I'm sure that you're familiar with the traditional cry by the heralds of the French court: "Le roi est mort! Vive le roi!"; "The King is dead! Long live the King!" You may also be familiar with the scene in various films: the old monarch dies and immediately the nobility of France stampede through the Palace of Versailles in search of the Dauphin, so that they can be the first to kneel at the feet of the man who is now the King of France, the new man of power.

Well, this is not the court of France. This is an assembly of the clergy and faithful of our Diocese gathered with their Bishop at the altar of God, the place of our thanksgiving-sacrifice. The transition is not immediate and it is rather more dignified. At Mass we pray for "Ian our Bishop and Joseph our Bishop Elect". There are no ambitious courtiers amongst our clergy. There is not the transfer of earthly power, but the prayerful succession of one shepherd by another. And Bishop Ian will be leaving us not for a heavenly mansion but for a house in Edinburgh, his place of retirement, and that with our heartfelt gratitude, our prayers and our best wishes.

We will be thanking him tonight; presenting him with tokens of our gratitude for all that he has done for us and has been for us. I have my personal token of thanks here. There is much I owe him. Inevitably it has to be a book. I decided that Bishop Ian already had all the books of piety and theology he would require.

So I thought that a history book would be appropriate, a book connected with a place and a country that he knows so well and which he loves. The title of the book is “Salamanca 1812." Bishop Ian knows the terrain of that great battle as well as any man in Scotland. There's the Duke of Wellington on the front cover directing his troops.

Wellington was once asked if his troops would put fear into the French. To which he replied: "I don't know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they frighten me!" These words take me back to that day when in the Cathedral Hall Ian our Bishop Elect first met the assembled clergy of Argyll and the Isles. I'm not sure if we would have frightened the French, but a lesser man than Bishop Ian might have felt some apprehension. We had been through some very difficult years. Cardinal O'Brien had helped us immensely through that period, but we had waited such a long time for a bishop of our own.

Quite frankly, some of us felt marginalised, forgotten by Rome. Did they not know that we are a proud people and had found it so difficult to face the world? It was almost as if we were being punished. Many of us had retreated into ourselves: focusing on our parishes and detached from everything else. The announcement of Bishop  lan's appointment had been leaked: we would not be the first to know, as had been intended. There was anger, but I think that was simply a symptom of all we had been through.

Like Abraham of old, Bishop Ian had left his own people and journeyed to another land to make it his home. When he chose that first reading from Genesis for the day of his priestly ordination, he would have had no idea how prophetic, how concrete these words would become. The call was God's will and he obeyed that call. It was not for nothing that he would choose for his Episcopal motto the words: "Obedience gives strength."

The most radical obedience in our lives as Christians is our obedience to the Spirit of God. All his priestly life, Ian Murray has endeavoured to do exactly that, as a priest and above all as a Bishop, as our Bishop.

"Infunde amorem cordibus". "Pour love into our hearts", "With love our hearts inflame". The gift of the Spirit is not only for the illumination of our minds. A bishop needs the gift of wisdom; but it is the human heart that the Spirit seeks above all. My expectation of any bishop is very simple: he is to be a man with a good mind and a warm heart. In Bishop Ian I found such a man: a man with a heart strong enough to carry pain and free enough to welcome joy: a heart made warm and truly human by the indwelling Spirit of God.

Without such a heart, how can we begin to bring good news to the poor and set the captive free? Without such a heart, how can a bishop help create unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ? Leave cold efficiency and analytical detachment and perfection of programme to those who exercise worldly power! It is a heart warmed by the Spirit of God that must always lead us!

That day in the Cathedral Hall in 1999 is far behind us. Great healing has taken place among clergy and Faithful. In a large measure, confidence has been restored. Important initiatives have been launched and these must be developed further. There is much to give thanks for this evening. We thank God also for Bishop lan's family and for all the love and quiet support they have given him during his time of service in this diocese. We thank God also for the blessing of friendship in Bishop lan's life. There is always something very special about priestly friendship.