Church of Scotland clerk reminds Irish Presbyterians that they are family and that "blood is thicker than water"

Rev John Chalmers – Principal Clerk of the Church of Scotland – spoke this morning at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

listen to ‘Rev John Chalmers @churchscotland Principal Clerk addresses PCI Assembly #pciga13’ on Audioboo

He spoke about difficult relationships in families – troublesome cousins – and reminded delegates that in general “blood is thicker than water”.

Referring to the Church of Scotlands decision and process around calling gay ministers (individual churches would be allowed to “opt out” in order to call gay clergy to be their minister), he said “this is one of those moments”.

He asked the PCI Assembly to pray for the Church of Scotland. He said that you don’t expect others to tell you what to do. There was much more that united the two denominations than divided them.

His speech addressed issues that will be debated on Tuesday afternoon, namely a resolution in the General Assembly supplementary reports that - as currently worded - seeks to chastise the Church of Scotland:

That the General Assembly view with dismay the deliverance approved by the recent General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in response to the Report of the Theological Commission and, while recognising it is not likely to be acted upon until 2015, places on record its great concern. JOHN W LOCKINGTON, NIGEL J MCCULLOUGH