Reflections on General Synod and related matters
Reflections on General Synod, the state of the diocese of Melbourne
and place of a church such as St Peter's.
Transfiguration: 5th August, 2001
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's Eastern Hill
...but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory....
Lk 9:32b
Peter and James and John up on a mountain with the Lord. A vision of the
glory of God in Jesus the Christ. A voice from heaven very much like at the
baptism of Jesus "This is my Son, my Chosen: listen to him". This is an event
described as beginning as a prayer and growing into an intense religious
experience, the exact nature of which is uncertain. Quite conceivably it
lasted through a day and into night. It is placed in Luke after the highly
significant confession by Peter that Jesus was indeed the Christ and the
subsequent heavy teaching on the nature of discipleship. The two great figures
representing the Law and the Prophets are present for a time. Moses and Elijah
were heard as talking with Jesus about what was about to be accomplished in
Jerusalem: a new exodus. The cloud of the presence of God is here, as in the
first exodus. Dazzling light and brightness give way to hearing, listening;
being and walking alongside the Lord. Major signposts from the Old Testament.
Allusions to the most central of the experiences of the people of God and the
unfolding of their salvation history. Major signposts of the New Testament.
Looking forward to the Lord's passion and death. Prefiguring the resurrection.
God all in all.
In the middle of all this there is a quite characteristic piece of
uncertainty and confusion coming from the disciple who is our patron. It is
human, it is somewhat disarming. For a moment it relieves some of the building
tension of so awesome a scene. Peter's suggestion about putting up some
temporary shelters is passed by. We are told that he just didn't know what
to say or how to respond. His concern could have been simply practical. They
were up there without any shelter. It was something that he and the other two
disciples could set about doing. In other circumstances after all he would
have immediately offered food and refreshments to visitors. One is reminded
of Martha busying herself in Bethany. He could then have been trying to be
appropriately hospitable in the presence of such prestigious company.
Anyway there was a strong precedent for booth making. Gathering together
some branches and leaves for some sort of protection from the elements is what
the Children of Israel did each evening in the wilderness of the Exodus. That
putting together of such temporary shelters and indeed staying in them was
what was done each year too at the Feast of Booths, as a reminder of those
exodus wanderings while giving thanks for the harvest of more settled times.
But this was all to miss the point. The point was the awareness of God's glory
in Jesus the Christ. The point was hearing this message; realising and
accepting this truth and then going on down the mountain to live out its
implications.
Somewhere quite a way down from the mount of Transfiguration may be found
the various places where we live and work and gather for worship or the service
of others. We observe today our annual remembrance of the beginnings of the
life of this parish. Our Feast of Dedication takes us back to the late 1840s
when this church was built and then prayed and worshipped in for the first
time. That August day some 155 years ago was a day of hope, of faithful
response, of promise and pledge. Each successive generation is called to renew
again and to re-express that hope, that faithful response, that promise, that
pledge. - And there are challenges enough to keep us going.
There have been times when to identify strongly as a catholic Anglican
Christian at this place was to find a degree of marginalisation. There have
certainly been times when the prevailing streams of diocesan life were very
contrary to the truths and emphases of the faith as received and lived here.
But Melbourne most rightly includes places like St Peter's. This is a St
Peter's with clear sense of vision and purpose, a St Peter's faithful in
worship and service, a St Peter's attracting and keeping sufficient various
and gifted committed people across the age groups. We have a way to go on
these things. We can particularly seek to improve what we offer by way of
support for growth in faith, in Christian education, in providing creatively
for those who would seek to know and to understand and to believe. But that
is the sort of anglo-catholic city church that can expect to have some considerable impact on the wider life of the Church as a whole, and make a
genuine contribution. Our forebears in this place would expect nothing less
of us. This is not the time for us to be holding back or retreating within
our walls.
Is it possible that there is a loud wake up call being presently sounded
to us all? Whenever there is a major change in direction or policy leadership
at the diocesan level, careful reflection and consideration is required. We
are moving again in such a time in this diocese. Substantial and unsettling
changes at the top level of diocesan leadership are now a particular current
case in point. Suddenly the talk is of distress, uncertainty, potential
confrontation and at the very least a substantial faltering. This is not a
good.
