2 June 2026

What makes the Kirk distinctive? Is that important? Are the priorities and perspectives of our tradition worth preserving? Or does it matter whether we morph into the shape of other Christian communities?

Consider these two examples from the Roman Catholic Church. It was four hundred years after the Scottish Reformation that preaching at Sunday mass become a priority. In the relevant document from the Second Vatican Council, it says:

‘… a richer, more varied and more appropriate reading of Holy Scripture should be introduced …The ministry of preaching is to be performed properly and with great fidelity … The sacred celebration of the Word of God is to be encouraged on the eves of the greater feasts, on certain weekdays…  and on Sundays …’

More recently, the late Pope Francis invited the Church to pursue a path of synodality. This was an opportunity for the laity to engage in raising issues which concerned them about the Church – women’s ordination, married priests, human sexuality etc.

In the Kirk this has been our modus operandi with a system of courts where ministers and elders work together to discern the work of God within our parishes and world. Developing the structures of the Church to include the whole people of God has its seeds in the Reformation.