As I prepare this we are faced with the possibility of a national Postal Strike so what to do about the Newsletter! Not everyone is on e-mail and in any event many of us still find the experience of paper in our hands and the ability to go back and forth in a publication satisfying and much easier to be able to take in the content!

We have some challenging articles this time so it is up to you to decide how to make your membership and support of our OPEN Synod Group mean what it tries to encapsulate. I remember that when we were coming up to the vote on the ordination of women to the priesthood we had a number of members who were bitterly opposed but who stayed with us after the vote. When one of them retired from synod I was very pleased, and humbled by his comment...'it has been people like you (the OSG) that have kept me within the C of E.' Now that's what we stand for...to be open so that there is room for all, something in which I personally believe most passionately. It will not be easy for any of us when the women in the episcopate debate is over or over other questions where our innermost beliefs are tried and tested but we must remember that to be open is to be welcoming, non judgemental and ready at all times to 'love our neighbour as ourselves' . Ed.