Note 37 (of 92) by MICHAEL INGHAM on June 3, 1995 at 18:26 Eastern (3579
characters).

Saturday - raining and cool, unusual for Ottawa in June. But the delegates
are grateful. There's no pleasure in sitting indoors while the sun shines
outside.

The morning was spent in small group discussions on the plan for
restructuring the national church. Members from across the country were
encoouraged to "improve" the plan as they saw fit, and to recommend changes
to the proposed new structure of national committees.

The "plan" suggests dropping various items of work from the national level
to the diocesan level, and the "structure" would reduce the number of
national committees, and the number of places on national committees, and
proposes a new way of working between the dioceses and the national church.

This afternoon, feedback from the discussion groups indicated general
acceptance of the plan, but some controversy around the new structures. The
proposal suggests renaming the National Executive Council (the governing
body between General Synods) to the Council of General Synod, and reducing
its number from 45 to 30 with a new composition of membership. Opposition
to this proposal revolves around the issue of diocesan representation.
Under the present system, every diocese in Canada has a member on NEC.
Under the new proposal, this would not be so.

Concern is also being expressed about the "downloading" of work from the
national level to the diocesan level. Many dioceses cannot take on new
work. The question is asked whether some areas of ministry - evangelism,
youth and children's work etc, - will simply not happen in some places.

Thirdly, anxiety is being expressed about the increased workload of the
new smaller national committees with reduced membership and staff support.
Delegates are asking, is this realistic?

Clearly, we are struggling with the pain of change, of letting go what we
know and trusting that God will open some new and hopeful future for us -
the dilemma of "relinquishment and gift" as the Primate said in his opening
address.

The afternoon session closed with a very moving and powerful presentation
by aboriginal peoples. For an hour and a half delegates sat enthralled by a
drama enacted by First Nations peoples depicting the story of their life in
Canada and in the church since the arrival of the European conquerors. It
was told as a story of "binding" in which a woman was slowly bound up in
the cloth of a traditional native "cradle board" used to immobilise babies
in some native cultures, while the story of conquest and humiliation was
told. It was poetry full of sorrow and loss, and as we watched we were
drawn into the pathos and suffering of peoples struggling to be free and
mobile. The long story ended with a call to the audience - "who is brave
enough to free our people? Who is brave enough to lift us up again?" - and
after a moment's pause, several (white) members of the Synod ran forward to
loose the woman and lift her up.

After this, the new Anglican Video film "Seventh Fire" was shown, a
beautifully filmed and powerfully written story of the dying and rising of
the native people in Canada. It was followed by the offering of
strawberries to every member of Synod, an Algonquin symbol of spring, of
friendship and reconciliation, with prayers for healing and renewal, which
we ate together at the same moment in a sacramental act of repentance and
rebirth.

We are still recovering from this experience.

+ Michael Ingham, Bishop of New Westminster
  Vancouver, BC
  Written on Sat, Jun  3, 1995 at  3:13 pm PDT at General Synod, Ottawa,
  Internet: MICHAEL_INGHAM.parti@ecunet.org