Simon Says ...

This was my submission to the above Working Group, posted for the sake of transparency. Submission to the Working Party on the Seal of the Confessional 1.      I am grateful for the invitation from the Bishop of Durham to members of the General Synod to contribute to the Working Group on the Seal of the Confessional.   2.      As well as being a member of the Synod, I am the Continuing Ministerial Development Officer for the Diocese of Derby and a member of the Diocesan Safeguarding Management Committee.   I also serve as Canon Chancellor of Derby Cathedral where I am Lead Supervisor for offenders managed by the Cathedral and sit on the Safeguarding Committee as the member of Clergy with Safeguarding responsibilities.   These contexts also inform my contribution. The legal code 3.      I hope that the Working Group will recommend that the law surrounding the ministry of reconciliation be brought ...

Isaiah 50.4-9a ; Mark 8.27-38 So there I was, in a cafe on a Saturday afternoon nursing a beer.   I was there with two old friends, to who m I was very close.   One had written a reference for me for whatever they called BAPs in those days, but neither were Christians.   And then the husband of one of my wife's colleagues came across.   He was, shall we say, less than sober and a bit aggressive with it.   'So why do you waste your time working for the church?' was his opening gambit.   A perfect opportunity for witness, you might have thought.   So, of course, I blew it.   I was absolutely speechless, I could think of nothing to say that would answer him, and that would say something to my friends.   And then Andrew, who I'd lived with for two years as a student, piped up with a most eloquent account of how my faith and my values were intertwined; and how my compassion and my care for others were deeply rooted in m...

Isaiah 35.4-7a ; Mark 7.24-37 Right at the beginning of the summer, before the schools had even broken up for the holidays, there were signs in the shops saying ‘Back to School’.   A little cruel, perhaps for those whose summer holidays had not even started yet.   Now however, the time is upon us, it is back to school.   For Christians, however, there is no gap.   It is always back to school.   There is always something to learn.   The church is, or at least it should be, a school for Christians, a place where we learn. For those following Jesus, as he wandered around Israel and Palestine, this would have been familiar.   Jewish Rabbis had disciples who followed them everywhere.   The disciples were learning how to live faithfully as God’s people.   They did this first of all by learning the scriptures by heart.   When they had done this, the more difficult task began – to learn how to live in the light of th...