On Reflection

From the manse window

THERE are few not familiar with the railway bridge known as the Forth Bridge, one of the world’s greatest engineering marvels, which now has UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

It spans Scotland’s River Forth from South Queensferry on the Edinburgh side of the river to North Queensferry over in the Kingdom of Fife.

The bridge is over one and a half miles long and carries up to 200 trains per day across its tracks. Prior to the bridge, ferry boats were the only way that people and vehicles could be transported across the often stormy waters of the Forth.

The bridge has featured prominently in Scotland’s history, and during World War II the very first air raid over Great Britain took place above the bridge and became known as the “Forth Bridge Raid”.

I well remember as a child excitedly throwing my lucky penny into the Forth from the train window as it crossed over the bridge. There really must be a fortune of coppers resting deep down there!

In 1964 the Forth Road Bridge opened, replacing the ferry crossing. This bridge at Queensferry was constructed to carry an estimated 11 million vehicles per year on the M90 motorway across to Fife, but by 2006 this estimation had risen to 23 million vehicles per year!

As a consequence of this increased traffic, the cables of the Forth Road Bridge suffered a loss of strength as a result of corrosion.

This has now been rectified, but in the long term something had to be done.

In the 1990s, proposals were put forward for a second road crossing, and following approval the Queensferry Crossing was well under way.

The new bridge, described as a cable-stayed construction with three towers, is 1.7 miles in length and will be the longest triple tower cablestayed bridge in the world.

It was to be completed by December 2016, but due to weather conditions, the construction and opening of the new bridge was delayed.

But now we have it, and the Queensferry Crossing stands proudly spanning the Forth alongside its predecessors, which are still in use.

It’s worth noting that no government or authority is going to approve construction of a bridge unless it is deemed absolutely necessary.

The new Queensferry Crossing built above the often stormy water of the Forth is necessary to link people, businesses and industry.

As I thought about the Forth Bridges I remembered some famous words St Paul once wrote.

“God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself . . . and God in Christ has made us agents of that reconciliation.”

To paraphrase Paul’s words in the contemporary idiom, “God is, in Christ, building a bridge over troubled water, a bridge from man to man and a bridge from man to God, and moreover Christ has engaged us as bridgebuilders for him.”

To be a bridge over deep trouble and need is what Jesus Christ has been for millions of men and women and children.

I am sure that this is what the Christian spirit ought to be – namely a bridge over the troubled waters of life which threaten and sometimes engulf every one of us.

Next week: Kathrine Davey unlocks the truth.