(Dis)inheritance

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners... Lamentations 5.2

Israel mourned displacement from its physical inheritance (the Promised Land), while admitting liability for neglecting its more important spiritual inheritance (as God's chosen people). When a nation or a church loses sight of its place in God's purpose, abandoning obedience to God in favour of prioritising their own agendas, the writing is on the wall and it is only a matter of time before their demise.

Whatever one may think of her policies and personality, the prejudice to which Kate Forbes has been subjected on account of her faith within her own political party, betrays the estrangement of that party from the rest of Scotland, whose values are more traditional than the SNP realises. At the same time, the decline of the churches within Scotland suggest a trickier dilemma: is it due to the nation being less traditional in its views than our churches realise, or because these churches have failed to present the Gospel of Jesus faithfully - over generations?

Whatever the cause, the answer is the same: cry out to God for mercy, listen for what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches and respond with obedience, humility and faith. While this can and should be done at any time of year, the penitential, reflective season of Lent is the obvious moment to begin...