Roland Walls

Picture is visiting Rosslyn Chapel in February 2022. ........... Roland Walls (1918-2011) was clearly an exceptional character. He was a founding member of the Community of the Transfiguration, formed in the mining village of Roslin (Midlothian) beside the historic Rosslyn Chapel of which Walls was, for a while, priest-in-charge. A modest figure, he lived extremely simply, but held a variety of significant offices, including as Chaplain to the Bishop of Ely and Canon Residentiary of Sheffield Cathedral where he got involved in Sheffield Industrial Mission. A convinced ecumenist, he eventually converted to Roman Catholicism. However, his main work was that at Roslin. His thinking is reflected in a fascinating way in a book of conversations, Mole Under the Fence put together by Ron Ferguson. Just a couple of quotes - ....................... “So far as I know, there is no mention in the Bible whatsoever of building the kingdom, or indeed of building Jerusalem. The Lord builds up Jerusalem, and he comes down from heaven to us.” “Now, the funny thing is that when it comes to numbers, the gospel-writers tell us about 5,000 or 4,000, not the numbers who came to hear him, but the numbers he fed. That's a different thing. Now, if we could get new church statistics, they ought to be about the numbers we've really given to, unconditionally - like the feeding of the crowd. It was unconditional. It was an abundance of grace. It wasn't about how many people were won for the Lord. How we twist all this! With that gospel story, we can all of us think: ‘What a marvellous success story - he got 5,000 to listen to him!’ But that wasn't the point of the gospel story. It was how many were fed. Now, if we want statistics, that's the way they ought to be presented: how many of you touched rather than ‘got in’.”