It's all over, it's all over! First off, I pray you all, forgive the lack of updating. Allow me to describe the last few days in their glorious normalcy and not so glorious insanity.
Sunday we began work at 6:30am in the Big Top, where most of the stewards were singing in the choir. There's something about all these English and Commonwealth Anglicans... they can all sing four part harmonies without even knowing the song! There something diconcerting (in a jealousy-making way) about that! :p. The service went quite well and was the final worship service held in the Big Top. It was run mainly by the chaplaincy team, who were basically the stars of conference in many different ways. They were a fabulous group, absolutely amazing people.
In the afternoon was the final plenary session with the thanks/congratulations and the Archbishop's address. That went quite well and drew together a lot of the discussion on the Covenant process, which was important for many as it clarified somewhat the intentions of the Covenant as well as the report that will be released by the conference.
In the evening, we all went down to the Cathedral for an evening Eucharist. It was quite exciting. Not as opulent as the opening service, but moving in a very different way. It ended with a procession of an absolutely beautiful icon which was written by one of the stewards. The icon and procession commemorated the seven Melanesian brothers (from one of the monastic groups that made up the chaplaincy team) who were murdered a few years ago, and inducted them into Canterbury Cathedral's chapel of the martyrs.
On a slightly less sober note, we all went for supper after that in an old school hall with a twenty-piece jazz band right out of the 60s. Forget flying bishops, Dancing Bishops are a sight to see! I couldn't even imagine some of them moving like that. It was tremendous! We then got back and had our last stewards' meeting, finished at about 11:00pm, and then were back on shift at 1:30am. Needless to say, that was a fantastic shift! The first coach left at 3:00am, so we were moving luggage around all through the night/morning. All the bishops and nearly all the luggage left campus on time. Hurrah! Success!
The Lambeth conference of 2008 is now over. But there's still lots more to come!
Gotta run. Thanks all for your encouraging messages and notes!
God bless,
Nick.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Big Day
Well, today was it! The Big Day. The day everyone has been waiting for. The day on Human Sexuality. Oddly enough, it was a relatively quiet day. To be honest, the most contentious issue involving human sexuality was the streaker on the Elliot-Rutherford field flying a kite. And I didn't even find out about that until later! (I won't grace you with a photo ;) ). From all accounts, the Bible Studies went quite well today, as they seem to have gone all throughout the conference. Even the indaba groups, which have become somewhat unsettled as of late seemed to be relatively calm today. They were civil and quite interesting to hear. The rapporteurs and all them are working feverishly now to put their reports together as there are only three days left in the conference! It's incredible how time has flown by. The Windsor Continuation Group and Covenant Design Group continue to be the most talked about issue. I think there's still quite a bit of uncertainty about what the communion hopes to bring about through a covenant.
There was one question that struck me today while listening to many of the discussions; that was: How would the conversations differ if we lived in a world where ecclesiastical provinces truly were autonomous? With all the talk about provincial autonomy and independence, the interconnectedness of the different regions is still a major factor that seems to go unnoticed or at least unstated by many. A good deal of many of the Africans' rhetoric seems to emphasize it in explaining that what happens in North America in terms of legislation involving same sex relationships inevitably affects them, but I'm not sure that even they go far enough. I think that were the individual provinces truly independent of one another in all senses, then the discussions very well could be quite different; however, the fact is that they are not, and never can be. We live in a world whose basic structure necessitates community to one degree or another. The decisions of one group inevitably have consequences for members of other groups, particularly when those other groups belong to the same family. We are left in creation with the amazing ability to construct our own communities, to define the limits and boundaries of who we associate with and how, but we don't have control over that basic law that states that all things are in some way interconnected. Thus our responsibility (which, in an ethic constructed upon a basis of humility and washing of one another's feet, is just as important or more important than our right) is to properly establish a mechanism for the way in which we impact the other. There is no question of whether or not we will, only a question of how.
I think that it's time to move beyond our own in-group biases, and to stop defining our ethics by our politics. The fact that we talk about 'one side of the issue or the other' in attempting to describe an ethical matter indicates the degree to which our opinions are formed by our politics. The travesty of much of the discussions on human sexuality that I've seen over the past year has been the ignoring of the nuances and subtleties that exist in ethical matters. Praise be to God that today, I saw movements in that direction. I saw people listen to one another and try to locate themselves on a wide spectrum as opposed to simply dividing themselves into camps. This gives me hope for the Anglican Communion. Represented here are nearly 700 bishops of the Anglican church. Each of them austensibly has close connections to all of their respective priests. Each of those priests has connections with their congregants. Nearly the entirety of the Anglican Communion is therefore connected to one degree or another here, in this place and at this time. It's an amazing place to be.
Thanks be to God indeed :).
Goodnight,
Nick
There was one question that struck me today while listening to many of the discussions; that was: How would the conversations differ if we lived in a world where ecclesiastical provinces truly were autonomous? With all the talk about provincial autonomy and independence, the interconnectedness of the different regions is still a major factor that seems to go unnoticed or at least unstated by many. A good deal of many of the Africans' rhetoric seems to emphasize it in explaining that what happens in North America in terms of legislation involving same sex relationships inevitably affects them, but I'm not sure that even they go far enough. I think that were the individual provinces truly independent of one another in all senses, then the discussions very well could be quite different; however, the fact is that they are not, and never can be. We live in a world whose basic structure necessitates community to one degree or another. The decisions of one group inevitably have consequences for members of other groups, particularly when those other groups belong to the same family. We are left in creation with the amazing ability to construct our own communities, to define the limits and boundaries of who we associate with and how, but we don't have control over that basic law that states that all things are in some way interconnected. Thus our responsibility (which, in an ethic constructed upon a basis of humility and washing of one another's feet, is just as important or more important than our right) is to properly establish a mechanism for the way in which we impact the other. There is no question of whether or not we will, only a question of how.
I think that it's time to move beyond our own in-group biases, and to stop defining our ethics by our politics. The fact that we talk about 'one side of the issue or the other' in attempting to describe an ethical matter indicates the degree to which our opinions are formed by our politics. The travesty of much of the discussions on human sexuality that I've seen over the past year has been the ignoring of the nuances and subtleties that exist in ethical matters. Praise be to God that today, I saw movements in that direction. I saw people listen to one another and try to locate themselves on a wide spectrum as opposed to simply dividing themselves into camps. This gives me hope for the Anglican Communion. Represented here are nearly 700 bishops of the Anglican church. Each of them austensibly has close connections to all of their respective priests. Each of those priests has connections with their congregants. Nearly the entirety of the Anglican Communion is therefore connected to one degree or another here, in this place and at this time. It's an amazing place to be.
Thanks be to God indeed :).
Goodnight,
Nick
Monday, July 28, 2008
I'm Baaaaack!
After a nice respite, including a day with TWO naps, I have to say, I'm back at it. The last couple days were pretty slow; not much to report on that front. Fantabulously, tonight has seen quite a couple events pass us by. Primarily, as I speak, there's a tremendous thunderstorm waging war with the incredibly humid heat outside. Of course, that makes me quite happy. :D.
