Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection, and our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Tom Kisitu, a Church of Scotland minister.
I thank you, Presiding Officer; my sponsor, Gordon MacDonald; and the staff and members of the Scottish Parliament for this special opportunity to share in your time for reflection.
Last week, a friend and fellow Ugandan warned me, “Tom, take time to choose your words in your reflection—remember that another Ugandan visited Scotland and loved it so much that, several years after his visit, he crowned himself the last king of Scotland.”
However, I come to you as a Leither, a minister at St Nicholas church in Sighthill, a community missionary and a reverse missionary. I refer to myself as a reverse missionary because, 144 years ago, a graduate in engineering at the University of Edinburgh called Alexander Murdoch Mackay went to Uganda to serve as a pioneer missionary. He turned down the invitation to serve in places where, as his friends believed, his skills and knowledge could have been put to better use. He ended up in Uganda and made a positive difference. His spiritual depth and practical skills in farming, carpentry and engineering were valued and admired for generations in the places where he lived and worked.
It is the community missionary spirit and work that excite me and all the members and friends of St Nicholas church in Sighthill. We believe that our church, at its best, must be local and exist also for the benefit of the non-member. Churches and other institutions that exist for the good of all must endeavour to meet people at all their points of need through synergistic partnerships with like-minded champions for good in the community.
As a local church, we, like Alexander Mackay, seek to model Christ and his love in action in everything that we say and do. We are learning not to provide answers to questions that have not been asked. We use items that everyone likes, such as food, to build community and lasting friendships. We share food after our time of worship and during the week at events such as our community meal and the “Let’s Eat Together” food share. We get beautiful food from Marks and Spencer handed to us, and we pass it on. We are reminded of the day when Jesus, surrounded by a crowd of 5,000 hungry men, did not use that moment to launch his manifesto or to build a great big church. No—he fed them using a kid’s packed lunch. When you invite me again, we will talk more about that. He challenges us all to take good care of everyone around us, to place other people’s interests before our own and to meet people at all their points of need.
I ask God’s choicest blessings on you as you continue to love, care for and serve his people well in all the places where you live and work. Thank you, and may God bless you. Asante sana.