‘A cherished part of the Church’s tradition’

AS an elder for almost 40 years, it is no surprise that the Moderator-Designate to this month’s General Assembly hopes to encourage those holding the office to serve more widely within the Church of Scotland.

“I would hope that by having an elder as moderator again that I can encourage elders who have not yet thought about it to contribute talents and expertise to the Church, but also to recognise that the numbers of ministers is decreasing and that more and more will fall on the shoulders of elders and members of the congregation. And in turn, the Kirk should reflect on how it can use better the reservoir of talent within the eldership.

“I hope I can give them encouragement to take on these responsibilities. It shows that the Church does appreciate and value its eldership,” says the Rt Hon Baron Wallace of Tankerness QC (the name is taken from a peninsula a few miles south of Kirkwall in Orkney), better known as Jim Wallace, the former Deputy First Minister of the Scottish Parliament, the former Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats for 13 years and a Liberal Democrat MP and MSP for Orkney and Shetland for many years before taking his seat in the House of Lords in 2007.

His nomination for Moderator-Designate came as a surprise last year, via an initial phone call from former Life and Work columnist, Ron Ferguson. After prayer and some reflection he agreed to allow his name to go to the Committee to Nominate the Moderator and the rest is history.

He also has the distinction of being the first Moderator-Designate to be profiled twice in Life and Work (he was the subject of our monthly profile in July 2005 only weeks after his resignation as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats).

Jim, 66, is a lifelong Christian, growing up initially within Annan Old Parish Church. He is the eldest son of John and Grace Wallace and his earliest memories of the church, where his father served as an elder for over 60 years until his death, involve the baptism of his younger brother Neil when Jim was just two-and-a-half.

He grew up attending Sunday School and has fond memories of a teacher, Mrs Walker, “a kind, gentle lady” and of being part of the local Boys’ Brigade.

At the age of 18, he took up a place at Cambridge University to study economics and law, but although a faithful and regular attender at services, chose not to become a member of the Church of Scotland at that point.

“One thing I did not do was join the Church, primarily because I had had that nurture and upbringing and I wanted to test, if I was away from home, that it was still something I would very much want to do.”

Instead he was very involved with many Christian societies at University and chose to be confirmed within the local United Reformed Church, where the minister the Rev Ronald Spiers introduced him to a book, Only One Way Left, by Lord MacLeod of Fuinary, founder of the Iona Community.

From Cambridge, Jim moved to Edinburgh to study law and joined the Methodist Society – “I had become accustomed, at Cambridge, to not being within the ’establishment’” – but also started to worship at Mayfield Parish Church, the closest church to his student home.

From there, he moved to the city’s Stockbridge and worshipped at St Bernard’s Church, where he was ordained to the eldership in 1981 and where he served as treasurer.

It was during this time that his ‘fascination’ for politics developed into something more concrete.

“I had a certain fascination for politics from an early age. At the 1966 general election when I was only 11 I remember hanging around outside the primary school gates to try and get the autographs of the candidates.

“My dad took me to a Liberal Party meeting as he did not think it would be well-attended!”

“I had a certain fascination for politics from an early age. At the 1966 general election when I was only 11 I remember hanging around outside the primary school gates to try and get the autographs of the candidates.

Moderator-Designate The Rt Hon Baron Wallace of Tankerness QC

Jim eventually settled on the Liberals (later the Liberal Democrat party) and stood as a candidate for Dumfries in 1979, increasing the party’s share of the vote.

In 1983 he was elected to Westminster as MP for Orkney and Shetland, succeeding Jo Grimond, who had served the island communities for many years.

A month after his election, he married his wife Rosie and the couple moved to Orkney, which has been their home for almost 38 years and where he has served as an elder and member of the Kirk Session at St Magnus Cathedral since 1990. Their two daughters, Helen and Clare, were both born in Orkney. At the time of writing Helen, a solicitor was on maternity leave after the birth of her second daughter Ella (a sister for three-year-old Catriona) and Clare, who is newly-engaged, is a midwife in New Zealand. Like many grandparents they have kept in touch through technology, but are missing family because of the travel restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

Jim’s political career is well documented: he was the first person to hold a Liberalheld seat at Westminster general election since the Second World War and served as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1992 to 2005. He served as Deputy First Minister from 1999 to 2005, stepping up to become acting First Minister following the death of Donald Dewar in 2000 and the resignation of Henry McLeish in 2001. He was Minister for Justice and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning in the first coalition Scottish Parliament before moving to the House of Lords in 2007, taking the title of Baron Wallace of Tankerness, where he served as Advocate General for Scotland from 2010 to 2015.

He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh, Heriot Watt and the Open University. Jim is also a member of the choir at St Magnus Cathedral and says during our conversation how much he has missed being part of the choir during the Covid-19 pandemic.

His nomination as Moderator has temporarily halted political business. He will not be taking part in this month’s election campaign for the Scottish Parliament – the first campaign he has missed since 1973. He moved to the non-affiliated benches of the House of Lords in January and has scaled back his work for his year of service as Moderator. But he has received many messages of congratulations from Christians across the political spectrum and has been heartened by them.