In all seriousness though, today also held another Hearing on the "issues" of the communion including sexuality, the Anglican Convenant and a whole host of other key words that get thrown around quite a bit. I was on duty in the Marketplace when the Hearings were going on, so I didn't quite catch most of them, but I've heard that they weren't quite as constructive as many might have hoped. Of course, if you've ever been part of anything similar on these topics, you'll know precisely how it went. Much talking, little listening, and virtually no understanding on either side of the issues at hand. Mercifully, the tediousness was broken up by one of the best presentations I've heard, certainly since being here, and quite possibly ever. The speaker was The Cheif Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, which of course scored bonus points with me before I even saw him on site. Cheif Rabbi Sacks is essentially, as I understand it, the chief rabbi over all the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He was here to present on the topic of 'Covenant'. All I could think at one point was what a brilliant idea to bring in a rabbi to speak on the topic of covenant. The list of speakers impresses me more and more as each day goes by.
Rabbi Sacks' discussion of covenant took up the dual nature of the topic, as expressed originally by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. It described the Covenant of Fate as one of pragmatism that reacts to external forces that bind one to other people who are suffering under the same forms of opposition as oneself. This is a relationship established upon the basis of a requisite reciprocity that enables an oppressed group to further propagate itself in the face of adversity. The Covenant of Faith, on the other hand, is a positive marker that is established by a group that takes up a common identity with reference to dreams and aspirations. It is a hopeful identity that celebrates the unity of diversity. Furthermore, he added that the Covenant of Faith is necessarily predicated on the foundation of the Covenant of Fate, which is where one must begin: "the covenant of fate is the greatest tool God has given us for reconciliation". Rabbi Sacks also added that "the miracle of monotheism is that unity up there creates diversity down here" while referencing the effect of the Noachic Covenant and its symbol of the rainbow, which displays the radiance of the pure light of God manifest in a multiformity of colours. Rabbi Sacks further maintained that the nature of covenant itself is transformative and invokes the logic of cooperation, which seeks the synergystic result of mutual gain. This was contrasted with the "zero sum games" of both economics and politics.
In essence, the stress was upon the need for the communion to work through its differences and to maintain the sense of diversity that it both has and has had for centuries. Only through mutual cooperation and to a degree, affirmation, can a community continue on positively while maintaining both internal and external coherence with respective communities involved. Rabbi Sacks values the Anglican communion precisely for its ability through the centuries to do just that, and if ever there was a speech that made one proud to be an Anglican of any stripe, that would have been it. Anyways, I should have a transcript by tomorrow, so maybe I'll be able to speak more coherently about it then.
Until that time, fare thee all well,
Blessings,
Nick.
In all seriousness though, today also held another Hearing on the "issues" of the communion including sexuality, the Anglican Convenant and a whole host of other key words that get thrown around quite a bit. I was on duty in the Marketplace when the Hearings were going on, so I didn't quite catch most of them, but I've heard that they weren't quite as constructive as many might have hoped. Of course, if you've ever been part of anything similar on these topics, you'll know precisely how it went. Much talking, little listening, and virtually no understanding on either side of the issues at hand. Mercifully, the tediousness was broken up by one of the best presentations I've heard, certainly since being here, and quite possibly ever. The speaker was The Cheif Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, which of course scored bonus points with me before I even saw him on site. Cheif Rabbi Sacks is essentially, as I understand it, the chief rabbi over all the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He was here to present on the topic of 'Covenant'. All I could think at one point was what a brilliant idea to bring in a rabbi to speak on the topic of covenant. The list of speakers impresses me more and more as each day goes by.
Rabbi Sacks' discussion of covenant took up the dual nature of the topic, as expressed originally by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. It described the Covenant of Fate as one of pragmatism that reacts to external forces that bind one to other people who are suffering under the same forms of opposition as oneself. This is a relationship established upon the basis of a requisite reciprocity that enables an oppressed group to further propagate itself in the face of adversity. The Covenant of Faith, on the other hand, is a positive marker that is established by a group that takes up a common identity with reference to dreams and aspirations. It is a hopeful identity that celebrates the unity of diversity. Furthermore, he added that the Covenant of Faith is necessarily predicated on the foundation of the Covenant of Fate, which is where one must begin: "the covenant of fate is the greatest tool God has given us for reconciliation". Rabbi Sacks also added that "the miracle of monotheism is that unity up there creates diversity down here" while referencing the effect of the Noachic Covenant and its symbol of the rainbow, which displays the radiance of the pure light of God manifest in a multiformity of colours. Rabbi Sacks further maintained that the nature of covenant itself is transformative and invokes the logic of cooperation, which seeks the synergystic result of mutual gain. This was contrasted with the "zero sum games" of both economics and politics.
In essence, the stress was upon the need for the communion to work through its differences and to maintain the sense of diversity that it both has and has had for centuries. Only through mutual cooperation and to a degree, affirmation, can a community continue on positively while maintaining both internal and external coherence with respective communities involved. Rabbi Sacks values the Anglican communion precisely for its ability through the centuries to do just that, and if ever there was a speech that made one proud to be an Anglican of any stripe, that would have been it. Anyways, I should have a transcript by tomorrow, so maybe I'll be able to speak more coherently about it then.
Until that time, fare thee all well,
Blessings,
Nick.
Friday, July 25, 2008
On Cucumbers and Swings
Wow, so things have been a tiny bit hectic around here lately. There wasn't too much of note going on two nights ago, although I did get to a Fringe event on the Quiet Garden Movement. It was neat!
Yesterday was by far the more eventful day. More eventful because I had to get up at 5:15! The buses for London began loading at 7:15. When we got in to London, we all unloaded and began the Walk of Witness from partway down the embankment of the Thames to Lambeth Palace. You can see clips of the march here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7523539.stm. The purpose was to draw attention to the necessity of striving to reach the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), which are:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development
Because the UK has been working pretty extensively on these issues for a few years now, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Great Britain addressed all the delegates and staff at Lambeth Palace. He stressed the importance of achieving the goals as well as the potential inherent within the Anglican communion to help do this. It was a good speech, but I'm anxious to see what comes of all this. It still feels as though the MDGs are too abstract to really impress upon people the absolute necessity of their results. I hope many of the bishops, particularly the ones from the "Global North" go home with a better understanding of their importance, as well as ways in which to bring them to life in their dioceses.
After Lambeth Palace we all got back on the coaches and went for a jaunt over to Buckingham Palace. Once we had all arrived, the Yoemen of the Guard created a large swath down the middle of the lawn and Her Majesty the Queen came out, accompanied by Prince Philip. She greeted a number of delegates (not me) and other people of varying fame and importance in the great scheme of church politics. We then had tea on the lawn, and yes mom, of course, I had a cucumber sandwich. It was really good! There's neither bread crust nor cucumber skin anywhere in sight! I have to say though, for all the talk about cucumber sandwiches, they had Nothing on the salmon rolls! Those were fantastic! There were also these little dark chocolates that were kind of mousse-like, and soooo sweet. Talking about sweet, I didn't actually have a cup of tea, I had a glass of iced coffee. Trust me, if you ever have to choose between Buckingham Palace, and Tim Horton's, pick the palace! Great coffee. Fabulous. After I finished my munchies, everyone walked around the garden for a bit. We saw the royal tennis court, the rose garden, the pond, the island and the bathrooms. Oh, my gosh, everyone. English port-o-potties are insane! I used one at each Palace. The one at Lambeth was a large trailer with mutiple stations. It had tile flooring and framed pictures up on the wall, complete with those crzy new sinks with the bowl on the top of the counter. The ones at Buckingham had antique floor mirrors and vanities, and they were in tents! I hear rumours that the one at Canterbury Cathedral also has marble counters and music playing. I'm astounded!
Anyways, the stewards are off on another exciting adventure soon, so I'll have to write more later. Hope all are well.
Blessings everyone,
Nick.
