(Our Minister, Revd David Fleming, is on Sabbatical until 1 April 2012)

We appear to live in an age where atheism has become more strident and wishes to see the vestiges of faith removed from public life and banned to the personal lives of a poor deluded minority. Their proponents say that we can only create a strong and just society when we reject and purge the ideology and dogma that comes from belief in the Divine.

In such a climate it is really tempting for us to withdraw in fear and uncertainty and to share and live out our faith within our family of believers.  We can lack the confidence to stick our heads above the parapet. There is also a more subtle pressure than that of the militant secularist. By this we mean the pressure of political correctness which urges us to keep quiet about our faith, lest we be seen to think ourselves better than others and critical of their lifestyle choices.

The aim of the writers of the gospels is explicit in calling the readers to faith in Jesus – the only perfect and fully human person who ever lived and in whom we can see God in all His fullness. But they went further than that. The gospels also aim to create disciples, people who model their lives upon Jesus until they reflect his challenging but joyful and extravagant love in action. Our society desperately needs to hear the gospel words of salvation. Men and women in our land need to see Jesus. But if they can’t see us living out our faith because we have been persuaded that it must remain a private and personal matter, if men and women can’t  glimpse Jesus in the lives of His followers, then they are well and truly stuck.

We live in a society that takes time more seriously than eternity. In fact many are driven by the need to “save time”, to “make up for lost time”. We are called to be distinctive, putting our emphasis on the eternal and ultimately on the great price that was paid by Jesus to mend our relationship with God. This makes us stand out in society and we will draw attention to ourselves and will have to account for what makes us different. This may seem a daunting prospect but remember that we are told in the gospel of Matthew (10.19) not to worry about what to say or how to say it for when the time comes we will be given the words to say through the Holy Spirit.  

Should we be worried about the future of the church in the face of these challenges? Grasp the assurance of the victory that Jesus has secured. As He said to Peter in Matthew 16.18

” I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.”     

                                                                         Iain and Elspeth Allan