or benefit directly from it. I like most people would love the opportunity to have an all expenses paid trip overseas. I’m sure we would all be very flattered at the prospect of people coming seeking our involvement in their organisation. But I think there is a different standard with those in public office. I used to work for a local authority and every expense incurred that was being reclaimed had to be accompanied by receipts, business trips had to be approved in advance and there was an outright ban on taking gifts from companies who won contracts, it was a matter of gross misconduct and instant dismissal. In public office it is not enough to have clean hands you have to demonstrate you have clean hands. The most concerning thing is the attitude that somehow this is an irrelevant matter, not worth worrying about. But the issue is trust. Once trust is broken it can take a long time to be repaired and is never as strong as it was before the breach. We seem now to have a “political class” who think they can operate under a different set of rules than everyone else – they think they are the boss of us and the rules don’t apply to them. I would argue for a campaign of spoiling paper at the next election – but that way we end up with the least democratic choice. Perhaps it is time for real and radical change, it may be the only way to rebuilt trust. We could be really radical and ban all political parties and make everyone independent members – but that would mean they would have to think for themselves and some sheep just want led to the best pasture and to eat until they burst. Perhaps they need to learn that accountability is actually a good thing, it keeps feet their on the ground and more open to listen. Listen to those living on much less than a third of what they earn from being an MP before their expenses and fully paid junkets. Spending more time with those who vote than those who can advance their comfortable lifestyle and you would think that the Labour movement with its historic roots in the working class would be least likely to succumb to this, but it seems the attraction of the bright lights is too much. It is time for the prodigal sons and daughters to come home and they could take a biblical lesson, to beg for forgiveness and be willing to accept the judgement of their brothers and sisters. Humble pie is always a good addition to a diet.