Synod Begins – Monday 8 February

Apologies, first of all, to all my usual readers who are not at all interested in the work of the national assembly of the Church of England. I will post other things this week to keep you happy too.

The first day of General Synod is concluding as I type - for my part, I really enjoy the February sessions of this assembly of Bishops, Clergy and Laity. It is a chance for me to reconnect with my passion for understanding democracy, governance and institutions. It is a chance to watch the forum that ultimately determines much of the work I do (I am already working on a draft Code of Practice for legislation that will be discussed tomorrow). It is also a chance to be reminded of the good work the Church does, and of the people who are driving forward change here.

This afternoon we’ve had the prayers and introduction of new members, followed by the Bishop of Manchester’s presentation of the work of the steering committee and revision committee for the legislation providing for women bishops’. While his statement wasn’t exactly a surprise, due to its publication last night here on Ruth Gledhill’s Times blog, it was the Business Committee’s choice to deny questions that seemed to take the assembled clergy and laity by surprise and/or dismay. It was, however, somewhat easier to understand when the Bishop read it out – maybe because I’d read it several times but I was again impressed by his ability to speak well.

Moving swiftly onwards  - debate questions arose from three speakers (419, 264, 145) regarding a statement from the Business Committee on the agenda of this General Synod.  I rather wish the first speaker hadn’t spoken quite so quickly as it struggled to focus on the important points and was rather drawn by ‘outsider Archbishops’ and an ‘effective and fascinating forum’. One did feel a tad sorry for the poor Archbishops being attacked at the first opportunity, however warm fuzzies were felt all around as the first round of clapping went to them in the Business Committee’s reply (something about the Archbishops being at ‘the heart of everything we do’). Bless ‘em.

Second speaker had problems with online questionnaire (yay for the Church and Communications using the internet effectively to communicate with Synod members all over the country – and a bonus for supplying computers in the basement!) and the third wanted a link to the Progress of Measures and Statutory Instruments statement read out by the Archbishop of Canterbury following prayers. As I understand it, that information should be found here, however that’s currently an empty page . . . I see the problem . . .

Questions followed this and I moved back to my desk to continue with preparation for tomorrow.  Such fun!

I’ll be in the chamber tomorrow for morning sessions, and hopefully the follow-up session on Mission-Shaped Church tomorrow late afternoon/early evening.  Good night all. Maybe more analysis tomorrow . . .

 

Synod Updates – How to Follow What’s Happening

You can follow the Church of England’s General Synod (happening this week at Church House in London) in a number of ways.

Church of England Audio Feed

#synod Twitter Feed - it’s been a year since we all discovered the number of those tweeting in the Church, should be an interesting take on what’s happening.

My Posterous feed – nothing like a bit of self-promotion. I’ll be summing up debates in bullet points for later blog analysis here.  I have a few things to keep me busy at my desk though so won’t be reporting on all debates.

Electronic versions of papers here

Ruth Gledhill for the Times will be reporting (via Twitter) here

Martin Beckford for the Telegraph will be reporting (via Twitter) here

That’ll do for now – I’m listening to questions while I sort out SAP invoices.  It is, with great emphasis, that I remind readers that the views expressed are my own and do not reflect those of the C of E, the CCrs, or any other organisation I volunteer for.

 

Abortion

This article makes interesting reading…

The Last Late-Term Abortionist (The Observer – 24 January 2010)

I’m not really interested in starting a discussion on this but if someone feels they want to respond, you’re welcome to in the comments below. This, however, is an issue which many have very strong feelings. I will consider removing any content that others might find extremely offensive or threatening.

 

7 Days to Davos World Economic Forum

From 27-31 January, 2500 participants from all over the globe will gather in Geneva for the World Economic Forum.  Alongside 900 chief executives from our Strategic, Industry, Regional Partners and Global Growth Company Partners, there’ll be Government representative, civil society leaders, academia, media, young people and…

Julia Lalla-Maharajah, a returned VSO-volunteer with a true overwhelming passion for ridding the world of female gential mutilation. She’s just ‘won’ the Davos Debates 2010, which provides her with unique access to engage and debate with the world’s leaders next week, and join them on stage for a special panel to help pitch her cause to the world. You can find out more about her campaign on her website but here’s her first video as winner explaining her campaign. Congratulations Julia – it’s a real lesson in strength of passion and determination for us all.

 

Mashup Heaven: United State of Pop 2009

This mashup has been doing the rounds recently but is brilliant so I’m posting it here too.  You know how I like my mashups. Hat tip to Norwegian Recycling, who tweeted it.

 

Poetry in my head

Forgive me for posting the draft of some words in my head. It’s the ramblings of a tired mind mostly…

On the tip of my tongue
Sits a poem unsaid
Unwritten, unstated, and almost unthought.
It pervades my conscious,
Stanzas half formed
With offbeat words falling out.

From what I can tell
It talks of love,
Of life, of loss and that inbetween
And yet it seems new
Like nothing I’ve read
Although I’m sure, written down, that it would.

Each time it begins
A new sentence takes shape
With different words but the same melody.
How came this to be?
Is this rubbish, I think?
Am I rambling to keep out the cold?

On the tip of my tongue
Sits a poem unsaid
It echoes a life once led
When music was written
And poems drafted daily
Creation sparking in my head.

 

Happy New Year

Back to London, to work, to friends, to pastorate, to a certain lack of snow, and to more entertaining blogging. For now, here is a photo from today’s walk in North Wales. More photos here.

