I’m involved at General Synod and sometimes there is a sense in which you realise that the decisions that are being made have the potential to transform the lives of others (for good or ill). And yet there is such a disconnect in time and place, culture and value systems, between Synod and the local parish that it is very hard to bring the two together.
Each Sunday, and throughout the week, our ‘little’ parish church goes about its business. At the core of our congregation is a diverse bunch of people, brought together by the irresistible pull of God’s saving grace and the fact that we’ve ended up living in this particular part of Cornwall.
Each week we gather together, welcoming many others who join us, to hear and receive God’s Word, pray for the needs of the world and seek the forgiveness of our sins. We sing songs of worship, we break bread together and at the end of the service we pray that our lives would be ‘distinctive and attractive’ and ‘live for Jesus and speak for Jesus’. The Word is taught, people are loved, we fail, we forgive and by God’s grace we see individuals and families transformed by God’s work. The congregation is significantly larger, and younger, than when my husband and I first started worshipping here 15 years ago.
‘Power is a powerful drug and the detox process is hard’
One of the most insightful speeches at the Church of England's General Synod in July came from The Revd Lindsay …