Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
The Rev Pauline Steenbergen: Speaking on the radio, an Iraqi woman living in Glasgow burst open my sleepy eyes. "Your country is stunningly beautiful," she said. "Every day here, I see new shades of green." Those comments opened my eyes and changed the way in which I saw my own land. Look out of your windows and see a stunning Scotland in full-blast autumn colour today.
There is plenty of beauty in rough, rugged Buchan, where I live. Not wild waves, biting winds and thick haar, but the people, language and culture are its treasure. Every day at bus stops, in playgrounds and in post offices, we see huddles of human beings doing what they call in Doric "haeing a news". A rough translation is "stopping what you are doing, standing still, listening and communicating".
In Buchan, news travels fast. Where I minister, in Crimond, which is famous for writing the melody for psalm 23; in St Fergus, which is associated with the gas terminal; and in Lonmay—where the granda of Elvis was from—I often hear what is going on in my life or my manse long before it even happens.
If I stopped speaking, if we mingled for a moment in the chamber and if we reflected together, what is new for you? What letters, e-mails, phone calls or conversations burst open your eyes this morning? What is new for you in a new building and a new era? Who is new?
If you and I are truly agents of change—bringers of a new nation—what new things do we long for today, fight for this week and pray for this year for the people whom we serve and the folk whom we love? Most of all, what desires do you and I have for change deep within ourselves?
I believe in a living and creative God who brings the new to make us new. Isaiah the prophet heard God say:
"Cease to dwell on days gone by ... don't brood over past history. Here and now I will do a new thing ... it is happening already."
This autumn, something new has the power to remodel you and me and thereby refashion our Scotland. "Embrace the new whole-heartedly," Jesus said to his pals. "No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch up an old coat. No one pours new wine into fusty old wineskins." Well, Jesus did not say that, but he would have if he had been from the north-east. New wine requires new wineskins.
What will 27 October 2004 bring you and me? Let us see, hear, taste, touch and smell a Scotland where every day there are new shades of green.
