27th Dec 21 - Scots

Dr dear Dr: Speaking as a natural born Highlander - Is Scotland heading in the right direction for a sub-state of a Christian kingdom, or is there something we have forgotten in all of this toing and froing in the modern atmosphere up here in the Isles of Islay?

Well obviously this Question comes from Scotland, from a friend of some true blue Highlanders to the North and West in the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles, God bless us all, a nice interlude for readers of this parish blog who are now maybe used to a weekly diet of matters liturgical or matters of minutiae. Anyway, back to matters most Scottish, if that is the right sentiment for moderne Highlanders.

In the history of things, Scotland started out as something of a separate kingdom if not concatenation of little kingdoms and only in the days of the Picts and the Seal People, if those movies Centurion and Eagle are to be believed, did they come together to fight as one for the whole territory, when Agricola the famous Roman general crossed those borders to the south and landed on those fair far shores. We even have a quondam record of his speech to the legionaries at the final and then decisive battle for the mastery of the whole island, somewhere near Braemar, and also the speech of the Scottish king and warlord too who, strangely for a Scottish ersatz pagan, made a spiritual case for striving hard against the Romans sappers and engineers on that occasion, both of which speeches Tacitus makes a very good example of, in his own way. Very very inspiring speeches on both sides. With maybe the best and most noble of sentiments going to the Scottish king. He reminds the poor Caledonian fighters that everywhere the clouds of Rome have descended upon in Europe, the bright promise of the sun of liberty and noble abandon has been quenched and quashed - and he urges them to fight for their spiritual independence. Strange words if these Caledonians were old religion pagans. There remains the tantalising dubium from that speech that it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the Caledonians fighting that day were early Christians in the new mould, fighting at the very edges of the known world, just to get away from the pagan oppression of the Romans, and to preserve that immortal state of religious freedom that survived the passing of the Romans. Clouds vs suns.  

Since Nicola rose to power, and is now ensconced in power through a coalition with the Greens, generally most people south of the old Wall have been content to leave the Scots to themselves, a feature of the comforts and privileges of devolution in that region, assuming that the Scots know what is best for the Scots even in these short time frames for the formation of a Scots nation-state. Movies have helped somewhat, including the tragedy of Elizabeth and Mary, and overall people have lived in a certain cloud and coccoon of complacency south of the old Wall, the Antonine Wall. Nothing doing much up here.

Then came the Referendum on Scottish Independence, in which Sir Gordon rallied the No vote and Cameron rallied the No vote, and the whole climate of debate shifted away from independence but somehow strangely a little again closer to a feeling of possible self-sufficiency. But our task here is to ask a question - would such a free and independent Scotland remain Scotland any longer, would it remain a Christian Kingdom, or would it quickly decline into a banana republic like so many ex kingdoms of the colonies and the Commonwealth? That is the question. Certainly a green alliance with the SNPs has produced some headaches for Scots, chief of which is that vague feeling that we have been here before, in moderne Fourth Reich Germany as Sarah my friend calls the Eu. Green theological awareness can produce green magic as one of my parishioners found out to her cost. But anyway, the Christian Character of the United Kingdom would be sore compromised if Scotland lapsed into endless political and violent rows about the formation of petty bourgeoisie socialist republics and the like, what Nicola and the girls seem to be keen on promoting, but that is what the alliance there now seems to be precipitating without thinking what such an eventuality could produce. These are solemn days for a new Scotland, a Caledonia Nova, and the Queen of All Britain has yet to be consulted on such futurisms.