2026 – A year in which global compassion shall flourish:

Dear friends,
For many years I have been influenced by the spirituality of the Aboriginal communities in Australia. These words, written by an Aboriginal elder are for me inspiring ones at the start of another year:
“Being” is the most important thing, being in relation to land, to others, to the Creator. We cannot escape this understanding as an indigenous person; it is a natural part of our growing up, as is “listening” to the land. Compassion is a core part of our culture and spirituality, for it is at the heart of all our relationships.
Each day in my mail I have messages from friends and strangers living in different parts of the world who are saying that they believe that within all the darkness and fearfulness of our world, both compassion and hope are on the rise. It is also a fact (and not fake news) that literally millions of people around the world are on a search for a deeper meaning in their lives. In every nation human beings are longing for a more peaceful world and one in which there is genuine justice. In the Iona Community we have expressed this hopefulness for the human family in our worship in which we use this affirmation of faith:
With people everywhere we affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity planted more deeply than all that is wrong. With all creation we celebrate the miracle and wonder of life, the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world.
It is absolutely my conviction that even given the sordidness of so much that is going on around us we are to celebrate the vast number of people who wish to live on this sacred earth in a tender-hearted manner and with compassion – not hatred – for others. Yet it is not enough for us and especially for the Christian churches to remain silent in the face of so much evil. We all remember these great words: “All it needs for evil to flourish is for good people to keep silent.” An example of this is for people of good will to allow international law to be openly discarded. I am not alone in believing that we cannot live with any kind of peace and justice without a strong moral and legal framework. We cannot allow our leaders to live without accountability, yet if we remain silent this is exactly what they are doing. That is why I feel ashamed of many of the churches in Scotland which seem unable to think of anything other than their own survival. John Bell and Graham Maule expressed it so succinctly in one of their hymns: “Join the hand of friend and stranger; join the hands of age and youth; join the faithful and the doubter in their common search for truth.” My hope for this New Year is that each one of us will be given the courage and the inner-strength to name evil, and to remind our leaders, both local and national, that they act on our behalf and not at the behest of the world’s dictators and bullyboys. Let us awake! Peter.