Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Official Report 866KB pdf

Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader is the Rev James Faddes, who is the church leader at Bishopbriggs community church.

Thank you—it is a privilege to be here today.

I reflect back 29 years to when I was 17, serving a short-term prison sentence in 1991. I made foolish mistakes that significantly impacted the course of my future. When a prison chaplain and his volunteers introduced me to Jesus Christ, I found faith.

Upon release, I relapsed into reoffending and substance misuse—a revolving door that we are all too aware of. Some 18 months later, homeless, isolated and struggling with mental ill health, I wandered into a church, where I was befriended, mentored and loved back to life.

My confidence restored, I discovered new skills and purpose, gained meaningful employment, went back to school and, later, university and reconciled with my family and community. Here I am, today: a husband, a father of four children and an ordained minister of a local church, supporting chaplaincy work in my local prison and addressing you all today. The message? People change.

My friend Darren, a former prisoner and heroin addict, is now an ordained Anglican vicar and a Methodist pioneer minister in Derby, helping the most marginalised, offering support and throughcare, running a social enterprise and mentoring ex-offenders and recovering addicts, because he, too, knows from experience that people change.

Another friend of mine, Adam, is at the early stage of his journey. He is three years clean and sober, and he is an active volunteer who is determined to make restitution for his wrongs. He is learning the art of coffee roasting with me and is on track to study social care. One of his ambitions is to get a job and simply to pay tax as well as help others on the rehabilitation road. He, too, knows very well that people change.

Paul, from Tarsus, in Turkey, was complicit in the harsh persecution of Christians in first-century Damascus. His life was transformed because of a powerful encounter with the risen Jesus Christ. He wrote these words to his young protégé, Timothy, and we find them in the Bible:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

In communities all across our country, we are losing far too many of our loved and dear ones to criminality, substance misuse, and, sadly, the grave. Paul of Tarsus shares some good news with us: Jesus Christ came to save—the worst.

I encourage all of us here and everyone in our country to keep working for a better country, and may we never lose the hope that people can change.