Our own parliament

How do Scottish Christians feel about the prospect of a parliament in Edinburgh? Here is one view . . .

When the phone rang to ask me to write on Scottish devolution, it was the morning after 'Yes, yes': over 60% of the Scottish people who had just voted in the referendum had asked for a Scottish parliament with tax-varying powers.

For the first time in almost 300 years, Scotland is on the way to having its own elected Parliament (the Union of Parliaments took place in 1707, following the Union of the Crowns in 1603).

The right way for us?

More significantly for me, as the phone rang, I was doing my morning reading, which happened to be the book of Ezra chapter 8, where the prophet is leading the Israelites back to Jerusalem, after their long captivity in Babylon. I was particularly challenged by verse 21 which (in the Gaelic version I was reading) says: 'An sin ghairm mi trasgadhanns an site sin aig abhaim Ahabha, a-chum gun irioslaicheamaid sinm fhein sm fianais ar De, a dh'iarraidh air sligho aheart dhuinm fhein, agus dar cloinm bhig, agus dar msoim uile' - which, literally translated reads: 'There I proclaimed a fast by the Ahava canal, so that we might humble ourselves before our God, and ask him for the right way for us and for our small children and all our possessions.'

It seemed to me that morning - and it still seems- a word from God. A word for the nation of Scotland to stop and pause at the canal of devolution; to fast, and there to ask for guidance and instruction for the road ahead. The parliament is most certainly on its way. The challenge now facing Christians in Scotland is to humble ourselves before God, and ask him what part we should play in the parliamentary process and what the right way is for us, our small children and all our God-given possessions.

City mandarins

Politically and culturally, I would argue that the last 300 years have been something of a nightmare for Scotland. Political, economic and cultural power has been gathered into the hands of the very few in this nation-state of ours. The financial power in the City of London has been corrupt and corrosive, and for very long periods of time, the Westminster parliament (and most certainly the House of Lords) has merely acted as the political mouthpiece of the City mandarins, doing what the financial world wanted. The one has been used merely for the profit of the other.

The consequences have been terrible internationally; the sinful excesses carried out for capitalism in the name of the British empire over the last three centuries have been awful. Have we as a nation yet repented for our part in the destruction of lives and languages and cultures in our former colonies? Have we as yet repented of our part in the slave trade and the profits we gained from it? Have we as yet fully repented of internal colonialism and racism, in all its sinuous shapes and forms?

The British nation-state of the past 300 years, with its injustices built into our very institution and infrastructure, has disenfranchised and robbed generation after generation. Is it any surprise, therefore, that we are now reaping the spiritual consequences throughout our land? The past 20 years in particular, in which market economics (which is more or less economic Darwinism, where only the strong survive) was given its head, saw the apex of a pernicious politics in which the strong and wealthy got stronger and wealthier and the weak and poor got weaker and poorer. The cardboard cities and overcrowded prisons of this nation are only the surface of the deep spiritual malaise.

Scotland, I would suggest, has been one of the abandoned children of the past 300 years, like a waif on the street. It has lived on a curious mixture of great personal integrity and necessary handouts. It has lived for these past three centuries without any great sense of dignity, responsibility or freedom.

Cultural renewal

I believe that God is now going giving us an opportunity to change that. I believe that he is giving this nation a gracious opportunity to get right with him. (And it is important to remember that what is happening to Scotland and Wales will also have direct consequences for England: the secular constitution is being shaken, and it would be good for English Christians as well to pray for the opportunities for the spiritual as well as political and cultural renewal that lies ahead.)

As we stand before the spiritual Ahava canal, let us humble ourselves, and fast and pray, seeking God's will for our nation. Within that will, surely, lies setting the captives free and preaching the good news to the poor. Within that will, surely, lies grace and mercy, truth, holiness and joy.

It is a message that Scotland, like all nations, yearns to hear. The abandoned waif needs to hear and experience that God really cares for her.

Angus Peter Campbell is a poet and journalist living on the Isle of Skye.

Scottish devolution

The right way for us?

City mandarins

Cultural renewal

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