July 10, 2008

The day began again at 7:30am. No brollies or mack’s today! (That is no umbrellas or raincoats in Canadian!) Morning Prayer was followed by the Eucharist and then breakfast. The Bible Study this morning focused on 2 Cor.4:1-12. The following prayer for the meditation was from Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“God of the day and of the night,

in me there is darkness, but with you there is light.

I am alone, but you will not leave me.

I am weak, but you come to my help.

I am restless, but you are my peace.

I am in haste, but you are the God of infinite patience.

I am confused and lost, but you are eternal wisdom and you direct my path;

now and for ever.

Amen.”

The second morning session was called “News Sharing”. The vote to allow women bishops in the Church of England is so recent that folks are still trying to figure out how to respond to it. Unlike the Canadian Church, where we said that if women could be ordained at all, they could be ordained bishops, the first C of E initial vote was only for deacons and priests. So the various media have been around the conference asking about what it has been like in other parts of the world having bishops who are women.

The official group photo was taken today. One of the folks is going to email me a copy so I can post it when it arrives. My camera has died!

After lunch we went off on various tours. The coach arrived for us. (That’s a bus in Canadian!) I went to Dorchester-on-Thames to visit the current church and its historic abbey. In 635 CE, the missionary Bishop Birinus, was sent from Rome by Pope Honorius I to begin work to Christianize the local people. (You can learn more about it at www.dorchester-abbey.org.uk . The other options included a music workshop with the musician in residence, or a book launch and book sale.

We returned in time for afternoon Tea!

The late afternoon panel was entitled “Power/Authority”. Bishop Catherine Roskam of New York and the Dean of Salisbury Cathedral, The Very Rev’d June Osborne, presented very different pictures of authority, raised questions about titles and how they convey power (or not), and closed with three questions:

1. How does our vocation flourish?
2. How do we encourage health/wholeness in ministry at all church levels?
3. Who sets the agenda in the church at the various levels?

In the question period that followed, the question of the accountability of priests and bishops in relation to the power/authority that they exercise, initiated a lively discussion!

Dinner is late by my standards, 8:00pm and tonight the after dinner speaker was the Most Rev’d Katherine Jefferts Schori. She identified such characteristics of leaders as courage and willingness to risk, creativity and playfulness, curiosity and hope, compassion and interconnectedness, being willing to dream and to see the big picture. When asked what was the hardest thing she had to do, she replied, “To remember that I am God’s beloved!”