May my words glorify God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. – But today I say those words with some hesitation, because I am not going to be offering a traditional sermon.

Dawn, as you are probably aware, is in Halifax attending General Synod. And we decided that is what I should talk about.

As Anglicans we are aware that General Synod happens every so often, but what it is exactly we are not quite sure. To a degree, I am not so sure myself. But I have had the opportunity of attending four sessions of General Synod, so I will give it a shot.

But before I begin, I would like to tell you a story, a true story that involves General Synod.

The story begins in a small coal mining town in the middle of the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia. The year is about 1975-76 and the time is just after Christmas. A local family is hosting some relatives from the coast who, in some degree, share the family’s connection to the Anglican Church. So they attend the weekend’s worship service.

Since this mountain town had a developing ski hill, the parish had decided to introduce a Saturday evening service, which became quite popular. So the whole family attended that service and, those who could, received Holy Communion.

The next morning, Sunday, the young children in the family wanted to attend the service again. Their parents, feeling that they had already fulfilled their weekly obligation, and having other things to do, declined to go, but said that the kids could go, if they were well behaved.

So off this little troop went, two boys aged 8 and 6, and a little four year old girl. Apparently they were marvelous in church and, when the time for Communion came, they properly went forward. The priest gave the Host (bread) to the two boys, and blessed the little girl.

That was when all hell broke loose. She looked at the priest and glaringly said, "Why not me?" The priest, not wanting a confrontation, shook his head and continued on communicating the others at the altar rail. At this point the little girl got up, clutching her dolly to her heart, turned and, crying softly, slowly walked down the centre aisle, and out of the church. Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, in their heyday, could not have done it more dramatically.

At this point I have to tell you that this is a true story, and I can affirm that the facts are true because I was that uncaring, self-righteous priest, and the young girl was our daughter, Lauryn.

Hopefully, to redeem myself to some degree, let me explain my actions. Prior to this time is had been the rule that Holy Communion was only open to those who had been confirmed and confirmation was not available until you had reached the age of consent, which was generally understood to be fourteen. None of those children was anywhere near fourteen but, just a few years before, under pressure of the new theology that was developing, the National House of Bishops had issued a guideline that, if the Bishop agreed, children five and older, with parental consent and support, could receive Holy Communion. Therefore my two nephews could receive but Lauryn could not.

But the story does not stop there. After the service I went home and found Lauryn hysterical – screaming, crying, and pleading with me – "Why can’t I receive the Body of Christ?" Those were her exact words.

I tried to explain to her why, but I got nowhere. So I suggested that she ask the Bishop when he next came which, by sheer happenstance, occurred just a few days later. The Bishop, who was a very good friend, stayed in our home whenever he came for a parish visit. He arrived, knocked on the door, I opened it, Lauryn charged up to him, and before any greetings or well wishes, she blurted out, "Bishop Berry, Why can’t I receive the Body of Christ?" the Bishop, caught completely off guard, gave me a desperate look, so I explained. He listened, smiled, and said to Lauryn, "Yes, you can receive."

But the story must go on. Bishops can not unilaterally make theological decisions like that without consultation with the Church. So the bishop asked me to introduce a resolution at our diocesan synod, which was meeting a couple of months before General Synod.

The resolution that we decided upon was – "All baptized persons are invited to share in Holy Communion." This we took to our diocesan synod and it was approved. But since it was a contradiction to the guidelines from the House of Bishops, it needed to be referred to General Synod for approval. As mentioned, General Synod was scheduled to meet a couple of months later.

General Synod usually meets every three years for about two weeks, at which time representatives of the whole Anglican Church of Canada gather to discuss the future of our church.

It is an interesting gathering, unique in many ways in the Anglican Communion. It is composed of all the bishops, clergy representatives from all of the dioceses, the number of representatives from each diocese based upon the size of the diocese, and an equal number of lay representatives as there are clergy, also from each diocese. After debate on issues, they vote in orders, - sometimes 3 orders: bishops clergy, and laity each voting separately, or in 2 orders: bishops, with the clergy and laity voting together. For any issue to be approved, it must receive a majority of votes in each order. Also there is an interesting twist. The orders vote separately and are recorded in order depending on who is the mover of the motion.

This has a bearing on our story. As I said earlier, the age restriction for Holy Communion was based on a ruling of the House of Bishops. Therefore you could presume a bias in that order to maintain their already stated position. The order of clergy and laity had not been tested, but the feeling was that they would like some more freedom.

So it was decided that I, as clergy, would present the motion, and the bishop would be the seconder, which we did.

If you guess that it was smooth sailing through the debate, you would be wrong. There was a strong movement to add the words "after a simple affirmation of faith" to the motion. Then we squabbled for quite some time, trying to define "a simple affirmation of faith". But, in the end, that amendment was withdrawn, so we were left with "All baptized Christians are invited to receive Holy Communion", which was approved by all orders. Lauryn, and all of the other children, and adults, who were baptized but not confirmed, were welcome at the table of our Lord.

This is a rather long way of explaining what General Synod is about. Of course there are also the presentation of financial statements, discussions with our sister churches of not only the Anglican Communion but of the world wide church. But the real significance of General Synod is the opportunity of representatives of every part of the Anglican Church of Canada to gather together – bishops, clergy and laity – and together to explore and interpret the faith as we understand it in our place and our time.

The final words of today’s first reading from Psalm 19 vs 14 should be a reminder to us of our purpose as we determine God’s will for us and our Church –