It was beautiful, emerging from the Deanery this morning just before seven o’clock to make my way to the Cathedral. The air was clear and crisp and the sky was that dark blue of the very early morning. It was a bracing but exhilarating walk along the river. But instead of thinking about the weather I was actually thinking about the meeting of General Synod.
My commute this morning
This February Group of Sessions begins today, just down the river in Westminster. There is one important difference from previous February Synods. In response to a request from many in the House of Laity we begin later in the week and extend into Saturday. That means that those who have to take time off from a ‘real job’ don’t have to take quite as much time off. We will see how that works. As far as the team from the Diocese of Southwark is concerned there is one change. The departure of my colleague Stephen Hance to be Dean of Derby meant that there was a vacancy and a by-election. The computer churned away last week and out of it emerged the name of Fr Andrew Moughtin-Mumby. Fr Andrew is vicar of St Peter’s Walworth a thriving and growing church near the Elephant and Castle in the affirming catholic tradition. It is there that the pioneering work on ‘Diddy Disciples’ has been done and proving so effective. It will be good to have Andrew as part of the team.
So what lies before us? I was trying to think about what the theme is for what is a very disparate agenda (but that is normally the case) and I think that what we are really considering is power and how we use it.
Among all the things that we will be discussing inside and outside of the Chamber there are four that stand out for me. The first is the whole issue of safeguarding that challenges the church. We have received two mega-reports on two bishops – George Bell and Peter Ball. These are two very high-profile issues that the church has to face but there are so many cases emerging that require investigation. I don’t admit to understanding all the reasons why abuse in its many forms takes place but there are often issues of power involved, the imbalance of power. You can require someone to do something and they feel obliged to do it. It will not be a comfortable debate and we already know that some survivors of abuse will be outside Church House on Saturday to remind us of the human cost of what has been going on.
Another issue we will discuss is food wastage. I have changed the way I shop and I now waste much less food. I used to be a fan of a ‘big shop’ each week. That used to seduce me into buying so much stuff – fruit, veg, salad, cooked meat, bread – it was endless, without any sense of planning and I would end up chucking so much stuff out because it had gone off. But it wasn’t just the fresh stuff. I would buy all manner of food for the larder. I realised what I had been doing a few weeks ago when I gave some of the kitchen cupboards a clear-out. One shelf was full of jams and preserves, mostly bought at church fairs, that were all out of date and useless. The amount of jars and cans I had to throw away was scandalous. So I am shopping and living differently, buying what I need when I need it. Of course I had the economic power to do the big shop and I had the power to waste what I had bought. It is an abuse of creation and of my sisters and brothers who are powerless.
Thirdly, we will be debating closer union and mutual recognition of ministries with the Methodist Church. My inbox has been full of emails from people telling me what to do about this. But power is there behind a lot of it, the imbalance between a larger and a smaller church – we are not equal players in this; the power of tradition and practice as it pertains to ministry; and the power of priestly and episcopal authority and how in the life of the church this is bestowed, shared, recognised.
Finally, we will be looking at the valuing of people with Down’s Syndrome in our society and in our church. Scientific advances give us a huge amount of power and a staggering number of choices. If we now can effectively determine which foetus carries the syndrome should we, would we, support the termination of all such pregnancies? What sort of image of humanity do we have, an idealised one, free from any kind of ‘syndrome’ or potential for illness or for not conforming to what is thought to be ‘normal’? But how do I use my power in such a conversation who is not a parent and will not be, who hasn’t faced agonising decisions of this nature and yet have a platform from which to pontificate?
Before I set off for Westminster I am doing the assembly at our Cathedral Primary School. My subject is the last part of the Lord’s Prayer and those final words that we say
‘for the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours’.
The reason we have so many problems with power is that we exercise it as if it is ours, but in reality it is God’s. Pray that we may be able to deal well with these challenges as to how we exercise whatever power we think we have.
We beseech you, O Lord, to hear the prayers of your people; and grant that the members of the General Synod may both perceive and know the things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Andrew Nunn's reflections from General Synod 
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