{"id":27346,"date":"2019-07-12T21:19:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T01:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=27346"},"modified":"2019-07-12T23:55:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-13T03:55:16","slug":"anglicans-learning-to-be-polite-at-synod","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/anglicans-learning-to-be-polite-at-synod\/","title":{"rendered":"Anglicans learning to be polite at synod"},"content":{"rendered":"

From here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"In an exercise intended to produce more compassionate discussions than those that sometimes prevailed during marriage canon discussion in 2016, members of the 2019 General Synod spent almost the entire afternoon of the gathering\u2019s first official day of business hearing about and practicing ways of speaking and listening respectfully to one another.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An organisation that spends an entire afternoon discussing how to discuss things doesn\u2019t stand much of a chance of getting to the heart of the matter to be discussed. It is like Kierkegaard\u2019s view of ‘reflection’ as opposed to ‘immediacy’, where you have an idea about something and indulge in endless conversations about the idea, instead of dealing with the thing itself. Will anyone be allowed to express any strong reasons to oppose same-sex marriage or will they be squashed as hurtful<\/em> or bullying<\/em>. We\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

From 1:30 p.m. until close to 5 p.m. on July 11, with one break, Lynne McNaughton, bishop of the diocese of Kootenay, and priest and psychologist Canon Martin Brokenleg led a session on \u201cbeing a synod,\u201d discussing the importance of living out Christian love during debates about potentially contentious issues, and having synod members practice respectful listening and talking skills in table groups.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Anglican version of \u201cChristian love\u201d has devolved into mushy sentiment centred around not hurting anyone\u2019s feelings.<\/p>\n

Dean Peter Wall, chair of the General Synod planning committee, said the idea for the exercise arose out of a great deal of talking and praying committee members had done, in the hope of creating a \u201clistening, learning atmosphere\u201d at the 2019 synod, and to help it be \u201cboth a community and a body.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The alleged \u201clistening, learning atmosphere\u201d is a hoax: no one was willing to listen to ex-homosexuals and ex-lesbians from the Zacchaeus Fellowship<\/a> in prior synods and no one will be in this synod.<\/p>\n

Brokenleg was to have co-led the session with Archbishop Melissa Skelton, metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia and Yukon and diocesan bishop of New Westminster, but Skelton was ill and unable to attend General Synod on Thursday. McNaughton, another member of the General Synod planning committee who, Wall said, was closely involved in developing the exercise, took her place Thursday.<\/p>\n

McNaughton said she hoped the exercise would allow members of synod to be their \u201cauthentic selves\u201d in their discussions while at the same time making room \u201cfor others with different authentic selves and perspectives.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What on earth are \u201cauthentic selves\u201d? How did non-authentic selves get nominated as delegates? Have synod delegates been the victim of alien body snatchers and become Pod People<\/a>, duplicates in every respect except in their ability to maintain a connection with authenticity? It would explain the behaviour of many of the clergy.<\/p>\n

Listening and speaking well through difficult discussions, she said, is a way to \u201cbe as Christ to one another, to love one another as Christ has loved us,\u201d and by doing this, Christians can be an example to the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are called to be a witness to a world that is hungry for civility, parched for compassion,\u201d she said. \u201cThe world is watching how we treat each other in the midst of difference, and the world is waiting to be inspired.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The world is hungry for truth not sickly, bogus, anodyne civility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From here: In an exercise intended to produce more compassionate discussions than those that sometimes prevailed during marriage canon discussion in 2016, members of the 2019 General Synod spent almost the entire afternoon of the gathering\u2019s first official day of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2375],"class_list":["post-27346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglican-church-of-canada","tag-gs2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}