Yoblog – Musings of a Church Youth Officer

I’m wondering why there  has been a profoundly dismal response to the family spirituality day at the seaside this Saturday?

Is everyone doing something else? On holiday already?

Is Dunbar just not close enough for people?

Are people afraid of the Scottish weather?

Is a full day too long?

Do people not like the idea?

There is going to be beachcombing and craft and clay and paint and sunshine.

Anybody out there??

I’ve been reliving my childhood working through a DVD boxed set of the BBC Narnia series first shown in the late 80’s/early 90’s with my son.  It was one of those Sunday afternoon series which the whole family would sit and watch together, before the days of 24 hour a day children’s TV.  The special effects may look pretty dated now, but it somehow doesn’t matter  and the stories are still riveting.

Only as an adult have I picked up on the religious parallels in the stories.  I wonder if any kids do?  I think I’ll have a wee trawl on the internet now and see if anybody has written any children’s material for church use using the Narnia stories.

Two people received new additional duties at General  Synod.  Firstly Bishop David of the St Andrew’s Diocese was elected Primus of the SEC and later on, the Provost of Glasgow took on the covenorship of the Information and Communication Board.

It did set me wondering about why?

Why would  a Bishop with a full workload actually want to take on more duties and spread himself even more thinly?  Why would two people put themselves forward for the I&C job?  With the limited people resources and funding, both jobs could be seen as ‘poisoned chalices’.

I guess that is where vocation and calling kicks in and where I start to flounder.  Good luck to them both!

Things got a bit more lively at General Synod today which made being there more interesting.

The Diocese of Edinburgh were the troublemakers who were stirring things up by proposing an amendment to a second reading of a canon on retirement age of clergy.

In a way, it seems that there is cherry picking of employment legislation which then has to be squeezed to fit the canons and people in Synod don’t like being told that they don’t understand why it is important to do it and that they should just agree.

Perhaps more work needs to be done on the explaining why and the potential consequences if it is not done.  There was also people at the top table getting obviously narked by the rebellion and I think this attitude of ‘you don’t understand’ pushed people to vote against the change out of bloody mindedness more than anything!

The highlight for me was the pregnant pause after the first vote from the House of Bishops.  It required a two thirds majority for the ammendment to pass.  4 bishops voted for the ammendment and 3 against and there were strained faces on the floor trying to work out whether 4/7ths was bigger or smaller than 2/3rds!!!

Maths and employment legislation are not in the TISEC training then?!

Well, the great and the good (and the not so great and not so good!)  of the Scottish Episcopal Church gathered today for the first day of the two and a half day marathon that is the General Synod.

I remember last year actually enjoying it more than I had expected to.

Maybe because I had been pleasantly surprised last year, my expectations were higher this time round.

Maybe because I am quite pregnant, my patience for sitting for long periods being talked at was limited.  Looking around there was a significant amount of yawning going on.  Somehow, day 1 just didn’t hit the spot for me.  There were no real debates or discussions.

Maybe tomorrow will change all that.   Otherwise it’ll be a very long day!

I’m getting better at creating photo galleries on the Diocesan website.

This time, all the photos are the right way round.

Go and have a peek here!