So we are assembling for the third (or for those of us not at the induction day, the second) day in Westmisnster for this opening Group of Sessions for this new Quinquennium. After the glamour of yesterday it’s more of a normal day. We begin in a few minutes with worship and then move into business.
What should you be looking out for? There will be a significant debate on the migrant crisis. I suspect that there will be many requests to speak and many amendments to the Motion. I have submitted a minor, though I hope, significant one. Then there is a presentation (which means questions but no debate) on public perceptions of Jesus.
The truth is of course that, for better or worse, people make judgements about Jesus on the basis of what they see in the Church. We are always saying ‘We are the body of Christ’. The quetion we must ask ourselves is what does Jesus look like if we are the body?
Teresa of Avila famously said
Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion
is to look out to the earth,
yours are the feet by which He is to go about doing good
and yours are the hands by which He is to bless us now.
If that is true then how we all percieve Jesus depends on the public perception of the church. So what will we look like today and which face of Jesus will we show – generous, hospitable, open, challenging, accepting? Let’s see.
Jesus,
in our face
may people see
your face.
Amen.
Andrew Nunn's reflections from General Synod 
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