Northern Ireland and Colombia

In November it was Remembrance Day and we were celebrating the end of World Wars One and Two and of all wars. I began thinking about current conflicts and ways of resolving them. Jesus said: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the Children of God”. I had been reading a newspaper report of the visit of the president of Colombia to Belfast. He said: “I came to Belfast because it has been a real inspiration for me and for the peace process in Colombia. Many of the elements of the Northern Ireland peace process, I applied in the Colombian peace process”.

Several political leaders from Northern Ireland have been involved in assisting Colombian leaders and the left wing rebel group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) reach a peace deal. Mr Santos is currently attempting to revive the landmark deal signed after four years of negotiation following its narrow rejection in the referendum last month.

More than 220,000 were killed in the conflict which lasted 52 years and more than eight million were driven from their homes. Now people are asking whether the Northern Ireland peace process can act as a model for Colombia.

In its origins the peace process had modest beginnings in the changes in people’s attitudes and behaviour on both sides of the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland.

Gusty Spence was jailed for one of the first sectarian murders. He was famously known for his chilling instruction to his fellow Loyalist paramilitary gunman: “If you can’t get a Republican get any Catholic”. In prison, like many other Loyalists, Spence’s attitude changed and he became a firm supporter for peace.

His announcement included a note of apology as he offered the loved ones of victims over the past 25 years “Abject and true remorse”. Several of the Loyalist paramilitaries followed Spence’s lead. While in prison they had met Republican paramilitaries and built a network of relationships.

Also on the Nationalist side under the influence of Father Gerry Reynolds, John Hume and Gerry Adams the leaders of the two nationalist parties had come together to create a political alternative to violence. This was the beginning of the powersharing President Santos was hoping to introduce into Columbia. Alec Porter, Strathblane, Glasgow

Cartoon: Bill McArthur

Ministers and Cricket

I was very interested to read the letter of John G Webster in Life and Work (December) when he referred to both his abridged trip to Lord’s to watch the cricket in July last year and to the time when he was a Scottish minister in 1962. That juxtaposition recalled for me the link between members of the clergy and the game of cricket, which was once referred to as a rule book of morality.

David Sheppard became Bishop of Woolwich and subsequently Bishop of Liverpool.

When taking up the position in Liverpool, he was the youngest diocesan bishop in England. He had, of course, at an earlier stage, excelled as a cricketer for Sussex and England, having played 22 tests for England.

When referring to this subject, it is difficult not to make mention of the Rev James Aitchison from Kilmarnock, who served as a minister in the Church of Scotland for over thirty years. With regard to his distinguished career as a cricketer, it is the case that only two other players have appeared more times in first class cricket for Scotland.

In a match against Ireland in 1959 he made 190 not out, having played throughout day one of the match and for his home team, Kilmarnock, he made 56 centuries.

The picture, in the same edition of Life and Work, of the Rev Susan Brown, minister of Dornoch Cathedral, in full ministerial clothing about to launch a drive on the golf course, reminded me of the story about E H Pickering, a well-known old Etonian.

He was once called upon so suddenly to take the field to bat, in a Gentleman v Players at Lord’s, that he had to go to the wicket in clerical garb.

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire

Sermon Thoughts

How eminently sensible were Richard Ellis’s views on Church Services, (A Visitor’s View – Life and Work, December). I hope worship leaders/preachers take them on board.

Firstly, the Welcome on arrival. As we know, people seemingly make up their minds whether they will return or not within the first three minutes. The initial welcome is, therefore, of huge importance.

Sadly, and I speak from recent experience, it’s still possible to enter and leave a church without a single person speaking to you. This is inexcuseable. A welcome coffee is a good idea, but must be accompanied by a friendly chat. Otherwise it’s pointless. The ‘after service’ cup of tea can actually be a ‘cringe-moment’ for visitors, unless someone comes alongside them and stays to converse with them. Long-time members should make it a priority to speak to ‘strangers’, not their familiar friends.

And at last I hear someone querying the strange practice of having the intimations, offering and intercession prayer AFTER the sermon. I assure you that even though I listen carefully, I can remember little or nothing of the sermon, after all of the above has transpired. It’s a complete distraction. And FIVE hymns?? “I see you’ve only given us four hymns. We always have five hymns here.” Honestly, where is there time for five hymns? There’s no time left for the sermon...oh! I get it now. In my travels I found that the socalled sermon is usually about ten minutes in length. Sometimes even shorter.

I’d dare to suggest that it’s well nigh impossible to share anything remotely worthwhile in less than 20 minutes.

What’s happened to our attention span? (I know, if it’s rubbish, five minutes is too long, and if it’s brilliant, an hour’s too short!)

And Readers (and Preachers), three words – Project, Project, Project! Finally, I’d caution Richard on his use of the word ‘conversing’ in sermon delivery. That might be okay, but please, oh please, NOT a ‘conversational tone’...that’s deadly dull.

Let there be life, energy, enthusiasm, attention-grabbing etc in our preaching.

Let our church attendance be transformative. Ralph A Dunn (Rev), Wilson Memorial United Free Church, Portobello, Retired), Dalkeith, Midlothian

Trident Debate

I refer to the letter by the Rev Peter Park in November’s Life and Work defending the UK Government’s decision to renew Trident.

For the last 30 years the Church of Scotland has voiced its opposition to the possession and threatened use of these missiles and all mainline churches in the UK today say very much the same thing.

Trident is an indiscriminate killer, making no distinction between civilian and military targets, and its use would mean the death of millions of women, men and children who are not involved in fighting.

There are no restraints and no sense of proportion in nuclear war. The Trident system is quite simply evil. It’s not just that the unleashing of such weapons would mean unimaginable slaughter, the very possession and implicit threatened use of nuclear weapons is in itself an aggressive act.

There are many conventional ways of defending ourselves. Most other countries manage just fine without wasting money on Trident. The Rev Park makes the argument that scrapping Trident would lead to widespread unemployment, but that is to confuse Trident with the Faslane Naval Base.

I know of no campaign to close that facility and its future is secure, whether within the UK or in a future independent Scotland. Most people working there are employed in conventional defence work, whereas the Trident system itself is not a big employer.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress has estimated that if Trident were cancelled the total job losses between Coulport and Faslane would be in the region of 520.

Given the savings of £200 billion, it ought to be possible to support and even retrain such people.

As for the Rev Park’s assertion that the Trident programme “is the sword that Jesus hands us today”, I can only shake my head in disbelief, trying to picture Jesus with his finger on the red button, about to commit mass murder.

This Jesus is not the one I love and follow. David McLachlan (Rev), Glasgow

Tunnock Praise

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article in December’s Life and Work about Boyd Tunnock.

What an interesting and inspirational man!

Having made money he is now happy to share, not only his good fortune, but his time, his talents and a good deal of empathy and compassion with others, many not so fortunate as himself.

If more of us tried, as he does, to share our Christian faith and had such a cheery outlook, the world would most certainly be a better place.

As the old Scots saying goes “It’s not what ye hae that matters, but what ye dae wi’ what ye hae!”. Janet Martin, Perth

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