{"id":428,"date":"2020-04-27T11:18:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T11:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/?p=428"},"modified":"2020-05-19T10:44:43","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T10:44:43","slug":"synoding-through-zoom-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/2020\/04\/27\/synoding-through-zoom-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Synoding through Zoom Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eleanor Lalley, Pastoral Associate, HeartStone Parish, Ainsdale and Southport Synod 2020 member<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Since the\nopening of Synod2020, Southport pastoral area and parish members have been\nmeeting to share parish responses and synod tips. Now with lockdown we continue\nto meet via Zoom video conferencing, resuming the fruitful discussions that began\nmonths ago with meetings in person in parishes. Gone are the cosy meetings\naround a big table with cups of tea. Today our meetings take place with a cup\nof tea from the comfort of our homes using a tablet, computer or phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all\nlocal Synod members have been able to join in these video meetings but a small group\nhas persisted, serving Southport and the synod process.  Minutes of all meetings are emailed to\nSouthport synod members, including those who cannot join in at the present\ntime. Having already compiled an email list of pastoral area members through\ngooglegroups was a crucial help. With our churches closed, meeting via video\nhas helped to maintain communication across parish boundaries. We are so glad\nto have continued this shared ministry of discernment we were commissioned with\nas Synod members. This is because the coronavirus crisis has new things to\nteach us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\ninspiration has been the Chinese character wei-ji<\/em>,\nthe Chinese word for \u2018crisis\u2019. In Chinese \u2018crisis\u2019 includes two separate characters\n\u2013 \u2018danger wei<\/em> + opportunity ji<\/em>\u2019. When the Synod was envisioned over\nthe last few years no one could have predicted our current situation. The\ndangers are obvious and we all suffer from the loss of contact within our\nchurches. With our changed context, what are the new opportunities for our\nchurches that will come out of the current crisis? How do these new\nopportunities relate to Synod and our post-Synod church?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • In Southport we are exploring ways to\nencourage the development of small cells of sharing faith across our parishes<\/li>
  • We are sending out reflections on the\nActs of the Apostles for parishes newsletters this Eastertide<\/li>
  • From each other we are discovering\nthe new rituals that are emerging during this time – supporting parents praying\nat home, small funerals at the crematorium, outreach to those in isolation and\nuse of the new Liverpool diocesan web resources. We anticipate a need for\nextensive bereavement support when the easing of the restrictions begins.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    This is a\nchallenging period of crisis and adjustment but also a chance to work together\nin new ways exactly as Synod2020 is asking us. By continuing to meet together\nthe Southport Synod members are reaching out to this new opportunity to \u2018become\nthe Church we are called to be\u2019. We find sharing faith and opinions in person \u2013\nand now by Zoom – invaluable. We are delighted the Archdiocese has offered new\nresources for Southport members to use at our next meeting. God is still\nworking in our world. It just looks and feels different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What does Synod look like during lockdown?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16],"tags":[20,39],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-god-in-our-time","category-reflection","tag-synod","tag-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/5bb32483306e7-Synod2020-Large-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489,"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions\/489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegodwhospeaks2020.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}