The diocese of Melbourne is a uniquely diverse and balanced diocese of the
Australian Church. It is large. It has a culture and an ethos that is difficult
to understand from the outside. It has given and provided much to the wider
church and society. It has prided itself, especially since the flowering of
the various streams of church life during the episcopacy of Archbishop Frank
Woods, as being a place of tolerance and indeed encouragement and respect for
the breadth and legitimate diversity of response to the call of God. We
ourselves fit well into that vision. We are representative of one such
particular flowering and are recognised as such.
The diocese of Melbourne has liked to consider itself tolerant, good
humoured, diverse and comprehensive, with a leadership generous, skilled and
diverse enough to be able to service and encourage that blooming of many
flowers. It has for most of the last almost 50 years been a place where the
challenges of being Anglican Christians have not been addressed in a monochrome
or uniform way, as in some other parts of the Church. It has not even been
possible to do so. The checks and balances of this complex organisation would
not allow it. There have always been various focuses of strength and mutually
acknowledged varying models of discipleship and faithfulness. There has been
balance and a certain even handedness that is vital.
As an anglo catholic city church, St Peter's is no stranger to such
potential tensions. We would seek to address them with creativity and
confidence rather than defensive uncertainty. We will need to consider
whatever comes as clergy and people together, conscious of the responsibilities
we bear and the expectations of others that we carry with us. This includes
an accepted responsibility of care and leadership for those smaller parishes
and faith communities and indeed individual Christians who do not have our
strength, but share our hopes. These are not easy times.
And so too we are able to consider the proceedings of the 12th session of
the General Synod in its present arrangements that has been in operation since
1962. I attended the 84 hours of sittings as one of the Melbourne
representatives.
To the frustration of some and the relief of most, there was not after all
a bloodbath. To some extent there was disengagement and a drawing back from
the confrontational addressing of major issues of potential division. Very
largely, these matters have been deferred for a further three years
consideration. A reporter from The Sydney Morning Herald said to me after one
interesting little incident that was potentially difficult: "Why are you people
so polite to each other?" I told her it was to avoid giving people such as
herself what they were looking for! So yes, it was largely polite. Underneath
remain profound differences of approach and attitude to basic things: the use
of the Scriptures, Church, ministry, sacraments, ethics, and ecumenism.
The Women Bishops legislation was withdrawn at the committee stage of the
debate when it became clear that there was not a sufficient level of support
for it to pass. There were some points of comparison with the Republic
referendum in that some were opposing who did so because they disliked the
particular provisions (in this case of alternative care for those who remain
unable to accept). They would rather see no women bishops rather than women
bishops on those terms. This key division turned out to be very largely centred
on fear of church planting out of Sydney diocese coming into neighbouring
dioceses by those means. Other groups largely outside the Synod were opposed
because the proposed alternative care was not to their mind thorough going
enough and was said to be unacceptable. A number of speakers at the synod
referred to this as their reason for not after all accepting the proposed
compromise as in the legislation. Interestingly, before the debate was closed
a key vote on the question of alternative episcopal oversight was supported
and won by the intervention and the vote of the Primate, and much more
modestly, the Vicar of Eastern Hill.
"Faithfulness in Fellowship": the Doctrine Commission's initial set of
discussion papers on homosexuality, was commended to the Church for study and
reflection. We will do so. Interestingly, an attempt to add onto that motion
receiving the report the entire Lambeth Conference resolution on homosexuality
from 1998, was soundly rejected. The synod chose not to indicate a conclusion
when what was happening was rather the beginning of a discussion.
The small group discussion on all major issues and a genuine attempt to
make the process of synod less adversarial certainly had an impact. But the
biggest issue lying just around the corner and about to be raised again in the
Sydney synod next month; that of Lay Presidency, was not the subject of any
legislation or any resolution. That is where the battle will first be joined.
And we have a Primate and an Archbishop of Canterbury who have indicated the
seriousness of the situation. As has the diocese of Sydney. That is not a
matter where I would expect there to be any difference of opinion at all in
the range of constituencies that a place like this might speak to. There is
much at stake here of the highest importance.
We will speak of these things again.
The Lord be with you.
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