My visit to Oban this week deprived me of my usual fix of The Independent – had to settle for Murdoch and the Scottish edition of The Times. The second leader commented on the election of Rev John Cairns Christie as Moderator Designate of the Church of Scotland. I look forward to working with him – and the one after that, if I’m spared. Because the point they were making is that one year is not enough ..
It’s very encouraging to see The Times reflecting on the potential of church leadership in this way – ‘time to build a relationship with the outside world’ and ‘time to explain what may be a complex series of moral messages’. I don’t know who wrote that. But their words demonstrate a better grasp of the potential contribution of churches in the public square than I have seen in the press thus far.