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Dave Conway, Karen Van Rheenen, and David Bird were St Philip's lay delegates to Synod earlier this month.

David sends this report:

  Very many thanks for giving me the opportunity to represent St P. at The Synod this last week as an Alternate Delegate, along with Karen VR. IT was largely uneventful!! (although the issues facing The Anglican Communion worldwide remain.)  

Bishop Anna decided that water was an important part of our baptismal renewal!! At the Opening Eucharist in the Cathedral on Friday night, she lightly showered the congregation along with those in the Sanctuary with droplets projected from a fern/stalk - quite wonderful. Her “Charge” might be aptly summarized, ‘the present is nothing like the past and the future is bright’. The music and choir were superb, especially the settings for the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. Wine, cheese and other goodies were proffered in The New Jerusalem Chapel !!  

Saturday morning’s Synod proceedings were via Zoom for all. The first Motion from the floor caused a few ripples, no tsunami, when King Charles was referred to as Majestic Sovereign, and later some voices questioned the notion of loyal subjects. At this juncture my mind flipped to the classic Monty Python sketch in which it’s declared, “I’m King of The Britons! This lot are my loyal subjects.” Apologies to any who may not be Python adherents.   Bishop Anna did a superb job of chairing the morning session. Several members were voted onto various committees, see Synod election results, and the entire proceedings were ended with a short prayer/blessing around 11.45. Next Synod two years hence. -          David   

 Visit the Synod 2023 page of the diocesan website to view the:

- recorded live stream of the Opening Eucharist from Friday evening 12 May. Skip to the 20-min mark to view...

- video of Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee’s charge delivered during her sermon at Christ Church Cathedral for the Opening Eucharist on May 12, 2023. A transcript of this charge is also available here.

- three video presentations from Synod:

Karen highly recommends watching the videos: "I found the three video presentations quite inspiring and would think others would also."

- elected representatives, each of whom will serve a two-year term, to the other governing bodies within the church at each level. This includes diocese, ecclesiastical province (Provincial Synod) and national church (General Synod).