(the whole service is now on Youtube – VIDEO – Gordon Wilson’s Memorial Service)
Yesterday was quite an extraordinary day for me and I think others….in so many ways. It’s not every day you get to preach the gospel in front of the First Minister, the former First Minister and the government ministers responsible for Health and Education! Of course that was not what the day was about, but it was a part of it. And there are so many lessons to be learned. We have a full video of the service which we will put up on the Solas and also St Peters websites over the weekend
The Purpose of the Day
My first aim was simply this – that Christ would be glorified and lifted up.
Secondly the purpose was to comfort the family – I hope that this was achieved not only at the Memorial service in St Peters but at the crematorium beforehand. I found the short service at the Crem very moving.
Thirdly the aim was to comfort friends and congregation – the St Peters family had lost a dear brother and there were others present who had lost a friend including John Swinney and Howard Price who gave eulogies.
Fourthly the purpose was to speak Gods word before Kings – or at least leading politicians – and the media. I posted the words from Ps 119:46 just before leaving for the crematorium.
In all of the above I knew that this is what Gordon wanted. Not least because he left quite detailed instructions!
The Different Kinds of Witness –
I think this is what we witnessed:
- The SNP politicians were impressive. John Swinney spoke very well of his friend. But for me what was most impressive was the fact that they all stayed behind to share in the refreshments and talk with the people, and not just the media. Nicola Sturgeon is very goods at connecting with people. Swinney, Salmond, Robison and others also were happy to chat – and not just with the great and good. I rejoice that we live in a country where our leaders can mix with the people in such a manner.
2. The Congregation of St Peters glorified Christ by the way they served and worshipped. I was so proud of them. Because I was up front and ‘MC’d things I get a lot of credit when things go well and blame when they go badly. But this was a real team (body) effort. So many people were stewards, served refreshment, led the praise, cleaned, did the gardens and the technical stuff. It really felt like we were a body working together. And it was done with a joy and willingness which really communicated. One old friend of Gordon’s approached me afterwards and remarked: “”I couldn’t understand why Gordon came to the Free Church – now I know!”
3. The Impact that one life can have – Of course everyone who dies is a hero and the best person who has ever lived. The hyperbole so common at funerals just becomes meaningless. But this was not the case here. We were at the funeral of a man who helped change Scotland. We were witnessing and participants in history. As John Swinney pointed out we would not have a Scottish Parliament and all that has followed without Gordon. But friends and family had even more to thank him for. His family are lovely people who were a credit to him throughout the day. A family man of integrity, intelligence and compassion leaves his legacy – especially in his family.
4. That Jesus is the way, the truth and the life – There were three main elements in the service that reflected Gordon’s life. His family, his political role and his faith in Christ. All three were spoken of. But I think the reading of the Word, the prayers, the heartfelt praise and the preaching of the Word all combined to point to the root and cause of it all – Christ.
5. The Roman Catholic view of Salvation is not as full as the Protestant (Biblical) – Bishop Vincent Logan is a lovely man who has served Christ for many years but in his prayer he reflected something that was really quite sad. He prayed that Gordon being called from this world would be brought safely home to God’s kingdom and that he would be cleansed and given a place at the heavenly banquet. In this he was reflecting the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and that believers don’t go directly to heaven. But the biblical view is ‘today you will be with me in paradise’. He was praying for something that Gordon already has. When he came to believe in Jesus he was given eternal life. When he died he did not go to purgatory to be cleansed. He went to heaven to enter into the full joy of the inheritance Christ had bought for him. I thought that the Bishops prayer brought out in sharp relief – the two positions. On the one hand praying that the deceased would enter into heaven, on the other celebrating that he is already there! As we had just sung “death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered”!
6. The Secular Media don’t get it – I would like to write more on this but for me it was astonishing reading most of the media reports of the funeral.
Most of the reports were ok – the Couriers above was about the best – but to be honest most could have been written by someone who wasn’t there. The media were largely interested in only one element of the three. They paid a passing acknowledgement to Edith, Margaret, Kathy and the family, they wrote extensively about Gordon’s politics (and wanted the photo ops with Nicola and Alex) and they barely, if at all, mentioned his faith – which was a major focus of the service. Why was this?
The danger is that far too many journalists act as though they make the news rather than report it. The sad thing is that they are too often correct in that perception. We need to remember that when we are hearing or reading the news, we are not often hearing an objective report of what has actually happened but a report filtered through the journalists world view. So many of the journalists reporting on the funeral would totally stress the political because that is their world. They don’t know any other. Sadly the politicians tend to read the news which confirms them in their belief that theirs is the only real story in town. It is a circular and incestuous relationship – especially in a small country like Scotland.
