At our Diocesan Synod, we were asked to discuss and vote on removing the word “The” from “The Season of Easter”. This is in a Statute (#766) from General Synod Te Hinota Whanui (GSTHW) which is doing the debating rounds of all diocesan synods and hui amorangi and then will be discussed again at GSTWH for a change to our formularies (our Church’s agreed doctrine and practice).
People would be hard pressed to disagree that currently our Church’s formation, training, and study around worship, liturgical life, and communal spirituality is at its all time weakest. In this context, while previously there was already a strong stream of people who disdained Anglican liturgy, discussions such as this further bolster the misunderstanding that passion about our liturgy is obsessed with nitpicking about inconsequential, petty, and frivolous rules, terms, words, and practices.
It seems that our ageing Church is suffering from Institutional Dementia. I was present…
