The 144th Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa began with an evening Eucharist service at Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa on Nov. 7.
In his charge to the Synod, Bishop Shane Parker referred to a metaphor he shared last year from church historian Henry Chadwick. It compares the church to a stained-glass window— ”reflecting through its diverse panes the beauty of God’s grace, love, peace, hope, reconciliation and justice,” but which must be held together and protected by the oak and iron of good order and discipline. Professor Chadwick, he said, “realized the structures and operations of the Church—being well-run and properly resourced—enable cohesion amongst its members and free them to focus on serving others.”
This aligns closely with what the bishop described as the three-year journey the laity and clergy of the diocesan church have been on with him of “honestly assessing where we were at, and of carefully and collaboratively discerning what God was calling us to do.” And much of the work and discussion at Synod involved ensuring that the diocesan church is well-run and properly resourced, so that everyone in both parish and community ministries can focus on serving their communities.
The full text of the Charge was published in the December issue of Perspective and in our print edition Crosstalk.
The bishop concluded by saying that as the diocesan church moves through this triennium, “we will cherish the beauty of Christ that has been entrusted to our diocesan church, and we will seek to share that beauty, with humble confidence and expansive generosity, wherever God is calling us to be.”
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Le repentir : Le chemin de la vie