The Scottish Episcopal Church is holding the annual meeting of its General Synod from Thursday to Saturday this week (12 to 14 June) in Edinburgh.
There are several items on the Church’s website about the meeting.
Agenda and Papers
General Information
Preview
For an overview of the synod’s activities see here.
On Thursday afternoon the synod will debate these three motions on the proposed Anglican Covenant.
Motion 3: That this Synod affirm an ‘in principle’ commitment to the Covenant process at this time (without committing itself to the details of any text).
Motion 4: That this Synod ask the Faith and Order Board to respond to the ‘three questions’ in the letter from the Joint Standing Committee, incorporating this Synod’s response to Question 1.
Motion 5: That this Synod:
a) note the St Andrew’s draft Covenant, and ask dioceses to discuss it and submit comments to the Faith and Order Board by 31 December 2008;
b) ask the Faith and Order Board to prepare a response to the Anglican Communion on the draft Covenant, taking due cognisance of the views of this Synod and of dioceses.
The three questions referred to in motion 4 are:
1. Is the Province able to give an “in principle” commitment to the Covenant process at this time (without committing itself to the details of any text)?
2. Is it possible to give some indication of any synodical process which would have to be undertaken in order to adopt the Covenant in the fullness of time?
3. In considering the St Andrew’s Draft for an Anglican Covenant, are there any elements which would need extensive change in order to make the process of synodical adoption viable?
For links to the St Andrew’s draft and related documents see here.
I find the third question the most invasive and like in one of those bad surveys. Yes or no assumes yes there are extensive changes and thus will be adopted and no there are no extensive changes and thus can be adopted sooner. There ought to be a reply that says there is nothing that can be done to make viable adoption because it is a superfluous and unwanted damaging document.
The devil’s in the details…
We had holidays in Perthshire and Argyllshire a few years ago. Episcopal churches could be found and, when found, they were very friendly, but I have to say their publicity generally was abysmal and the congregations were very small (sometimes only half a dozen). As with the C of E but even more so, I wish church authorities would put far more energy into local mission than all this irrelevant and damaging macro- stuff.
Yes, so often at churches around the UK one arrives for worship at the appointed, advertised hour only to find nothing doing that week, or at the next hamlet but one, or an hour later this week becuase of the brownies (or whatever). There is a Presbyterian Church of Wales church in London whose board says 11 am every Sunday–but which I discovered meets monthly nowadays. I have never mangaed to attend worship there even though I eventually discovered it was on the first sunday. Last time I tried there were 4 of us on the step before the locked… Read more »
“I wish church authorities would put far more energy into local mission than all this irrelevant and damaging macro- stuff.” john
Hear, hear – let’s get on with the Gospel. The local parish is where the action is anyway…
I don’t envy General Synod much this afternoon, that’s for sure.
Q1 I’m 50-50 on, depending on whether I’m being “innocent as a dove” (let’s be seen to be involved) or “wiley as a serpent” (it’s nothing but a wedge strategy designed to exclude a couple of provinces).
From what I remember of the relevant board’s response a few months ago, the answer to Q3 is “yes, the whole thing needs rewritten to be *positive*”.
`Hear, hear – let’s get on with the Gospel. The local parish is where the action is anyway…’
Well, yes and no. Of course you meet “real people” on the street, but let’s not forget that in posting here, you’ve just made the Web an entirely viable world in which the Gospel is enacted. 🙂