From The Editor

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2018 is a year of significant anniversaries, not only for the Church of Scotland, but for wider society.

As well as the 50th anniversary of the General Assembly vote to allow the ordination of women, it is also 50 years since a significant debate about the Westminister Confession of faith (read more on page 28).

This year also marks the 175th anniversary of the Disruption – the schism which famously split the Church of Scotland. Whilst most of the churches which left on that historic day in 1843 returned at the Union in 1929, its impact is still felt within the Church today, with a legacy that continues to be addressed.

1918 also marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War – and the historic vote which granted women over 30 the right to vote in elections and widened the rights of men to vote. Celebrations are also planned to mark the centenary of the birth of Muriel Spark, author of numerous books including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

The year also marks the 200th anniversary of the death of the author Jane Austen and the centenary of the birth of assassinated US President John F Kennedy. In noting these anniversaries, a pause for reflection may be appropriate. As the year is barely a month old, how do we, as a Church, wish to remember 2018?

Should it be a year that simply slips under the radar, like so many others? Or could it be a year of promise? A year when the Church is at the forefront of campaigning on the biggest social issues of the day, pressurising governments in Edinburgh and Westminster alike over child poverty, homelessness, the increasing use of foodbanks and the costs and quality of care for the elderly. Do we want it be remembered as a year when the Church campaigned for Fairtrade goods to be given their rightful place on supermarket shelves and for the poor of the world to receive their fair share of the wealth and resources many of us take for granted?

“As the year is barely a month old, how do we, as a Church, wish to remember 2018? ”

For it is only by being at the table and being involved even in a very small way that change may be effected. If the Church (from the grass roots congregations through to central offices) wants 2018 to be remembered by our successors in 50, 100 or 250 years’ time, it will need action by all, not just those at the central offices to tackle those causes which resonate. Lifting a pen (or opening a laptop) to write to MPs and MSPs to express concern about issues of social and international justice or signing a petition can make a difference.

Let the history books of the future record how the smallest actions of today mattered.

Lynne McNeil Editor

This article appears in the February 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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