July 16, 2008

The pace suddenly increased, as did the number of purple shirts around here!

The training for the Bible Study facilitators was excellent this morning. Dr Gerald West, from South Africa, put us through an example of the process. The intent is that every bishop's voice be heard. It reminded me of our General Synod theme in Montreal, "Lift Every Voice." The temperature and the humidity are promising to be similar! If you have looked at the Bible Studies on the Anglican Communion web site, you will have an idea of the format. Tomorrow we begin the Prologue of John's Gospel. The discussion question is, "What is your earliest memory of hearing the Prologue read aloud?" I imagine that these memories will begin to help us understand the settings from which we come. In my group, I have bishops from the U.S., Egypt, Canterbury, Myanmar, Sittwe, Boga and Dover. I am looking forward to getting to know them.

After lunch, I walked down into Canterbury. It took about 35 minutes and it was all downhill going there. It is a serious tourist location around the Cathedral. The streets are closed to cars during the day so there are people walking everywhere.
There also groups of pilgrims who have followed a specific route to walk from various points to arrive at the Cathedral. Perhaps we should get a pilgrimage organized from Nova Scotia or PEI to go to Canterbury in the future. I had tea with the Dean of the Cathedral who will welcome all the Bishops to the Cathedral for the next three days for our retreat. He also wrote the lyrics of the theme hymn based on the "I am" sayings. It is quite lovely and is sung to a well known tune. (With the walk back up the hill, I should sleep well.)

The opening introducations took place this evening inside the "Big Top", a huge blue tent. This is where the major sessions for the the Bishops will take place as well. The Archbishop of Canterbury welcomed us all, bishops and spouses, staff, guests, youth stewards, media representatives. He stressed the focus on Scripture, saying we need to be able "to speak the language of the Scriptures". He was very clear that the intention is that "every voice be heard", that relationships of trust be built, and that no one should pretend that we do not need each other. He talked about the us being a "wounded body", and asked us all to remember those who are not here daily. He closed with the comment, "We need to learn to trust God, to trust one another, so that we will be able to change as God wants us to."

We had help to exit almost 1600 people from the Big Top with decency and order. Feeding 1600 people in two big dining rooms took some time, so we made every effort to start to get to know people while waiting in queues (lines). One bishop from the Sudan and his wife have a very small baby girl who entertained several of us for part of the queue. I met folks from Australia, one of whom had met Ethel Nelson at the world wide Mothers' Union gathering in Australia. Small world? When I sat down for supper, the bishop across the table was from Kenya and had studied at the Coady Institute in Antigonish! Beside me arrived a bishop from the Sudan. When I said I was from Canada, he said, "You are our friends. You have welcomed our people when they went into exile because of the war. You are our friends." I have reconnected with several of the women I met in New York. More of them than I realized are bishop's wives.

I have to get the Bible Study material in order for tomorrow morning at 9am. Thank you for your prayers. They are very important to all of us.