91Èȱ¬

Good morning.
If you’re in Scotland, you may well know that today is the Feast of St Margaret, Queen in Scotland in the eleventh century.
If you’re familiar with the way that the lives of saints are written, you may well have realised that sometimes a rather rosy picture is painted. 
Which seems to be true of Saint Margaret, except that it isn’t the saint who’s being flattered but her husband.  He was King Malcolm the Third, known as Canmore, the Great Chief, and he seems actually to have been a rather bellicose character who couldn’t read and write and had a bit of a temper – and wasn’t at all interested in the church.  Malcolm came to the throne having disposed of Macbeth and his stepson, and spent much of his life fighting various Norman kings and their barons from south of the border.  He was even responsible for the death of a Bishop of Durham.  So an unlikely spouse for a saint, perhaps.

And yet in those notoriously violent times, Queen Margaret stands out as an example of holiness and quiet piety.  Her home life is held up as an example of a Christian family – indeed she is said to have died of sorrow nine days after hearing of the death of Malcolm and their son.  Saint Margaret lived in a warrior culture that owed more to a Viking than a Christian heritage, and yet she kept the faith and lived a holy life. And, like all the saints, has left us an example and an inspiration.
Lord God,
may the example of Saint Margaret remain with us and inspire us today;
may we be true to our faith, in matters great and small, despite all the pressures to conform to the world in which we live;
and may we have the courage to help others to live in harmony with you, and in peace with each another.
Amen