P.S. - I forgot to mention, but it was in the title, I got to swing on the Archbishop's plank swing when I was at his house! That and, I've now used square plates! How fancy!
Yesterday was by far the more eventful day. More eventful because I had to get up at 5:15! The buses for London began loading at 7:15. When we got in to London, we all unloaded and began the Walk of Witness from partway down the embankment of the Thames to Lambeth Palace. You can see clips of the march here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7523539.stm. The purpose was to draw attention to the necessity of striving to reach the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), which are:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development
Because the UK has been working pretty extensively on these issues for a few years now, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Great Britain addressed all the delegates and staff at Lambeth Palace. He stressed the importance of achieving the goals as well as the potential inherent within the Anglican communion to help do this. It was a good speech, but I'm anxious to see what comes of all this. It still feels as though the MDGs are too abstract to really impress upon people the absolute necessity of their results. I hope many of the bishops, particularly the ones from the "Global North" go home with a better understanding of their importance, as well as ways in which to bring them to life in their dioceses.
After Lambeth Palace we all got back on the coaches and went for a jaunt over to Buckingham Palace. Once we had all arrived, the Yoemen of the Guard created a large swath down the middle of the lawn and Her Majesty the Queen came out, accompanied by Prince Philip. She greeted a number of delegates (not me) and other people of varying fame and importance in the great scheme of church politics. We then had tea on the lawn, and yes mom, of course, I had a cucumber sandwich. It was really good! There's neither bread crust nor cucumber skin anywhere in sight! I have to say though, for all the talk about cucumber sandwiches, they had Nothing on the salmon rolls! Those were fantastic! There were also these little dark chocolates that were kind of mousse-like, and soooo sweet. Talking about sweet, I didn't actually have a cup of tea, I had a glass of iced coffee. Trust me, if you ever have to choose between Buckingham Palace, and Tim Horton's, pick the palace! Great coffee. Fabulous. After I finished my munchies, everyone walked around the garden for a bit. We saw the royal tennis court, the rose garden, the pond, the island and the bathrooms. Oh, my gosh, everyone. English port-o-potties are insane! I used one at each Palace. The one at Lambeth was a large trailer with mutiple stations. It had tile flooring and framed pictures up on the wall, complete with those crzy new sinks with the bowl on the top of the counter. The ones at Buckingham had antique floor mirrors and vanities, and they were in tents! I hear rumours that the one at Canterbury Cathedral also has marble counters and music playing. I'm astounded!
Anyways, the stewards are off on another exciting adventure soon, so I'll have to write more later. Hope all are well.
Blessings everyone,
Nick.
P.S. - I forgot to mention, but it was in the title, I got to swing on the Archbishop's plank swing when I was at his house! That and, I've now used square plates! How fancy!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Indaba - Not In 'da' bar!
(OK, so maybe I didn't make that up. But it's witty!)
Once upon a time, in a land faaar across the ocean, there was a biiig, big tent. It was called the Big Top. It was the blue-est tent anyone had ever seen, with two big spires and guidelines that would trip up even the least weary traveller. Well, I've decided I'm moving in there. Forget living in Birks when you've got the Big Top! My day today started with a 6:45 shift manning the doors at the Big Top. No one except for the people with the right lanyards and passes are allowed in there. I've had to pull out my scary security face a couple times already. Of course, the entire Big Top is fenced in (not quite the 10 foot fence Ms. Glendhill has been talking about if any of you are following The Times at all), so most people have the right passes already. I was also in the Big Top for evening worship before supper tonight, and then on the Big Top security gate until 22:15. See? This is why I'm moving in to the Big Top. I'm also on for the Eucharist at 6:45 tomorrow morning, so I'll just roll out of my comfy padded chairs and already be at work. It's foolproof!
Bishops' Bible Studies have now begun, as have Indaba groups. Most of the time we can't really sit in on them though, so the shifts have been a bit monotonous. It's a lot of sitting in the hallway for two and a half hours. Those one's aren't the greatest shifts (they've got nothing on the Big Top!). The topics do look interesting though. A lot of the talk at the conference in focussed on issues of social justice, in its quite varied manifestations. There's also a big focus on the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), which quickly seem to be turning into the quintessential Anglican rallying point. I'm all for the MDGs, but I don't know how I feel about that.
Yesterday I was able to attend/work at a self-select session on Healthcare Networks, which was great and informative, but I have virtually no experience in the field, at least in terms of it's main theme, which seemed to be midwifery/infants/maternal health. Today, though, I managed to get into a session on Jesus, Evangelism and Other Faiths, which was basically an attempt to talk about soteriology in an interfaith-post-colonial context. Needless to say, I felt a bit more at home there.
For last night's plenary, we had Dr. Brian Mclaren as a guest speaker, talking about Evangelism in a post-modern context. I'm really confused by a lot of post-modern approaches to religion too. It's weird. I find I often arrive at similar conclusions to many post-modernists, but have a really different way of getting there. It seems really anti-institutional, which doesn't really provide for a great way of modifying existing structures, it just means recreating everything, over and over and over again. I'm not so sure that works. Tonight was Roman Cardinal Ivan Dias of the Vatican talking about Mission, Social Justice and Evangelism. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there for that one, I was on gate duty. At least I got a radio with an earpiece :).
The Marketplace is also now open, and I've bought my first Rowan Williams book! It's called "Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert". A great author with an equally great theme, I can't wait to be awake enough to read it!
Well, that's about all I can think of right now. I'll try to send another update tomorrow. Thursday is London Day! Woohoo! Catch the news and look for the crazy people in the blinding orange jackets. That'll be us :). We're off to Buckingham Palace!
Adieu, tout le monde.
Nick.
Once upon a time, in a land faaar across the ocean, there was a biiig, big tent. It was called the Big Top. It was the blue-est tent anyone had ever seen, with two big spires and guidelines that would trip up even the least weary traveller. Well, I've decided I'm moving in there. Forget living in Birks when you've got the Big Top! My day today started with a 6:45 shift manning the doors at the Big Top. No one except for the people with the right lanyards and passes are allowed in there. I've had to pull out my scary security face a couple times already. Of course, the entire Big Top is fenced in (not quite the 10 foot fence Ms. Glendhill has been talking about if any of you are following The Times at all), so most people have the right passes already. I was also in the Big Top for evening worship before supper tonight, and then on the Big Top security gate until 22:15. See? This is why I'm moving in to the Big Top. I'm also on for the Eucharist at 6:45 tomorrow morning, so I'll just roll out of my comfy padded chairs and already be at work. It's foolproof!
Bishops' Bible Studies have now begun, as have Indaba groups. Most of the time we can't really sit in on them though, so the shifts have been a bit monotonous. It's a lot of sitting in the hallway for two and a half hours. Those one's aren't the greatest shifts (they've got nothing on the Big Top!). The topics do look interesting though. A lot of the talk at the conference in focussed on issues of social justice, in its quite varied manifestations. There's also a big focus on the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), which quickly seem to be turning into the quintessential Anglican rallying point. I'm all for the MDGs, but I don't know how I feel about that.
Yesterday I was able to attend/work at a self-select session on Healthcare Networks, which was great and informative, but I have virtually no experience in the field, at least in terms of it's main theme, which seemed to be midwifery/infants/maternal health. Today, though, I managed to get into a session on Jesus, Evangelism and Other Faiths, which was basically an attempt to talk about soteriology in an interfaith-post-colonial context. Needless to say, I felt a bit more at home there.