From Wales 09

 

The Expat Christmas

I wrote this originally for my sister but have tweaked it a little for a general audience.

So you’re not feeling Christmasly festive and it’s all not quite the same as at home?

I’ve compiled a 10-point plan of things which I think help to make it more fun during expat Christmases.

1) Decorate everything you can. A little bit of tinsel is good but a lot of tinsel and paper chains and decorations can make room and desk very happy – the cheesier the better.

2) Buy a Christmas tree and stick it in your room. Decorate Christmas tree to highest heaven – fairy lights are cheap, cheerful and good.

3) Give all colleagues a Christmas card. All it needs to say is “Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas” or something equally benign.

4) Buy yourself a present, wrap it and stick it under the Christmas tree for opening on Christmas day.

5) Find a bar that does mulled wine and drink it – it’s wonderfully warm and smells like how I imagine cold Christmases should smell. You can also make mulled wine at home.

6) Buy mince pies. Sample lots of different ones to make sure you have ones you really like. Again you can make these at home too.

7) Do “relaxed” Christmas shopping – the aim here is to do it slowly – no one minds when presents arrive, and shopping is good for festivity, as long as it’s not manic.
Carol services – the more the better. I’ve been to three so far.

9) Church – this is kinda like the above but deserves its’ own point. Point of Christmas is God’s gift of Jesus. Church’s are the best place for reminding yourself of that. Try the closest Cathedral as they tend to “do Christmas” very well. Hit the right note of sombriety and festivity as my Mum said a few days ago. The singing will help, honestly.

10) This is a great time for relaxation and reflection. I recommend time at the gym, nice showers/baths with yummy smelling stuff, food that you *really* enjoy eating (and not just junk food), books that you love and rental DVDs of good Christmas movies to get you in the spirit. DVD-wise I recommend – The Holiday, Love Actually, Miracle on 34th St, Muppets Christmas Carol, Bridget Jones, About a Boy, and the Grinch.

Anything else any expats out there would like to contribute? How do/did you celebrate your expat Christmases?

 

Where have I been?

The answer, in its shortest form, is resting.

I’ve had patches of being unwell these past 6 months but the onset of swine flu, promptly followed by pneumonia (the trick I learned was not to expose yourself to cold air for an hour while trying to get rid of swine flu induced temperature) knocked me for six. Luckily for you, I don’t intend to dwell on that.

It’s Christmas and I’m really looking forward to the break and time for rest and reflection that this time of year brings. There are wonderful people to spend time with and an over-dressed Christmas tree to keep me excited. More importantly, I’ve had several awesome chances to share “the reason for the season” in the least cheesy way possible and that has been brilliant.

In a month I’m off to New York to see my little sister in her adopted habitat, to celebrate her 21st and to have loads of fun in a city I’ve never been to before. I’ve taken out proper (read: extra) travel insurance in case of need of hospital while there – I’m learning how best to deal with these bursting cysts while I wait for the initial appointment with the specialist. It’s going to be so great to see her (the sister not the specialist) again!

This wasn’t how I thought this year would end but as we’re all constantly learning I guess, things rarely work out as planned. I had thought I’d be on an adventure in a foreign country with VSO at this point but instead I’m going to be abseiling down a 12 floor building in central London with VSO in March to fundraise for them. I like VSO – they’re a good group of people doing marvellous work! Anyway more about that later…

It’s funny, if you’d told me how this year would end at the beginning I think I’d have tried to do everything I could to avoid the inevitable health issues and yet as it is I’m happy and joyful and glad to be here at Christmas surrounded by people I really care about. I’m lucky to be in a country that provides free healthcare (even when it frustrates me) and truly lucky to live around the corner from one of the best hospitals in the country where I have been treated superbly this year. (Merry Christmas UCH!) I had a wonderful weekend away in York last weekend and it was a wonderful chance to wind down and slide over icy pavements (those two don’t necessarily go together).

In short I’m glad to be alive, glad to be here, and really glad that 2010 brings it’s share of delights too.

I’ll be putting up a few Christmas and New Year posts but until 2010 starts, there’ll be a wee bit of rambling along to the 2009 finish line.

Merry Christmas all! I promise to be better at keeping up next year.

 

Friday Roundup – Week 2

I’m off to Cumbria for a long weekend of rest, relaxation and fun with friends for a birthday. It’s going to be great and I’m going to be disconnected, at least virtually, from the world to make the most of the weekend.

To keep you all busy until Tuesday when I might consider reconnecting myself, here’s a collection of interesting tidbits from my week’s reading:

1. As Donors Focus on AIDS, Child Illnesses Languish – NY Times 29/10/09

2. Independent Science Advisor sacked for giving Independent Science Advice – Imranblog 31/10/09

3. Kiwis suffering ‘green fatigue’ – Stuff 30/10/09

4. Fiji bars NZ and Australia envoys – BBC News 03/11/09 (expect more on this next week, y’know how much I love Fiji)

5. Further to last week’s article – In Eastern Bloc, Wary View of Democracy – WSJ 04/11/09

6. glamour and how nude ladies make me feel – sas’ magical mystery tour 02/11/09

7. IPCC head attacks world leaders – Guardian 01/11/09

8. How the Tories can curb public sector strikes – FT 27/10/09

9) Bad news from Kabul – ActionAid news blog 05/11/09

And last but by no means least, especially for my Kiwi friends:

10) Nominate a charity for 2010 - Kiwiblog 05/11/09