Reading Alastair Campbell’s diaries on the train back from another depressing General Synod made me wake up to the similarity between old Labour and the leadership of the Church of England: both are more concerned to please their own activists than to reach out to the country as a whole.
Its amazing what you can put together in ten minutes in the bath. Rub-a-dub-dub!
When Synod brings about the culture of death affirmations (can that be said, really: affirmations?) then all is worth paying attention to. When Synod recognizes the alien thought that leaves us outside the true culture of the Christian Church, then all is of no consequence. Could it be that Giles and his ilk are the “no consequence”? The culture – the secular world that offers little stibility and huge indulgence – is no place to live in peace. Peace that passes understanding is Jesus who can rightfully claim to be the way, truth and life. Christians no longer truely Christian, bored and unsatisified without approval from others for what they are doing or want to do, are those FOR whom Jesus came. But without ears and eyes, how does one hear or see the Living Lord?
I have to say that listening to the Synod debate I was really impressed by the quality of debate on all sides. Speakers had put a great deal of thought and preparation into what they said. There was an avoidance of the trite, the inaccurate or the unconsidered. Would that that could be said of some of our press.
There is a great deal of honesty in this statement:
The reality is that millions of people couldn’t care less what we say or think. They don’t care about covenants or gay vicars: they want the Church to speak about life and death, about love and grace, about justice and hope. And because we are not speaking about it, they will go elsewhere. Tragically, General Synod is as mission-shaped as a chocolate teapot.
and in this:
Jesus came to bring us life in all its fullness. He certainly did not come to bring us this.
Yes, Bob Carlton, . . . so revisionists say.
Yes Bob — and because the revisionist parishes preach such a gospel each week they are growing by leaps and bounds.
Yeah right!!
“My friend Stephen Bates, the religious-affairs correspondent of The Guardian is leaving his religious watch to be assigned new tasks on the paper. It was his last Synod, and he left with an overwhelming sense of relief.”
One that will be shared by his few remaining readers. Will he be reviewing fiction now?
Why would anyone expect General Synod to be interesting to anyone but it’s own members?
I too am a fan of the Blair era, however, I wouldn’t dream of going to the Labour parties General Conference, nor would many sane people.
Bureaucracies generate their own inertia (if that’s possible – I doubt it though I once saw a Diocesan synod try) and my own fleeting experience of General synod was enough to put me off it for life. That said, to draw the conclusion that because the Church of England’s legislative body is dealing with it’s own legislative issues the Church as a whole isn’t addressing where society is, is frankly ridiculous, I suspect Giles thinks he’s addressing the key issues from the pulpit, so does every other vicar I know. The churches which are growing reveal where that message strikes a chord.
Mr Fraser’s attempt at political analysis is as weak as his theological analysis.
The idea that Old Labour is somehow worthless alongside New Labour is laughable. At least Old Labour had some principles, even if some of them were wrong or misguided.
The leadership of the Church of England has a lot in common with New Labour. Talk about spin and content-free pronouncements. And being obsessed with protecting their own position and so being prepared to compromise on anything in the interests of self preservation. Yup there are a lot of similarities.