“45 % of our congregations are less than 20 in number when they gather on a Sunday.”
Anne Parkhurst retires from the Overseas Committee. She is replaced by Duncan McCosh.
Retirement Homes. As usual Braeburn is in a good state,whilst St Serf’s does not seen able to produce projected figures to help make decisions about the future. It seems to be that the homes will be transferred to an ‘arms length body’.
Dialogue between people of different faiths.
For the first time, an Imam & a Rabbi were invited into Synod to have a discussion. There is a motion to encourage clergy to try to get ministers’ fraternals to invite interfaith representatives into their meetings.
Rabbi David Rose spoke of the fact that we all face issues in common drugs youth work, environmental issues. Imam Muhammad Sajjad spoke of us being neighbour. Jesus spoke the truth when be spoke of loving the Lord your all with ill your heart and your neighbour as yourself. We must as neighbours, neighbourliness is part of the love of God.
Gill Young spoke of the need to become ordinary neighbours rather than living in separate communities. One of the answers was to eat together. The mosque door is open to everyone.
Marion Chatterley asks whether the time has come to work on joint action and not just talking.
Anne Parkhurst mentioned the Jubilee Scotland movement as embracing different faiths.
Ian Fergusson asked whether the other faiths were offended by Christian symbols such as the cross. Answer was that the Muslim hijjab needs to be respected in a tolerant society, just like the cross.
Tin Reed spoke about how he used to believe that interfaith meant watering down our faith. Contact with other faiths, especially Muslims from the Gambia had led him to change his mind. The motion passed with overwhelming support.
Nancy Adams spoke of an upcoming Conference on work amongst older people. She then spoke to Motion 20 giving assent to the Common statement of the Churches regarding the Bicentenary of the Act abolishing the North Atlantic Slave Trade. This also condemns forms of slavery that exist today.
The motion is carried with overwhelming support.
People chairing synod need to understand the difference between something passing unanimously or passing nem con. Perhaps this will be included in the development day for synod chair people next year.
Ministry Development Committee. Judith George spoke. Interestingly, she spoke of clergy having skills. This is a complete turnaround from the days when TlSEC students were told that they were not engaged in a skills based course.
Lewis Smith spoke for the Home Mission Committee. They have now taken on the brief of the Retreats Committee. An apprisal of Journey of the Baptised is to take place. An independent pesos has been appointed to engage in this review. The identity of this person was not revealed.
Bishop David spoke of a changing shift to thinking about the Diocese being the place of focus for mission rather than the Province.
Bishop Elect, Mark spoke on the Provincial Youth Network. Is there a danger of the PYN being a separate network from the Province? They we now trying to work with all the Boards and Committees to ensure that it is as integrated as possible.
Reading this makes for light relief at work. Experiencing it, I suspect, might be like having one’s teeth pulled without anaesthesia.
I am snugly in my wee office meant to be writing a sermon and thought instead to catch up with the goings on accross the country. I discovered rightly that yours truly would keep me up to date in unique style, so, many thanks for the blogs.
You’ve done a fantastic job, K. I’ve particularly enjoyed your commentary! I can see you fulfilling the same role at Synod that Terry Wogan does at Eurovision. Well done and thank you!
I really do think that we need to find somewhere that offers a wireless connection for next year. It’s essential in this day and age that the rest of the church gets good communication on what’s happening at Synod, and not just the potted version that comes out in minutes or ‘Inspires’.
And you? A ‘fairy’? I’m shocked – I had no idea!
Just to totally echo Fr GadgetVicar’s praise Kelvin – a fantastic series of wee reports for those of us not fortunate (?) enough to be there this year. We definitely need more of this kind of thing.
Have you tried playing the “add the word to the end of the sentence” game yet? This is something which works very well in lectures.
Pass a piece of paper along the row, each person adds a word to the end of the sentence. It provides intermittent bouts of light relief in dificult situations without compromising your ability to pay attention for the majority of the time. Also. when played discreetly it isn’t obvious to whoever is speaking at the time therefore not causing any offence.
So, what is the difference between something passing unanimously or passing nem con?
The difference is whose in the chair.
If something is passed nem con, it means that there is no objection from anyone. (There may be abstentions). If it is passed unanimously, then it means that everyone present votes in favour.
In refrence to having ones teeth being pulled out, I fear I have to agree. I spend most of that week there soing the sound and AV stuff for synod and the OSCR seminar preceeding it. For a 16 year old it is not a exciting experiance. But I did find out one thing, there is something, there is something more boring then diosician synod.