8:30 a.m. Greetings from General Synod 2010. I’m sitting here in my comfortable media seat high up in the bleachers.
On the agenda this morning is a getting to know you session and a presidential address by Abp. Fred Hiltz at 11:00.
It’s really quite cold in Halifax – but the beer is good; the only thing missing is power, so I’m running off battery power at the moment.
A couple of nice ACA clergy just prayed for me and my technology.
Opening hymn. Agenda has been adopted.
Various guests welcomed, including Bishop of Jerusalem and his wife; Bishop of Cuba and his wife;President of Canadian council of churches; Director PWRDF.
We are now going through the procedural motions.
Deadline for resolutions is Monday, but for sexuality resolutions it will be Wednesday 9:00 p.m. I suppose that means Thursday will be an interesting day.
We are now going in to the drawing together session, aimed to make synod a kinder, gentler experience.
On the sexuality issue, I have heard 2 different opinions from unnamed sources: first that no motion will be brought forward other than the local option – giving the ACoC a kind of plausible deniability; second, a motion to proceed with SSBs will come forward, be voted on and Abp. Hiltz will allow it as the will of the synod, giving him little choice. Either way, the people who expressed these thoughts believed that the small group settings would be open to manipulation.
11:00 a.m. Abp. Hiltz presidential address: Feeling the Winds of God: Charting a new course. A lot of emphasis on the Spirit who appears to have become a “she”.
Vision 2019 seems to be a major item for synod as it “holds huge potential for renewal of the church”. Another major interest seems to be Indigenous Ministries, residential schools etc.
And let’s not forget same-sex blessings: apparently “for the majority of us there is less passion to resolve this through heated debate and a deeper commitment to respectful dialogue.” Looking for “pastoral generosity” while “retaining the unity of the Spirit” – who is a “she”, remember.
The Covenant is another major issue, particularly section 4 which is a problem – sorry, challenge – since it speaks of consequences for those who break the covenant. The consequences are “exclusionary” which does not suite the ACoC.
On Abp. Rowan’s Pentecost letter, once more “exclusion” is the problem; also, those who have indulged in cross border intervention are the ones who have created the havoc, apparently. Any SSBs that have occurred have not been done formally, so they are OK – really.
Lots more on social justice, Kairos, Millennium Development goals, climategate, climate change…. and so on.
Finances: trying to get to “sustainable budget equilibrium” – meaning budget cuts.
135th anniversary of the Anglican Journal which has a “bold new look” – it does look pretty good.
50th anniversary of PWRDF.
Re-focussing energies on mission, although I’m uncertain of the definition of “mission” as used here.
The Spirit (she) was invoked a great deal – the Bible, not so much.
Standing ovation.
Has there been any prayer yet? Just wondering…
Yes, there was an opening prayer.
Will there be a complete transcript of El Presidente’s speech published somewhere, for the morbidly curious?
I have it on paper…. I’m sure it will appear on the Journal before long. I’ll point to it when I find it.
Thanks David for “being there” for us. I look forward to your commentary through the coming days and will be praying for you.
Looking forward to your reports David – thanks for doing this. Look after your fingers – I thought I was getting something like carpal tunnel syndrome in 2007!
It’s at http://www.anglican.ca/gs2010/atsynod/speeches/presidential-address/
It seems to be his usual mixture of pious hope and lack of clarity over new directions for the Church, and trying to have his cake and eat it over SSBs. I don’t see much inspiration here.
Thanks Gordon – I added the link in the following post.
He used the very same structural model for his sermon in August 2009 at the gathering of native people’s Anglican gathering, the sacred circle.
View it here.
http://vimeo.com/6043406