We should have been in York. We should have been wandering round the campus of York University. We should have been sat on the steps outside the main hall, drinking tea, looking at geese and hoping that this year we would be the person featured in the annual Church Times photo that always appears to set the scene. We should have been queuing for lunch, queuing for dinner, queuing for the bar. But we are not, for very obvious reasons.
There is no Group of Sessions this July. Instead we are invited to Zoom into a meeting of the Synod – not a formal meeting, just a meeting. It is just one day, the first time this has ever been done, ground-breaking and showing that even the governance of the Church of England can flex, even a little bit.
As a member of the Panel of Chairs I will be in Church House, in one of the meeting rooms, ready to look after two sets of Questions. Yesterday we had a rehearsal, tomorrow we do it for real.
A screen from our Zoom Iftar
We have all become exhaustingly familiar with the Zoom screen in front of us. When lock down began I hadn’t heard of Zoom, now I am too familiar with it. But we have used it for more than meetings. It was the way in which we read the Passion together on Good Friday, it was the way we said prayers as a group for our keeping of the VE Day celebrations, it was the way in which we held our Iftar during Ramadan. We have been using it every Sunday at Southwark Cathedral for a ‘chat to the preacher’. It has been a blessing even if at other times it has felt like a bit of a curse.
Of course, one of the things that is really great is that I will have so much more power as the Chair on this occasion than is normally the case. We have at our disposal – apart from the force and charm of our personalities – a series of coloured lights and a bell. When we have said how long speeches can last, and we have the authority under Standing Order whatever to vary this, then the bewigged lawyer on our left hand watches their stopwatch and moves through the lights, green, amber (one minute remaining) and red. That is meant to be the sign to the speaker to STOP. But it doesn’t always have that effect. So we have this bell, one of those old brass ones you press down on, like summoning a waiter in an old fashioned establishment, and we ring that to assert our authority and get the over excited speaker to stop.
But Zoom of course allows us to simply mute them. Such power!!
So what are we doing tomorrow? There will be worship at the beginning and end of the day; a Presidential Address from the Archbishop of Canterbury; two hours of questions; and a presentation and questions on Covid-19. Questions are therefore going to be the meat of this gathering. 131 questions have been submitted by members and 79 of these are directed to the House of Bishops. I will do my best to get us through them.
But what we ask of you to do is pray, not just for the Synod but also for all our churches as we emerge from this lock down. One of the symbols of the resurrection is the butterfly and on one of the lovely Comper reredoses in Southwark Cathedral you can see a flutter of them (the collective noun for butterflies).The caterpillar is locked down in the chrysalis and then the butterfly emerges.
I am reminded of what Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth.
It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15.43-44)
This is my prayer for the church, that we emerge glorious, as the resurrection church and people should be.
Holy God,
as we open our doors
and welcome in those who will come
may we recognise you among them.
As we make our churches safe to enter
and care for those who come
may we recognise you as our strong defence.
As we say our prayers
and light our candles
may we recognise you in the midst.
As we resume our life
and live our life
may we recognise you as our life
today, tomorrow and always.
Amen.
Andrew Nunn's reflections from General Synod 
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