Of what lies ahead we cannot be certain.
What we can know is that year by year, decade by decade, century by century, both Scotland and the Church have changed and evolved and that the possibility of more change is always there.
In 1999 a Scottish Parliament met for the first time since 1707, and it has proved a catalyst for change. Following the Parliament’s third election, in 2007, the Scottish National Party formed a minority government and after the 2011 election a majority one.
Part of the Government’s current programme is to extend the understanding of marriage to include partners of the same gender and also to hold a referendum in 2014 on Scottish independence.
For the Church, the years ahead are likely to hold many changes - and in that, of course, it will be no different from the centuries that have gone. In everything that comes to us, all will be well if we continue to hold fast to the love of God and concern for the people of the nation and the wider world. The love that was there for Ninian, Columba and the early Saints has not changed. God will continue to guide those who seek to walk in this way of love.