For last night's plenary, we had Dr. Brian Mclaren as a guest speaker, talking about Evangelism in a post-modern context. I'm really confused by a lot of post-modern approaches to religion too. It's weird. I find I often arrive at similar conclusions to many post-modernists, but have a really different way of getting there. It seems really anti-institutional, which doesn't really provide for a great way of modifying existing structures, it just means recreating everything, over and over and over again. I'm not so sure that works. Tonight was Roman Cardinal Ivan Dias of the Vatican talking about Mission, Social Justice and Evangelism. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there for that one, I was on gate duty. At least I got a radio with an earpiece :).
The Marketplace is also now open, and I've bought my first Rowan Williams book! It's called "Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert". A great author with an equally great theme, I can't wait to be awake enough to read it!
Well, that's about all I can think of right now. I'll try to send another update tomorrow. Thursday is London Day! Woohoo! Catch the news and look for the crazy people in the blinding orange jackets. That'll be us :). We're off to Buckingham Palace!
Adieu, tout le monde.
Nick.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Starting Again
Well they're off... once again! Today signalled the actual opening of the real conference. Not the retreat conference, which ended yesterday. This morning we all went down to the Cathedral once again and got to see the Archbishop actually by his big stone chair! (i.e. - The chair of Saint Augustine - the actual cathedra). I'll readily admit that I'll probably never see another ceremony as opulent as that one, not that it was over the top or even all that extravagent, but the sheer number of people/religious leaders, from both the Anglican communion and beyond was astounding. Stepping onto the grounds was like stepping back a few centuries. As soon as we were inside, the police shut the large outer gates and we were left in the tranquility of the courtyard.
The stewards were placed by the north transept, so we were right next to the quire, which was super neat, except for the fact that Canterbury Cathedral was built, I'm convinced, in order to prevent anyone from ever seeing all of the service, as my fellow steward, Luiz, pointed out today. There's a mini wall, right in front of you if you're seated in that area, so I basically watched the tips of croziers wandering by and saw the rest on the TV screen in front of us. The service was nice, and despite what anyone says, I personally heard nothing but good things from those leaving the cathedral. I've included a link to the BBC page, but I have no audio, so I don't know what was said. All I have to go on is friends' testimony as to Archbishop Venables' statements. From what I've heard, they paint a very different picture from what I saw on the inside of the church. The Melanesian brothers in particular had everyone clapping, they're always an exciting group.
This afternoon there was another plenary describing certain processes involving the Windsor report, the Covenant draft and the discussions to come in the next two weeks. The Archbishop gave a quite succinct presentation and encouraged everyone not to abandon the conversations.
Well, I'm off for tonight. Morning prayer starts at 6:30, so I'm up early!
Bonne nuit a tous!
Nick.
The stewards were placed by the north transept, so we were right next to the quire, which was super neat, except for the fact that Canterbury Cathedral was built, I'm convinced, in order to prevent anyone from ever seeing all of the service, as my fellow steward, Luiz, pointed out today. There's a mini wall, right in front of you if you're seated in that area, so I basically watched the tips of croziers wandering by and saw the rest on the TV screen in front of us. The service was nice, and despite what anyone says, I personally heard nothing but good things from those leaving the cathedral. I've included a link to the BBC page, but I have no audio, so I don't know what was said. All I have to go on is friends' testimony as to Archbishop Venables' statements. From what I've heard, they paint a very different picture from what I saw on the inside of the church. The Melanesian brothers in particular had everyone clapping, they're always an exciting group.
This afternoon there was another plenary describing certain processes involving the Windsor report, the Covenant draft and the discussions to come in the next two weeks. The Archbishop gave a quite succinct presentation and encouraged everyone not to abandon the conversations.
Well, I'm off for tonight. Morning prayer starts at 6:30, so I'm up early!
Bonne nuit a tous!
Nick.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Post-Hiatus Update
Well, as the bishops have been on retreat for the past two days, I decided to take yesterday off from the blog in order to catch up on some much welcomed sleep. The past two days have been remarkably slow, what with the bishops down at the cathedral on retreat and all. Nonetheless, life does go on here, and the spouses' conference is getting into full swing. Last night, Jane Williams' (the Archbishop's wife's) new book, Marriage, Mitres and Being Myself was launched, with a free copy being given out to all of the spouses present at the conference (along with wine and fair trade chocolate!). The book describes the experience of being married to a bishop, from the perspective of numerous people from around the communion. I think I'll try to find a copy once the marketplace opens up. The portions that she read sounded quite interesting.
My duties over the past couple days have mostly consisted of pointing people in the right directions, giving tours of the campus, guarding gates and ushering bishops onto buses. It hasn't been highly stressful work, but it's been very active work, and I'm starting to recognize faces, which makes checking security passes that much easier.
One of the best experiences so far has come up twice in the past two days. This would be the daily compline service, which is the last service of the night, and generally happens here at about 21:45. I feel that at a conference like this, and being in the position that I'm in, there's a really strange tension between 'humanizing' the bishops and 'venerating' them. On the one hand, you see them eat and sleep and show up late to Eucharist, but on the other hand, you have the great opportunity to see what others saw when these men and women were consecrated bishops. The tension lies in drawing the line between these two poles. It's the question of what level of respect and deference is owed to the other who is fully human and yet in a position of much greater religious authority. In my experience of the past couple days, worship in the sacred space with the monks and nuns has served as the great equalizer. The chapel room is octagonal enough to be round, and there are icons and images up along all the walls, with a large cross in the centre surrounded by flowers. The brothers and sisters sit in a circle in the middle, surrounding the cross, and everyone else sits along the outside, either in the chairs set up or on the floor (of Course I picked the floor). The great thing about it is that people's humanity and fragility become incredibly evident when in such a subdued and relfective atmosphere, and one realizes that a sense of humility before God is inextricably linked with the witness of the church. When true worship happens in both spirit and in truth, the centrality of the self is destabilized and God alone is left in power and in glory. Furthermore, however, it seems to be the very act of divesting the self of prominence in deference to God that causes one to become a great spiritual leader, and this is what I see in so many people when I go to compline.
Well, I am off to the magical land of sleep in order to hopefully make the 6:30 morning prayer tomorrow.
Blessings, all.
Nick.
P.S. - I finally got to knit a bit tonight, I now have a prayer shawl that's over half finished! And even better, I've had someone agree to teach me how to knit socks. Score!
My duties over the past couple days have mostly consisted of pointing people in the right directions, giving tours of the campus, guarding gates and ushering bishops onto buses. It hasn't been highly stressful work, but it's been very active work, and I'm starting to recognize faces, which makes checking security passes that much easier.
One of the best experiences so far has come up twice in the past two days. This would be the daily compline service, which is the last service of the night, and generally happens here at about 21:45. I feel that at a conference like this, and being in the position that I'm in, there's a really strange tension between 'humanizing' the bishops and 'venerating' them. On the one hand, you see them eat and sleep and show up late to Eucharist, but on the other hand, you have the great opportunity to see what others saw when these men and women were consecrated bishops. The tension lies in drawing the line between these two poles. It's the question of what level of respect and deference is owed to the other who is fully human and yet in a position of much greater religious authority. In my experience of the past couple days, worship in the sacred space with the monks and nuns has served as the great equalizer. The chapel room is octagonal enough to be round, and there are icons and images up along all the walls, with a large cross in the centre surrounded by flowers. The brothers and sisters sit in a circle in the middle, surrounding the cross, and everyone else sits along the outside, either in the chairs set up or on the floor (of Course I picked the floor). The great thing about it is that people's humanity and fragility become incredibly evident when in such a subdued and relfective atmosphere, and one realizes that a sense of humility before God is inextricably linked with the witness of the church. When true worship happens in both spirit and in truth, the centrality of the self is destabilized and God alone is left in power and in glory. Furthermore, however, it seems to be the very act of divesting the self of prominence in deference to God that causes one to become a great spiritual leader, and this is what I see in so many people when I go to compline.
