This year’s General Synod was held in Edinburgh a week later than planned, thanks to the arrival of someone called Taylor Swift in the capital. Whether this contributed to the uncharacteristically awful weather it’s hard to tell!
As usual, the worship, from the opening Eucharist to the closing prayers, was vibrant and enthusiastic, and in between we dealt with business and debate in the usual generally courteous manner. This year the hottest topic was actually how we vote – over the last few years of online or hybrid synods an electronic voting system has been introduced, but last year a glitch allowed eight bishops to register a vote on one motion, when at most we tend to have seven. This year we were each allocated a numbered machine to use for voting, which made the whole process much faster and seems to be reliable. However, a plethora of short motions on Saturday morning, mostly relating to appointments to various committees, did leave us all with a touch of ‘motion sickness’!
Much of the business this year related to canons coming before us for second reading, after they had been discussed at diocesan synods. These included Canons 15 and 16 which cover what clergy from other denominations might be allowed, under various conditions, to officiate or assist at our services; the effect of Net Zero requirements on Canon 35, the one that governs changes to our buildings; Canon 65 concerning safeguarding, which is undergoing a thorough update; and, in addition to the canons, some revised liturgies. All these went through after some interesting discussion. Net Zero cropped up again in a presentation on Thursday with the usual enthusiastic support coupled with bewilderment over how to insulate our Victorian buildings, even if we had the money!
The Provincial Youth Committee, moved from their usual Saturday morning slot to a space on Thursday, had much more chance to make an impact with their presentation as a consequence. One idea we took away which was particularly striking was to have a defibrillator fitted to the outside of St. Mary’s – this will be discussed by the vestry at some point soon. The P.Y.C. then led evening prayer beautifully.
The Mission Board also left us with some food for thought, not only in terms of how we might see our overseas missions in these post-colonial times, but also asking a very pertinent question – if your church disappeared, what would the local community lose? This led to some inspiring round-table discussions.
Synod was addressed at various points by Archbishop Leo Cushnie of the Roman Catholic Church, Mary Woodward of the Society of Friends, and other representatives of our guest denominations. They were able, too, to contribute to a last-minute debate on the SEC’s response to the conflict in the Holy Land which proved both interesting and helpful.
Synod also marked, at various points, the retirement of the Provincial Director of Ordinands, Ian Barcroft; Kevin Pearson, Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway; and John Stuart, Secretary General of the SEC for the last twenty-eight years. All three will be very much missed, though it is hoped they will not disappear completely from the life of the church.
As always, business ran alongside socialising and networking, exhausting and enjoyable, until it was time to catch our trains and return to our dioceses for another year.