Another problem is that there are not enough real journalists. I was delighted to meet Alan Cochrane – one of the few remaining. I think also of Kevin McKenna. Neither of these profess to be objective but I find their writing more informative and accurate than those who report the news unaware of their prejudices and limitations. The worst thing is those who think they are objective when they are driven by their own subjectivity and prejudices. Ironically only if you believe in a higher truth than yourself can you be more objective about yourself.
Incidentally even on the politics I think the mainstream media and much of civic Scotland got it wrong. In this ahistorical society where only the immediate and the fantasy futures matter – few realised the real significance of Gordon Wilson. As John Swinney pointed out without him Scotland would be a very different place today – but the media prefers to pontificate about the death of Rangers rather than the death of one of the most significant figures in modern Scottish history.
But let me return to the question of what one journalist called “ the hopeless, secularist dullness of the media reports of Gordon Wilson’s funeral” . Why did they miss the vitality, warmth, humour and spirituality of the whole thing? After all they were there!
It seems to me that there are two kinds of prejudice which cause this. Hard and soft. Hard prejudice is when someone deliberately excludes or minimises any mention of Christianity precisely because they don’t want it or hate. it. Soft prejudice is when someone unconsciously doesn’t mention because they don’t see it as being relevant because they either have no personal experience of it, or they cannot imagine that anyone else would find it really relevant. Hard prejudice is born of malice and hatred. Soft prejudice is born of ignorance. Look at the following two pictures from the BBC.
The first is from BBC Scotland who missed out the Bible verse under Gordon’s photo. The second is from BBC Tayside who included it. Gordon had specifically requested that that verse be placed under his photo on the front. Why exclude it? Was it accidental? Just co-incidence? Was it for reasons of space? Hardly – it was on a website not a printed page. I think it is far more likely that it was excluded because of the prejudice (whether hard or soft) which marks the BBC out as a fundamentally secularist organisation.
The usual response to this from the hardcore militant secularists is that the BBC is full of religion. Granted that occasionally it does do some religious things well – but in most instances what they like is formal establishment religious figures (or eccentrics and extremists that they can mock). They have little or no concept of real living Christianity. When you look at the BBC Report you will find that the only mention they make of faith is that Bishop Vincent Logan said a prayer. They don’t mention that Gordon’s family said in their eulogy that Gordon was proud of the establishment of Solas, nor did they say anything of his committed Christian faith.
The point is that there is a spiritual blindness. This morning I read the following in John Owen:
“The mind by this darkness is filled with prejudices against the mystery of the gospel in a peculiar manner. The hidden spiritual wisdom of God in it, as natural men cannot receive, so they do despite it, and all the parts of its declaration they look upon as empty and unintelligible notions. And this is that darkness that prevails in the minds of men, otherwise knowing and learned. It hath done so in all ages, and in none more effectually than in that which is present. But there is a sacred, mysterious, spiritual wisdom in the gospel and the doctrine of it. This is fanatical, chimerical, and foolish to the wisest in the world, whilst they are under the power of this darkness”. John Owen Vol.3 The Holy Spirit p.277
Many people at the service at the service spoke to me afterwards and apart from the usual complements said things like ‘that was not what I expected in a Free Church….what a bright and amazing service…..can I come to Church on Sunday?’. None of that response or even a hint of what it might be was conveyed in any of the reports – hence mine here and also when we put it on-line. My prayer is not that people were amazed at all the things mentioned, but rather that the experience, the Word and the Holy Spirit will bring real enlightenment and that people will come to know the Light of the World.
I loved this headline that was sent to me!
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It was however referring to a theatre company – but nonetheless it is still our desire that Alex and all who were there would ‘see the light’!
Another person summed it up really well…
“The service on Wednesday was quite amazing and the possible implications could be immense. The fact that three of the most important people in the government, as well as other senior politicians, came to St Pete’s’ to a service of worship, where the gospel was proclaimed, read and sung, and that they hung around for so long to speak to people was not something that anyone could plan.” He then spoke of the conduct of the service and was grateful that the message was “respectful but not uncritical of the politicians and making it unmistakably clear that it was God alone we were honouring, relying on and looking to.” And he finished by having a desire that I echo – that it would have an impact on the way the country is run and beyond what we can imagine.
Now that would be a legacy that Gordon would be proud of!
David