I am really humbled and privileged to be elected at our last Diocesan Synod on 1st March 2025 as a clergy representative to the General Synod. So, I started my participation at this year’s General Synod (5th – 7th June 2025) by attending the Freshers meeting which was held prior to the opening Eucharist on Thursday 5th June 2025. This meeting was aimed at helping and encouraging Freshers (like me) to be fully engaged and productive at this Synod, and it did that for me.
During the opening Eucharist, I had the honour and privilege of taking the Old and New Testament readings. It was a joy for me to see all our seven Bishops co-preside over the Eucharist. And in his Synod Charge, the Primus (the Most Rev’d Mark Strange), charged us to strive to build new relationships and heal broken relationships. I certainly made new friends across the Province and revitalised existing ones.
As a diocese, this charge is apt for us. We need to strive to heal broken relationships on the back of the conflict that has bedevilled our diocese these past years. At the heart of who we are as followers of Jesus Christ is relationship – relationship with God and relationship with one another. We are called to build relationships and heal broken ones. We are a relationship people. In building new relationships and healing broken relationships, someone has to make the deliberate, intentional first move. And it is not a sign of weakness or guilt to be that person who makes that first move. In fact, blessed are you who will make that first move, for by it the world will know that you are Jesus’ disciple.
The presence of our Diocese at this year’s General Synod was very much felt in every aspect of the Synod proceedings. All our Diocesan delegates spoke or played one role or the other. We were represented in every aspect of worship. I very much enjoyed the Gaelic Mass presided by Rev’d Canon Simon Mackenzie (Diocese of Argyll & The Isles), and our own Very Rev’d Dr Emsley Nimmo delivered a powerful homily focused on St Moluag and St Columba. It was gratifying for me to receive a feedback from a new friend from another diocese who has been attending the General Synod this past few years saying “your diocese is fully back to the General Synod and we felt your positive presence. Long may it continue”.
Overall, it was an inspiring first experience of the General Synod for me. A Synod in which the Scottish Episcopal Church is asking itself questions that are bold, welcoming, inclusive, and outward looking in nature. A Synod in which the mood is generally optimistic and not doom and gloom. A Synod which affirmed our character of being able to discuss and debate difficult and sensitive issues with dignity and respect for one another. This is what I love about the Scottish Episcopal Church. This is the church that God has called me to serve in, and I will do so to the best of my ability, God being my helper. Amen.
Rev’d Godwin Chimara, Assistant Curate, St John the Evangelist, Aberdeen and St James the Less, Aberdeen