10 November 2025

Hatred is a very strong emotion. When dislike translates into hate, there is a point where we stand on the brink of deciding whether to act on this hatred or not. We have a choice. We always have a choice. But once we step over the edge, and act out our hatred, we are lost.

Hitler knew the strong emotional power of hatred. He and his fellow Nazis determined that the best way to unite a nation was to create an enemy – them and us. There were several but the most powerful was their identification of the Jews with the humiliation of the nation. They nurtured anti-semitism and murdered six million people.

Unlike nations, the Church transcends nationality for we are all one in Christ through our baptism and we have here no abiding city. Nationalism is of secondary importance to our allegiance to the Church and, especially, the person of Christ. He has the power to raise us up above national boundaries, prejudices and fears.

The desire for unity and to be united as one in Christ is built into the constitution of the Church of Scotland because our  forefathers knew that the prayer of Jesus that the world may believe in his glorious gospel could only happen through our unity, the unity of kirks and denominations.

The shameful disunity which exists throughout the denominational structure of the Church is inhibiting the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer and the opportunity for swords to be recycled into ploughshares, spears into tools for fishermen and the chance for everyone to sit at peace under their own fig trees!