Well, I am off to the magical land of sleep in order to hopefully make the 6:30 morning prayer tomorrow.
Blessings, all.
Nick.
P.S. - I finally got to knit a bit tonight, I now have a prayer shawl that's over half finished! And even better, I've had someone agree to teach me how to knit socks. Score!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Title? What Title?
So I came up here with this fatastic intention of 'blogging away' my wonderful day, when I all of a sudden realized... I don't actually remember most of my day. Ooh, Candice! (Candice Young-Rojanschi that is [yes I did check Facebook to make sure I spelled it right, and no I did not spell it right]). You'll love this one. You know, when you get back to using computers and of course decide to read through every blog entry I've ever written on here. As you can likely tell, I'm a bit overtired tonight. Anyways, guess who was in the breakfast hall this morning! Seriously, guess. Here are some hints. 1) Famous Bible historian 2) Bishop of Durham, England 3) First name is the coolest name in the world, i.e. Nicholas, though he often goes by the initials N.T. That's right, if you said N.T. Wright, you've probably read too many books about the New Testament! - Seriously, really, really tired tonight.
The reason for that is that first of all, the day started with my group on break, until all of a sudden we were working at the car park, which is the British equivalent of a parking lot, which is the Steward's equivalent of one of the two ethereal realms. Needless to say, with approximately 800 bishops left to arrive, plus their spouses, we were a tad busy. Once I finished that shift I moved onto reception at one of the buildings, which on the fantastic side, gave me a walkie-talkie all afternoon, but on the not so fantastic side, lasted all afternoon. Anyways, that was a pretty productive afternoon. We got a number of the bishops into their rooms and everything, so they're safe and sound, and most have their luggage. Tonight there was the opening plenary. It will be one of few plenaries, but there wasn't much to be said. It was mostly a welcome and some short instructions. Tomorrow morning the Bible studies start, as does the bishops' three day retreat inside Canterbury Cathedral. They'll essentially be cloistered in there for the whole day with time to pray and to speak in small groups or wander without fear of intrusion from visitors. It's incredible, there's a huge wall around the whole cahedral grounds. It's quite impressive, and quite cool! I was struck today though by how archaic some of the language and rituals are. Archaic in a good sense. In other news, I did forget to update yesterday, but I should note that I finally met the Archbishop of Canterbury (aka. The Archbishop)! He was leaving the hall I was working in and on his way out he came over to say hi. I was quite pleased, he was very nice, but he moved on pretty quickly.
In other news, I was speaking to one of the other stewards tonight. His name's Isaac, and he's from Tanzania (by the way, today I also saw Bishop Mwachiko from Montreal's partner diocese of Masasi in Tanzania). I was speaking to Isaac about commodity prices where he comes from (Dar es Salaam) and found out some incredible things. So apparently one 10 kg bag of rice in Tanzania costs $800 USD - it can be used to feed 6 people for 6 months. An average annual salary is about just over $2000 USD. Now the annual salary figure isn't all that shocking, but $800 USD for a bag of rice, that amazed me. I was also talking to Daniel, from Myanmar, who said that in his entire diocese, there are two computers: one at the library, and one at the diocesan office. Having quite limited experience in the developing world (read: vitually no experience) this things still astound me. On the positive side though, I've been invited to Tanzania twice today!
That's all for tonight folks,
Have a blessed day, evening and etc.
Pray for us! The bishops, the stewards, the staff, volunteers, I think we'll all need it quite a bit pretty soon. Already exhaustion is starting to set in for many of the staff and stewards.
God bless you all.
:). Nick.
The reason for that is that first of all, the day started with my group on break, until all of a sudden we were working at the car park, which is the British equivalent of a parking lot, which is the Steward's equivalent of one of the two ethereal realms. Needless to say, with approximately 800 bishops left to arrive, plus their spouses, we were a tad busy. Once I finished that shift I moved onto reception at one of the buildings, which on the fantastic side, gave me a walkie-talkie all afternoon, but on the not so fantastic side, lasted all afternoon. Anyways, that was a pretty productive afternoon. We got a number of the bishops into their rooms and everything, so they're safe and sound, and most have their luggage. Tonight there was the opening plenary. It will be one of few plenaries, but there wasn't much to be said. It was mostly a welcome and some short instructions. Tomorrow morning the Bible studies start, as does the bishops' three day retreat inside Canterbury Cathedral. They'll essentially be cloistered in there for the whole day with time to pray and to speak in small groups or wander without fear of intrusion from visitors. It's incredible, there's a huge wall around the whole cahedral grounds. It's quite impressive, and quite cool! I was struck today though by how archaic some of the language and rituals are. Archaic in a good sense. In other news, I did forget to update yesterday, but I should note that I finally met the Archbishop of Canterbury (aka. The Archbishop)! He was leaving the hall I was working in and on his way out he came over to say hi. I was quite pleased, he was very nice, but he moved on pretty quickly.
In other news, I was speaking to one of the other stewards tonight. His name's Isaac, and he's from Tanzania (by the way, today I also saw Bishop Mwachiko from Montreal's partner diocese of Masasi in Tanzania). I was speaking to Isaac about commodity prices where he comes from (Dar es Salaam) and found out some incredible things. So apparently one 10 kg bag of rice in Tanzania costs $800 USD - it can be used to feed 6 people for 6 months. An average annual salary is about just over $2000 USD. Now the annual salary figure isn't all that shocking, but $800 USD for a bag of rice, that amazed me. I was also talking to Daniel, from Myanmar, who said that in his entire diocese, there are two computers: one at the library, and one at the diocesan office. Having quite limited experience in the developing world (read: vitually no experience) this things still astound me. On the positive side though, I've been invited to Tanzania twice today!
That's all for tonight folks,
Have a blessed day, evening and etc.
Pray for us! The bishops, the stewards, the staff, volunteers, I think we'll all need it quite a bit pretty soon. Already exhaustion is starting to set in for many of the staff and stewards.
God bless you all.
:). Nick.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Hold on to Your Mitres!
(especially you Jen Otto, seeing as how you're still wearing yours)
Well, it's now 16:08, July 15, 2008, and I've officially been in the presence of the Most Rev. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Anglifamous indeed! We began this morning with a general tying up loose ends meeting. It started with an actual visit by, once again, the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon. He came across to me as incredibly humble. I was amazed, really. You could tell as he stood up though, that he was used to speaking to groups, because once he got going, he was really a quite good speaker. He was only there for a couple minutes though. Then he left. On any other day that would have been the highlight of, well, life. Except, ten minutes later, as we were going through rotations and the like, I noticed out of the corner of my little eye a flash of brilliant white priestly collar, neatly framed by the fantastic and envious beard of His Grace, the Most Rev. Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Wow. Missed a beat you say? More like stopped beating entirely for about a minute and three quarters! I was shocked, and stunned. I'm still a tad shocked! Anyways, he only stayed for a few minutes, and said some nice words and then left. It's a little bit of a blur at the moment, all I can remember is standing up and smiling, oh, and the beard of course! I haven't formally met him yet, but sometime soon... sometime.
