Don't mention the drought

During discussion from a prior post, I mentioned that at the Sydney Anglican Synod recently the following motioned had been passed:

"The drought
Synod, in recognition of God's sovereignty and power over all things, and in support of our Diocesan mission and goal, publicly calls the people of Sydney and the Illawarra/Shoalhaven to bring the drought to God in urgent and persevering prayer that, in His time and will, rains might fall across the State and nation to break the drought and to fill our dams and calls upon all Christian people to display generosity to those in need as a consequence of the drought, and to urge all to recognise that God is the Creator and Owner of the world and Saviour of all who turn to him in repentance and faith."

The motion was made with the barest of mention of climate change (despite the Al Gore movie), and nothing was said about Human responsibility in regards to our attitude towards water and our abuse of the environment.

Well, now seems to be the right time to start talking about it, and praying/repenting. On ABC Radio (comparatively reputable) today it was claimed that Queensland only has 2 years left of its water supply. As for Sydney, we apparently have only 4 years remaining. If true, these are dire straights indeed...

10 points if you can tell me what the picture is.
For more about climate change in blog land, go here.

Synod V

Well, I don't really know how to comment on last night. It was a very draining, with Synod running over time. I think we managed to get a lot of work done, and yet we also wasted a lot of time discussing amendments to motions for up to 20 minutes, only to see those amendemnts more than convincingly defeated.

we ehard of the amazing work God is doing in Uganda, Nigeria and South East Asia, and were addressed by the Archbishop of Singapore. The Indigenous Representation motion and Nomiantion motion passed as ordinance's, and we apporved the Regions amendment motion.

Of most interest last night was PeterJensen's address about the future of the Anglican Communion and Sydney's role in that. Peter said that basically the communion would never be the same again, and has already devolved into a loose federation of churches.

"I have always said that it is more likely that we will see its devolution into a looser federation of churches, networking across old lines in new ways. Indeed, I think that this has now begun to occur," and "As a consequence, I do not think that the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury while, of course, very important, will regain its old place."

Following this, we apporved two motions last night, one which encouraged the diocese to partner with other like-minded dioceses, and the other motion, which read:

"Synod notes with regret the discord within the Anglican Communion, commits itself to prayer for the unity of the Anglican Communion under God, commends the Primates of the Global South for their forthright stand in upholding biblical truth, expresses its support and encouragement for all within the Anglican Communion who are seeking to uphold biblical principles and prays for the Archbishop of Canterbury in his difficult role."

On a lighter side, i was accused by a certain regional bishop of reading science fiction during synod...the fact that it was G.B. Caird and the book was my dinner companion is beside the point. Oh well, bring on tonight's media circus.