Sydney Synod Day 1

I'm not sure that a diocesan forum is necessarily the best thing to frame things around when considering the strengths and weeknesses of a denomination.

But the bold leadership of individuals may shape your views either way.

The things that stood out most were probably the following:

Peter Jensen reminded people tonight of the fact that when we hold the gospel clearly, we can change other things to ensure we keep having the gospel reach people.
A particularly nice bit of his challenge was as follows:

One of my most vivid memories is of a dear friend of mine who was a member of the same church as me. He was a Professor at the University, a man of impeccable rectitude, an adornment to the gospel. He grew up as an Anglican in the bush, where they do things a bit differently. He cherished a more formal style of church; nothing flash: he is what you may call a Prayer Book Christian; like me if it comes to that. His faith is part of him; it is very much who he is; and church with the Prayer Book and a bit of dignity is part of that inner piety which makes the man what he is.

We met in the pews one Sunday morning. We had just been through what for him was a travesty of church – substance but no style; omissions of all the things which we cherished - music, indescribable.. ‘I miss the old ways,’ he said. Then he paused. ‘But, Peter, I’d rather give up the old ways, hard though that is, for the sake of what we are now doing for Christ.’ For there in that church as the Bible was being taught were young and old men and women being transformed by the Spirit of God, coming to faith and going ahead in Christ.

And then Al Stewart gave a talk about various things including an example about feral pigs... (ask me later if you want the full story). The gospel is not an optional extra according to Jesus, we need to feel that it hurts us when we shape our priorities.

The fun with debates seems to start tomorrow, although there will be a few interesting debates interspersed with generally important things which need to be done.