I write to you today as we approach the lunch hour in Canterbury and as many of you awake to greet what I hope for you is a pleasant 6:00 a.m. West Tennessee morning. My day started off with a moment of attempted “sports keeping” as it is known over here. I went to the gym and discovered that the English do not “sports keep” before 9:30 a.m. With this deterrent to my self-righteous effort at healthy living, I returned to the cafeteria of the University of Kent, met Jeannie emerging from the morning ablutions, and we went off to eat a less than healthy breakfast. But don’t say I didn’t try!
Breakfast was shared with a bishop familiar to a number of us in West Tennessee either through his writings or through his visit to the Diocese a couple of years ago. Bishop N.T. Wright of Durham, England joined us, as well as two bishops and one bishop’s spouse from Australia. It made for engaging conversation. (I noticed that they did not eat any healthier than I except for the other bishop’s spouse who ate only yogurt. She must have been seeking the cultured experience that such a dish will inevitably provide.)
The rest of the morning has been leisurely and technologically challenging. While Jeannie was off at a training session for those who were to be Bible study “animators”, I sat in the room trying to figure out how to use the computer to send messages via email to Memphis. I hope I have not deluded myself, but I think it may be working. Just goes to show that the age of miracles is not finished with us yet. Amen.
The afternoon went by quickly. Jeannie and I took a walk around the campus, bought a number of items from a local sundries shop, and gathered with others for afternoon “Tea”. This consisted more of conversation and connections than of actually the image of tea and crumpets that I had expected.
Later that evening, we joined the other one thousand or so people here and heard an overview of the events for the day ahead. An hour and a half later, we were dismissed for dinner. The lines were long, and Jeannie and I opted to join a group of Episcopal bishops for a glass of wine and conversation before we finally went to the refectory for dinner. Following the dinner, we continued our conversations before going to our dormitory rooms for the evening.
We had heard a variety of comments from the Conference coordinators at the evening session. However, I found that the following comments from Archbishop Williams, which were printed as part of his welcome letter to the delegates to the Conference, were instructive. I leave you with them for the evening.
“The chief aims of our time together are, first, that we become more confident in our Anglican identity, by deepening our awareness of how we are responsible to and for each other; and second, that we grow in energy and enthusiasm for our task of leading the work of mission in our Church.
“Our ministry takes place in the context of a needy and divided world, in which there is both deep fear and great suffering. Jesus Christ says again and again to his disciples, ‘Do not be afraid.’ These are words which I hope will echo for us each day as we meet and talk here. But they will sound in our hearts only when we have our eyes fixed on the reality of Christ’s unique saving person and on the world-transforming power of his resurrection.
“Our Bible studies will help us concentrate on these things, as we are led through the Gospel of St. John, reflecting on what Jesus says about himself. Our Communion is living through very difficult times and we are bound to be aware of the divisions and conflicts that have hurt us all in recent years. But as the Lord says (John 16:35), it is in union with him that we shall find peace.
“And that peace will be what makes the difference in our common life as a Church. More than that, it will be what shapes our whole engagement with the world. We do not offer a peace that is simply the result of the world’s processes, but the peace of the Son’s union with the Father in the Spirit, the eternal but ever-moving outpouring of love in communions. As we receive this and live our way into it, our whole vision of how the world is to be transfigured will be changed and developed.”
In the beginning of this Lambeth Conference, my hope is that the Archbishop has been accurate in summing up some of the key themes that are instrumental in making the life we share together in the Communion an ongoing reality. Keep us in your prayers as we, your bishops, leave tomorrow for a two day retreat at Canterbury Cathedral. May our time of prayer and reflection provide a context out of which the Spirit’s work at this Lambeth Conference will be faithful to the heart and plan of God’s mission in Christ.
Blessings, +Don
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