I wish I could say something worthy and wonderful to start a thread here.
But instead I will just propose a thread called Synod Synapses and wiser folks can put their thoughts here.

(I couldn’t refuse the possible alliteration)

I had considered but ruled out Synney Synod.....

So, what’s happening in the Synod?

Well, I’m wearing a suit and tie…

But it doesn’t start until this afternoon, so not much yet.

Here is the briefing paper I prepared for our congregations at St Michael’s largely drawn from my reading of the Synod mailings I received… I also give my brief opinion in some cases.

SYNOD BRIEFING
16-18, 23-24 October, 2006

Here is a brief summary of some important matters to be considered.

1. Discipline Ordinance 2006.
This important legislation updates current standards and will provide a uniform approach, consistent with national Anglican standards, for dealing with matters of child abuse, sexual abuse and other moral failure involving allegations against a member of the clergy or a layperson holding a position of leadership anywhere in our Diocese (e.g. parish councillor, youth leader, Sunday School teacher etc). In my view, this is a very important matter and it should be passed in principle.

2. Admission to Holy Communion (Adult Baptisands) Ordinance 2006.
As part of an ongoing investigation into whether Confirmation might be administered by Presbyters and even senior Laypersons instead of only by the Bishop, this legislation will clarify that Confirmation will definitely no longer be required of those who are baptised as adults before their being admitted to the Lord’s Supper. In my view this should be passed, as confirmation is not a requirement of the Bible, and seems redundant to many, when someone has been baptised as an adult.

3. Nomination Ordinance 2006
This legislation would update and clarify the process by which parish nominators can make a nomination of a suitable presbyter to take up the position of Rector when it falls vacant. In my view, there is largely a matter of tidying up and streamlining and it should probably be passed.

4. Synod Membership (Indigenous Representation) Amendment Ordinance 2006
This legislation will enable one indigenous clergyperson and one indigenous layperson to be elected to Synod, until such times as there is one (or more) indigenous church directly represented at Synod. This legislation should be passed in my view, as it will ensure the first inhabitants of our land have a formal say at Synod, something which has been difficult to achieve previously.

5. Reclassification of Provisional Parishes as full Parishes: Annandale, Ashbury, Strathfield (St Anne’s), Wilberforce
These are generally some of the most encouraging motions at Synod, because this is where parishes that had been provisional (and therefore on shaky grounds) have grown to the stage where they can stand on their own two feet (as it were) and their provisional status can be removed. We often hear heart-warming stories of the impact of the gospel of Jesus during consideration of these notions.

6. Diocesan Policy on Education
Synod will consider the progress made on a new draft diocesan policy on education. It includes principles and policies touching SRE, state, Anglican and other independent ‘faith-based’ schools, university colleges, pre-schools, and theological colleges; encouragement for Christian teachers and Christian camping and so on.

7. Anglican Communion
In light of the departure from biblical standards in regards to sexual ethics in places around the Anglican communion, Synod will consider the following motion: “Synod commends the Primates of the Global South for their forthright stand in upholding biblical truth and expresses its support and encouragement for all within the Anglican Communion who are seeking to uphold biblical principles and prays for the Archbishop of Canterbury in his difficult role.” This should certainly be passed.

8. Funding Chaplaincies
The motion under this title will affirm Anglicare chaplaincies and seeks to request Standing Committee to explore ways to ensure funding for these chaplaincies from the Diocesan budget. This is certainly something one would support in principle. The difficulty in the past has been that the ‘pie’ of money to go around all the diocesan organsations (Evangelism Ministries, Youthworks, Moore College, Anglican Media, as well as Anglicare) is limited. This means we cannot fund everything.

9. Detention of David Hicks
Synod will consider the following motion: “Synod expresses its concern over the continued indefinite detention of Australian citizen, David Hicks, in Guantanamo Bay and the lengthy delays in bringing him to trial. It calls upon the Federal Government to make representations to the Government of the United States to have Mr Hicks brought promptly before a properly constituted civil court.” I would support this motion in principle as I believe we and our allies are in danger of denying to some of our own citizens the very freedoms we wish to defend in our democratic societies against Islamic fundamentalism.

10. Ordination of Women to the Priesthood (Presbyterate)
The General Synod legislation permitting this is being promoted as a “private member’s bill”, having twice been rejected by the Sydney Synod before. This bill will attract the most media interest and is obviously controversial. It has the potential to be divisive. Please pray for godliness and charity on all sides of the debate. I myself will oppose the legislation because I believe it to be contrary to what the Bible teaches about gender matters in regards to church leadership. However I respect those who differ from me.

I plan to convene a seminar to discuss this matter of the ordination of women to the priesthood at 2pm, on Sunday 22nd October. I will present my own understanding of what God’s Word says in these matters. There will be a chance for others to express their own opinions and to ask questions. I would expect people to conduct themselves in a gracious and courteous manner, in a way that would honour Christ, in any such discussions.

Synod will also celebrate the 150th anniversaries this year of Moore College and Anglicare.

Your Parish Synod reps are XXX etc. Please pray for wisdom for the members of Synod as we seek to promote the gospel of Jesus through the churches and other organisations of our Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

Thanks Sandy.  I found that v helpful.

-bw

Gordo!
Have you got yer powers back?
Cape on?
Undies on the outside.....

er

there are some visions one doesn’t need........

[Powers returned! mwahahahaha…

-Gordon]

Excellent presidential address at synod today.

I thought Peter’s emphasis on the importance of biblical theology in the mission, and the continued emphasis on the need to change the Anglo culture of a lot of our Anglicanism, were highlights. I expect the emphasis in the reporting is going to lie elsewhere, but if others miss the point I hope and pray that we don’t.

The address is here .

And not a bad write up of the address by Linda Morris in the Herald this morning

It was a good write-up, wasn’t it? Linda Morris did an even-handed job of the presentation and didn’t take any potshots.

Good address from the Archbishop, good service led by Sandy; well done! 
I found the presentations last night (Moore college, Anglicare) very encouraging, even though it is a bit like getting our dessert before the meat and veges - we’ve had the sweet bits now we have to do the hard work!

And Jill Rowbotham’s article in The Australian was also pretty good:

G’day,

For some reason, I’ve been asked to be this year’s official Synod-blogger. You might remember that Tim Foster did this last year. You will find my thoughts here . They will be updated each day.

Yours in Christ,
Mark

The archbishops address was very inspiring, very powerful.

It sounds like patience is running out for those tiny parishes that refuse to change. That’s a positive step…

[quote author="Mark Tough"]G’day,

For some reason, I’ve been asked to be this year’s official Synod-blogger. You might remember that Tim Foster did this last year. You will find my thoughts here . They will be updated each day.

Yours in Christ,
Mark

this will be great, Mark. I wonder if someone can make sure there’s an rss feed for this - I can’t find one.

Here’s your rss feed, DO:

They will be updated each day.

(as one who prefers manual to automatic :-) )

[quote author="Gordon Cheng"]Here’s your rss feed, DO:

They will be updated each day.

(as one who prefers manual to automatic :-) )

i see.... ridiculously slow syndication ;-)