Never having been at Synod before, I'm an RCC man myself, I was always somewhat in awe of this body. I don't know what I imagined it to be. Dynamic? Yes, a little. High Powered? Yep, with lots of intellectual and witty debate. Decisive? Definitely! Decisions, important decisions would be made that affected us all at Parish level.
Tonight, after my first day at General Synod, I feel let down and more than a little disillusioned. Sure, there was talk and some debate, some of it quite emotional around the Gender Audit business, but basically we talked ourselves into corners where we decided we would just go on talking.
This was difficult for me, for my voice is such that I'm still croaking, and any contribution from me would, I'm sure, simply be met with much mirth.
Today I came away with sadness in my heart. The Church I grew up in felt sad and tired, and were talking about issues which don't seriously bother those who live in the real world. Maybe the world should be bothered about gender issues in our Church and in our liturgies, and perhaps they should be concerned about the future of the Anglican Communion and the proposed covenant, but they're not.
At pew level, we are much more concerned about things like our financial future, our kids on drugs, our town centres in decay, the possibility that education, health care and social services may be cut back so much that we fail to care for each other as a society. Some of us are more concerned about African starvation and poverty rather than African ecclesiastical politics. These are the real concerns of our people, but this was not reflected today.
Maybe tomorrow we'll get round to it, but I doubt it. I'm just understanding why I've evaded this sort of stuff for so long.
4 comments:
That's how I felt growing up in the Episcopal Church... it was as if there was no war, no battles over desegregation, no marches for peace, no real life issues at all being discussed.
Our diocesan convention is much like what you describe. Out of all the stuff we talk and hear about, most of it is rearranging the deck chairs.
Hope for better, but prepare for more of the same!
Maybe +KJS will bring some spice with her tomorrow?
Well, she does bring a real presence with her! Hope tomorrow is good!
At least you had your laptop with you! I lost the will to live by mid-afternoon!
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