The Laboratory

We're now officially in the season of Advent. Joke for any Anglicans out there: how can you tell? Because we don't sing the Gloria! But you can also tell because we have started to light our Advent Ring. Invented in the 1970s by John Noakes, this tradition has now become mainstream. In the absence of a Blue Peter Annual this year (for shame, in its 60th Anniversary year) you really should buy " Here's One I Made Earlier ", a collection of classic Blue Peter crafts. At Ottershaw Church, we had our first Advent candle lit, and also made Christingles out of oranges. Bonus Church Advent Calendar: St Mary of Bethany, Woking has a new reflection every day (that I am reliably informed was inspired by this very Advent Calendar!)

Today's news reports ( Guardian , Church Times ) describe the possibility of the first female bishop in the Church of England being appointed by the end of 2014. In November, the General Synod voted overwhelmingly to welcome the new women-bishops proposals, by 378 to 8, but the opposition hasn't been as obvious there. Instead the House of Laity, comprising members of the deanery synods or chosen by and from the lay members of religious communities, has managed to stop it happening so far. Legislation narrowly failed to gain a two-thirds majority among lay representatives at the synod. Why did this happen? Because evangelical pressure groups are doing their best to swing the vote their way by encouraging their supporters to put themselves forward, first as PCC (church council) members, then as deanery synod members, and then finally as House of Laity members. This was very obvious in November when I wrote to the Guildford Diocese members, who replied that they would vote the way...