After that, the real work started! Our group spent two hours this morning receiving bishops and carrying luggage. We then went on call and so I got to tape up signs that had already been taped up yesterday. Apparently the tape wasn't sticking very well or something. Now I'm here, and since I go back to work in 40 minutes (at 5:00) and am on duty until 11, I figured I should jot down my thoughts while they're still (smoewhat) coherent.
In other very important news. Bishop Barry has arrived safe and sound! For all those of you wondering, he pulled in this morning, just before lunch, and so I got to eat lunch with him, which was quite exciting. It's always good to see a familiar face from home, and it's even better when that familiar face is your bishop! He looked well, but tired, and he said his flight went well, so hurrah and thank God for that. Well, if there's anything else overwhelmingly exciting, I'll edit this post.
Oh, P.S. - Have I mentioned how many people there are here who are on the ordination track!? Stewards that is. Of course. I would say a great majority of the stewards are planning on being ordained, and a couple already have been! We have at Least two priests and one deacon in the group I believe. It's quite an exciting group to be a part of!
God bless you all,
Thanks again for reading the Blog!
Over and out,
Nick.
Well, it's now 16:08, July 15, 2008, and I've officially been in the presence of the Most Rev. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Anglifamous indeed! We began this morning with a general tying up loose ends meeting. It started with an actual visit by, once again, the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon. He came across to me as incredibly humble. I was amazed, really. You could tell as he stood up though, that he was used to speaking to groups, because once he got going, he was really a quite good speaker. He was only there for a couple minutes though. Then he left. On any other day that would have been the highlight of, well, life. Except, ten minutes later, as we were going through rotations and the like, I noticed out of the corner of my little eye a flash of brilliant white priestly collar, neatly framed by the fantastic and envious beard of His Grace, the Most Rev. Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Wow. Missed a beat you say? More like stopped beating entirely for about a minute and three quarters! I was shocked, and stunned. I'm still a tad shocked! Anyways, he only stayed for a few minutes, and said some nice words and then left. It's a little bit of a blur at the moment, all I can remember is standing up and smiling, oh, and the beard of course! I haven't formally met him yet, but sometime soon... sometime.
After that, the real work started! Our group spent two hours this morning receiving bishops and carrying luggage. We then went on call and so I got to tape up signs that had already been taped up yesterday. Apparently the tape wasn't sticking very well or something. Now I'm here, and since I go back to work in 40 minutes (at 5:00) and am on duty until 11, I figured I should jot down my thoughts while they're still (smoewhat) coherent.
In other very important news. Bishop Barry has arrived safe and sound! For all those of you wondering, he pulled in this morning, just before lunch, and so I got to eat lunch with him, which was quite exciting. It's always good to see a familiar face from home, and it's even better when that familiar face is your bishop! He looked well, but tired, and he said his flight went well, so hurrah and thank God for that. Well, if there's anything else overwhelmingly exciting, I'll edit this post.
Oh, P.S. - Have I mentioned how many people there are here who are on the ordination track!? Stewards that is. Of course. I would say a great majority of the stewards are planning on being ordained, and a couple already have been! We have at Least two priests and one deacon in the group I believe. It's quite an exciting group to be a part of!
God bless you all,
Thanks again for reading the Blog!
Over and out,
Nick.
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Mother Church
Wow, so today was a tad bit overwhelming.
First of all, we began the day in the Big Top, and let me just say, the Big Top is a REALLY BIG Top! Imagine a tent. Now imagine that tent fit 1600 chairs on bleachers with three stages and stage room in back. Basically picture a two pronged circus tent and you can imagine what's gone up for the plenary sessions. Of course, there will be very few plenary sessions. Archbishop Rowan has made it so that this Lambeth will have no resolutions, and so few plenaries will be taking place. Instead, there will be daily Bible studies, Indaba groups (smaller discussion groups) and self select sessions in the afternoons. It will be quite impressive. The job of the stewards in the Big Top will be to usher people in and out and to take care of the communion lines.
At lunch time today, I just happened to find myself sitting at the same table as the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon. You know, no biggie, just the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon at my lunch table... an every day occurence really. Nothing at all. (For those of you wondering, the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon is the General Secretary of the entire Anglican communion. You know, the one who ate lunch at my table this afternoon!) :). That was probably the first excitement of the day.
This afternoon was somewhat slower. We had a CPR/First aid course... in an hour and a half! It was really just CPR, and obviously not very in depth. I feel it's probably a good thing I'm still First Aid certified from last year...
Tonight we mosied on down to Canterbury Cathedral where we were given a closed tour of the church. The mother church of the Anglican communion, with the doors locked! It was awesome, (and I mean that in the somewhat archaic, awe inspiring, oh-my-gosh-I-just-walked-past-the-chair-of-St-Augustine sort of way). While there, I managed to actually walk past the chair of St Augustine, see the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered, see the tomb of Anselm of Canterbury, see the shrine of Thomas Becket and best of all, find a trap door in the ceiling of the tower!!! Apparently through it there's a giant hamster wheel for humans which they used in the construction of the towerto haul up bricks!
Anyways, after that we went out to a pub for our last night before the Bishops really arrive and played a good game of Scrabble! I had a nice South African fair-trade Shiraz to accompany the game, and subsequently lost. I'd just like to say though, that we were doing really really well until the other team won! (Apparently over here, when one team finishes their letters, the number of points you have on your tray goes to the winning team! What hope do you have!? Luiz and I had a 'z' left over)
Well, that's about all for tonight. I'm sure things will be getting significantly more exciting in the next few days! Pray for us all! (Seriously :)) And pray the bishops get here safe. I think the current count has gone down to about 640 unfortunately. I'm not quite sure why yet. I'll be checking. Apparently the numbers have been fluctuating quite a bit.
Love and blessings to you all,
Nick.
P.S. - For all those of you who may know the Rt. Rev. Ralph Spence, there is now an appreciation society for him on Facebook! Find it on my profile if you're interested!
First of all, we began the day in the Big Top, and let me just say, the Big Top is a REALLY BIG Top! Imagine a tent. Now imagine that tent fit 1600 chairs on bleachers with three stages and stage room in back. Basically picture a two pronged circus tent and you can imagine what's gone up for the plenary sessions. Of course, there will be very few plenary sessions. Archbishop Rowan has made it so that this Lambeth will have no resolutions, and so few plenaries will be taking place. Instead, there will be daily Bible studies, Indaba groups (smaller discussion groups) and self select sessions in the afternoons. It will be quite impressive. The job of the stewards in the Big Top will be to usher people in and out and to take care of the communion lines.
At lunch time today, I just happened to find myself sitting at the same table as the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon. You know, no biggie, just the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon at my lunch table... an every day occurence really. Nothing at all. (For those of you wondering, the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon is the General Secretary of the entire Anglican communion. You know, the one who ate lunch at my table this afternoon!) :). That was probably the first excitement of the day.
This afternoon was somewhat slower. We had a CPR/First aid course... in an hour and a half! It was really just CPR, and obviously not very in depth. I feel it's probably a good thing I'm still First Aid certified from last year...
Tonight we mosied on down to Canterbury Cathedral where we were given a closed tour of the church. The mother church of the Anglican communion, with the doors locked! It was awesome, (and I mean that in the somewhat archaic, awe inspiring, oh-my-gosh-I-just-walked-past-the-chair-of-St-Augustine sort of way). While there, I managed to actually walk past the chair of St Augustine, see the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered, see the tomb of Anselm of Canterbury, see the shrine of Thomas Becket and best of all, find a trap door in the ceiling of the tower!!! Apparently through it there's a giant hamster wheel for humans which they used in the construction of the towerto haul up bricks!
