By the time you read this Anglicans will be observing the season of Advent. Given the momentous events in the USA and the decisions that await our own General Synod in the New Year, I suspect this will be an Advent season in which we will be caused to think deeply upon the issue of governance.
Many of us, reading a lesson at a Carol Service, will have struggled with the challenge of getting our mouths around the words ‘Augustus’, ‘census’, ‘Quirinius’ and ‘Syria’ all in the same sentence. But it is a verse that in fact reminds us that thinking deeply on issues of governance at the time of Jesus’ birth is nothing new.
In Luke chapter 2 we are told that our Almighty God used the Caesar Augustus’ census to ensure that, in fulfilment of the divine promise, the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
‘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 …