By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
IN A ceremony steeped in Anglican tradition, the Diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands opened its 134th Annual Synod at the Parish Church of St. Peter the Apostle in Falmouth, Trelawny last week.
Under the theme 'One God, One People, One Destiny', the synod, according to Lord Bishop of Jamaica Rev. Alfred Reid, is expected to seek from the Holy Spirit 'the vision that we need for the challenges of our times and our situation'.
"We also seek to renew in this church the vision of our pioneers who have handed down to us the rich heritage of churches, missions and schools in every nook and cranny in this island and the Caymans," Bishop Reid noted.
He said the Anglican Church must recognise that it has a visionary heritage in order to prevent it from 'simply jumping on the latest bandwagon' and to counter what he described as 'the new secularised understanding of vision'.
Bishop Reid stated that the secularised understanding of vision is based on three misconceptions which the church must avoid.
"First you cannot entrust the task of visioning to one person," he said. "When a church, a business or a nation finds itself in trouble we are tempted to call for someone to save them and lead them to the promise land and so we have an addiction for messianic politicians, charismatic preachers, business czars with a Midas touch. For the church, something like this is a recipe for disaster."
He said the second misconception which the church must avoid is to believe that the church can be built by creating a congregation of individuals, each pursuing their own vision, salvation and empowerment.
SELFISH INDIVIDUALS
"When people lose faith or hope in their church or in their nation then it becomes every man for himself," he noted. "An aggregation of brilliant and selfish individuals do not add up to excellence or national greatness."
Finally, Bishop Reid said the church must avoid the idea that vision can be separated from practical application.
"We cannot leave implementation to lesser mortals while we dream big dreams way up in the air," he pointed out.
Bishop Reid said that he was pointing out these misconceptions not to discredit the visionary process "but rather to affirm in the strongest possible way that the vision we seek to take our church and nation forward must be a shared vision."
