Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Donald G Macdonald of Portree Free Church of Scotland, on the Isle of Skye.

The Rev Donald G Macdonald (Minister, Portree Free Church of Scotland, Isle of Skye):

Presiding Officer, members of the Scottish Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, “I’ve just come down from the Isle of Skye, I’m no very big and I’m awfie shy, and the lassies shout as I go by”—well, nothing really, because they would not even notice me, despite this gladiatorial physique and these George Clooney looks.

Unnoticed is how those of us who live on the geographical margins of our nation sometimes feel, perhaps even unimportant compared to the main centres of population, which we occasionally get to visit. However, people do not have to live on Skye, or in other remote parts of Scotland, to feel marginalised. There are those who are on the margins economically, struggling to make ends meet, dependent on food banks and worried about accommodation and rent. There are those who are on the margins of society, whose lives, for all sorts of reasons, have spiralled down and who feel lost. There are those on the margins of life, at the one end the unborn child, helpless and vulnerable, and at the other end, the ill, the elderly, lonely and fearful. There are those on the margins of ability, struggling to do what many take for granted because of their physical limitations or mental health challenges. There are those who feel increasingly marginalised because of faith.

Jesus told a trilogy of stories that stressed the importance of the one and the importance of everyone. A farmer had 100 sheep and one went missing, but that one was important and he searched for it until he found it. A woman had 10 coins and one was lost, but that one was important and she scoured the house until she retrieved it. A man had two sons and one left home and his life spiralled down, but the father could not settle until he returned and was restored, for that one son was important.

Jesus constantly reminds us of the importance of the one and the importance of everyone. In his own ministry he was more often than not with the ones who were marginalised—the poor, the sick, the broken, the foreigner, the young, the old, the lost. He treated as precious those who had been sidelined in society.

This great Parliament has to legislate in the interests of the greater good of Scotland but, as it does so, may it never forget the impact that legislation has on the one and the importance of everyone, even those on the margins who often feel forgotten, sidelined and unseen.

And now I am disappearing back to the beautiful margins of the Isle of Skye, still no very big and still awfie shy but grateful for the opportunity to address you today and praying that you, as our Parliament, will ever know God’s guidance and blessing.

However, as I return to Skye, I do so saddened at the news of the passing of one man who was recognised as a great servant to the Highlands of Scotland—Charles Kennedy. I am sure that the thoughts and prayers of many are with his family today.