LETTERS

‘Ca’ canny’ on change

I was heartened to read the letter from the Very Rev Dr James Simpson to see that yes there are more than just myself who are concerned about the Church of Scotland’s new Radical Action Plan for restructuring the Church. However, I was saddened to see the numbers for ministry in his area that inspired him to write.

Far from encouraging new growth the new plans will depress and discourage congregations. The methodology seems to be of “the cart before the horse ilk” and is far too rushed and I struggle to find any kind of theology behind it other than that of “pruning”. And if anyone knows anything about pruning a rose bush, for example, they will know that there is a way of doing so, or your blossoms won’t be that impressive.

My fear is that the Church of Scotland will be left looking like a tatty old rose bush that has not been managed properly!

In the Presbytery of which I am a member, Glasgow, the reduction is certainly far too drastic. The people of Glasgow may be left thinking that the Church of Scotland does not care about them or that we have gone into retreat mode! When thinking about the large number of funerals in Glasgow and the amount of deprivation, the last thing we need is a radical reduction in ministers.

Jesus taught that by love the world will know that we are his disciples. We are to be the pastoral voice of God in our communities, not noticeable by our absence but noticeable by our caring presence.

My fear is that our cuts will be so radical that we will be noticeable by our absence! I pray not!

Perhaps we need to put on the brakes for a wee while. The Church of Scotland is often criticised for being too slow but perhaps we are becoming too quick. Many I fear have been too excited about this plan, some perhaps clutching at straws, desperate for a solution to grow the church and in doing so may in fact destroy the significance of the Church of Scotland as an entity, as a pastoral and prophetic presence.

My fear is that often people with radical visions do not count the cost, the damage, the hurt, because they are blinkered by their vision. Nothing else is before them other than the vision and anyone who questions it is simply a nuisance, a fly in the ointment, whom they wish to dismiss as a doubting Thomas or a mere obstacle to their dreams.

I hope we will as the saying goes “ca’ canny” and listen for wisdom’s voice and not be driven merely by figures and business plans.

Ian McInnes (Rev) (Minster Glasgow: Dennistoun New)

Declaration Welcome

I was glad to see the St Margaret’s Declaration in a feature article by Ian Dunn (Life and Work, August). It is surely self-evident that Scotland’s Christians, of all denominations, should work to develop a coherent bond of faith in the years that lie ahead. This has been a hallmark of our own parish of Colonsay & Oronsay, where persons from Baptist, Methodist, Anglican, Episcopalian and Catholic traditions worship as part of the Church of Scotland congregation. I wrote recently to The Scottish Catholic in the following terms: Dear Sir, I was delighted to read of the avowed friendship between the Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland (Issue 15). In 1978, as hoteliers, we moved to the Isle of Colonsay and so we contacted Bishop’s House, Oban, to ask for advice, there having been no regular priest in Colonsay since the early 1600s. We were recommended to worship with the Church of Scotland and were immediately made very welcome by our fellow parishioners.

Such is the ecumenical nature of Colonsay that we have been able to play a full part in the life of the parish, and on 15th June 2022 I completed my fortieth year as Clerk to the Congregational Board, having been Session Clerk for almost as long.

When a priest on holiday was available to baptise one of our children, parishioners lent us the font from the church, and when our daughter was married, parishioners offered the use of the church to the celebrant; again, on the only occasion that a priest from our parish (Lochgilphead) was able to visit the island, parishioners were kind enough to offer the use of the church.

I hope that this formal declaration of friendship will lead to greater and closer fellowship across the nation between our denominations.

Kevin Byrne, Colonsay

Lost Perspective?

Jack Kernahan in the August issue referred to Dr Martin Lloyd Jones and the need for powerful preaching instead of committee discussions.

MLJ was a great advocate of the Reformation. I suggest we need a bit of the dynamic that Martin Luther instigated in the church of his day. In criticising the Westminster Confession of Faith we have tended to lose the perspective of history and its relevance to our populist society. Martin Luther was calling a corrupt Church to account and bring it back to basic truths, and the Westminster Divines similarly sought to do the same.

The role of Scripture for the church was well stated in the Westminster Confession:

Ch.1.2 “Under the name of Holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments... All which are given by inspiration of God to be the rule of faith and life.”

The acceptance of Scripture as the Word of God is basic to understanding the accepted confessions of faith and to the creeds.

The Church is presently discussing the role of the confessions of faith and the ‘fundamentals of the faith’. Allowing the Church to be the ‘sole judge’ of what is the true interpretation of Scripture gives ‘the Church’ precedence that, I believe, is not warranted. Scripture stands in its own right.

As I have said, the creeds only make sense when they are stated within the background and in the context of Scripture. If we as a Church are to hold to the creeds, then we need to give the whole of Scripture its acceptance, as being the ‘Word of God written’, just as the Early Church did.

We may find it hard to reconcile the apparent inconsistencies. But that is our problem, and not, I suggest, a problem with Scripture itself. There are a lot of things we don’t yet understand about the Scriptures, but what we do believe comes from them.

This is what Martin Lloyd Jones would be telling us to get back to.

Tony Crow, Bearsden

Bible Anniversaries

Around 500 years ago, The Bible was translated into Scots, German and English. Timely celebrations would be in order. After posting 95 theses in Wittenberg on October 31 1517, Martin Luther had to face the music all over Europe. He still managed to translate and print a German Bible in 1522, 500 years ago.

Some 40 years before the 1560 Reformation in Scotland, a Scotised New Testament emerged in 1520, based on Wycliffe’s translation of 1382. The year 1525 saw the production of William Tyndale’s first New Testament in English. Its 400th was marked in 1925 by the University of Glasgow with an exhibition of 104 Bibles, mostly from their own collections. A copy of their concise exhibition catalogue surfaced quite recently in West London. The second part describes 47 Bibles printed in Scotland.

Later Bible productions of note include the King James’ Bible (1611), the New English Bible (1961/1970) and the Revised English Bible (1989).

Today, copies can be found for a pittance in charity book shops, most in good condition.

J Michael Buchanan, London