Countdown to General Synod/te Hinota Whanui 2018

On Thursday night this week representatives from the thirteen episcopal units of our church, that is, three tikanga (7, 5, 1 respectively) gather in New Plymouth. We meet through to Thursday 10th May and travel home on Friday 11th May. The draft timetable is this - you may need to enlarge your screens to read it:

For those interested in the progress of Motion 29, you can see that we are considering it over three mornings.

This post is also a way of saying that I am going to be busy over the next few days sorting out all the things that need sorting out before leaving my desk. Also the not insignificant matter of the last two days of Bishop Victoria's episcopal ministry here in the Diocese.

So, no more posts this week. I will try to post briefly on Monday next week (which is when the legislative meat and bones of the Synod begin) including a hashtag for Twitter posts. I do not anticipate blogging through General Synod itself. I cannot see where the timetable allows for that :).

Your prayers for the Synod are most welcome. We had a good Diocese of Christchurch team meeting yesterday and an interesting meeting following that with a dozen or so from the Diocese to run over General Synod business.

In practice that second meeting focused on Motion 29.

Believe it or not, Motion 29 is not the only item of interesting business.

Bosco Peters, for instance, draws our attention to some liturgical matters the Synod will be considering.

The papers for General Synod are located here.

Any final thoughts from you about any matter of Synod business are welcome here. I continue to listen and to reflect as I move around the Diocese and engage with emails and phone calls. I am unlikely to respond to your comments because of the weight of busyness over the next few days. But I will read them.