Anyways, after that we went out to a pub for our last night before the Bishops really arrive and played a good game of Scrabble! I had a nice South African fair-trade Shiraz to accompany the game, and subsequently lost. I'd just like to say though, that we were doing really really well until the other team won! (Apparently over here, when one team finishes their letters, the number of points you have on your tray goes to the winning team! What hope do you have!? Luiz and I had a 'z' left over)
Well, that's about all for tonight. I'm sure things will be getting significantly more exciting in the next few days! Pray for us all! (Seriously :)) And pray the bishops get here safe. I think the current count has gone down to about 640 unfortunately. I'm not quite sure why yet. I'll be checking. Apparently the numbers have been fluctuating quite a bit.
Love and blessings to you all,
Nick.
P.S. - For all those of you who may know the Rt. Rev. Ralph Spence, there is now an appreciation society for him on Facebook! Find it on my profile if you're interested!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Habemus Dominum!
A quick note from home... I can now officially (read: finally!) say that St. George's Church in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue has a new priest! Well, we will in the Fall at least. A successful committee I dare say was struck back in... November, I think, maybe. Anyhow, after many gruelling, hooorrible months (just kidding, it was actually pretty quick, and a rather good experience, sometimes even fun!), we've today announced the Rev. Dr. Neil Mancor as our new rector. Congratulations! I think it's safe to say we're all pretty excited to have him join us in the parish.
Canterbury Cathedral today was quite impressive. A group of us went down for the morning Eucharist, and guess who we found, yet ANOTHER former Canadian bishop, this time in the procession, the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews (now of Christ Church, New Zealand)! This place seems to be a hot bed of partying for the Canadian ex-bishopric! We love them all, and I think people are quite pleased to have Bishop Ralph and Carol here with us. So far they've been with the stewards every day and for virtually every activity, which has been pretty neat. We have our own bishop!
The rest of today went by rather quickly. We layed down plastic lego/megabloc/puzzle square things all over the grass so that it doesn't get torn up by the thousands of shoes treading over it. At current guesses, there are going to be around 2500 people at this conference, that's like, 5000 feet! Speaking of large numbers, today was the second day in a row in which we had Evensong with the chaplains :). I would say that's a new record as to how many days I've been around both monks and nuns, but I guess there was that Taize weekend thingie back last year. Still, I quite enjoyed it, and fully intend to rectify that personal record someday. FULLY. :). Matthew, I have another idea I think you'll love, or laugh at, probably the latter... Definitely the latter.
Well, on that somewhat cryptic note, I shall leave you all for tonight! Tomorrow is our last full day of training... then the bishops come! At last. I feel like I've finished an entire conference already, and we've yet to begin. Well, onwards and upwards!
Adieu,
Nick.
Canterbury Cathedral today was quite impressive. A group of us went down for the morning Eucharist, and guess who we found, yet ANOTHER former Canadian bishop, this time in the procession, the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews (now of Christ Church, New Zealand)! This place seems to be a hot bed of partying for the Canadian ex-bishopric! We love them all, and I think people are quite pleased to have Bishop Ralph and Carol here with us. So far they've been with the stewards every day and for virtually every activity, which has been pretty neat. We have our own bishop!
The rest of today went by rather quickly. We layed down plastic lego/megabloc/puzzle square things all over the grass so that it doesn't get torn up by the thousands of shoes treading over it. At current guesses, there are going to be around 2500 people at this conference, that's like, 5000 feet! Speaking of large numbers, today was the second day in a row in which we had Evensong with the chaplains :). I would say that's a new record as to how many days I've been around both monks and nuns, but I guess there was that Taize weekend thingie back last year. Still, I quite enjoyed it, and fully intend to rectify that personal record someday. FULLY. :). Matthew, I have another idea I think you'll love, or laugh at, probably the latter... Definitely the latter.
Well, on that somewhat cryptic note, I shall leave you all for tonight! Tomorrow is our last full day of training... then the bishops come! At last. I feel like I've finished an entire conference already, and we've yet to begin. Well, onwards and upwards!
Adieu,
Nick.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Oh no!
L'ordinateur, est mort!
It's official, my computer is no longer... :(. Fortunately, there's an all night computer lab just upstairs of me! How fantastic.
I have to say, put a whole bunch of young, interested Anglicans together in the same room for a eucharist and they sound really, really good! Add in twenty Religious and it's incerdible! I've never seen high Anglicans look so Pentecostal before :p, but it was quite exciting. We had two worship services today, and tomorrow we'll be joining the monks and nuns for everning prayer. While here, they'll of course continue to pray the daily office. They're an amazing group serving as the chaplaincy team, and at least one is from Canada! They can sing like no group I've ever heard and their joy is evident and infectious.
Today's training was pretty basic. We were told where the information desk is and were told how to lift heavy things... apparently you're NOT supposed to lift with your knees! Keep that in mind. :).
Tomorrow morning I head off to Canterbury Cathedral for mass. I saw the inside for the first time ever today! If I'm to get there on time though, I should probably be off!
I'll talk to you all soon. Hope all's well.
Blessings,
Nick.
It's official, my computer is no longer... :(. Fortunately, there's an all night computer lab just upstairs of me! How fantastic.
I have to say, put a whole bunch of young, interested Anglicans together in the same room for a eucharist and they sound really, really good! Add in twenty Religious and it's incerdible! I've never seen high Anglicans look so Pentecostal before :p, but it was quite exciting. We had two worship services today, and tomorrow we'll be joining the monks and nuns for everning prayer. While here, they'll of course continue to pray the daily office. They're an amazing group serving as the chaplaincy team, and at least one is from Canada! They can sing like no group I've ever heard and their joy is evident and infectious.
Today's training was pretty basic. We were told where the information desk is and were told how to lift heavy things... apparently you're NOT supposed to lift with your knees! Keep that in mind. :).
Tomorrow morning I head off to Canterbury Cathedral for mass. I saw the inside for the first time ever today! If I'm to get there on time though, I should probably be off!
I'll talk to you all soon. Hope all's well.
Blessings,
Nick.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Day the Second!
Hi everyone :)
Well, today was day two of training. About ten of us started off with an informal American BCP service, for Morning Prayer. I enjoyed it quite a bit! Then again, I don’t remember a Morning Prayer service I ever really disliked. I’m getting to see all sorts of opinions in regards to worship, but there are so many Anglo-Catholics of whatever political persuasion here, it’s fantastic! Part of me still enjoys the earnestness of the churches I knew growing up, but the high liturgies are so exciting :).
Well, the rest of today was spent going over the programme, learning the campus, learning to use the walkie-talkies, speaking about cross-cultural differences, and tackling the infamous “dealing with difficult bishops”. They were all exciting, but the walkie-talkies especially were really neat! They even have the ear buds :p. Just kidding. The rest, I’m sure will come into quite good use I’m sure. What I found especially interesting was trying to pinpoint those ever so subtle differences between
Things here will be getting interesting soon. I’m starting to learn my way around campus and into town, which is somewhat of a hike, but it’s a great town. The marketplace will be going up relatively soon too I believe. Jen Otto, youth coordinator extraordinaire, that means the mitres will be going on sale soon <=:)! My quest to pick up an accent is slowly developing, but I try to hide it. Hopefully when I get back home it’ll be perfected to a tee!
Anyways, hope everyone is quite well. Have a super Friday!
Best,
Nick.
Nick is alive!... and awake at 3:00am
Where to start? This one could take a while...
