Synod observer - day five

After opening worship - today from the Book of Common Prayer - Bishop Angaelos of the Egyptian Coptic Church addressed the Synod about the situation in his country, including that of the churches, some of which have been seriously attacked.

He concluded by saying: 'A passage that gives me strength comes from 2 Corinthians 4 7-10: always carrying about in our body the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is a cross we carry that brings glory to God.  Pray for strength for us. It has been shown people that division will never take Egypt anywhere. Reconciliation is needed from the heart.'

After that, our business for the rest of the morning seemed rather mundane.

Synod considered a report from its elections review group. We considered questions such as: should there continue to be a separate universities constituency for general synod elections; should deanery synod members still be the electors for General Synod or should it be someone else (PCC members? Electoral roll members? an electoral college); should there continue to be a slight weighting to the northern dioceses in the allocation of seats; and should it be possible to vote for the General Synod online.

All these points will come back to the floor of the chamber in due course. 

At 12.30pm we had further farewells after which Synod was prorogued (synodspeak for 'you can all go home now').

 We meet again in November - in London.

A quiet corner of the campus, close to Central Hall