The Diocesan Synod March 2022
On Saturday 12th March, Liz and I represented Holy Trinity at Diocesan Synod which was held in St Paul’s & St George’s (P’s&G’s),York Place. Sadly, Bishop John was unable to attend because he was suffering from Covid, but he gave a short address via technology. In his absence, the Dean led the proceedings.
The situation in Ukraine was at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers, especially we focused on the plight of the refugees. Accordingly, the recipient of the Bishop’s Lent Appeal will be The Welcoming, a charity which has been set up to aid all refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, to help them feel at home in Edinburgh. It aids all aspects of their needs. For example, not only finding shelter, but teaching them to speak English, helping to find employment, schools for the children, introducing them to community groups to help form friendships, and to help them achieve their potential. Please be as generous as you can in this appeal when the time comes. For more information, please visit their website at www.thewelcoming.org .
Discussions were held in groups to talk about the Diocese’s commitment to being Carbon Neutral. Most congregations are aiming to reduce their heating costs and taking to their feet or bicycles instead of using cars. General Synod’s commitment is to be carbon neutral by 2030. If you are able, please try to be a part of the Big Walk on Saturday 28th May which begins at South Queensferry ending up at the Cathedral. If you can’t manage that, you could take a bus into Edinburgh and walk around the outside of the Cathedral. Remember, this is supposed to be doing something towards carbon neutral, so please, no cars!!
The Provincial Liturgy Committee is proposing further alterations to the 1982 Scottish Liturgy which was revised in 2021. It incorporates changes in language both in reference to humans and to God in order to reflect the changes in English usage since 1982 and to improve on and formalise the changes to gendered language permitted since 2010. Any comments, questions or suggestions about this can be done via a form on the
Diocesan website. The Liturgy Committee would welcome any input from both clergy and laity. The Diocesan Mission and Ministry Committee (DMMC) continues to focus around the 5 parts of the mission strategy developed in 2017-18 (SEEDS):
- Serving our Communities
- Engaging all generations
- Enabling Ministry
- Developing Disciples
- Sharing faith
The Youth and Children’s officer reported that the 2021 grant funding supported many worthwhile projects across the Diocese, including the online Children’s Chapel, which I really enjoyed during the periods when church was not operating. I hope some of our church children watched it. Online support was also there for teenagers and the hybrid Provincial Youth Week “Glen”) was well attended. Glen 22 is being planned for August and hopefully will be held in person.
Judith Wilkinson (Lay Rep)
