Presidential Address Diocesan Synod: St Peter’s Battersea 12 July 2023
I enjoy my visits to the beautiful city of York – but it is always good to return to Southwark from General Synod and come home from that distinctively Anglican form of public introspection to a Diocese whose priority is simply to be Christ centred and outward focused. It is very easy to be swept along by General Synod – its never-ending processes, its personalities and politics, and everything else that goes with it. I am always proud of the contribution made by Team Southwark and I am thankful the Church of England is episcopally led and synodically governed – General Synod is at its best when it does not lose sight of the bigger picture which is our joyful responsibility to share the love of Christ with the nation in each and every parish up and down the land.
In Southwark we have worked hard to ensure that our governance – of which this Synod is an essential part – serves the outworking of our Christian faith. Our purpose in whatever role in which we are called is to serve our parishes, chaplaincies and new worshipping communities. It is always essential to retain a prayerful focus on Christ at a personal level if we are each to serve God and neighbour. I am confident our central functions reflect this.
This evening’s Synod is the last that Ruth Martin will attend as Diocesan Secretary and I invite you to stay on for a short reception afterwards in which we can express our thanks. In September, Ruth takes on a new role as Bishop’s Lead for Strategic Development, working with me and Nicola Thomas, her successor as Diocesan Secretary. When Ruth arrived in Trinity House, from the start Ruth wanted to ground everything in prayer and one of the fruits of this is a regular patter of prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist at Trinity House. Ruth’s contribution to the life of our Diocese, the great dignity she has shown in handling difficult matters, her sense of work as a vocation, and immense dedicated attention to detail in ensuring that structures work cohesively and colleagues work collaboratively – all this has been truly remarkable. Ruth set to work implementing very significant governance changes but was always keen to shape culture and this bore fruit in ‘Lead, Enable, Serve’ which continues to guide and inform Diocesan staff in prioritising a spirit of service and a commitment to equip our parishes for mission.
Ruth, thank you for this and for your many other accomplishments as Diocesan Secretary – not least for helping the Diocese to navigate its way through the Pandemic by ensuring financial and administrative functions remained stable. We will give thanks in September at the service of Choral Evensong in the Cathedral on Thursday 14 September and may God continue to bless you in your new role and your ongoing ministry as a Street Pastor and Reader.
I was glad that members of General Synod who gathered in York Minster to worship together on Sunday were able to demonstrate our common life in Christ. The reception of Living in Love and Faith continues. Some have voiced their anxieties and concerns following the endorsement of the motion in February’s General Synod by each of the three Houses. But the work of the three groups on pastoral provision, pastoral guidance and the prayers continues and the Bishop of London spoke with dignity and insight in the update we were given on Saturday afternoon. I commend her address to you all. I was particularly moved when at one point she said in response to a question, ‘I answer as your sister in Christ’.
I stand here as your brother in Christ. Our lives are bound together as we witness to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am committed to upholding your theological convictions in the belief that they are held in good faith. I ask and expect that we live and work as those who are bound together by a common baptism and a common profession of faith in the living God who has revealed himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We cannot witness effectively without each other. We are what God has made us, his by creation and redemption, none of us with the right or the prerogative to say to another sister or brother that we can do without them.
So let us meet, and pray, and work as those who know that God has made us fellow workers with Christ and one another, brothers and sisters, children of God, wonderfully and fearfully made, co-heirs with Christ. To God be the glory from age to age.