‘I know people of faith across the spectrum recognise that there is a role for the Church in helping to shape post-Covid Scotland,” he says.

The Assembly over which he will preside will not be a traditional one. The decision was taken earlier this year to hold the Assembly online amid the resurgence of Covid-19.

Looking ahead to the third week in May, he says: “It is pretty daunting, but also exciting. I watched the General Assembly online in October. (A two-day online Assembly took place to transact only essential business after a small physical Assembly in May to install the Moderator). I knew what was going to happen at that time but others did not know. I thought Martin (the Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair, his predecessor in the office) handled that brilliantly. It was a real challenge.”

He has attended a few General Assemblies, the first, notably, as a spectator in the public gallery in 1977 during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee when she attended the Assembly, but also on several occasions as a guest of the Lord High Commissioner.

He served as a commissioner on two occasions in the 1990s.

“On my first time as a commissioner I thought it was a very impressive body. There was serious debate and like so many conferences a lot of things happened off the floor with fellowship, commitment, compassion and ideas.”

Having served as a commissioner to the General Assembly, he has also been a member of the former Church and Society Council and has also served two terms with the Church’s judicial commission.

“I know people of faith across the spectrum recognise that there is a role for the Church in helping to shape post-Covid Scotland.

Looking ahead to the year and the emergence of Scotland from the pandemic, he is particularly keen to acknowledge and encourage those serving as chaplains.

“Many of the places where we have chaplains – schools, hospitals, college, universities, prisons – they are all places which have been at the sharp end of the Covid-19 pandemic and have kept supporting people. I would like to recognise the work that they have done and encourage them in their work.”

Despite the uncertainty and restrictions of the global pandemic (likely to continue for some time despite the progress of the vaccination programme), he is hopeful that some Moderatorial visits may still be able to take place.

“There are a number of things already in the diary – presbytery visits to Edinburgh, Angus, Sutherland and Irvine and Kilmarnock. I am hoping some, and possibly all, will be in person, depending on restrictions.

“These are important in two ways. It is important that people in communities in these presbyteries are recognised by the Moderator of the General Assembly. It is a recognition of what they are doing particularly in these Covid months for how they have responded. It is also important for the Moderator to get feedback from them. “The visits are important, not just for the people in the church and not just the congregation, but for the local communities. It is an opportunity for the Church to engage with local communities.”

Overseas visits have also been tentatively pencilled in: “I’m looking forward to those and I hope to be able to visit Malawi and Lebanon. I’m also looking forward to the days visiting with CrossReach (the Church’s Social Care Council).”

He is most looking forward to ‘meeting people’ during his year of office and hopes it may be possible with the easing of lockdown restrictions.

I raise the question of what he might wear and, given the restrictions of Covid, he suggests it will be a modest outfit of suit and academic gown. (He has been offered the use of the late Very Rev Dr David Steel’s Moderatorial gown).

He will be accompanied by two chaplains during his year – his minister at St Magnus Cathedral (where he was photographed), the Rev Fraser Macnaughton and the Rev Dr Marjory MacLean, a former Depute Clerk to the General Assembly who has recently returned to Orkney to minister at South Ronaldsay and Burray.

But as only the second elder in modern times to be nominated to the office of Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (Dr Alison Elliot served as the first elder and woman in 2004/05), he is keen to restate the importance of the eldership to the Church: “One thing I hope to focus on is the fact that I am an elder and the importance of the eldership. It is historically a very cherished part of the Church’s tradition.

“Many of the places where we have chaplains – schools, hospitals, college, universities, prisons – they are all places which have been at the sharp end of the Covid-19 pandemic and have kept supporting people. I would like to recognise the work that they have done and encourage them in their work.

Moderator-Designate The Rt Hon Baron Wallace of Tankerness QC

“The nomination of an elder, albeit only for the second time in modern times should serve as encouragement. When you think of the range of the eldership, there is a huge reservoir of experience and talent out there, which, too often is an untapped resource and elders should be given more encouragement to play their part in the life of the Church.”

His passion for politics, however, remains undimmed and he plans to focus on issues of justice during his year in office. “It is about following Jesus who offers us ‘life in its fullness’ – yes that means spiritual fulfilment, but must surely also be a challenge to us to meet the needs of others in body and mind. My background in justice issues means I want to focus on it in so many ways – there is the criminal justice system, economic justice and social justice. We will be well reminded that there is the whole question of environmental justice in November (when the COP26 climate conference will be held in Glasgow) and moving to a green future I think will be important. The Church must be seen to care for God’s creation.”

He is hopeful the Church will learn lessons from its experience during the pandemic and is emphatic that the Church has a wider part to play in moving forward into a post-Covid-19 world.

“When we get together for the General Assembly we will be hopefully looking at a country that is emerging from months and months of a pandemic. During that time families will have lost loved ones and lost livelihoods. There will be uncertainty about jobs and tremendous pressure on the health service. There is a job of healing and renewal, not just for the Church but for the country.

“I would like to see the Church of Scotland not only play a part in the country that is to come but to help shape it.” ¤