Well, in super fast mode, I left home sometime Monday after supper. I got to the airport at
Through the magical time zone differences, I ended up in
The next day (yesterday) I got up to a real English breakfast. Apparently deep fried crispy toast is pretty popular here, as are pork rinds – I must say, I kind of sense the early stages of a heart attack coming on, but one that’s well worth it, of course. Try everything once, eh? We had a nice jaunt into town after that where I saw... yes, Canterbury Cathedral!!! Woo hoo! It’s massive, and I haven’t seen inside it yet because they were holding graduation ceremonies, but it was exquisite from the outside (all except the Starbucks in the outer gate – no one was pleased about that one).
In the afternoon I received my high visibility jacket, which is really a high visibility vest, but still looks pretty darn cool! We also got to hear what we’d be covering this week in the training sessions. More on that as we go through it. We also got to meet some of the staff. We ended yesterday night with evening prayer led by our one and only Bishop Ralph Spence!
In short, this place is just about heaven. Prayer beads and religious symbols abound! We’ve even found two religious drinks already, one’s called a Bishop’s Finger, and the other one has a crosier on it! Brilliant. The town of
Alright, computer problems. Forgive my tardy updating, but I’ve had a series of delays. I arrived here and my wireless card was all bent out of shape, which turned out to be somewhat of a blessing in disguise. Once I could croon and woo my computer into actually turning on (which takes a lot these days, I tried for one hour, gave up and then tried again for 15 minutes when I got up at 2:30 am) I had to take my wireless card out in order to stop a huge blue menacing and utterly inescapable error screen from popping up. That’s been coming up off and on for about two years now. I think that’s solved, though, and tomorrow I plan to get an Ethernet cable from the front desk. If you’re reading this, it probably worked! Hopefully things will become more regular now. Alright, more later!
Blessings all.
*UPDATE* - Success! I have access! Not wireless, but it'll do :).Saturday, July 5, 2008
Of Vicars and Castles
So apparently there’s been lots and lots of stuff going on over at the Facebook group that I started and subsequently may or may not have neglected. Here’s the schedule for the Youth Conference happening right after Lambeth finishes. Check it out, how cool is that!? Castles!!! Any of you who have met me more than once will, I’m positive, be able to imagine just how excited I am at the prospect of a castle! (Told you Sarah :-p.) Now if only I can find more secret passageways in Birks... Ooh, and my first Compline service too! At Canterbury Cathedral none the less... As you can tell, I’m starting to get a little bit excited :).
Tuesday 5th August:
Morning: Your Reflections with the Archbishop of Canterbury
Afternoon: Option of Seminar Sessions
Wednesday 6th August:
East Kent Pilgrimage (by coach), taking in: Richborough (Roman town); St Augustine’s Cross, Pegwell Bay; Reculver (Roman/Saxon); St Augustine’s Abbey/St Martin’s Church ('oldest in England'), Canterbury.
Buffet Supper at the end of the day by kind invitation of Bishop Stephen Venner, the Bishop in
Thursday 7th August
Trip to
Buffet Supper at Cathedral followed by special Candle-Lit Pilgrimage around Cathedral, ending with Compline.
Friday 8th August
Breakfast and depart
Alright, now that that’s out of my system, and since the past few days have been rather slow and dreary and school work filled (I know.. School work in July! It’s an atrocity I tell you...), I’d like to devote this blog entry to my new positively-absolutely-favourite show on television. No, no, no, no, no, yes! You guessed it... The Vicar of Dibley! Tonight’s replayed episode was Geraldine’s second Christmas in the parish for which she was invited to share three rather large dinners with three rather, preternatural sets of individuals. Of course, hilarity ensued. I can’t think of any other show nowadays that can in fact make me Laugh Out Loud. And yet this does it. I mean really though, what could be funnier than a Church of England parish council... or any Parish Council for that matter?
Bless you all for watching... reading. :). Amen
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Night of the Day of the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul
In other news, I got an e-mail today from Dave, the Steward’s Program coordinator. There still isn’t very much information to be had, but apparently because some of us will be “guarding” the doors to some of the discussions, we may actually get to sit in on them! (Of course, as mute observers I would assume, but still!) I also found out that there’ll be another Canadian there! Well, I’m not sure if he’s officially Canadian, but I think he’s studying at U of T. Either way, I’m excited. It looks like we’ve got a really neat group working in the Steward’s program. Drop by our Facebook group!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Post the Second!
Well, the Order and Chaos Conference is now officially over. I wasn’t there for the whole thing, but I did manage to catch bits and pieces of what was going on the days I worked there. This morning we went up to the top of the Mount Royal Cemetery Chicago Harvey
All in all it was quite the exciting morning. It’s important to shake things up every once in a while. Anyone who knows me in a church context now will know that I’m quite enamoured with the Anglo-Catholic style worship (Big fan of thuribles, even though I don’t ever remember seeing one actually being used – I’ll have to fix that). I love the rich symbolism and the traditions that have been built up around these forms of worship. They have so much to offer if only we actually try to understand them! That’s the tricky part. Worship as I understand it is about engagement. It takes a lot to understand why we do the things we do, but once we enter into that place, we find a spirituality that has roots going back centuries, where each passing generation has added something and enhanced it in some way.
That being said, however, the fact remains that everything does inevitably change, and yet I’m convinced that this doesn’t need to be a frightening experience. When Jesus walked amongst the townspeople of an occupied province of the
P.S. – I realize these are long posts. If you don’t feel like reading all this, take heart! I’m getting it all out of my system now so that by the time Lambeth rolls around I’ll have plenty of exciting adventures to tell of Bishops and
Peace and Blessings,
Nick.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Two Weeks to Go!!
Welcome to my blog! I’m glad you’ve found your way here - Leave me comments and let me know who you are, I`m greatly indebted to you all for taking an interest, so Thank You! I`m Nick. I’ve been struggling over the past few weeks trying to come up with a creative way to explain the blog title; alas, it’s simply taking far too long and what I have to say sounds way to academic-like – that’s to say, not at all interesting! So here we go, my first post. And now, at long last, I can send everyone the long promised – (and of COURSE much anticipated!) EmptyMountainEchoes – Nick’s Lambeth blog url!
This evening we here in Montreal hosted the opening service of the Joint-Anglican-Lutheran-Worship-Conference:-Order-and-Chaos. It’s a long title, but certainly apropos (look at that French!) if you were there to see the break-dancing and hear the whistles and wash the numbers off your hands. It was an exciting event and I’m sure the conference will go quite well for the rest of the week. It’s in the Cathedral! How could it not :)?
Well, let me just say that, even if I don’t fully explain the blog title here, I think the theme of the conference certainly summarizes it well. The processes of life are in flux - constantly. Order and Chaos intertwine, they weave in and out of one another and out of this mixture comes creation. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.” (Genesis 1.1-3) Understanding that darkness as chaos, as it’s so often been defined before, we come to understand that even primordially, before anything in this universe, order came out of chaos (who said ex-nihilo was Biblical?). Just as order and chaos interrelate, so we too interrelate, and change, and move. ‘In God we live and move and have our being.’ We are not static, and neither is our church; we are constantly changing, breathing, inspiring, being inspired. God moves us where God will. It’s in this sense that we are empty. We are empty of an independent existence: independence of each other, of other traditions, of the world at large. That is to say, we are fundamentally connected and shaped by all of these; except, we take up Christ as our sure foundation, our cornerstone. Only in the living and active God are we at home, are we solid, and yet even there, God never stops moving: order… chaos… life goes on…
Peace and Blessings,Nick.
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