it seeks out the one sheep out of the hundred; as it seeks to do the unusual
thing for the sake of righteousness, instead of the safe thing, for the sake of
appearance.
May the Easter season be for you a time of liberation and a challenge to live
out the freedom so hard won, by the Liberator of all liberators the risen
Jesus.
Best wishes
Scott
THE DIOCESAN SYNOD – A FRESHER’S VIEW
s the Lay Rep of St Oswald’s I attended the Synod held in Paisley on 7
March. It started with a Fresher’s meeting, and I could not have been
fresher. It was a rather daunting task, but turned out to be a most stimulating
and uplifting experience. This is why I want to tell you about it.
A
The Eucharist at the start was a moving experience, you felt surrounded by a
‘cloud of witnesses’, like in a large cathedral congregation at Christmas.
When Synod members filed into the Church, I caught sight of many familiar
faces – Alan Boyd gave me a hug, there were Paul Fletcher and Sally Gorton,
and of course our three wise men, the Canons Paul, Nicholas and Scott, the
latter frequently addressed as ‘the Chair’. Tom Montgomery from St Ninian’s
in Troon was obviously pleased to meet me, I had only met him 18 years ago
at St Margaret’s, Newland and remembered him as ‘tall, dark and handsome’,
while he described himself as ‘looking like Postman Pat’. Not a bit, but still
handsome. He is going to baptise our granddaughter on Easter Sunday.
When it came to the business conducted, some votes were cast and
appointments made, Donald Orr, Ghost of Interregnums Past, got some job
with the Dean. At first I thought he was made the Dean, but the Bishop told us
that the Dean had been in his position for 9 years and that this needed to be
reviewed only next year. The Dean introduced his vision of ‘St Mary’s For All’,
the project of transforming the historic church of St Mary’s, Hamilton into a
‘Centre to celebrate the Christian message’ and to include the local
community. This sounds like Pioneer Ministry in Hamilton. Just you wait until
we have our own Pioneer Minister in situ, it will be ‘St Oswald’s for All’ next. A
similar project was introduced for St Mary’s Cathedral, but this hasn’t got
further than fundraising, while Hamilton has already started working in the
community, although the buildings are not yet finished.
After an excellent lunch (glass of wine included) we got updates from
Development Team Convenors. The Worship & Liturgy Team, represented by
Gill Young and Linda Whitby, talked about the character of each community
made obvious by the liturgy in Worship, Welcome and Prayer Life, and that an
inter-diocesan network could be called upon for advice where the team could
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